Record Rent a Car- Alicante. Opinions please

 I have tried the EOS search and all I can find are threads on the bad service/ quality from Record at Alicante. Does anyone have a good word to say about them from recent experience? I am collecting on 17th Feb for 5 days and it is the first time I have used them, although I believe they used to be the handling agents for Econorent. It is only a 5 day trip booked via DYS with a Citreon C2 car. Cost is 46€ plus fuel. Now, I can get a Daewoo Matiz for 79€ full/ full from Econorent, but... I will use fuel from Alicante to Vera so have to pay more money to replace it, but I can use all the fuel from Record, so price wise, they will be about the same.

Can I have your thoughts please?

Mark

Marksfish

We to are in Vera and nearly always fly into Alicante from Luton or Gatwick on Monarch

Until recently we have hired via DoyouSpain and have been allocated Record cars on several occassions

They are no different from Crown, Goldcar, Sol Mar or even Centuro( who i booked direct)

They all want a tank of fuel paid up front and with the cost of the hire it didn't bother me as even on a short trip in a small car we used it.

Like all hire companies via DoyouSpain the extra top up insurance is a pain, on a short trip ok but anything 14 days plus big money. But do you want the piece of mind and no deposit outlay etc?

We have now got our own motor so if i add up insurance, parking at airport plus lost interest on capital spent i'm about even, i make a few bucks when i lend it to friends who use the apartment.

Try them once if it doesn't work specify no Record Car next time

I go out Sat with some mates for $ days "apartment maintainance" lol

All the best

 What a shame, your "maintenance" time finishes just as I come out . 

Yeah, I don't think they are any different to the other "big boys". We usually take the insurance anyway, especially on short trips as it is less hassle. I think they are also in the arrivals hall, hopefully not as painfully slow as the agents at Murcia.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mark,

We have just come back from Alicante and used Record car hire through DYS, very good service went to arrivals gave voucher driving licence passport away in 10min we had Hyundai getz 1.1 you pay for the full tank which we paid €66.42 took the comfort insurance price €49.49. bring the car back empty. had the car from 23/01/11 to 04/02/11 we have used them twice with no problems in total the car costs €195.51

I would just mention that our flight was delayed for five and half hours so we did not get into alicante till 11.40 so if you go past 12 midnight you will pay €20 extra as the computer automaticly does the add on as you are going into another day.

Hope all goes well.

I used them in 2010 and there were no problems other than we were way back in the queue at their desk and it took a while to deal with us.  Would use again.

 Is the extra insurance daily or a fixed fee? Auriga charge 3€ per day and Econorent (were) 2€ per day and for 5 days it is an almost acceptable extra. If a fixed fee, then it is expensive and other options needed.

Thanks

Mark

Marksfish, we fly out the same day & car from Record too!

Not used them before but came up really cheap so, fingers crossed, should be ok. Spoke to a friend who used them & they had no problems either

Hi I go toTorrevija every year and I have the same problem they are load of greedy gringos

I now use Hertz I've just booked for this September  from Alicante Airport to Torrevija for 11 days

£137.00  all in the works( insurance waver everything ) that includes a full tank ,when I take it back

I just fill it up , no hassle  the  other greedy car hire morons can carry on ripping the newbies off

Ray

Had a BIG problem with Hertz last April will never use them again!

We got a car from them for 6 weeks through the summer in 2009 paid £295 (bargain) no problems was extremely impressed & recommended them everyone. Last April We got 2 weeks hire (I forget how much but it must have been cheap) but when we picked it up at Alicante were pressured into taking extra insurance but the problems started when we took the car back. It was when all the flights were cancelled due to the ash cloud so we had an extra week over there, I phoned Hertz to sort a deal to keep the car & was told as a special rate it would be 80 Euro a day!!! Not likely so we returned the car & friends picked us up at the airport. The car was topped up with deisel at the garage near the airport (11 Euro) but when we got the bill from Hertz we were charged 45 Euro for Deisel & 25 Euro service charge for someone to take the car to be filled up!  Complained & was refunded no problems but how many more times have they 'tried that one' on others?

I think you can bad stories about any car hire company (we have 2 now at Alicante we won't use again) The thing is to check & double check any charges & protect yourself the best way you can  :-)

The car hire was ok, not the best looking car & had rather a lot of dents & flaking paint on a section of the roof. Went back to the office to tell them & was told not to worry about dents or paint just the brakes & windscreen (we took out extra insurance to cover these).

No problems with the running of the car. I have to say though, the collection of the car was extremely slow!

 Would I use them again? Yes if the price was as low as this time

 Who was that with Camille?

