doyouspain car hire...... spain

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Would suggest anyone hiring a car through this outfit on line...Beware...especially if going to Valencia,Alicante,Murcia...they use a hire firm called Dickmanns. I hired on line through DYS using debit card .On arrival at Murcia on 18/10/15 they took Eur 1059.00 from my credit card...E950.00 deposit...and E109.00 for fuel.The fuel capacity of the car was 55 litres...so I was charged about E2.00/litre !!! On returning the car on 25/10/15 I should have been creditted back E950.00 to my credit card....as the car was in the same condition as when I took it. I still await the return of that deposit.Dickmanns are crooks...aided and abetted by DYS...a bold statement ...but true.Check out reviews on tripadviser etc on line...it reads like a horror story.I go back to Almeria in a week or so and will be taking this up with the Guardia Civil....
So stick with Goldcar or similar...cheaper in the long run...or wheelsinspain on the net.
 
I used Doyouspain on Tenerife, it turned out to be Goldcar, I had no problems at all and have used them since, they did not need a credit card to book, I paid on arrival, everything went smoothly.
 
We just came back from Majorca and had a similar experience at Palma airport. Rented the car and ''thought'' we had also paid for insurance. Oh no! Once we got to 'Record Car Hire' at the airport we were presented with a choice. Either €950 deposit which had to be on a CC OR a non-refundable €140. Mr LandM didn't trust the deposit scheme as we'd heard reports of invisible scratches and tiny dents suddenly costing the whole deposit to fix (and they never fix them anyway)so we paid up the non-refundable. On top of this, we were ripped off with fuel. We either had to return the car full or empty but in any case we were charged a fee of €30 or so for their 'logistics' (just what the logistics are for them if the car is returned full of fuel i don't know)..... and of course you can never return the car fully empty although we gave it a damn good try....so they get a bit of money from you that way as well. In fact so many people at the airport were arguing that the queues to actually get the car took an hour and rather tellingly they had two security men hovering in case anyone really kicked off.
We've never had anything like this happen to us before and we've hired cars all over the place, but I've heard it's very common in Spain and if you ever read the travel section of the Telegraph on a Saturday there's always someone writing in to complain about car hire unfair 'extras'.
 
Sounds typical.
I,v used Goldcar despite some poor reviews and find the best way is to book any of the comparison sites on price but take out Goldcars full cover insurance at the desk. You can expect a 10% discount and fill the tank on return.
No deposit taken if this followed and they are happy with major debit cards.
 
thanks...well 2 negative and one positive result here so far..have used DYS many times in Spain but it seems that this hirer they use....'dick manns'...says it all really...is used at Murcia,Alicante,and Valencia .
 
You simply have to do your homeork x2 and read the small print when hiring cars. They are so very clever at setting up traps that you must protect yourself - not least regarding fuel and insurance policies and the ever so annoying queue at the counter or shuttle to a gravel parking place somewhere.

In a recent tread https://www.economycarhire.com/
was recommended.

My own research turned me to http://autoreisen.com/
for hiring three cars in Tenerife.
 
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If we fly to Tenerife we go via Madrid, this means that we land at the North airport, a taxi down South costs over 100 euro so we use Cicar car hire, 30 euros plus 10 euro fuel when we dump the car (one way hire) no card details are needed, I pay in cash, 30 on pick up 10 for fuel on drop off. I like cash, not giving my card details suits me!
 
We too fell into the 'bring it back empty' trap, not being given the option to return full and charged when we hire one from them at Barcelona Airport; as I recall, something like a €60 or €70 charge for a car that couldn't hold more than about €40 worth; no problems otherwise apart perhaps from the follow-up marketing: That car was hired in July 2012, but even now we continue to get five or six emails every week (they go direct to the spam folder)from DYS telling of that day's unmissable offer?
 
If you book through an online agency such as DYS, Holiday Autos et al, it seems like the bulk of the fee goes to the agent and the actual car hire company only make money on the "extras". Every time I hire a car in Spain, which is every few weeks, they are quite miffed that I have an annual excess insurance through iCarhireinsurance for £39.99 and immediately block my card for €600 - €1100. I understand that people may worry that they will get hit for the excess for a scratch but in many years of doing this I have never been penalised despite, in one case, getting a fairly heft wing dent in a car park.

The base rental price is usually quite cheap, I'm paying £11.99 for four days in December so suck up the fuel charges and get an annual excess policy for peace of mind.
 
colind3782 said:
If you book through an online agency such as DYS, Holiday Autos et al, it seems like the bulk of the fee goes to the agent and the actual car hire company only make money on the "extras". Every time I hire a car in Spain, which is every few weeks, they are quite miffed that I have an annual excess insurance through iCarhireinsurance for £39.99 and immediately block my card for €600 - €1100. I understand that people may worry that they will get hit for the excess for a scratch but in many years of doing this I have never been penalised despite, in one case, getting a fairly heft wing dent in a car park.

