Talk Quesada forum

Hello! The car hire company (Dickmans) have charged me, on top of the deposit for the car, for a full tank of fuel (about €80) and a service charge (about €20 for putting it in).
The car is a Polo, I wouldn't have thought a full tank would be as much as €80, so my question is; does anyone know from experience whether it's worth filling before return and hoping for something back from them or just leaving it with the €80 in place for the fuel?

from experience they don't care they will still charge you the fee whatever you do all you can do is use it all up !! , there are a few of the rental companys doing full to full now but most do this expensive extra , the only escape is upto 4 days rental which all companys do full to full

Some one on this site had said they were a good firm!! if they have charged you for putting the fuel in that is a total RIP OFF, I have a much larger car and can only get 65 euros in I would say a polo would take no more than 55 euros MAX so its a definite CON but you really do need to ask about the fuel return policy to be sure. please let us know how you get on for future reference.

Cheers

Horrgakx wrote:Hello! The car hire company (Dickmans) have charged me, on top of the deposit for the car, for a full tank of fuel (about €80) and a service charge (about €20 for putting it in).
The car is a Polo, I wouldn't have thought a full tank would be as much as €80, so my question is; does anyone know from experience whether it's worth filling before return and hoping for something back from them or just leaving it with the €80 in place for the fuel?

Hi Horrgakx,

I had never heard of Dickmans until the recent topic 'Hiring a car without a credit card' was posted and they were the only ones mentioned that seem to allow hiring without a credit card, maybe that says it all.

That does sound an extortionate amount to charge to fill up a small car... and the 20euro, what's that about - Never heard of that before?

We haven't used a car hire company that charges for a full tank of petrol for years. Opencar, who we use now, only charge for a nominal amount of petrol, usually around 20 to 25 euros and it can be brought back as empty as possible.

I personally wouldn't take a chance filling it up unless you check with them first about the refund - They may not refund and then it will cost you more.

Let us know how you get on. Good luck!

Jan

we use SOL MAR and always collect full return full no problems about 90 Euros for ten day hire

Hi I have been through this many times over the last few years and at this stage I reckon I have rented from every company at Alicante (and Murcia) airports. What you normally will find is the "cheaper" car hire firms will often make back their money with the price for the full/empty option. What I normally do is if I feel I wont be using the full tank of fuel for a long weekend for example I will go for a full/full and pay what normally amounts to slightly less than the full/empty with the price they charge for a full tank. You normally get what you pay for, if the daily rate is very cheap you normally will pay the extra for the fuel. Sometime the "cheapest" isn't the cheapest in the long run. The same sort of thing applies to the insurance excess choices. I normally buy and annual excess insurance policy in Ireland that covers any excess for any car rental and makes choices easier. Noel

We visit Spain about four times a year. We use DoYouSpain for our car hire. We choose the type of car we want, pay for it and we are then allotted a car hire firm. We have been given Dickmanns in the past with no trouble. This June we were given Dickmanns again, refused the extra insurance and paid the security money. When we got home we realised they took from our credit card the cost of the fuel plus the 300 euros security deposit. I contacted Dickmanns who would not speak to me so emailed DoYouSpain. I received a one line reply from them saying your money has been refunded. At the end of the month we received our credit statement with the refund minus £24 for transfer fees. I again contacted DoYouSpain but they have ignored all my emails. I will not be using Dickmanns or DoYouSpain again. Has anyone else had a similar incident and how did they deal with it?

I come to Spain six times a year and use Centauro. Haven't had any problems with them and I'm now a Gold Club member which gives me free upgrades and points that can be redeemed against future rentals. No queuing at airport pick up, option to either go full to full or pay for full tank and get rebound on unused fuel. New cars and friendly efficient service.

As have mentioned several times, have used Aeroautos http://www.aeroautos.es/eng/index.php for the last two years, about 4 times a year. Never any problems, never any nasty surprises, you pay what they quote, no extra fuel charges or insurance etc. Have also recommended to firends and all have been very happy with rates and service.
On top of which they are very competitive, no airport waiting and just go next day to pay in their offices in Quesada, could not be simpler.

There are other small companies that offer a similar service but I will be sticking to Aeroautos for the foreseeable future.

We use Goldcar and have never had a problem. Book online directly and they do a full tank and refund the balance with a €16 charge. Looked at the others suggested above and find them all much more expensive. We have booked a Fiesta for a week in Sept @ €86 + fuel which includes €21 for priority service to avoid the often long queues that can be at the Goldcar desk. Never pay for extras and they don't even ask us anymore as we have an annual excess policy for €50. Definitely cant fault them even got a car in January for a whole month for €105 !