STAY AWAY FROM GOLDCAR AT ANY COST !!!

THIS IS THE EVIL OF RENTAL CARS – don’t do this mistake, don’t be lured by the cheap rental price, THEY WILL RUIN YOUR HOLIDAY!!!

I have been overcharged EUR 264 (months after...) compared to EUR 64 rental price for 5 days!! How good is that!! They even charged me EUR 80 despite that its written in the contract that the fine is EUR 40 – they do whatever they want – THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD!!!

STAY AWAY AT ANY COST!!!

Pity you didn't do the research first...there are literally hundreds of posts on here warning against Goldgar,going back years....

Unfortunately most people just see the low headline price......

Here is one very long thread ;-)https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-western-europe/topics/goldcar-my-review

I have a sense of deja vu repeating itself all over again!

Old news.

Main point in shopping online:
"If something looks too good to be true, than there is always a catch"

64 Euro rental for 5 days ? Not even in your wildest dreams....

It's all in black and white in the T&C's. IMO, having rented numerous cars in Spain, negative reviews generally come from people who have not read or understood the T&C's.

While Spain is a very cheap country to rent a car, 64 EUR for 5 days is ridiculous - they could never make a profit out of it. Agree with FriendlyCG.

www.autoeurope.com, a reliable broker. Double the price, half the hassle.

Also - if you paid by credit card - VISA, Mastercard - try to get the money back, and convince them not to work with his agency.

I have been overcharged EUR 264 (months after...) compared to EUR 64 rental price for 5 days!! How good is that!! They even charged me EUR 80 despite that its written in the contract that the fine is EUR 40 – they do whatever they want – THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD!!!

Just direct your credit card company to stop the payment because you believe it is fraud. The company must comply until it is sorted.

€264 looks to me like €64 x 4, allowing for currency fluctuations and/or card fees. I suspect you accepted a daily charge of €64 and perhaps the first day was charged upfront as deposit on the booking.

What was the fine? If it was €40 for a traffic offence then it is quite normal for a car rental company to charge you a handling fee to process it, and a fee of €40 for this is not shocking.

I don't see any fraud. In future, read the contract and obey the law.

I find that too much of a stretch ... surely no–one pays €64 a day to rent a regular car anywhere in Europe ... possibly in the whole world.

I find that too much of a stretch ... surely no–one pays €64 a day to rent a regular car anywhere in Europe ... possibly in the whole world.

How can you be so sure, that's probably the average price if you book it through a good rental company:

Just checked with Avis in Switzerland. Got a price for 5 days with the smallest car available for 277 CHF...so
55 CHF per day....which is with the current exchange rate about 1 to 1 to the Euro....
(Hertz was 209 CHF, but again for the smallest car available; Fiat 500 / Sixt showed me right away the price per day, which startet at 66 CHF !!!)

So what emmeff wrote could be the case. As different companies show their prices different, with Hertz and Avis I got the full price, with Sixt it showed me the price per day.

I have just done a dummy run on rentalcars.com - Madrid to Madrid for five days - and there are several cars (including Goldcar) at about that €60-€100 for five days (not per day). This includes majors such as Alamo and Europcar.

This is a fairer comparison perhaps than Switzerland. But the main point is (as I noted previously) - it is extremely unlikely that the OP has mistaken five days rental for one day. Anyway - not a major issue.

The most common mistake people make is to not note the fuel policies on any rental. The cheapest prices from any company invariably involve pre-paid full tanks which can be returned empty. The litre price is charged at any rate the company wishes plus ofcourse fuel service charges on top. The only sensible rental is a full-to-full policy and if you look at the Goldcar rentals available, the very same car on a full-to-full rental is more expensive than the prepaid. It is however far better value but unfortunately people don't do the maths, they see the cheapest offer and go for it.

The second most common mistake is to not be aware of any insurances you already have or need. Rental companies will hard sell their insurance and if you do not have your wits and knowledge about you, it's not difficult to be persuaded to tick the wrong boxes for additional insurance which is always very expensive from the rental company itself.

