Car Hire Abroad

Posted 28th Jan 2023

I’m on the lookout for car hire deals, specifically Kefalonia but if anyone has any general recommendations, tips or loopholes for deals/price reductions that would be very welcome!
It’s been a decade or more since I last hired a car on holiday. Cheers.

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28th Jan
Use a comparison site like rentalcars.com video and photograph the car when you get it and also take out excess insurance via a UK comparison site. It only costs around £10 if not a bit less in some cases.
28th Jan
Have hired many many cars in Europe and further afield and these are the two tips I use myself.
1. Photograph every inch of the car when you pick it up, especially wheels. i have lost count of the number of accusations of damage I've had on returning the vehicle.
2. take the local collision damage insurance rather than a cheaper 3rd. party one. The car rental company make money out of selling this and are far less likely to give you hassle over Point 1 if you have it. I'm sure someone will disagree with this, but it works for me for a small cost penalty.

These points apply to car hire in the UK as well as aboard.
Don't put too much credence on reviews. Goldcar in Spain have had a rotton reputation for years, but I've had quite a few cars off them with no issues at all.
1 m ago
In the Azores the local damage waiver was 3x the car hire price. We bought our own, paid about £30, and the local firm marked mirror damage down then said it was an excess cleaning fee to stop us claiming! Not reading Portuguese made this hard to spot, so wasn't until our insurance got refused we knew. Took 3 months to get rectified. They also tried to not mention lots of damage when they showed us the car, I was filming (in 4k I may add!) and started pointing stuff out to them, which he grumblingly marked down, but I made sure to film every inch of that car.

In comparison, same island but different firm the next year. Was raining when we picked it up, said not to bother with the checks and to just email them with photos later if anything looked bad. Again I went over every inch once dry, but on returning it the guy said all 4 wheels look to be attached and that was fine for him!

So goes to show, it all depends on the hire firm. Oddly the second was cheaper than the first too.

EDIT: Firm 1 was Goldcar! Will never touch again. (edited)
28th Jan
people always ask this question, one or two days, after my offers end.:

without knowing your dates, i just put in a random search
28th Jan
I use skyscanner and find them quite good.
28th Jan
First of all decide what you want and what your risk threshold is. You should do your homework by looking at prices on sites like Carjet, Travelsupermarket etc. Then also look at booking directly with the supplier - do they have a offer on?
Check reviews of the actual suppliers. Read between the lines - even the best will get a few bad reviews. Some are famous for scams, forcing insurance on you and being really nit-picking about damage. I will never use Goldcar based on personal experience. Broker sites are usually cheaper, esp for basic hire. Cheapest is deffo not always best
Decide if you want an all-in insurance policy - obviously more expensive. Advantage is no worries and no checking over of car. If you do, make sure its the supplier that this deal is with, not the broker otherwise its just like a third party one like below.

If you don't want all in, frankly you'd be daft not to take out a CDW insurance. before you go is usually cheaper than from the supplier. Bear in mind that a CDW hire will mean that they block your card for something like £1k which could hit your spending power. Always looks for full out:full back fuel or full out:refund. Avoid same:same of Full:empty. Check for additional driver if important. Have your address while on holiday written down for the hire office. Check cross border use/charge if applicable before you book.
Is hire site on airport or off. I generally prefer minibus pickup to off site because I don't like navigating busy airports - personal choice. Take your own sat nav or a cradle & charger for your mobile to use Google maps - don't hire theirs - ££. Drop Googlemap pin in the hire place for return and change units. Pre-place your destination in sat nav before you fly. Chill in the pick up car park. Work out which button does what and that mirrors are good. Also think about your first roundabout.

All a bit from the hip but I hope it helps (edited)
28th Jan
Best option would be to go on TripAdvisor and search up Kefalonia then scroll down to trending in the forums. Ask the same question on there. I just had a look and someone was mentioning Mercury car hire. I usually go direct with the company based in that country otherwise if you do use rentalcars.com the company in that country you go to will try telling you your not covered so give you the hard sell of their insurance. You probably will be covered but they will block your card about 1000-2000.
45 m ago
I can't speak specifically for Greece but over the past 15 years, I've booked all my rentals through Auto Europe. In fact I just booked a car via them for my next holiday in South Africa. A basic small car with AC works out at £14/day. I always opt for the cheapest deal deal & take out a separate yearly insurance policy to deal with 'excess' claims. (edited)