GoldCar Rental

We have booked Goldcar twice a year for around 8 years paying around £500 to £700 per hire period, and have always been pleased with the service we have received, up until out latest booking.

I am a disabled driver (paraplegic) and I use a set of universal push/pull hand controls which fit temporarily into the hire car.

I booked a Ford Focus Automatic (which we had hired from them before) with this company for the period 2nd September to 30th September 2018 (28 days), with the fully inclusive insurance package.

We had originally booked a car with another rental company - due to the ever rising costs of booking a car with Goldcar.

However, around one week before we were due to fly, we were offered a substantial (45%) discount off a similar car, so we cancelled the other rental company and rented a car with you.

On our arrival at your rentals desk in Malaga airport, we were offered an 'free upgrade' to a Toyota Auris, which we accepted. We completed the rental paperwork and proceeded to the parking garage to collect our keys.

When we arrived at the office in the parking garage it was utter chaos. The rentals desk inside the terminal had 10 rental agents working, but in the garage there were only 2.

It appeared that not only were they dealing with booked rentals, but also 'walk in' rentals, returns and complaints.

After around 45 minutes of waiting we finally got our car keys.

We located our car, a considerable distance from the garage office, but then couldn't work out how to start it - we have never driven a Hybrid (we did not know that the Toyota Auris was a Hybrid) so I searched for a Goldcar employee for help.

Eventually and luckily we found one of their employees, and he showed us how to start the car.

We then tried to fit my hand controls into the Toyota Auris, but couldn't get them to fit, so we returned to the garage office and explained the problem and asked for the Ford Focus that we had originally booked.

The representative said that no Ford Focus was available and it was "the Auris or nothing", very unhelpful.

Finally, we were allocated a far smaller car, a VW Polo, and when we asked if it was a cheaper class and would we have a partial refund, the representatives just said, "no". Both staff in the 'booth' were unhelpful and extremely rude! In fact the VW Polo is generally classed as an 'Economy' model and the Ford Focus a 'Compact' model, so there should have been some price difference for the hire, fully inclusive insurance, as well as the fuel charge which is lower, all for which I should have been refunded.

When my wife asked for a customer complaint form (an EU legal requirement), it was refused and instead she was given a normal business card with the customer services telephone number on.

The smaller car marred our four weeks in Spain. My wife (who is of small stature) had to struggle to fit my wheelchair and our luggage into the car from and back to the airport, and struggled throughout our stay getting my wheelchair in and out of the tiny boot space.

We will NEVER book with this car rental company EVER again, and urge anyone thinking of doing so to use a different rental company!

When I took the car hire out they took a fuel deposit of €152.36 which came out of my account. This for starters should not happen, it should just be a holding deposit.
I dropped the car back fully fueled. The rude women at the kiosk said as long as its full I'd get my money back. I asked her for someone to check over it there and then for peace of mind but she very rudely and bluntly said that's not how they do things.
I took a photograph for evidence that the fuel was full at time of dropping off the car.
Money has been refunded into my account but only €138.00.
Can you please explain why this is and I would like the difference refunded. It was an English bank account so I will probably loose money for the exchange rate but the €138.00 is what they told me I would get back in an email so there is a difference your side.
I am a travel agent and sell car hire all over the world, this is the first time I have used Goldcar and not only is it frustrating that I had to wait over an hour to pick up the car on arrival and the system at Palma Airport for queuing is ridiculous. I was then spoken to rudely on dropping the car off but I then have to complain about less money being refunded. Doesn't fill me with much confidence to use the company again.
I would appreciate if someone could contact me regarding this and look at refunding the difference to me.

My rental agreement number was ES422347950, booked through HolidayAutos.com in the UK. I collected the car on the 22nd of September 2018, and returned it to Palma Mallorca Airport on the 29th. I returned it with a full tank, but I haven't even had the money back for that.

I had already paid HolidayAutos.com for additional insurance, and had printed out a certificate from Axa Ltd; however, after waiting for over an hour at Palma Airport in Mallorca, I was told by one of the representatives, named Carlos, that my debit card was needed just for €12 for airport taxes. I discovered that €289 had been taken from my account just two days later. I even got charged £7.17 for the currency conversion. I have attached a .PDF of the charges made by HolidayAutos on the 17th and later by Goldcar on the 24th.

The atmosphere at the front desk at PMI was intense and very stressful, partly because a customer had been arguing with Carlos about having to queue again for a second ticket. The representative's demeanour was aggressive and very pushy. I asked about the charges and signed the agreement, which was in Spanish, but not once were the extra charges mentioned by him. On Goldcar's website it states:-

What is the super relax cover?

