Talk Quesada forum

Use Firefly at Alicante airport, they have a very civilised ticket queue system that means you aren't seeing queue jumpers when it's busy. Take out your own insurance prior to the trip, fuel full to full, use your phone camera to record any damage, check underneath, spare tyre, interior and take a pic of dashboard for mileage and fuel gauge. Remove hire sticker from back of car and put somewhere safe to replace before you return the vehicle. Drive safely, never exceed speed limit even if you think the road is empty and free of police. Keep spare change for tolls, you may come across one unexpectedly. Pay all parking fees, try and park in a safe area and leave clearance if possible to minimise risk of people opening their door and denting yours. If the car gets covered in Quesada red dust ( high chance) take it to the car wash prior to return and give it a 1 euro blast to clear the grime, replace hire sticker on back of car. Clean interior especially sand in the boot and foot wells. On return use the garage next to the airport to fill right up and keep the receipt, have all paperwork with you and take a photo of the dashboard again showing mileage and fuel. Check the vehicle is empty and be courteous and polite when approaching the attendant with the clipboard. Wait until he or she is ready, don't show impatience. Show the petrol receipt before they ask for it and let them see that you have all paperwork in your hand. Hopefully, so long as you haven't hit a tree during your trip, you will be waved along with a friendly smile, deduction free. Of course there's no accounting for the random nature of life and even though you follow this guide, chaos may ensue and you will end up with a hefty bill, no fault of your own. Good luck, the roulette wheel of car hire is about to be turned once more.

Yan wrote:Use Firefly at Alicante airport, they have a very civilised ticket queue system that means you aren't seeing queue jumpers when it's busy. Take out your own insurance prior to the trip, fuel full to full, use your phone camera to record any damage, check underneath, spare tyre, interior and take a pic of dashboard for mileage and fuel gauge. Remove hire sticker from back of car and put somewhere safe to replace before you return the vehicle. Drive safely, never exceed speed limit even if you think the road is empty and free of police. Keep spare change for tolls, you may come across one unexpectedly. Pay all parking fees, try and park in a safe area and leave clearance if possible to minimise risk of people opening their door and denting yours. If the car gets covered in Quesada red dust ( high chance) take it to the car wash prior to return and give it a 1 euro blast to clear the grime, replace hire sticker on back of car. Clean interior especially sand in the boot and foot wells. On return use the garage next to the airport to fill right up and keep the receipt, have all paperwork with you and take a photo of the dashboard again showing mileage and fuel. Check the vehicle is empty and be courteous and polite when approaching the attendant with the clipboard. Wait until he or she is ready, don't show impatience. Show the petrol receipt before they ask for it and let them see that you have all paperwork in your hand. Hopefully, so long as you haven't hit a tree during your trip, you will be waved along with a friendly smile, deduction free. Of course there's no accounting for the random nature of life and even though you follow this guide, chaos may ensue and you will end up with a hefty bill, no fault of your own. Good luck, the roulette wheel of car hire is about to be turned once more.

Can I just clarify for those new to car hire that the 'own' insurance being mentioned on this topic is actually excess insurance which covers any excess that the hire company charge for damage.

All decent car hire companies will cover their cars by normal comprehensive car insurance in the hire price and the excess insurance will and should be non-obligatory. Any hire company who says that you 'should' or 'must' buy this extra insurance is trying it on.

Having a personal annual excess insurance which is under £50 a year is well worth it and a decent hire company will not pressurise people to buy their excess insurance.

There are decent companies out there who do not try it on, just ask on here.

Cheap car hire is not always the best!

We generally use Opencar and have never had problems - They do not advertise or sponsor our forum but I personally have found them easy and honest to deal with. There are other good ones too just check on the forum before hiring.

I can honestly say that I have NEVER had an issue using Firefly through DoYouSpain. As mentioned above...go full to full, and take lots of photos! Firefly don't put stickers on the cars, which is an added bonus.

They've never pressurised us to take insurance. We know the score, so give a polite 'no gracias', and hand over the credit card.

We have our own excess insurance, and as Jan mentioned - if they say you HAVE to take their insurance, they are lying...take your business elsewhere.

Returning the vehicle - again as mentioned above - has always been easy, and generally no more than a mileage check, a petrol check, and a cursory glance around the outside.

I've never had a penny (or cent!) charged.

Nothing but praise for them...and I'd always use DYS as it's cheaper - for the same vehicle - than going direct with Firefly. DYS also allow you to cancel free of charge, so we tend to book way in advance, and then keep checking regularly.

car hire is a mind field with the companies at the airports , all that has been said before is absolutely true
one little tip from an ex panel beater/sprayer, look down both sides of the car for dents using a torch , any little scratches you may have missed touch in with some nail varnish during your stay, good range of colours (even metallics) from the chinese shop in quesada, black is the easiest to match .
we are using centaura for the first time on our next visit ,any problems with them ??

ALAN T, if you use nail varnish on the paintwork, what colour lippy do we use on the radiator grill

just come back - we hired via zest insurance in the uk - and took their insurance - when we picked up the car from driveuela they did not give us any hassle , excepted this insurance, we were in and out of the office within 15/20 mins and when we returned it - they checked it over and refunded the deposit they took from our credit card. I could not fault them and will probably book with them again direct

After 5 years of Using Goldcar 5 or 6 times a year with no problem they finally caught us with a damage claim. I have never taken their insurance and indeed they don't even offer it to me anymore. Left the car back at 6am and of course no one there to check it. I normally get an email within a day to say how much petrol was left and a credit but not this time (June 17). When the July card statement came in I saw a charge by Goldcar for €976. I rang them and they said it was for damage, I asked for proof and was told to email them I did but got no response. So after a week waiting I contacted my card company who took the claim on board and reversed the charge. Lo & behold a few days later Goldcar sent me an invoice & photos of damage which was not there when we parked it.
I denied all knowledge of damage and the card company closed the case with no payment to Goldcar. So its bye bye Goldcar going to try Wheels in Spain next time anybody used them before ? no credit card surcharge just pay on collection.

PLEASE BEWARE!
Record Go rent a car charged my credit card £900 a few weeks after returning it at Alicante Airport with no problems.
They refused to answer my emails as I asked for an explanation for the bill. (How can they bill you for something without even explaining why?)
My credit card company finally got a reply from them saying I had gone over the mileage allowance and also caused damage.
Both these are untrue and we are now having to dispute the claim.
Please please beware, as there is nothing stopping them from doing this every time someone rents out without taking out their extortionate insurance.
I’m horrified that they can do this and the innocent person has a fight to prove they’ve done nothing wrong.