BEWARE OF GOLDCAR

We have used carjet for years with no probs... If I were you I'd call Carjet with your concerns. They can change your hire company to another company if you want them to. They are quite helpful..

I just mailed carjet and they changed my rental company.

Power of the net.

Derek

Harthillfoxes,

Following a House of Lords ruling you are protected when using a UK credit card any where in the world, just as you are in the UK.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/149-07

The credit card company are jointly and severally liable and so your next port of call is to inform the credit card company of this.

If you PM me your email address I have the necessary form to complete.

Upon receipt your credit card company should ringfence the disputed amount so that you are not charged any further interest and should then take up the dispute with Goldcar. Your contract is with your credit card company as well as Goldcar.

I had a similar problem with a furniture supplier in Spain and was given a complete refund by my card company. Total amount was €6500.

So it does work be persistent..

Once you have your money back I suggest you immediately cancel your card and get a new one.

Phil

Look up www.telegraph.co.uk/travelviews page T21 of today's DT concerning a letter entitled "Driven to despair over hire car claim" concerning CarJet and Goldcar.

Look up www.telegraph.co.uk/travelviews page T21 of today's DT concerning a letter entitled "Driven to despair over hire car claim" concerning CarJet and Goldcar.

Hi Merrylegs

thanks for pointing out the article in the Telegraph. I looked it up and it is disturbing what these car hire companies will try and get away with. I have a car booked through Carjet in two weeks time (using Goldcar). I have told Carjet of the comments made on this site and they have said for a little extra I could tranfer to Solmar. Not sure if that would be any better. If I could find secure and cheap long term parking at or near to Almeria airport I would buy a car and leave it there to save all the hassle.

Regards Tech.

I was supposed to be with Goldcar last month but when I arrived (booked through Do You Spain - with whom I have previously had no problems - normally get put onto Auriga Crown and this was the first time I had been allocated Goldcar), and Goldcar demanded another 60 euros for fully comp - which is meant to be included in the Do You Spain deal.  I argued but they simply shrugged it off and I eventually went over to the Solmar desk and the girl was lovely.  The car was good and they brought it right to the front door of the airport for me.

'Heslop' who posts on this forum leaves his car at the airport and I think he is happy with the service from the airport car storage/parking deal he gets so it probably is worth looking into.

Arlene

I'd also like to say that I have had multiple rentals from SOLMAR at both Almeria and Alicante and found them very reliable and helpful. No problems at all. My one experience with GOLDCAR was my last. Enough said.

Worth noting that under the new payment regulations from 1 November it is much easier to get a total refund if things go wrong - not just the 'disputed amount.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/savings-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=490048&in_page_id=7

I can see this being very useful when dealing with certain car hire firms.

Andy

The stories of 3 1/2 hour waiting and substandard vehicles just fills us with confidence, we are booked with Goldcar tommorrow. The main problem in making bookings through trawler type agents is that you dont know who you are with untill the final confirmation comes through. This in alot of cases  is after you've paid deposits or indeed the full amount, which makes cancellation awkward and sometimes fees can be involved. In the case of this trip we have already cancelled two other bookings as the hire companies were off airport and shuttle buses were involved. We have used Goldcar several times before and really have never had any  problems, however this will be the first time this year, so we look forward to it with trepidation.The whole thing of hiring cars now seems to be a lottery as to how you get charged and what vehicles you get, we've had good experiences and some bad ones.We have had bad service,  waiting for two hours in queues, refused vehicles because there filthy or mechanically not sound, the only way to stop this is by avoiding using these companies, if enough people do it the message will get through.

So will we get the popemobile tommorrow, who knows, watch this space.

So will we get the popemobile tommorrow, who knows, watch this space.

Last seen driving around the Benidorm area last Friday at 9pm on ITV  

Mark

Hi JET42  - I received an email yesterday from my complaint to Goldcar about my booking via Do You Spain and they are still saying that if you book through DYS it is 3rd party only.  Completely contrary to what DYS are still telling me!!!????  Not sure if you did book through Do You Spain but please watch out as I'm sure you most certainly don't want to be motoring around on 3rd party only during your stay.  The bandits will ask for approx 60 euros to 'upgrade' to fully comp.