The base rental price is usually quite cheap, I'm paying £11.99 for four days in December so suck up the fuel charges and get an annual excess policy for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

This is how we have been dealing with car rental for some years. An annual policy for the cost of a few days cover at rental company prices. I well remember the look on the Goldcar reps face at Barcelona when I told her I didn't want her extra cover as I had my own...... They don't usually actually charge your credit card but put a pre authorisation in place on the account, which blocks off say €900 so you can't spend that amount: that pre authorisation will be removed a few days after the end of the hire. A charge should only ever be applied to the account if you damage their car.
As to Goldcars fueling charge, the rates we got were so competitive (€120 for a month) I wasn't worried about losing a few € to their little scam. If we'd only been hiring for a couple of day though I'd have chosen a different provider as if you're not even going to use their very expensive fuel, better go elsewhere.
 
Yep that's what I do and rent via DYS around 6 times a year or more. I have my own excess insurance so not worried if they pre-authorise and have never actually be charged. They do charge you a premium rate for fuel but have in recent years started to refund fuel that was remaining which is good.

You do have the option to select full/full fuel policy and also can de-select specific car hire companies.

Loads of people use DYS in our marina regularly from Barcelona without too much fuss.

I have had trouble from most car hire companies in recent years, even Hertz on two occasions, as long as you know the ropes and what to expect at the desk DYS are still good value in my experience.
 
Just picked up a car from GoldCar, booked through DYS. Day was a bit of a disaster initially as a landslide had blocked the road from Aguadulce into Almeria. The 15 minute bus trip took almost 2 hours to get to Almeria. We did phone GoldCar to say we'd be more than an hour late so they couldn't say we had not collected the car on time and given it to someone else (unlikely at this time of year).

The girl at the counter was very pleasant and didn't try a hard sell on expensive insurance (we have our own annual policy).
The car was a Corsa rather than the Fiat 500 mentioned (no surprise)
950 Euro blocked out on our card because we don't take their expensive (and not very good) insurance
58 Euro deposit for fuel as we had booked Full-Full (returnable as long as we produce a fuel receipt on return)

All as expected so far and paperwork said car had no faults. It actually had a completely bashed and scraped rear passenger door plus a few other dings. Girl at the counter apologised and marked up our copy to show damage on both bumpers, door, mirror etc. Most of these were trivial but rear door is a complete mess.

I do sometimes wonder if the damage is known but they hope you won't spot it (parked really close to next car on passenger side). Then they get previous customer to pay and also the next one and possibly even the one after that (I'm not very trusting).

The hire cost should only be around £55 for 7 days and seems like a reasonable deal for a newish Corsa (approx. 13k km on clock). I'll let you know if there are problems with the return but should be OK as I have pictures of everything plus both copies of their damage report altered to show all the dents.

I think that it is just a case of reading all the small print, checking everything and assume that they are out to scam you.

Americans behind us had arrived with no booking or clue about cost. They were surprised at 350 Euro from Hertz for 5 days and were checking GoldCar. I did warn them about Fuel and insurance costs but nothing they could do at that point. I suspect they will end up paying around 300 Euro for 5 days and won't be too happy with insurance, fuel etc.

PS
I booked the car ages ago via DYS for £55 full-full. GoldCar's own website say it would now be £29 for a 7 day hire with same conditions. Win some, lose some. :D
 
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You should check (if you can be bothered) DYS several times if booked well in advance, it can very often get cheaper - some friends in our marina do this a lot, if cheaper, they simply book again and cancel the previous booking. No charges are levied and a full refund is paid back within a couple of days. They have done it numerous times. Some in our marina have saved a lot of money even in recent weeks using this method, which is quite legitimate.
 
duncan99210 said:
They don't usually actually charge your credit card but put a pre authorisation in place on the account, which blocks off say €900 so you can't spend that amount:
Click to expand...

Agree usually. However in Canaries (HERTZ) have had the amount actually debited to CC ..... and then same amount (in Euros) refunded. Of course you loose out significantly overall. (Still much better than paying their rip-off insurance charge).
 
But it's not just in Spain where there is a problem -
We live in Spain and when we go to England either on business or socially, we always hire a car at the airport... The following is true not just of Avis but all the major hire companies I have used in the UK!

CDW 'included'in the booking quotations is hyperbole. Last month for example, I made an Avis reservation on line for a compact car 2 up from the smallest for 8 days with CDW included in the reservation.

On arrival at Bristol airport I was told that my 'risk' with Avis was around £1,000 of any damage or pay £10-15 per day to get it down to £200 (or zero?). I got a pretty hard sell with no in-between options offered and I decided to carry the risk myself.

The counter clerk then offered me an upgrade - if I paid for it.!! I declined and he came round the counter to look at our bags. He stated the car was too small for our luggage and not suitable. Louise and I had one hold bag and two cabin bags. The car booked was a 4 door, 4 seater Citroen with a boot.

He was very insistent, I should take a larger car implying it was company policy not to allow cars to be overloaded, I replied I was only driving to Bristol town centre to a Dr Who convention at the hotel in which I was staying. (I failed to mention we would then drive down to Devon to stay with friends a few days later - 180 miles) He relented and agreed to rent us the car I had booked!!!!

