You've booked the "cheap" flight for your well deserved break to Benidorm now for the hire car...... don't get caught out with the online quoted price! This is very rarely the final amount you pay, which you will discover upon collection at the airport. My main gripe is the petrol sting. You collect the car, with a tank full of petrol but the companies vary on how you return it back. This is where it can make a huge difference to the bottom line hire cost. Some will charge you for a full tank when you take the car regardless of how much has been used so dependent on car category can add an extra 70€ for a standard compact car such as a Ford Focus or VW Polo.
If you are planning on doing a lot of driving you will most probably use a full tank but if you are using it mainly to get from the airport and back you will only get through about a third of the tank. IF there is an option always choose to bring the car back FULL. There is a filling station right opposite the airport entrance. If you bring it back 3/4 full you will not get a refund!
I rang around the main car hire companies to ask on their petrol policy. Goldcar and Centauro both said you bring the car back EMPTY ....... which is bad. They said this was for the customers convenience so that they didn't have to go looking for a filling station ! Perhaps they haven't seen the one opposite - but this is where they make the extra money. For Avis, Europcar and Sixt you bring the car back FULL so all you do is top up just before handing the car back.
Another "extra" is to reduce the excess paid in case of an accident or damage to the car. This can be between 13-18€ per DAY in some instances. You can avoid this by taking out an annual car hire excess policy for as little as £40 per year - this will cover you across the whole of Europe. There are many companies offering this - I used "icarhireinsurance.com" and found it very simple and straight forward.
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At www.tipoa.com when you reach STEP2 just above the photo of the car of your choice, click on the link "email quote" insert your email address and click on SUBMIT.
You will receive instantly an email quote, click on the link contained therein BOOK NOW.
This will return you to the website one more time but this time down the left hand side you will see the options to choose your fuel policy.
Car Hire Excess is the excess amount that the driver must pay from his own pocket in the event of a claim on the car hire insurance. If a hired car is damaged or stolen, you are liable to pay the first portion of the damage. This amount can be quite a lot depending on the country in which you hire the vehicle and the car hire company. A car hire excess insurance policy will cover this excess so you are not at any financial loss.
This in fact for a one day hire adds approximately €53 on to the cost of the hire. We can provide airport collection of a major world brand supplier with a full out and full return policy .
Having said that if your hire period is over 3 days ( i.e. you are likely to use the full tank ) then it's not so bad, other than the companies who charge a full tank out, usually do so with some 50% mark up on the fuel price.
tipoa.com/.../...
By the way, Alicante airport has undergone a transformation and is getting ready for direct international flights to long haul destinations, the rumour has it. Now when you arrive at the new Alicante terminal just go straight to the Tipoa Car Hire desk and then up the escalator to level one. When you return the rental car take the elevator from level One to Level Four and you are straight into security ( which is not the usual very busy main security ) ...
I hope this all helps.
Denia Dan