31 October 2012

Bad press (again) for Goldcar in Spain

Another example of a disappointed Goldcar customer. Pulled in by apparently low rates but do you get the deal you thought you booked?

Complaints continue to rack up against Goldcar car hire in Spain. This week Tony Heatherington investigated a Mail Online reader's complaint about Goldcar this time at Murcia Airport.

After an hour and a half's wait at the Goldcar desk, the reader was offered a VW Polo rather than the Ford Focus booked. An additional charge of 40 Euros for excess insurance was automatically added and had to be refused. Finally, the reader's signature on an electronic device turned out to be accepting revised terms and conditions rather than for fuel.

When Tony investigated, he discovered that the revised terms related to whether the customer would pay in pounds or euros. Needless to say, the option selected gave a poor exchange rate. According to Goldcar, the currency choices are included in the printed version of the revised contract. Only of course, you don't actually get that until you've signed the electronic version.

Goldcar told Tony that it classes the Polo and Focus in the same group and it simply reflected their wide and varied fleet. Yet according to Goldcar's UK website, looking at cars for hire from Murcia Airport it clearly shows the VW Polo as an Economy Car in group CC and the Focus is a Compact Car in group D.

The excess insurance was trickier, Goldcar often offer their cars with "Zero Excess Insurance”. This may lull you into thinking you don't need to take out any Car Hire Insurance as there isn't an excess to cover. However their "Zero Excess Insurance” doesn't cover you for "some damages and negligence”. On further investigation, Tony discovered this means damage to wheels, tyres, mirrors, undercarriage, clutch, lost keys, flat batteries and towing. This is what the additional 40 Euro insurance covered. You can get comprehensive cover at lower rates by taking out a specialist car hire excess insurance policy from MoneyMaxim choosing the additional features you want.

As Tony says "I think I know which car hire firm I shall avoid on my next Spanish holiday”.

There are many other car hire firms operating from Murcia Airport so there is a choice and it's worth bearing in mind that the cheapest deal may not remain so after you add in "extras” such as unfair fuel policies. MoneyMaxim are currently expanding our car hire hub to include feedback from customers. Run a car hire search from Alicante Airport and check out our Local Car Hire Information at Alicante Airport for more detail.

If you have some feedback from your most recent car hire, good or bad, we'd love to hear from you and we can share your experience.