Is renting a car cheaper to book in Spain or England?

Hi

We are due to come out to live in Spain in October this year (cant wait!) but dont know whether it is cheaper to arrange renting a car in England for when we get out there or whether we wait until we get to Spain and arrange rental from there. We want it for about a week until we find a car to buy. Also where is the best place to buy a car and how long does it take to pick the car up once you've paid for it.

many thanks

Jan

After following a recommendation on here, I searched http://www.doyouspain.com and I've got a Renault Clio, for a week, for 34 euros, with another 35 spent on the extra insurance. Pick up at Alicante airport. Can't comment any further because I've not picked it up yet.

thanks garsl for your comment - let me know how you get on will you? Jan

Have a look at this link lots of info book before is my advice.
driving-to-spain-car-hire-in-spain-buying-and-owning-a-car-in-spain-f90/car-hire-from-alicante-airport-t3196-20.html?hilit=centuro#p14649

We came over on Friday and had booked with Drivalia for the first time. We were worried as we usually use Atesa and they are on airport, very friendly and haven't had any problems with them.
We booked on news years day and on checking the emails before we came out noticed there were two confirmation of booking emails with different booking numbers. I emailed in the early hours to check and to my surprise got an answer back within 10 minutes! All sorted and just the one booking left as they cancelled the other one. We were very impressed. Got to the airport waited about 5 minutes and the little shuttle bus came. Very friendly only takes about 10 people and a few minutes to get to pick up point. Three staff on at pick up reception - all very quick and friendly - our brand new car had 4km on the clock!
Hoping all will be just as efficient on our return, so far very impressed. Definitely recommend.

thanks for your advice fellow forumers!

We go over 5/6 times a year and always book in the uk before we go on the net as if it's busy you might not get one when you get there you pay when you pick the car up at the airport so there's no problems
If you going pek time book plenty in advance for the cheapest price you do not need to take extra insurance out you can get a yearly one at home that covers this for about £40.00 covering you for as many trips as you want if you make a few it works out cheaper .
Just depends how many trip you are going to make and hire a car.
Just look on a car hire for spain there's lots of compare sites and you can pick up from any airport. Be careful on the fuel some you can take car back full and your money is refunded on your card this is the cheapest way as we never use much fuel.VERY IMPORTANT you can only pay by CREDIT CARD not cash or DEBIT CARD.
If you don't have one then no car
Hope this helps.

Hi, we used ' Arrow Car Hire' in Quesada before getting our own car. Not brand spanking new cars but reliable, could be booked online and paid cash at airport when greeted by their guy.

Return to airport (or to Quesada if not needed for the duration of your stay), no full tank nonsense (just replace roughly what you use) put keys in boot - 'jobs a good one').

Good, reliable service - contact Eddie.

Hi Renting a car in Spain i find very easy to do when i book my flights with either Ryanair or Monarch (or so I thought) please let this be a warning to all. I booked a VW Polo from GOLDCAR whilst booking through Monarch a pretty seemless process i paid £35 for the car for 4 days. The problems started when We got to Goldcar the sales Ladyat the desk welcomed us wiith a smile and immediatly asked me to upgrade to a VW Golf as the car we had booked was not very good. i declined as this is the usual sales patter to get a bit more money in the coffers she did not take this very well and started muttering under her breath. She thentold me i must take out the excess insurance which i declined as I have my own (we are frequent visitors to The area and took out an annual policy after reading about it on this site) The sales Lady was very agressive in trying to sell this insurance and was very angry we did not purchase it. I knew they would need a Credit card to take a deposit which she snatched from me and said she would be blocking 900 euros in case and then said the dont work with private excess policies so it was upto me to sort it out if there was a problem. ( upon returning to the Uk i found she had blocked 2500 Euros) i understood the Fuel policy i.e your charged for a full tank and refunded the difference when you return the vehicle but have never actually had the money taken before and i always return the vehicle full to avoid being ripped off. They Charged the equivalent of £74 for a tank of Diesel. We went to collect the vehicle and the sales lady's description was very acurate it was not very good. Every single panel on the car was dented and scratched the cigarette lighter socket was not working so satnav was not being charged. The windscreen had a crack in it and the boot opened when it felt like it. I should of declined the vehicle at this point but wanted to get to the hotel. I have driven some bangers in my time but this car did not feel safe it pulled to the left and frequently stalled when idling at a junction. We persisted as it was not going to ruin our weekend. Upon returning the car to the airport we passed back the keys and took our flight home. I recieved an email from them to say they were going to refund 8 / 8 of the unused fuel which is a full tank. They only refunded £42 when i queried this they said it was an admin charge and i should of read the small print. I did then quote the small print which states they may charge 18 euros not £32 i still await a reply.
Please let everyone know about the treatment you are going to recieve at GOLDCAR Alicante airport. I will vote with my feet and not use them again.

I have to say I never had a bad experience with Goldcar in Alicante airport. We always got a decent fresh car and as I never take out the extra insurance they don't even bother trying to sell it to me now.



Yes the fuel is dear by comparison with the local service station but when you weigh up the price of the car then it does even itself out. Booked today for next week and got a Polo for €31 for 7 days so really cant complain.