Renting a Car in Spain. Tips?

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound You have not met any pickpocket, right? And never face-to-face anyway.

As I recall saying sometime previously.......I look like someone who's going to hit you up for a dollar, not Daddy Warbucks.....(apologies to Little Orphan Annie).

[NW-Bound]

My mother was just here for dinner. She told me some years ago, while in Rome, she saw a man crossing the road getting his wallet snatched from him. From the inside breast pocket of his jacket or the front pocket of his shirt!

The victim cried out loud, and the whole crowd could see the bad guy running away down the street, and nobody could do anything. Round the corner, he would pass it to an accomplice, so if he got caught there would be no evidence anyway.

[explanade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I assumed I would rent directly from one of the car rental companies at the airport.

You want to book before you leave.

Rates go up as you approach your actual travel dates.

Cars are one of the first things I prepay for, though there are options to pay later.

Start first with rentalcars.com and autoeurope.com. If you have Avis or other agency accounts, you can check those as well but you generally won't find lower rates.

Read the fine print about one-way fees. Typically not included in the rental.

See if you have premium credit card which will cover the deductible. But you have to decline CDW. However, in many countries you can't decline CDW so a card like Chase Sapphire REserve will be a secondary card.

I would discourage driving just after getting off a 10 hours or more international flight. I've done it but the warning is that it's like driving under the influence, after a long time ride, across multiple time zones.

Would be better to spend a night before trying to do much driving.

Unfortunate thing about Madrid is that you have to go into the city to take long train or bus trips.

Be wary of regional auto rental chains If it's a Spanish company, they may have reputation for claiming damage.

Check the car when you get it, go around look for clear signs of damage ahead of time. If you see something they didn't call out in the rental contract, point it out to them. Also take videos or photos if necessary.


Don't pay for extras like GPS. Instead you can save locations in Google Maps as Favorites and if you open Google Maps on your phone, while logged in with the same Google account, those saved Favorites will be easier to re-find.

You need data access though to stream Google Maps for longer trips. So you need a charger cable and a cigarette lighter to USB adapter if you plan to use navigation on your phone a lot. Also need some kind of way to mount it higher on the dash, typically there are clips that mount to the heating and AC vents on the car.


Other types of fees which may not be included in your rental contract include highway use fees and pick up and drop off fees for airports and train stations.

If you do rent from rentalcars.com or autoeurope.com, they have apps. to which you can download vouchers so you don't have to print them out if you don't want to.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade ... I would discourage driving just after getting off a 10 hours or more international flight. I've done it but the warning is that it's like driving under the influence, after a long time ride, across multiple time zones. Would be better to spend a night before trying to do much driving...

In the recent trip, after arriving in BCN at 3PM, I got the car and drove 1 hour out of Barcelona to spend the night at a small Spanish town just 60 miles north. Although we never have problem with jetlag, I did not risk driving all the way to Andorra. I had time, so why rushed it?

Walking around the little town that evening and the morning after was good. I liked to see how people lived. And from a distance, I happened to see the hotel owner pointing at us while talking to her friends. The town did not often have international visitors. It was a nice little town with a population of 4000, and people were friendly. No signs of graffiti that we could see, and the streets were clean. Nobody spoke much English though. It was quite different than Barcelona, although only 60 miles away.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade I would discourage driving just after getting off a 10 hours or more international flight. I've done it but the warning is that it's like driving under the influence, after a long time ride, across multiple time zones. Would be better to spend a night before trying to do much driving.

We’re flying to Madrid from Lisbon that day, so flight should be an hour at most.

Thanks for the other tips.

[chris2008]

You may check out the free app Maps.me .
At home you load up maps of your destination country. To use it in country no data is necessary, only GPS. You can use it for driving and walking.

[NW-Bound]

I had Maps.me installed on my Android phone, but ended up using Google Maps, which I used with pre-stored maps. I already used Google Maps on my PC for trip planning.

A driving traveler I encountered said he used Waze, which he said was good enough to be bought out by Google. He said it was better than Google Maps. I have not tried this out.

[DrRoy]

We have rented from Rome, Paris, and London, but not Spain. Mostly Budget or Enterprise. Get a CC with insurance coverage and drop it from the rental co. You might practice stick shift a bit before you go. Auto trans is double the cost.

[EarlyBirdly]

Here's the best simple tip out there: ALWAYS rent from a well known American Company, and do it before you leave the States.

Your pricing will be better, any problems are more easily resolved, and you will be much happier with the experience overall.

I just spent the last 30 years "researching" this very thing.



Have Fun!

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound My mother was just here for dinner. She told me some years ago, while in Rome, she saw a man crossing the road getting his wallet snatched from him. From the inside breast pocket of his jacket or the front pocket of his shirt! The victim cried out loud, and the whole crowd could see the bad guy running away down the street, and nobody could do anything. Round the corner, he would pass it to an accomplice, so if he got caught there would be no evidence anyway.

Inside breast pocket of loose sport coat is easy pickens for them. Saw it attempted in Paris subway station on guy going down escalator & picker running up. He missed & kept running.

