Tip to try when booking Car Hire

Not posting to whinge or complain, but may be something to try if it suits when booking Car Hire at costly times of year . . . .

We're out for a Month over Easter (mid March to mid April) and went to book Car Hire on our usual Site, RentalCars with Firefly. When the options came up the Months hire price was horrific . . . after a hissy-fit, I decided to try splitting it into 2 bookings to see what happened as some family were coming out half way through the period so I was going back to the Airport anyway to collect them. By splitting it into 2 bookings the overall cost was less than half that quoted for the one booking for some reason. . . . I drop original car off, pick up new car about an hour later when family arrive and save a fortune. I may end up with double deposit on my Credit Card for a day or two but worth a try . . . .

We do the same with Firefly through DoyouSpain. We were out for 2 months before Christmas and split the rental into two 1 month blocks for half the price. Shortly we are back in Spain for 2 months again and this time with Easter we have found it cheaper to split into 3 blocks, 2 x 3 weeks and 1 x 2 weeks. OK so it means 2 trips to the airport but last time we dropped the car off and picked the new one up by 11:30 am and drove to Santa Pola marina for a spot of lunch so we made a day of it.

As you say Babu,it is much cheaper than renting in one hit.

Sounds a good idea - but doesn’t that multiply the hassle taking the cars back as they examine the cars in ever increasing detail for a scratch or scuff on the bodywork? (Unless you pay the extra insurance)

amiller wrote:Sounds a good idea - but doesn’t that multiply the hassle taking the cars back as they examine the cars in ever increasing detail for a scratch or scuff on the bodywork? (Unless you pay the extra insurance)

We've never had any hassle with Firefly (touch wood). We make sure we go over the car with a fine toothcomb when we pick it up and take photos of any big scratches or dents, but like I say they've never been a problem.

Before we moved out last year we used Firefly numerous times and never had any issues with them when returning any of the cars.

Firefly were very cheap one year, but car offerred had so many dings, dents and scuffs itemised on paperwork, (29),the booking clerk got me a better model, although a fiat 500,
The front disk brakes went metal to metal, unfortunately, so I rang them from Los Alcazares to report the problem.
They said, OK bring car back to Alicante (100kms) and we will exchange,
What a trip...but was given a Fiat Panda instead!
Drivalia are the company for me...book thro, hirecarsinspain.co.uk!