Record in Alicante Airport

 I thought so, but wasn't sure . My experience was a car of high(ish) mileage, pretty quick service (but I was 2nd in the queue) and it broke down twice!!

My biggest problem is that DYS don't explain the collection point very well, merely in arrivals. What they should state is T1 arrivals as I was looking all around T2 arrivals that I arrived at!!

Mark

Mark, I missed this and now you are back.

We have used Record car since 2005, many times! You will get a better deal if you register with them, and you get points off your next booking, effectively 10% off. On site easy to get car and quick service. Only once have we had a problem, air-con did not work, and returned the car within 45 minutes and had an upgrade and 20 euros towards our petrol, we don;t like the pick up full and return empty, but many others do that. We also get a decent car every time. We go for the extra insurance as it is less of a hassle if something goes wrong. Before the credit squeeze we used to get free upgrades too. We had quotes from Hertz nearly 25% more and have always used them. as better the devil you know.

regards

 I used to use Record but the full/empty policy and the extra insurance put me off, especially for long stays.  Plus, all the hire car companies in the terminal can take ages if there is a queue.

Last time we used Record it was €3.50 a day insurance, €75 for a full tank and €2 a day for child seat.

We switched to econorent (around the same prices) but the insurance is a fixed price no matter how long the rental (€20 per rental or €2 a day for a Group A to B and €40 per rental or €3 per day for Group C to D).  There is no queuing as it is a meet and greet service plus the car seats are a maximum of €20 per rental.

We were last over for 6 weeks and the entire rental cost £311 including the €40 excess cover.  Plus taking the car back full (from almost empty on a diesel to full cost €36.50) was an added bonus.

Mind you, these were off season prices.  Will be driving over in the summer as the ferry and tolls will be cheaper than hiring and definitely cheaper with no air fares.  I will be looking to buy a car next time I go over and leave it there as that will work out a lot cheaper.

 I looked at Econorent Bob, but I often forget them now as they aren't at Murcia any more . The price from Record was 38€ F/E and Econorent 79€ F/F. I tried working it on how much less Record were + the fuel as I wouldn't fill it up again, then compared to the 79€ + fuel used and didn't think it would be much different. As it happens, I should have gone Econo as a) it was just as far to walk to collect the car and b) it would have been about 20€ cheaper all in!!

Mark

Hi, We looked at the cost of ferry and taking own car, but flights and hiring a car still worked out cheaper. july Augst car hire though is very expensive.

Not too happy about speed limit reductions also, as this will add so much time to the journey.

 We're going over next for July/Aug/Sep and the car hire cost would be £2,500.  Ferry to Santander is £704 return plus, of course, the 8 hour trip down (or 10 depending on the speed limits).  

I will stick to flying and car hire for a couple of weeks at a time but the car for long trips. 

Oh, and econorent also give a free upgrade on hires over 28 days.  Had no problems with them, I must admit.

We have just returned from our long holiday in Spain and hired a car with Record Car Rental at Alicante Airport.  This was arranged through Car Hire 3000.  We had hired from them in June and was given a Kia Picanto, which we had trouble with as our house is in a hilly area.  We went to collect the car on the 30th August at 11.30 pm the Desk Clerk looked a little harassed and he offered us a Kia Picanto.  I asked if there was anything else and mentioned the trouble we had in June.  He offered us a Fiat and we handed over the necessary paperwork and cards etc.,  We went to collect the car which was now 12.30 and we loaded the car and I then noticed it actually only had half a tank of petrol.  My very stressed husband then returned to the desk and they gave us keys to another car.  Yes it was a Kia Picanto but by this time we just wanted to get to our bed. 

We had 37 glorious days in the sunshine and arrived home on Friday morning early and decided to leave the mail opening until Saturday.  Well Saturday morning my husband started to wade through the mail, lots of rubbish, but the Visa Bill was there and he is 67 and he nearly had a heart attack when he realised that for the Kia Picanto we had been charged 93.28 euros for a tank of petrol. Halfway through the holiday we had to buy petrol and 10 euros took it to a 1/4 full!!!  I tried to get in touch with Car Hire 3000 and everything has to be in writing and also I contacted Record and I got the same response.  So I then emailed and as yet have had no reply.  In June we were charged 60.51 euros so from June to August the petrol price had increased by 32.71 euros. 

I wanted to put in the email about Dick Turpin but I thought better of it thinking would a Spaniard understand what I was saying.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Liz and Allan very disgruntled pensioners

I am over at the end of November for a week and have Record as my car hire supplier.

I will let you know the cost of the petrol.

dd