Renting a Car in Spain. Tips?

[KenZ71]

Just yesterday was chatting with relatives about this. Cousin, Uncle & wife have all received Extra Tax on Tourists citations (speeding tickets) but not paid them.

Also common to have rental companies try various shenanigans.

* not have car reserved & attempt to upsell at higher cost

* attempt to charge for damage not present. As others said get written confirmation from credit card what is covered and use them for your defense if needed.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Another option for maybe part of the time: DH handled all the arrangements on our trip to Spain last fall (yes I was shocked). For a couple transits he asked the hotel for driver information names, and he also used drivers from mydaytrip.com, rather than rent a car (yes we are old) to go from city to city. The link goes to an Uber-ish site and it worked well. We had six people so it was cost effective vs trains but putting together all the costs of renting and parking, might be an possibility. We also rented cars for three days in Mallorca at the airport and took all the insurance we could possibly get for tooling around the island.

 

[audreyh1]

Another option for maybe part of the time: DH handled all the arrangements on our trip to Spain last fall (yes I was shocked). For a couple transits he asked the hotel for driver information names, and he also used drivers from mydaytrip.com, rather than rent a car (yes we are old) to go from city to city. The link goes to an Uber-ish site and it worked well. We had six people so it was cost effective vs trains but putting together all the costs of renting and parking, might be an possibility. We also rented cars for three days in Mallorca at the airport and took all the insurance we could possibly get for tooling around the island.

Since we will be using the car over several days and transferring between two hotels plus return, I never considered hiring a car and driver.

Parking is not an issue or cost at the Paradores where we will be parked most of the time.

 

[audreyh1]

Having driven a few thousand kilometers through Spain and Portugal, I have to say that the drivers there are not at all bad. They were less aggressive than French drivers, in my opinion.

Do watch out for highway bandits. See the videos below. Read the descriptions of the videos too.

Some robbers are known to throw eggs on your windshield, to cause you to have to stop. If that happens, do not use the wiper as that makes the visibility worse.

It is also common for them to puncture your tires causing a slow leak. When you later stop to change the tire, they rob you.

In Barcelona, I talked to an American couple who got hit with this tire puncture scam. It happened inside the city of Barcelona. Exactly the same thing happened to my wife's niece and her husband. The husband was French, and still failed to be prepared for this trick. It also happened in Barcelona.

Well this is very intimidating! So unless someone manages to puncture a tire (which would have to happen while parked somewhere like at a gas station), it’s all a show.

Thanks for the heads up. Nasty business.

 

[NW-Bound]

... We also rented cars for three days in Mallorca at the airport and took all the insurance we could possibly get for tooling around the island.

I got a car with automatic transmission although my first car ever was a Mustang with stick shift, no power steering, no power brake. Good move, as I had to get the car into impossible parking spaces with a couple of inches to spare. Literally a couple of inches. It was bad enough that Airbnb renters complained bitterly in their comments, and European drivers have superb parking skills compared to myself.

And I got 100% insurance with no deductible, including theft insurance. I don't want even the hassle of filing claims with the credit card companies. It's only a few more hundred dollars, and I do not want my vacation to be spoiled by any mishap.

And so far, I manage to return the cars without a scratch. Knock on wood!

 

[NW-Bound]

Well this is very intimidating! So unless someone manages to puncture a tire (which would have to happen while parked somewhere like at a gas station), it’s all a show.

Thanks for the heads up. Nasty business.

I have not seen reports of forced armed robbery like in third-world countries. But they would open your car door to snatch purses, camera bags, man purses, etc..., while you are there.

It pays to be alert, and to be on your toes.

And as anyone who has stayed in Airbnb's will tell you, European apartments as a rule have formidable front doors with locks that look like Fort Knox compared to homes in the US. While armed robberies are rare, opportunistic thievery is rampant. The concurrent thread by FIREd gives some info about that.