Yes, by requesting our Super Relax Cover service. This service not only avoids the need to pay for an excess fee but also provides insurance that covers theft, damage to the bodywork, finish, wheels, tyres, windows, floor pan, rear view mirrors, lost keys, taxi or tow truck services in the event of an accident or battery charging requirements.

I did not request it because I'd already arranged it through HolidayAutos.com, so I want to take this all the way.

Kind regards,

David McKiernan

My contract number is [protected], I hired a vehicle at malaga airport from 30/8 -22/9 when I returned the vehicle I had filled it full with fuel at la cala and then drove to airport, now I've received email saying€9 of fuel had to be added and charged €50 to fill this, as a customer of goldcar for many years I find this charge to be totally wrong and request a full refund, please consider my request, I've been a valid customer

Car hire 25.09.18 to 28.09.18 Arrived on 07:15 flight from LGW, so tired on arrival.
Agreement [protected]

Unhappy with badly dented car with smashed wing mirror presented to us. Asked by employee why we had booked with Goldcar in the first place if we didn't like it. Started going round car with Goldcar employee marking damage I pointed out. Foolishly, I did not check every mark was recorded. Hub caps were held on with plastic ties - evidence of previous kerbing.
Going clockwise around car, came to NSR tyre which was clearly under-inflated and I thought either tyre or wheel rim was damaged. Long and acrimonious exchange with employee who insisted car had been through safety check. Employee eventually got electric tyre pump and (over) inflated tyre. NB tyre pressure did not register on gauge when first connected - it was that obvious. Employee angrily refused to change tyre or car. His behaviour was intimidating.

Somewhat flustered (I had been up since 04:00 that morning), we probably did not record all damage on final near side of car. Complaints to colleagues of employee brought response that he was their manager.

After two days we had to top up the tyre pressure on the faulty tyre, which was down to under 20 psi.

A different employee checked car on return on 28.09. "Additional damage" was found: scuff on NSF bumper and scratch under sill on NSF door. Car was parked front in on all car parks only times car was left unattended including underground hotel car park. It was impossible for bumper scuff to have happened during our hire; I know I didn't scrape sill (but that is just my word).

The employee classed both scratches as grade 2. He filled out a repair invoice and refused to allow me to make comments on his copies of the documents. I was not given a copy of the original sheet which showed recorded damage, but it was very clear that no recent repair work had been carried out. Charging almost Eur 1, 100 per short term hire for repairs not carried out is unethical.

This is a Goldcar franchisee. What is the view of Goldcar HO on such behaviour?

We are a 65 year old couple, who have hired cars over many years in Europe, Africa and North America; we have never encountered such behaviour before.

Been charged 60+ euros for hire of a 'new' car but one hired had covered over 9000 kms. Fuel tank was full upon return - been charged for filling up. Airport taxes not explained before hire.All 3 included in these extra charges

Booking ref via Ryanair ES967041920 16th to 19th Sept 2018 from Valencia Airport in the name of Robin Kett (collected around 11.20am 16th returned 9.00am on the 19th)

I booked a 5 day car hire in the UK and as I already have my own crash damage waiver insurance I opted not to have this via goldcar. On arrival I was told I had to take out the goldcar insurance at a greatly inflated price. This was clearly not as described and more than likely illegal practice. I have requested a refund of the deposit I made only to be told it's nonreturnable? It seems to me that you are miss selling a product and little more than a bunch of con men / women.

We rent the car at 22:00, we looked al around the car and sign the contract, never look UNDER the car with the guy at Zakinthos airport. In the return he say they where something UNDER, we didn't have something with this car, we didn't did that . It was the same man and we told him we didn't check that, we never checked UNDER. So he took 1222 € on the credit card . He said we had to make a claim at customer service . We don't have to pay for something we didn't doe. No picture on is tablette . Only a x .

I had a car booked and paid for from Goldcar Toulouse airport on 7th Aug- collection 23:30hrs. My flight was delayed and to my horror the Goldcar was closed with a sign saying 'Closed at Midnight' I spent the night in the airport. 8th Aug at 07:00am when their offices opened I went to collect my car.
Goldcar made me pay and sign a second contract, due to me not collecting on time?
There is nothing in the terms and conditions about collection times
Their office was closed.
Terms and conditions state there is a fee for out of hours. This apparently isn't available at Toulouse.
They had my flight number, they didn't stay open for me unlike other companies.

The customer services was terrible. My initial rental was sitting in the car park. I had to pay over double due to the late booking of a second rental.