The next 'trick' was the fuel (just like goldcar Spain) Just bring it back and we will fill it for you - We make no charge for this service - just bring the car back empty and give us £55. Much better than having to bring it back full!!!! I then asked where the nearest filling station was and was told it was 20 miles away.. So I said I would bring it back full.. (I filled up 20 miles out and passed two more filling stations after that on my way back to airport!)

Finally there was the GPS for only £8?? per day for 8 days... He was miffed that I had brought my own (it cost 120€ in France with maps of all europe!)

begrudgingly he finished the paperwork and handed us the keys and paperwork warning us to check the car for damage and we set off after a thoroughly unpleasant half an hour to find the car.

CDW included was simply a lie - bring back the car empty is a cheat - and hiring a GPS from the car hire company is extortionate!

I was concerned about pranging the car all the time as £1000 is a lot of dosh which greatly improved my driving I suspect. I am going to follow the advice posted earlier and buy car hire excess insurance next time I travel out of Spain. Avis is just as rubbish as Goldcar and I have had similar, if not such hard sell, experiences with Budget, Enterprise and to a lesser extent Hertz
 
If you read, and understand, the T&C (including small print) there really should be no surprises.

CDW included is true - excess/liability excluded. Is that surprising?
Fair Fuel policy? Make it a part of your search (available tickbox on good search portals).

What really makes money for the hiring companies are excess payments (from you or your insurance) for small damages that are never repaired. They charge you and allow the next hirer to mark the damage before hiring. If he adds a minor damage they charge him for it and so forth. At the end the car sold off including x number of minor damages but the repeated excess payment is the real bonus.

If you hire with CDW included and NO excess, free mileage, office at the airport, free child seats etc. there actually isn't much room for surprises.

Check https://www.autoreisen.com/ as one example.
 
Spi D said:
If you read, and understand, the T&C (including small print) there really should be no surprises.

CDW included is true - excess/liability excluded. Is that surprising?
Fair Fuel policy? Make it a part of your search (available tickbox on good search portals).

What really makes money for the hiring companies are excess payments (from you or your insurance) for small damages that are never repaired. They charge you and allow the next hirer to mark the damage before hiring. If he adds a minor damage they charge him for it and so forth. At the end the car sold off including x number of minor damages but the repeated excess payment is the real bonus.

If you hire with CDW included and NO excess, free mileage, office at the airport, free child seats etc. there actually isn't much room for surprises.

Check https://www.autoreisen.com/ as one example.
Click to expand...

Interesting - so what does Collision Damage Waiver mean exactly? If it is generously included in the hire charge quoted and booked then one assumes that it means the hire company waives the damage... Now we all know that they are liable to hyperbole but, but £1,000 is not 'excess' it is excessive and to then charge £10 per day for real collision damage waiver is extortionate! Totally unrealistic, a bit like offering a GPS for £8 per day... when renting the car is only £25 per day.

My last experience with Avis Bristol was horrid and I hire cars 5-6 times a year for at least a week so expect the CDW to be nonsense, Inuse a old GPS to travel with.

However I had not been aware until recently, that for £40 PA I can insure the hire company excess and drive 'care free'.. Most grateful to this thread for telling me about this insurance - for the rest - they are hire car companies and up to a million tricks to turn a buck, but somehow I expect more from big brand names like Avis. If I were a foreigner arriving for a pre booked car at Avis Bristol I would probably have been ripped off. I got exactly what I booked but I had to insist and argue... Not a way to keep customers coming back
 
CDW is car hire industry speak for 'comprehensive insurance', so it covers you for damage to their vehicle BUT there's a large excess, which is why they offer you their own cover at rip off rates. So, if you hire a vehicle more than once or twice a year it's well worth getting an annual policy. Just be aware of two things: you will have to pay for the damage when you return the car and you must retain both the original contract documents given to you when you picked up the vehicle AND the bill for the damage. If you're missing either of those bits of paper you'll still get the money back but it'll take more time and arguments. Don't let the hire company fob you off with photocopies or promises to send you it in the post.
 
Indeed. Among the hire companies' tricks are also a great deal of self-insurance. They actually only insure large incidents, all the minor and day-to-day scratches are done internally, without invoving the insurance company hence supporting the idea of never having small things fixed.

The internationally based operations also are masters of speculating in car taxes and timing for transfer between markets or own companies without incurring duties.
 
Paw Paw said:
However I had not been aware until recently, that for £40 PA I can insure the hire company excess and drive 'care free'..
Click to expand...

Pleased you have at last discovered this! In fact it is one insurance which has actually come DOWN significantly in price. Until a couple of years ago the going rate was £49.99 for Europe. Terms have even improved: mine now covers ALL car hires, whereas in the past rentals in your home country were only covered if over 150 miles from your home address.

In about 10 years I have made one claim and it was settled very easily and quickly. (I actually made a tiny profit because of the way they applied exchange rates :D). I have also never experienced any hassle or problem at car hire desks; indeed once -on a 4 week hire- the agent actually said I would be crazy to take their excess waiver insurance because the maximum excess was only EUR 200 anyway.

I use www.insurance4carhire.com but there are several other similar outfits.
 
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