To what extent is Spain a police state?

It wouldn't feel right to name and shame them, now that they've paid up. I would have done if they hadn't. I don't actually think naming and shaming is the point. In my experience, you have to watch out for catches with all the hire companies. I'm going to write a checklist so that in future we double-check as much as we can before we drive off.

As I have said, this company has always been very good and economical. I particularly like the way they don't worry about scratches or dents etc. - they say that's all included. They also don't have the ridiculous full to empty fuel policy, where companies charge an extortionate amount for a full tank (which equates to more fuel than would fit in the tank) and then you run the risk of running out of petrol on the return journey if you try and empty the tank (and you may also make unnececessary journeys because you feel like using the fuel you paid for - very bad for the environment).

Also, as I have an annual car hire excess policy, they never insist on us taking out their additional insurance as other companies apparently do.

Despite this recent problem, they may still be fairly good amongst a bad bunch.

Eggcup, could you copy in the checklist for others to benefit from!

Glad it worked out OK for you.

Okay, ads, I'll start it here and hopefully others can add to it/improve on it:

1. Check documents are in the car (hopefully someone can say what is the essential documentation - I don't know)

2. Check ITV is up-to-date, if it's needed (again, others know more regarding when and how often these are needed, depending on how new the car is)

3. A safety jacket for each passenger? 

4. 2 triangles?

5. The spare wheel and tools to change it?

6  Check for dents, marks etc. on the car and if there are ones which are not marked on the paperwork, go back to the desk to get them to amend the diagram, if there is one, on which dents and scratches are marked.

7. Check the fuel level corresponds to that on the paperwork(I took a photo once with the time on the photo when we noticed, having left the airport, that it was not full, as the paperwork had declared - and when we returned the car I needed that photo because they pointed at the paperwork and said, 'Look - it was full').

I'm sure people can come up with other things that should be inspected - tell me what I've got wrong and/or missed and I can then incorporate these into a better list. So, everyone feel free to chip in.

Eggcup - don't suppose it was a silver fiesta diesel car was it/  We picked up a car on 7th October from Malaga airport and were stopped by the police on the motorway near Salobrena.  He was very nice, said it wasn't our problem, not to worry and to give the ticket to the hire company.  If we were stopped again we were to show the ticket to the police.

We have been in touch with the hire company and have an email from them saying the car is safe to drive and they will pay the fine but words are cheap.  They have refused to change the car unless we take it back to Malaga - a 250 mile round trip.

Yes perhaps we should have checked all documentation to the nth degree - assuming we would know if there was any infringement of Spanish motoring law - but we are just doing what is done millions of times of day, hiring a car, and it is not unreasonable to expect that any hire car would be fully legal for use.

Hi Lemone

Send me a private message with the name of the company and I'll let you know if it's the same as ours. I'm useless noticing car makes and models, but my husband says ours was a different one. It really sounds as though you've been stopped by the same Guardia Civil officer (there can't be that many nice ones who say exactly the same thing to people) - as it was also near Salobrenya. As others have mentioned on this thread, it may indeed be a very common cost-saving strategy for hire companies not to pay for ITVs. I would advise you to read this thread and take the same action we took. My husband rang them and said he would want to speak to a manager when he returned the car, which he did and we then pestered for days to get them to pay the fine. All the best.

It wouldn't feel right to name and shame them, now that they've paid up.  ….. and we then pestered for days to get them to pay the fine................. it may indeed be a very common cost-saving strategy for hire companies not to pay for ITVs....................     !!!!

Just to let you all know, the company Lemone used is different to the one we used, so it is obviously not a fluke and not only one company doing this. It could be happening all over Spain - presumably they think the savings by not doing the ITVs - taking the cars out of commission regularly, paying the ITV fees and so on - are worth breaking the law for.

Just to let you all know, the company Lemone used is different FROM the one we used, so it is obviously not a fluke and not only one company doing this. It could be happening all over Spain - presumably they think the savings by not doing the ITVs - taking the cars out of commission regularly, paying the ITV fees and so on - are worth breaking the law for.

It wouldn't feel right to name and shame them......      But OK to make a dreadful insult against,  and slur on,  the whole of the car rental business in Spain,  for what what probably was an oversight by two comapnies.

Paying a fine of 100€ would hardly a considered bu most, as a saving on the 35 euros (or there abouts)  ITV fee !

Elaine. Go away. You have nothing constructive to say. Stop trying to turn the thread into something nasty. It is a very useful thread for people and you keep trying to sabotage it. Set up your own thread and stay out of mine.

Sorry eggcup but I thought it was you who was getting nasty by insulting all Spanish car hire companies.

You have nothing constructive to say

I was just suggesting that you were being unfair, especially as the company you complained about actually settled the problem without cost to you.  I thought that was constructive.

Set up your own thread and stay out of mine.

Sorry again, I had not realised that threads had 'ownership'    I thought they were intended to help people. Pointing out misconceptions surely is part of that ?

We were stopped in August as our hired car had no MOT sticker on the windscreen. I don' t know
if it was because my husband speaks fluent Spanish but the police said it was not our fault ,telephoned into the police station and said that the hire company was responsible not us.

Exactly, so no reason for the hirer to make a big fuss about it.

Hi Tamsin. The police said the same to us, but then issued us with a fine for 100 euros in my husband's name. They also said it was the hirer's responsibility to pay it and not ours, but the fact remained that we had a fine in writing in my husband's name, and a threat on the form that if we didn't pay it within 14 days, it would double. The police officer's verbal assurances would mean nothing in a court of law. I wonder though why he didn't issue you with a fine, too. Maybe the car was so new it didn't need an ITV?

N.B. We also speak fluent Spanish so I don't think that makes a difference.

Maybe the car was so new it didn't need an ITV?

So now we have police officers,  who have a direct link with vehicle records, who are too stupid to know whether a hire vehicle is 2 or more years old ?   

Quote "Go away. You have nothing constructive to say. Stop trying to turn the thread into something nasty"

Just for the record:   In Spain, unlike the UK, it is a criminal offence to insult a police officer. Saying they do not know when an offence has been committed probably would be considered insulting.

Getting very nasty this thread but if you pay peanuts then it's the monkey that must be the hirer

Getting very nasty this thread but if you pay peanuts then it's the monkey that must be the hirer

Is this a hundred peanuts?....Or a hundred bags of peanuts?...Or just a peanut?

Legally this about the peanuts needs to be sorted out.

baz

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys regardless of the quantity. If you want a gorilla, you have to pay in cashews. They won't even accept bombay mix. If I was the hirer and I only had peanuts and no money as such, I'm not sure that makes me a monkey, although I might get an old car with no ITV.

Just to let you know, if you live in Valencia region and get an ITV from Murcia region (it´s cheaper) It´s NOT valid and you face a €100.00 fine.

It´s something to do with a sound test, decibels etc.

Bren

Would the age of the car be shown on the documents or is there some way to identify this from its registration plate (like in the UK)?

It's difficult to tell the exact age of a car by it's reg plate. They go in alphabetical order but the rest is guesswork. There is an android mobile app available called 'fecha matricula españa' which will give you the date a car was registered simply by typing in the reg number. I don't have it but I saw that it got good reviews and people claim it works.