Following our return from Malaga, my payment card was credited with 90 euros however the money I paid for a full tank of petrol was 106.73 euros. The car was returned with a full tank.
We hired the car from Malaga airport on the 5th of September and returned it on the 15th of September.
The contract number was [protected], cc: EJ33481356.
Vehicle registration 3129JZZ

car hire was booked from Palma airport desk. this was not the first time that i had booked car hire through GoldCar
My booking explicitly DID NOT include extra insurance to cover excess as i have other arrangements for this. The booking was for the full / return full fuel option
I was not asked if i wanted the additional insurance package (as i have been previously) and this was clearly a change of policy. Insurance was not mentioned at all by the office staff
I was asked for a deposit of 370.43 Euro (£347.80). I queried this and stated that usually the deposit was for approx 1400 Euro. I was advised that the deposit on the fuel policy was all that was required
I double checked and asked that if i returned the car with full petrol tank i would be credited back with this full deposit. It was confirmed yes with the exception of 16 Euro which was a cost of being on airport site.
on that basis i authorised the deposit on my credit card. Only after receiving the car keys did i receive any paperwork which was already folded in a sleeve.
when i later looked at the paperwork i was confused by the separate elements on the invoice and recognised one of the items 'Mega Relax Cover' as being a premium insurance option at 19.83 Euro. I double checked this when i returned the car and was advised that the booking included Insurance cover at 121.49Euro plus the Mega Relax Cover a total of 141.32 Euro.
i pointed out that this was not what i had booked or what had been advised of and the GoldCar office response was that there was 'nothing they could do'

I booked a hire car online through car trawler who are a broker for gold car rental. the car rental was for 15/09/2018 to 21/09/2018 pick up and drop off at Barcelona Airport
Car trawler booking ref ES989173520
Gold car ref [protected]
I got quoted with car trawler for a small car hire for the hire period 224.62 euros which i paid 162.79 euros before pick up and had to pay 61.83 euros at collection of the car .
On collection of the car I had to pay a sum of £239.95 and £110.54 plus the 1100 euros deposit .
After speaking to both companies they are both blaming each other and will not take ownership of the mistake.
The amount I paid to hire a fiesta for a week is excessive as I have paid over £500 for it

I rented a car for 7 days from Goldcar at Toulouse airport via Expedia.com.
I was surprised that the deposit was devoted from my account because most car rental companies only earmark the deposit. My deposit was returned but was £325 short. I called the company and was told the money was taken due to damage on the door and that the door would need replacing. Obviously it will cost far more than this to replace the door and there was no damage to the car when I dropped it off. The person who took receipt of the car said it was scratched and I rubbed off the small white mark that he was referring to.
I tried to download my invoice from their website but the PDF will not download despite the fact that I can download other pdf files from other sites. The contract they gave me is in Spanish and the customer service number is in Spain. I need to see photographic evidence of the damage although I don't trust the company to send a photo of the actual car I was driving. I do have the registration number of the car I drove. I never signed any document to say that the car was damaged and need advice on how to proceed.

I booked a vehicle with Goldcar via DoyouSpain.com. Booking ref: DYS-[protected]. Pick up date: 09/08/2018 20:00. Pick up Airport: Reus. Arriving flight no: LS1281. Car Hire charge: €78.02.

The rep explained that he could not release the car without me purchasing the insurance, so after a long delay I finally purchased the insurance which the rep advised was €100. The charge to my account has since evidenced that Goldcar took €232.62, not the €100 I was advised. I acknowledge that my fuel deposit was returned, however I wish the remaining amount returned to me also.

contract no [protected]
due to the car making a banging noise we took it back and we were given another one.
when we got home we found that you had kept our deposit and told us we had damaged the car.we told you we had cam footage of us driving normal when the noise started but you are still blaming us.i have sent loads of emails asking for a break down of the damage but all i get back is emails saying it cost the full deposit .how much was labour and the parts used? ive tried to send you the dash cam footage but it is a mov file and i dont know how to change it.

I rented a car via CarDelMar from GOLDCAR in Greece/Crete in May 2018. Although I already made and paid a full insurance with CarDelMar I had to make an additional one at the GLODCAR Office who did not want to even give me the car without this additional insurance. The Insurance was as expensive as the whole car!

My advise:
Avoid GOLDCAR, avoid CarDelMar!

