Worst Car Rental Firm - GOLDCAR

[camelspyyder]

Warning to anyone going to Spain, do not use GOLDCAR - they are a bunch of robbing dogs.

 

When using a Car search engine - like rentalcars.com for instance - GOLDCAR appears in the lists with competitive looking prices.

 

However, in the small print it does say that, unlike many others, GOLDCAR don't disclose their admin charges to Rentalcars.com. No wonder.

 

So a 4 week rental was advertised and bought at 276Euro online, but at the Airport on arrival GOLDACR wanted 105 Euros for prepay Fuel (70+Euros alone) and Airport taxes.

When I refueled the car later from empty, it only held 45Euros worth!

 

As if that wasn't enough, after signing the car in with no damage or other charges noted, 2 weeks later we found GOLDCAR had grabbed another 220 Euros from our credit card - charging again for the fuel, and adding a 140Euro extra cleaning charge. Just how clean do they expect the car to be after 4 rainy weeks on a volcanic island.

 

So my 276Euro rental cost 521Euro.

 

I have since fought them for refunds of the 220Euro and got most of it back, but this is not an isolated case.

 

Never rent from GOLDCAR. The other rental we had on that holiday with AVIS/Budget was completely painless and had no hidden extras.

[camelspyyder]

I forgot. They've spun off a sub-brand called RHODIUM which operates out of the same offices/parking facilities.  I suspect they may be going to bin the GOLDCAR name in the future to hide it's reputation.

[mac11irl]

I have only ever used Hertz as despite the higher cost and "some" customer reviews, ive never had an issue with them, never has extra charges etc.

Only issue is depending on flight arrival times, queues can be mental at desks and dog slow while they retype your whole life story into a network operated by carrier pidgeon ( idont get that, they have all the details from the online booking! Just verify my license, address and cars numbers and give me my bloody keys!!) 

 

I have booked with Interrent via autoeurope for sicily, but that because they had an offer rate for the no charge excess that made them still cheaper than hertz, and by experience,logic and reviews, theyre not gonna try to fleece you if youve paid for "their extra cover" already.. hire car can be a minefield though..

Like most things... if its seems stupidly cheap, theres a reason, its gonna cost you somewhere..

[Chester]

Whenever we are in the Canaries we always use Auto Reisen.

 

Not the most modern of cars but always good value.

 

Last December we paid £60 for a C3 Picasso for a week - all included. No charge for airport pickup, no charge for extra driver etc. Never had any issues with damage charges from them.

[newtooctavia]

On 14/03/2018 at 14:54, Chester said:

Whenever we are in the Canaries we always use Auto Reisen.

 

Not the most modern of cars but always good value.

 

Last December we paid £60 for a C3 Picasso for a week - all included. No charge for airport pickup, no charge for extra driver etc. Never had any issues with damage charges from them.

Sounds like a great deal

[SuperbTWM]

I have heard about Goldcar and their antics before so make sure i stay away from them.

On 14/03/2018 at 14:54, Chester said:

Whenever we are in the Canaries we always use Auto Reisen.

 

Not the most modern of cars but always good value.

 

Last December we paid £60 for a C3 Picasso for a week - all included. No charge for airport pickup, no charge for extra driver etc. Never had any issues with damage charges from them.

 

Canaries are dirt cheap for rentals, never had any issues over there. We rented a car for 2 weeks with a child seat for less than my mate paid just for renting a child seat alone for 1 week in Italy

 

I was worried the first time because the car had a load of damage they never recorded on the sheet, but after 2 more holidays and car rentals it became obvious that their mentality is that they just arn't that bothered as long as the car comes back with all its wheels on.

Edited 15 March, 2018 by SuperbTWM

[camelspyyder]

This incident was actually in the Canaries. To be honest 80euro a week for an MPV sounds great but they took almost double. Earlier in the trip I paid only 50euro for a C3 for a week from AVIS. I'm using them again next time.

[mac11irl]

I always bring our own car seat with us - joy of our lads age - its a free bring along with ryanair .

Esp given the rates they charge for them!

[skomaz]

Oh bugger...   Just booked to go to the balearics and the deal included a rental car for the week which we've found is via...   goldcar!

 

Can't change it now unfortunately but will be VERY wary.  I always have my own hire excess insurance so won't get fleeced on that but I can see me taking before and after pictures for evidence etc...

[SuperbTWM]

12 minutes ago, skomaz said:

can see me taking before and after pictures for evidence etc...

Good practice regardless

 

53 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

I always bring our own car seat with us - joy of our lads age - its a free bring along with ryanair .

Esp given the rates they charge for them!

Autoresin provided us a seat for free in Gran Canaria last year so its worth checking, couldn't do with the hassle of cases, buggy and a car seat.

[roaddetective]

19 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Oh bugger...   Just booked to go to the balearics and the deal included a rental car for the week which we've found is via...   goldcar!

 

Can't change it now unfortunately but will be VERY wary.  I always have my own hire excess insurance so won't get fleeced on that but I can see me taking before and after pictures for evidence etc...

