renting a car at Faro airport Portugal, who to use?

renting a car at Faro airport Portugal, who to use?

Author
Discussion

philcray

Original Poster:

845 posts

202 months

Friday 20th February 2015
quotequote all
Hi

This question has probably been asked plenty of times but wondered if anyone had any current recommendations? I have used Discovery a few times and they have been ok but seem a lot dearer this year and the car last time was a bit worse for wear.

Many thanks for feedback

Phil

witko999

629 posts

207 months

Friday 20th February 2015
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If you google something like 'cheap car rental', you can find an article on either moneysavingexpert or moneysupermarket (can't remember which). This article has links to some super cheap deals and reading it has dramatically cut the cost of my overseas car hire. I also took out an annual excess insurance policy for about £40, so that I don't get pressured to take out the hire firms own insurance.

Kudos

2,672 posts

173 months

Saturday 21st February 2015
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Watch out for the full tank of fuel scam whereby you collect full and don't need to bother filling up before return

Kudos

2,672 posts

173 months

Saturday 21st February 2015
quotequote all
Watch out for the full tank of fuel scam whereby you collect full and don't need to bother filling up before return

witko999

629 posts

207 months

Saturday 21st February 2015
quotequote all
This is the link I used to begin with.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-...

Everything I book is done through something on there.

Chucklehead

2,729 posts

207 months

Saturday 21st February 2015
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A lot of the suppliers in Spain and Portugal won't include the tank of fuel in the rate that you see online or through brokers.. then when you arrive you're expected to stump up for a full tank plus some kind of service fee and bring it back empty. Which you can't because you won't use it.

Try and find out the true cost by comparing T&Cs. Usually you'll find the usual big suppliers are full to full with no nonsense. Some brokers let you filter by full to full only.

schmunk

4,399 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st February 2015
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My parents have a house down there and go 6/7 times per year.

They use Zit.

philcray

Original Poster:

845 posts

202 months

Monday 23rd February 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for the feedback, has anyone used

www.economycarhire.com

they were mentioned on tripadvisor and seem to offer a reasonable price?

I appreciate they are a broker so not direct which always gives a slight fear that your car will not be there....

FrankAbagnale

1,700 posts

111 months

Monday 23rd February 2015
quotequote all
I recently used http://www.algarvedriver.com/ in Faro

Recommended to me by a couple of people that have houses in the local area.

The price was very reasonable, the car was reasonable, the service was completely hassle free and I didn't ever feel like they were going to try and rip me off. I think they're a small/local company with a reputation for being fair.

It's a little off putting when you firs turn up as they operate out of a van. Just some guy chilling out listenign to the radio with all the hire cars parked next to the van. But, I guess europcar etc operate out of a huge posh trailer in the car park so not dissimilar - just different budgets!

The queues for the big players were huge when I got there and I was told that they operate a full tank policy and are also very keen eyed for damage on returns.


CoolC

4,213 posts

213 months

Monday 23rd February 2015
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www.retalcars.com are very useful for comparing the bigger boys. Obviously they don't show local independent firms, but I've found them useful for work trips abroad.

mjdriver

40 posts

230 months

Monday 23rd February 2015
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Usually very good, I have hired from Faro about 7 times, just check the tyres, make sure they aren't bald

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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philcray said:
Hi

This question has probably been asked plenty of times but wondered if anyone had any current recommendations? I have used Discovery a few times and they have been ok but seem a lot dearer this year and the car last time was a bit worse for wear.

Many thanks for feedback

Phil
Hi Phil, I live in Portugal. Where are you going / how far are you going to drive?

Like said above, some are charging you for a full tank of fuel regardless of whether you use it or not. If you're going to rent a 70mpg car and then drive 20 miles to a resort, potter around town twice in it then go back to the airport you're going to throw away most of a tank so take that into account when you're comparing. If you are going to do day trips to Lisbon and Seville then you'll use the fuel anyway and don't need to bother about that aspect of it.

Luz Car (luzcar.com) are decent and recommended by quite a lot of people who live here. As are Zitauto (zitauto.com). You don't really hear any horror stories about either of those about over charging, problems with phantom damages etc.

Simon Brooks

1,517 posts

250 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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We have home on the Algarve and now only use these people, haven't had one cause for concern over quality of cars or scams on insurance/fuel

http://www.drive4fun.info/

croakey

1,193 posts

187 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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We go out there a few times a year - always use luzcar

nickd01

610 posts

214 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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Just check when you hire, particularly in peak periods, that the operator does actually have the cars to hire.
We found one operator (Sorry, can't remember the name - FaroCar??) used cars from other bigger companies. Problem is, when they were fully booked there were no cars to pass to our operator so we were without a car! We ended up getting a taxi and renting nearer the house, but something to think about.

Some American Express cards have the CDW with them as a benefit, we use that.

toasty

7,441 posts

219 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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schmunk said:
My parents have a house down there and go 6/7 times per year.

They use Zit.
Our golf society use these too on a regular basis.

furtive

4,498 posts

278 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
schmunk said:
My parents have a house down there and go 6/7 times per year.

They use Zit.
My parents go several times per year and always use Zit as well

andy43

9,548 posts

253 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Simon Brooks said:
We have home on the Algarve and now only use these people, haven't had one cause for concern over quality of cars or scams on insurance/fuel

http://www.drive4fun.info/
Used drive4fun and travelrent, both booked via economy car hire loads of times. Cheap, full insurance, no Goldcar full fuel tank rip off policy, and usually half decent cars. Had one fault in probably 20 bookings, and that was a faulty keyfob - car replaced same day.
All the cheaper local firms have always operated out of airport car park 4, either from the back of a transit or from a small shed, but I believe there are plans to stop this and either force them to rent a car hire office in the proper airport hire area, or push them off-site altogether meaning courtesy buses etc. A shame.

Chucklehead

2,729 posts

207 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
Yep, new ruling means from 1st March all of the providers operating out of the car parks and without facilities in the airport terminal need to pay a €15 surcharge per rental.

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
quotequote all
I don't see any problem with that really, some are crying about it but it appears to be fair. These guys want to operate from a garden shed a kilometre away from the airport and have near zero costs... yet still hang around inside the airport grounds for handovers etc. Its completely unfair as its private property and they're using their cheap setup to undercut companies who're legitimately hiring airport premises.