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade You want to book before you leave. Rates go up as you approach your actual travel dates. Cars are one of the first things I prepay for, though there are options to pay later. Start first with rentalcars.com and autoeurope.com. If you have Avis or other agency accounts, you can check those as well but you generally won't find lower rates. Read the fine print about one-way fees. Typically not included in the rental. See if you have premium credit card which will cover the deductible. But you have to decline CDW. However, in many countries you can't decline CDW so a card like Chase Sapphire REserve will be a secondary card. I would discourage driving just after getting off a 10 hours or more international flight. I've done it but the warning is that it's like driving under the influence, after a long time ride, across multiple time zones. Would be better to spend a night before trying to do much driving. Unfortunate thing about Madrid is that you have to go into the city to take long train or bus trips. Be wary of regional auto rental chains If it's a Spanish company, they may have reputation for claiming damage. Check the car when you get it, go around look for clear signs of damage ahead of time. If you see something they didn't call out in the rental contract, point it out to them. Also take videos or photos if necessary. Don't pay for extras like GPS. Instead you can save locations in Google Maps as Favorites and if you open Google Maps on your phone, while logged in with the same Google account, those saved Favorites will be easier to re-find. You need data access though to stream Google Maps for longer trips. So you need a charger cable and a cigarette lighter to USB adapter if you plan to use navigation on your phone a lot. Also need some kind of way to mount it higher on the dash, typically there are clips that mount to the heating and AC vents on the car. Other types of fees which may not be included in your rental contract include highway use fees and pick up and drop off fees for airports and train stations. If you do rent from rentalcars.com or autoeurope.com, they have apps. to which you can download vouchers so you don't have to print them out if you don't want to.

Using Eurocar, never had an extra fee for leaving off in another location nor at a train station. Only extra fee was when I left off in another country; e.g.' France to Belgium.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris2008 You may check out the free app Maps.me . At home you load up maps of your destination country. To use it in country no data is necessary, only GPS. You can use it for driving and walking.

We’re well set up on our iPhones with T-mobile service in Europe. It’s worked very well. We often follow on buses and trains.

I may choose GPS if it’s truly €1 a day as autoeurope implied. Following a phone is not that convenient if the driver can’t see the display. I intend to print the route for my navigator so that he does not get confused. A lot of sites have recommended ViaMichelin as a good one for routes as they give printed highway signs and detailed speed limit info plus toll amounts. And warn of the spots with speed trap cameras. Now if only I could get it to give me the simplest route instead of some odd looking shortcuts.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrRoy We have rented from Rome, Paris, and London, but not Spain. Mostly Budget or Enterprise. Get a CC with insurance coverage and drop it from the rental co. You might practice stick shift a bit before you go. Auto trans is double the cost.

Not worried about the cost - i.e. saving a few hundred bucks. It’s all about convenience while driving at this point. Will probably go full freight with the coverage too even though I have the appropriate credit card insurance coverage. Really don’t want to have to hassle with with the paperwork and details to save $100 - $200.

Not seeing a huge extra charge for automatic right now as long as it’s a compact car. Probably because it’s just a six day rental. In the states we don’t rent smaller cars, but in Europe bigger is not better.

This is the kind of thing where we may choose to save in the future as we gain experience, but first time out is intimidating enough. I’d prefer not to rent a car at all, but clearly this particular excursion requires it.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarlyBirdly Here's the best simple tip out there: ALWAYS rent from a well known American Company, and do it before you leave the States. Your pricing will be better, any problems are more easily resolved, and you will be much happier with the experience overall. I just spent the last 30 years "researching" this very thing. Have Fun!

I’ve been looking at quotes via autoeurope and they are mostly American companies quoted. Not as expensive as I expected even with bells and whistles. Especially when compared to our hotel prices - well, we usually splurge on hotels in Europe and really enjoy it!

Great tip about the American companies. Several people here have mentioned that, and it’s one recommendation I hadn’t run into from other sites.

[audreyh1]

Many thanks for all the great and detailed tips everyone!

I certainly planned to have the car rental reservation in place before leaving as many have advised. I always do even for domestic rentals.

So, sounds like folks who used autoeurope site have been pretty happy? I was impressed with their site and the quotes and details on extra features supported.

[brett]

We have used autoeurope extensively.

Over the years we had only one issue with an auto rental agency in the UK. We called autoeurope and they immediately took ownership of the issue and resolved it to our satisfaction. Excellent customer service.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerntz Inside breast pocket of loose sport coat is easy pickens for them. Saw it attempted in Paris subway station on guy going down escalator & picker running up. He missed & kept running.

Wow. I did not know that. When traveling in the winter, I have a leather jacket, but always zip it up.

[HawkeyeNFO]

Hertz tried to rip me off at the Girona (Barcelona) airport. I turned in the car full, and they tried to charge me $40 or so for fuel. I called that office at the airport, the credit card company, and Thrifty's US number, and had documentation to show that it was returned full. After a few weeks, a credit showed up on my account.

Other than that, I've never had a problem in my dozen or so times of renting cars in Europe. Rentalcars.com seemed to usually have the best prices, but not always.

I've never been asked for an international license by any car company, nor the police.

[DFDubb]

Car rental agency gave me a hard time about the international drivers license thing. I had never heard of it, clearly didn't do my research. They went back and forth with me for quite some time and made me late to meet our AirBNB check in person. They eventually gave us the car, but it was a major complication and created a huge amount of stress after a long flight and at the beginning of a vacation. I had not considered a Plan B should they have decided not to give us a car.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett We have used autoeurope extensively. Over the years we had only one issue with an auto rental agency in the UK. We called autoeurope and they immediately took ownership of the issue and resolved it to our satisfaction. Excellent customer service.

That’s great. Thanks! Just what I hoped for - a good mediator if ever needed.