Hi even if you do not use dys you are asked for 60euros to be fully covered on the car hire irene

Sometimes it's the agent who provides the fully comp insurance not the car hire company but no idea if this is the case with DYS.

Regards, Poppyseed

AJW  Re; The bandits will ask for approx 60 euros to 'upgrade' to fully comp.

We have booked through Bravo Car Hire on their rental voucher it states the following:-

We carry our own insurance to cover excess, a relatively cheap policy less than £40 a year, so we wont be paying any extras for insurance. However even with this we are normally asked to pay 300 euros deposit against any claims which is refunded at the end of the hire. The downside of this is you often suffer loses due to exchange rates and service charges if you use a UK credit card.

There is such a shortage of cars held by the smaller "local" car hire companies this year and many have not bought any new vehicles.  This is resulting in poor quality cars being hired out.  I think that there is little to choose cost wise between the locals and the multinationals like Avis, Hertz etc especially if booked through trawler sites like Easycar and Holiday Autos.

Added advantage of using a multinational, the security deposit is BLOCKED on your card, not debited so there are no problems with exchange rates etc as there is no refund because there was no actual charge.  Only problem is that this reduces available credit on the card for up to 7 days after the return of the car.

Have used Goldcar at San Javier airport through Carjet on four occassions. Have always had new or nearly new vehicle and no problems. That however was last year so maybe things have changed since then.

Hi all,

thought I'd just update this thread on Goldcar. I returned from Spain 2 weeks ago and the car hire company was Goldcar through Carjet. When I went to their desk there was only 1 person in front of me and I presume that was because there was no other flights into Almeria airport, and I was quick off the mark, because I only had hand luggage. It didn't take long for a longish queue to form behind me with weiry travellers waiting to pick up their cars. The car I was allocated was a C3 and I was charged 56 euros for diesel. (How can you get 56 euros worh of diesel into a C3?) there was another 14 euros because it was diesel and another 45 euros for their 'relax insurance top up'. A total of 115 euros, nearly as much as I paid for the weeks hire of the car!

Anyway, I'm flying out again next week and although I normaly use Carjet I've saved £92 by using Do You Spain and their hire company is Auriga Crown. I presume that all hire companies will charge about the same for fuel and insurance but I just hope the saving I have made offsets these charges.

Best wishes.

Tech

I  am also going through Do you Spain for my car hire in Feb 2010, athough Hertz hve worked out much cheaper for me in the summer 2010. I think you just have to crunch your dates and see what deals are to be had. Always watch the  excess as this can bump up the cost.

An update from me too!

My last three visits (all for a couple of days) have now cost me £100 in fuel despite returning the car full (thus there should be no fuel charge).  I am still persuing this case as is auto-europe who i arranged the car hire through.   Goldcar have refunded some of the excess fuel charges but a derisory amount to be honest.  And yes, as per other people i have been ripped off and have paid virtually double for the car hire that i first agreed to.  But i am still fighting!

The last visit i booked again with auto-europe, but this time phoned (instead of internet booking) and said i did not want Goldcar.  They said no problem and i got 'Record'.    Well fantastic! ... just like i am sure Goldcar were before.  Lovely car, no fuel charge just return it full.  I did so and no problem whatsoever .  I was very pleased to see Goldcar queue empty .... maybe people and hire car agents are voting with their feet.  I do hope so.

Goldcar ... bah Humbug ... more like GoldDiggers.

 Our last car hire at the end of November was with Econorent from Murcia. Lovely car no problems, no queue everything went really well. Much better than Goldcar where we were ripped off snd slthough I did in the end get some money back it was nowhere near enough. 

We got out again on January 1. However, Econorent's prices have gone up a lot. We are using a broker, okcar.co.uk who have put us with Auriga crown. Incredible price! Much cheaper than anything else we have found. Have already booked for February and March with them. Yes, we have used them before and were more than happy! Kevin