Be careful, be very very careful. Had a holiday in Lanzarote late last year. Hired a car via the internet from Goldcar. Used the car okay but as I don't trust hire car companys, I wonder why, when I took it back at the end of the holiday, I parked it as asked in the airport car park.  I took photos of all sides of the car when I parked it reversed into the bay, to show there was no damage at the end of my hire. There was then a sign saying leave the keys in a box outside their portacabin, which was empty of staff. Bugger that I thought, I want somebody to look at the car and sign it off as undamaged. There was nobody from Goldcar around. I then found their office in the airport where there was only one lady at the desk. She could not leave the desk so I said when I gave her the keys, sign off the car as undamaged and I have taken pictures to prove it. She did sign the official form. Once back to good old Blighty, a few weeks later on checking my credit card statement, the sum of £430 had been taken out of my account by Goldcar. I tried contacting them via email, no reply. Tried contacting them via telephone but they would not put me through to anybody who could explain the bill. Eventually they stated I had damaged the car on the lower grill and they sent a photo of broken parts. The photo was taken with the parts sitting on the car seat. Where those parts came from and what car they came off, who knows. My photos showed no damage to the car, so how they can have the bloody cheek to scam me, I do not know. I even sent Goldcar all my photos. Anyway, I was getting nowhere with them so I claimed the £430 from my credit card company, explaining the situation. Note- I also took out my own excess insurance before the holiday, but it in my eyes it did not seem fair claiming off them, as I did not damage the car.  The credit card company fully understood when I talked to them, as these false claims come through to them all the time, so they certainly know what  a bunch of crooks Goldcar can be. To cut a long story short, my credit card company gave me back the full amount. Moral of the story, don't go to a cheap company when hiring a car. But no matter who you hire one from, take loads of photos at the end of hire and pay with a credit card, not a debit. Bloody hell, that was a rant!!

[skomaz]

8 minutes ago, roaddetective said:

Be careful, be very very careful. Had a holiday in Lanzarote late last year. Hired a car via the internet from Goldcar. Used the car okay but as I don't trust hire car companys, I wonder why, when I took it back at the end of the holiday, I parked it as asked in the airport car park.  I took photos of all sides of the car when I parked it reversed into the bay, to show there was no damage at the end of my hire. There was then a sign saying leave the keys in a box outside their portacabin, which was empty of staff. Bugger that I thought, I want somebody to look at the car and sign it off as undamaged. There was nobody from Goldcar around. I then found their office in the airport where there was only one lady at the desk. She could not leave the desk so I said when I gave her the keys, sign off the car as undamaged and I have taken pictures to prove it. She did sign the official form. Once back to good old Blighty, a few weeks later on checking my credit card statement, the sum of £430 had been taken out of my account by Goldcar. I tried contacting them via email, no reply. Tried contacting them via telephone but they would not put me through to anybody who could explain the bill. Eventually they stated I had damaged the car on the lower grill and they sent a photo of broken parts. The photo was taken with the parts sitting on the car seat. Where those parts came from and what car they came off, who knows. My photos showed no damage to the car, so how they can have the bloody cheek to scam me, I do not know. I even sent Goldcar all my photos. Anyway, I was getting nowhere with them so I claimed the £430 from my credit card company, explaining the situation. Note- I also took out my own excess insurance before the holiday, but it in my eyes it did not seem fair claiming off them, as I did not damage the car.  The credit card company fully understood when I talked to them, as these false claims come through to them all the time, so they certainly know what  a bunch of crooks Goldcar can be. To cut a long story short, my credit card company gave me back the full amount. Moral of the story, don't go to a cheap company when hiring a car. But no matter who you hire one from, take loads of photos at the end of hire and pay with a credit card, not a debit. Bloody hell, that was a rant!!

 

Thanks for the info and advice.  I'm usually very careful and have done photos in the past but bwill be more wary.  The card claim if fleeced has also been suggested already by my wife.  Just wishing now we had known in advance and could have declined or changed hire CO.

[Kenrw8]

Did you know that Europcar car rental bought Goldcar in June 17 for 500m euro.

 

In fact there are only a few car rental firms that have numerous brands , for instance Firefly is Hertz brand , Budget is a Avis brand , Alamo and National are Enterprise brands to name few.

Edited 16 March, 2018 by Kenrw8

[mac11irl]

Had a feeling about firefly and hertz alright as they tend to desk share in a lot of places..

[skomaz]

7 hours ago, Kenrw8 said:

Did you know that Europcar car rental bought Goldcar in June 17 for 500m euro.

 

In fact there are only a few car rental firms that have numerous brands , for instance Firefly is Hertz brand , Budget is a Avis brand , Alamo and National are Enterprise brands to name few.

 

Never had an issue with Europcar before...   maybe they'll knock Goldcar into shape???

[camelspyyder]

Speaking of stupid rental firms. Dollar/Thrifty.

 

If you arrive at a UK airport and you are a non-resident a licence, ID & credit card gets you a car.

 

If you are a UK resident, it does not.  You need a current utility bill and bank statement - needless to say when coming back into the country after 7 weeks I did not have either, even though my vehicle booking had been accepted 2 weeks before with no mention of the conditions.

 

I was just about to rant at them when she said if I had an outbound Flight number they would treat me as a non-resident (there was me thinking my Jersey passport would do that anyway?). Since I had booked already to go away in August, I quoted that flight number and she let me have the car for a 1 day hire as requested.

 

Completely ridiculous.

[Kenrw8]

Did you know that Dollar was a subsidiary of Hertz and 2016 Dollar merged with Hertz.

 

For what it's worth Booking Holdings that trade as the following brands Booking.com, Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Kayak.com, Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com, Momondo, and OpenTable

 

Edited 16 March, 2018 by Kenrw8