Here's an observation I made. In Barcelona, we took an early morning walk from our hotel, which was right on La Rambla street. We saw restaurant workers putting out sidewalk chairs and tables. And they were screwing in bulbs to the light strings that were hanging from the tents that were left outside. All restaurants were doing this as we walked down this famous street.

Yes, thieves would steal the light bulbs if left hanging there overnight. The tents themselves were too large, and had their legs bolted down so they were OK.

 

[NW-Bound]

Uh, forgot to say that the American couple I talked with in Barcelona said that their car tire got punctured in town, at a stop light.

That surprised me, because the incidences I read happened at gas stations or rest stops along highways in the countryside.

 

[sengsational]

...For a couple transits he asked the hotel for driver information names, and he also used drivers from mydaytrip.com, rather than rent a car (yes we are old) to go from city to city. The link goes to an Uber-ish site and it worked well. We had six people so it was cost effective vs trains but putting together all the costs of renting and parking, might be an possibility.....

Thanks for sharing that site (my bold).


I've planned a 40 minute flight for October that cost about $350 (flight plus taxis) for the two of us. I compared that same trip to hiring a car and driver from that site and it costs about $500 (and takes about 5.5 hours). But it's cool the way you can add-in various stops on the way for another $40 or so bucks. So a couple hours of driving, then an hour or so touring, then another couple three hours and you're there. Now, in the case of flying, we have more time at the destination, but there's nothing to see along the way.


Anyway, for the future, I'll keep this in mind as something in between flying and renting a car.

 

[BigNick]

Don't rent from the local car companies like Goldcar, Record and others whose names you don't recognize. They have a reputation for lousy cars and trying to screw you on CDW and "finding marks on the car that didn't exist when you rented it. ".

Goldcar is a sub-brand of Europcar, which is a European rental company of the size of Hertz and Avis, present in every airport etc. I avoid all of the Europcar brands like the plague. But there are some good local companies. I have never had a problem with OK or Wiber, for example.

Well this is very intimidating! So unless someone manages to puncture a tire (which would have to happen while parked somewhere like at a gas station), it’s all a show.

Thanks for the heads up. Nasty business.

As the title of the video shows, thieves like this (who operate in many countries) tend to target tourists, defined as "people driving a car with foreign plates". So in your Spanish-plated rental car you should be fine (it may have a small sticker on it, but that will be much less visible from a distance, and you could be Spaniards renting the car too).

 

[gerntz]

Three years ago rented a Eurocar in downtown San Sebastian & drove to Segovia & left car off at the rental agency there after taking luggage to hotel & tourist part of town - up on hill near the Alcazar Castle. Piece of cake though the rental agency is about a mile walk uphill to the Castle - not insignificant. Then took bus to central Madrid & taxi to hotel there. Driving in Spain seemed very normal to me.

 

[gerntz]

Uh, forgot to say that the American couple I talked with in Barcelona said that their car tire got punctured in town, at a stop light.

That surprised me, because the incidences I read happened at gas stations or rest stops along highways in the countryside.

Five years ago or so was driving in rural south France in Dordonge River Valley (Beautiful!) & was looking around rather than paying attention. So drove off pavement & got right tires stuck in roadside ditch. Neighbor 100 yards away or so saw me & came & asked if she could help, in English no less. This is rural southern France mind you. She called a tow truck who got us out & took us to his shop where he hosed down the car. No damage. Don't recall cost exactly, but I thought surprisingly reasonable - less than a $100 I'm sure. I was impressed with both the neighbor & tow driver.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have met plenty of very nice locals in all the places I have been.

And that's why we travel through Europe often.

 

[Nemo2]

I have met plenty of very nice locals in all the places I have been.

And that's why we travel through Europe often.

Musing on this I really can't recall many (any?) who weren't.

 

[NW-Bound]

Musing on this I really can't recall many (any?) who weren't.

You have not met any pickpocket, right?

And never face-to-face anyway.

 

[gerntz]

You have not met any pickpocket, right?

And never face-to-face anyway.

Well, not face-to-face.

 

[Nemo2]

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]

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]

... 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]

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]

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.