Barcelona - car hire (but for boaty reasons!)

Phildorset

Phildorset

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Hi all, am going to do a run down the coast by hire car to take a look at some options for marinas, we're thinking that we may well have our boat based down there somewhere for a few seasons. Does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap and reliable car hire company in or close to Barcelona airport? Thanks in advance for any tips.
 
I use doyouspain.com at least 4/5 times a year and find them usually the cheapest.
My car hire company of preference there is Firefly - very easy to use, pick up is simple and they are on airport. I think they are an enterprise sub brand. As with all budget rentals, they want to sell you their insurance waiver. I buy an annual excess refund insurance for about £40 a year - I use carhireexcess.co.uk

Goldcar have recently moved on airport but not tried them. interent are also on airport - used them once when Firefly didn't have any suitable cars and they were good, though I felt the car offered was a bit smaller than booked (they are all xx or similar) but not significantly so
 
Phildorset said:
Hi all, am going to do a run down the coast by hire car to take a look at some options for marinas, we're thinking that we may well have our boat based down there somewhere for a few seasons. Does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap and reliable car hire company in or close to Barcelona airport? Thanks in advance for any tips.
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Doyouspain.com.

It's an "aggregation" type website where you get best prices from all operators at the airport. In May I paid €8 for 12 days hire and it sky rocketed to €28 for 14 days (whole duration) in June.

We have our own CDW waiver £40 for (questor insurance) for the year, which for a regular hirer is a lot cheaper than taking out the hirers own insurance. I have claimed under the policy and it was quick and pain free

If you are travelling down the coast make sure your mileage is unlimited, they have started to impose limited mileage contracts.

"on airport" collection, a faff if you arrive in T1 and then have to get the transfer bus to T2. In the high season we waited a couple of hours, which was a pain - but as my wife said, if it wasn't €8 you wouldn't queue !

We will, be in Sant Carles between 16th and 26th Sept. if you are nearby around that time happy to show you around

Another alternative if you are travelling south from BCN is Reus - smaller and much quicker than BCN and c50 miles south of Barcelona
 
If you are flying Ryanair don't be tempted to take their offer with Goldcar. They don't honour the t's and c's which you agree with the Ryanair booking.
E.g. Ryanair say no extra charges Goldcar say a diesel car incurs an extra cost of €4 per day
Ryanair offers a very different cost per km than Goldcar.
When disputed Goldcar say take it up with Ryanair and you can guess what Ryanair said........yep "take it up with Goldcar"
AVOID

Long queues experienced for firefly at Barcelona airport. I find Thrifty (the cheap end of Hertz) competitive. I book direct and not via Ryanair.
 
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Zest has worked for me in Spain & Portugal.
Last time in Mallorca they organised a hire in Porto Pollensa as I already had bus transfer and did not want to start looking for a car late at night .
 
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Use doyouspain.com
Make sure that the company only "block" your deposit and not "take" it from your card. Can be bad as you may pay card costs each time and is dependant on the exchange rate.
 
Thank you all for the great advice, am going to avoid Gold Car and will see what the others offer - many thanks, really helpful.
Phil.
 
Go for a full-full fuel policy. A seemingly cheap deal might not be when they've charged a 'refueling fee' or some crazy rate for the first tank. Definitely avoid GoldCar.
 
In my experience, the price you agree when you book will always have caveats.
As long as you accept that and are ready to pay a little more when you pick the car up, you won't be disappointed.

As others have said, www.doyouspain.com is the best way to find the cheapest.

If you are heading to Sant Carles, I will be there for a couple of weeks following on after Andy Bav (i.e. from the 24th Sept until 8th Oct)
Just pop in.
 
We use Record and have used them around 15 times, excellent every time and cheap. Full to full tank policy, and we have our own separate excess policy that was only about £30 for the year. They are one of the companies that also quote through doyouspain
 
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