Hired our car from doyouspain and took out insurance costing 59.50 euros for pick up on 11th September at Murcia airport at 19.30pm policy number 4158717. On arrival at the gold car desk we spoke with luis who told us the 59.50 euro insurance was not adequate enough and advised us the gold car insurance was more comprehensive insurance as there were shortfalls with the cheaper insurance but told us we would get the 59.50 euro insurance refunded after taking his. He charged 200 euros unfortunately we phoned to retrieve our refund of 59.50 euros as instructed but were told we would not be entitled to a refund after all. Our gold car booking reference is [protected] and our doyouspain reference is DYS-[protected]. We either want the 59.50 euro returned to us or the gold car insurance we took out with Luis at the airport desk. We spent our first day of our holiday on the phone to doyouspain and gold car customer services who told us to submit this complaint within 24hrs of the hire for a solution to be reached.

I hired a car from you as I always do on my visits to Spain and I am a gold car member when I hired the car I paid 158.43 eu at the desk which I believed was the total charge.
However when I received my credit car on the 16 July I was charged another 91 Euro and on the 29th 55.50 Goldcar central?

When I phoned up to ask what this was I was told 91 was for additional mileage which at no time was i told about this the second charge I was told they did not know what it was which I find strange?
As you can see I have used your company many times and have never before been charged additional mileage even though we always drive to our same accommodation.

I would like you to refund these charges to me as they are totally unjustified I have just returned again from Spain at the desk they did not bring up the extra charges for miles but I did saying I was told on the phone this would cost an extra 10 eu but I was charged 30 ?
Your staff need to point this out to customers
I look forward to your prompt reply

Tracy Burden

Contract number [protected]. Or [protected]
Lisa Whiting
Hire from Murcia airport Spain
On 20th August 2018 to 31st August 2018

I booked my car on the internet through DoYou Spain, I was given the option to then take out insurance so everything was covered and no excess. I did this and it was 65.00.

I got to the airport to find out it was not all covered and I was charged with 411.74 euros. 78 euros of this was petrol which I would get back.

So in total I paid 96.77 for hire
65.00 for insurance.
411.74 for extras at the airport including insurance which I thought I had paid but gold car said that would not cover all of it.
I was really upset as this took a lot of my holiday money and basically ruined my holiday.

Total paid for a small hire car for 11 days was 573.51.

Half way through the hire we realised the air on was not working. We took the car back to see if they would do anything. They changed the car and charged me again for another tank of petrol. I could not believe it. They also said that because I had their insurance then I didn't have to pay but if I hadn't I would have had to pay that too.

I took time out of my holiday to take a faulty car back on top of all the other prices and I had to pay again for petrol. They would not let me take the car to fill up as this would have been cheaper for me.

I have had a terrible experience with gold car and would like some of my money back.

Please reply and let me know what you are able to do.

Also 3 other families were in the que complaining of the same thing.

Regards

Lisa Whiting

Hi,

I have rented a car at Faro airport, Portugal. 28/08/2018 - 07/09/2018 with Goldcar, e voucher number CFFC3AFA, confirmation number [protected].

When i did a search, the initial price came out to 91 euros. I was happy with that so proceeded to booking, which stated the usual details: pick up location, time, date, name, driver's age and the price of 91 euros.

Once I clicked on pay, the price suddenly became 99.02 euros. I thought it was strange, but ok it's not a big difference.

Then I received the confirmation and the voucher. Once I opened the voucher, it stated that I have to pay 76.88 euros MORE at the rental desk. Suddenly my 91 euros car became almost 180 euros.

I then proceeded to cancel the booking, but unfortunately because I booked this around 11 am on the 28th, the cancellation would have cost me a 50 euros.

So I went to pick up the car anyway - feeling totally cheated. When I picked up the car, instead of the 76.88 euros that was stated in the email, I had to pay 100.58 euros - this is on TOP of the 1200 euros excess cover that was blocked on my card (this charge is ok, I was aware of it in advance) PLUS 63 euros pre-paid full tank, which I'm supposed to get back when I return the car full tank.

Apart from the excess & prepaid fuel, my 10 day car rental cost me INSTEAD what the initial search showed: 91 euros, 199.60 euros. I would like to raise a grievance, as if I had known the full cost of the car, i would have chosen a different provider.

We have rented a car the previous week 21-28 of August with Drive on Holidays, and I paid 86 euros for the car. That's what came up at the search and that's exactly how much I paid. We have been waiting for a confirmation from them if we could keep the car for a further 10 days as we decided to stay in Portugal for longer, but unfortunately they were sold out, and we had to deliver the car back by 12.00 on the 28th. That is why I made this urgent booking around 11.00 am.

This is not acceptable, that a price is more than doubled from the initial search result, and I'm very unhappy about it - it is a rip off. The search on your website HAS to include the FINAL price. Unacceptable and a scam.

I request a refund for the rest of the amount I had to pay that was not included in my initial quote.

Kind regards,
Z.Nascimento