Goldcar is not a scammer, it's all in the T&C's although they do, like many other rentals, prey on the inexperienced renter in the hope that he will not read or understand the T&C's. Do your research, forewarned is forearmed.

recalling a number of posts from artemis' thread (as mentioned by lucapal in #2), imo scalping the client seems to be the business model of Goldcar and mustn't be excused by putting the blame on guileless customers alone - even those who have been lured by the lowest price should still have some consumer protection rights on their side.

They do have consumer protection rights, I think you'll find that cancellation is free up to 48 hours before rental - certainly when booking through an agency. The point is, no matter how much time you give them, you can't help people any further when they simply refuse to familiarise themselves with the T&C's and contracts they are signing.
I mean seriously, do you not read what you are signing ?

I think I'll stay in the real world, rather than fantasy-land.

a free cancellation policy may be part of, yet is no substitute for consumer rights. often enough courts have overruled some companies T&C's because paragraphs were deemed too discriminating or intransparent towards customers.

as I said, I'm not referring to the OP, who has given no details about his situation, but to many of those who filed their complaints in artemis' thread. 'hard-selling' sounds too cuddly for some of those examples - which are all, I admit, anecdotal. yet one has to wonder why this specific company gets mentioned so much more often than any other rental agency around.

Because Goldcar is a mafia-owned scamming machine, notwithstanding soothing tones to the contrary.

In some cases the plural of anecdote does turn out to be data!

Since the OP has not detailed the charges, and is unlikely to return to TT in any case, we can only speculate on what they represent. But it is possible that you might pay €64 per day if that incorporates no gap/no excess insurance. The €264 could represent a fuel charge, or compensation for damage, or an international drop-off fee as suggested in the same thread in the Italian branch.

There is no clear-cut choice regarding insurance. Consolidator websites push their own offerings for no-gap insurance, at a much lower rate than you will pay at the counter, but you need to claim back whatever you pay for damages after the event. This requires paperwork, perhaps quotes for repair, and continued effort. The same effort applies to claims made under travel insurance.

Rental car companies charge a fortune at the counter but you can then walk away with no further thought on the matter. For people flying out of a country, this option is all too appealing.

It's a matter of much you value your time.

yet one has to wonder why this specific company gets mentioned so much more often than any other rental agency around.

I expect it's because they do offer the cheapest prices at that type of bare bones level thereby attracting exactly that sort of consumer. We've all met Mr. 1 star who expects 5 star service.

TBF Goldcar does also have alot of positive reviews clearly demonstrating any number of customers are capable of getting exactly what they want and expect. It really isn't rocket science.

People come to Spain from all over the world and in some countries it is not unreasonable to expect that the price you get quoted is the price you will pay without having to worry about any additional fees that are hidden somewhere in the T&C´s. What Spanish car rental companies do, even though it´s lawful here, would be considered malpractice in other places so you can´t really blame people for feeling stitched up.

Since the OP has not detailed the charges, and is unlikely to return to TT in any case, we can only speculate on what they represent. But it is possible that you might pay €64 per day if that incorporates no gap/no excess insurance. The €264 could represent a fuel charge, or compensation for damage, or an international drop-off fee as suggested in the same thread in the Italian branch.

Sorry comrade ... this is clutching at straws ... I would be totally amazed if the OP (or anyone in fact) confused x euros per five days with x euros per day/ I don't think that happened. And if you're being charged up to €64 per day for a regular car - get yourself a different agent. No-one needs pay that much.

I'm not clutching at anything in this thread, let me assure you. I am speculating, you are speculating, we are all speculating together (but not touching). The OP has gone away without providing details. The thread is over.

For those of you who relish the ironies of life...

The original "Goldcar, My Review" thread is currently the fourth link listed (after a couple ads) if you search Google for "Goldcar Reviews Spain." It's preceded by one on a different forum entitled "Dont Use Gold Car Rentals !!" and quickly followed by another on that same forum,"Never Never Rent Goldcar!"

Suggesting: threads like this simply aren't effective.

I guess like most things its effective for some and not for others...there will always be people who think they are getting an amazing deal when they see a very cheap headline price.And there are also people who do their research first....

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