Hire cars

We have never had a problem with Open Car in Quesada but we always ask for the CDW extra insurance, which they don't mention, but if you don't have it there's a 600 euro excess. Also we have yearly 'insurance for hire car' for about £50, which is cheaper than taking out the insurance with the hire company each time for any damage to tyres/windows/roof/interior & chasis.
It is a minefield though, we had a bad experience with a car in Minorca years back (Avis) when we picked up the car we didn't notice until the next day that there was damaged plastic on the dashboard but wrongly & stupidly assumed that it would have been noted before we picked up car. Long story... but we were charged loads, refused to pay, credit card refunded and were fighting the debt with Avis head office for 3 years, eventually winning and getting a letter proving we had nothing to pay...it was a nightmare!!! Ever since then I always make sure we have all insurances and excess/extras covered when collecting the car, so even if they or we don't notice some damage we are not liable.
Would much prefer to have our own car really but only being there about 3 months a year, it doesn't seem worth it.

Jan. You should buy an older car. Have a look the car sales on the El Raso rounabout.

Sounds like a good idea in principle but then older cars can have more problems and being left unused sometimes for up to 6 months is not so good. Also being here at the right time for the Spanish MOT might be difficult.

We are seriously thinking of driving over with a car from the UK and leaving it there for our holidays and driving it back on our last visit of the year. I know we are only allowed 6 months with a UK car but it would save us hiring a car while we are there and then we would get it back to the UK for the winter until the next year.

I'm usually in Spain for around 3 months a year, too. My car is 8 years old, but has low mileage. I've just been through the Suma and service ITV process. As far as the Suma is concerned I went into the office when I first bought the car (last October) and got registered. Then a friend of mine took the money along to the office this year, and was told that he wouldn't be able to do it again, and they gave him the dd forms. I filled them in, sent them off, and now sorted!! As far as servicing is concerned, I took my car in to the garage on Lo Marabu (by El Faro). I was told that it was reasonable, but after asking around I found that it was very expensive!! Still, car passed ITV. The only problem is that you can't have advance dating on the ITV. The previous one was in July; I had mine done in June - so lost a month!! As I won't go out to Spain again in June (I learnt my lesson with the heat!!) and I will most probably go out in May I will lose another month! A friend of mine has my car keys and keeps the engine turned over, so it is ready to drive when I get over there. Some friends take the battery out, or put it on charge when they arrive, but mine is so sensitive that if I took the battery out I would have to re-set too many things!! I know a lot of people drive an English car in Spain, but after driving a Spanish car I can see some of the problems - especially when you want to get a ticket for the car park!!!:lol:

I've got an idea - We could take one of those long grabbers with a trigger handle, the ones made for elderly people to pick things up from the floor, to grab the car-park ticket through the passenger window when only one of us is out in the car ....good eh !

The other problem I can see is overtaking - either we take a high-driving position make of car or don't overtake (which suits me as I don't overtake anyway when driving unless absolutely necessary! I'm an over careful driver, much to the frustration of 'im indoors )

hi, i have used all the companies mentioned in previous replies,
this year i used carspain i got a c3 for 19 days inj july/august for
195 euro + fuel , think that was a pretty good deal, picked car up at airport

Do Here and Now have a website? How much would they charge for a small car from 10th to 17th September?

Glyn wrote:Here and There SL has been established for over five years in the Costa Blanca area, based in Benijofar.
Contact Peter Kennedy on (0034) 966 717 535
(0034) 649 173 739 or email [email protected]

Hi AnneDC,
Just found this, above, from an earlier posting on this topic by Glyn.

As with all car-hires, it's a good idea to check the excesses and whether CDW is included. We have hired for years and only recently realised that any damage generally has an excess that has to be paid by the renter (can be around 600 euros), even though the hire company says insurance included. Luckily we never had any scrapes but now we do our best to make sure all is covered. See the previous postings on the other pages of this topic, if you need any information about this.

We use Opencar, they have been good so far and do not charge for a full tank, they just leave the tank with a small amount of petrol in (usually about 15 euros). Also no charge for another driver but they do have excesses and do not automatically include CDW unless one asks (see previous posts for more info). It's cheaper to get the yearly top up insurance from a specialised company for about £50 to cover any possible excesses and tyres/windows/locks etc (again see previous postings).

Hope this helps.

We had a problem getting a car rental for some of 'er indoors' family due to it being left to the last minute. ALL of the local and aforementioned companies couldn't supply a car between them. In the end, resorted to "Europcar" in Torrevieja, who gave choice of vehicle, prompt service, and charged less than we were being quoted by local, smaller companies (for cars that they didn't actually have to rent). You can never tell