Goldcar in L'Altet

SCAM! Alicante Airport. Easy to find on the ground floor when exiting arrivals bare to the right. I had paid for the car rental and insurance all done online. However the staff at the desk would not release the car until I'd purchased a premium package of insurance from them directly I said no as it's a scam. They denied this claim I made and refused. They try to offer 3 packages and only after paying for one they would give me the keys. They then made me sign an electronic keypad saying it was because the computer broke. Upon seeing the print out they had made me sign the damage agreement stating I had examined the car. I was still at the desk and the car was in the car park!! Upon inspecting the car there was more chips in the paintwork and damage than what was in the sheet. I returned to the desk on level two. They said it was fine because the damage was less that 3cms I have some looked at my credit card and noticed extra payments to the company taken. I can't figure out why. I give two stars as I am yet you return the car but will be advising everyone not to use this company as they do scam customers with insurance to pay for their own insurance. Naughty folks at ALC!!!! I pointed out the chips and damage on the car showing my watch as proof of time for when I contact them for refunds. I also will be putting a block on my card so no more money can be taken.

I rented a small car for a very good price. When I returned the car I was told by staff at drop off to put the keys in the drop box. I then went to rent another car as they wouldn't extend my booking, at which point I was told I had damaged the car. The damage was minimal and could have been removed with some tcut, however I was told it was too late and I couldn't clean the mark off myself. I asked to see the manager, I believe Jan was her name, as she was 'unable' to help I asked to have her area manager details, she told me she has so many managers and she doesn't know who it is. The gentleman sat next to her then proceeded to laugh in my face and say this is why you take insurance. If you rent from gold car visit insurance4carhire before your rental, third party car hire cover. They covered the costs within 5 days. It's much cheaper than using Goldcars own insurance (PS45 a year). Wouldn't rent from them again.

Fraud, fraud, fraud. To start with on pick up I was unlucky enough to get the rudest most arrogant lady I've ever met. the conversation was awful, it included her basically saying you're in Spain why don't you speak Spanish and the best was you are very badly educated. She then launched into the most aggresive up selling exercise I've ever experienced, their additional insurance. I booked the car through DoyouSpain, in the end thank god for that, see later paragraphs. When I took the car back the assessor noticed a scuff on the front two panels of the passenger side, he called it damage. At that point one of their car cleaners approached and we asked him to wipe the mark off, nice guy, he told us that is not damage, no dents or scratches and he pulled out as sponge and wiped the mark off. So car in perfect condition. I then went back to the office and having explained about the cleaner, etc.... I asked the guy behind the desk to have another look at the car. Very rudely he said he would not, the contract was completed and if I didn't like it, he said he would charge me EUR430, I had fourteen days to appeal. He didn't provide an invoice or any other sort of substantiating paperwork. Clearly I took photgraphs of the panels and had to leave to get my flight home. When at home I called Goldcar "customer service", in "" for a reason, they are not, they were rude, surly and totally unhelpful. I spent two weeks exchanging emails with a guy called Fernando, if that actually was his name. He kept pushing back, the photos weren't in the correct format, jpeg, and there was no date and time stamp. I got all that sorted and sent him jpegs and the metadata twice. He refused to grasp the point. He kept going on about the damage wasn't there when I collected the car so therefore I had to pay for it to be repaired. I kept pointing out that that wasn't the point, I was not saying there was damage on the car when I collected it......and I provided proof that there was no damage on returning the car....as the fourteen day period ended I then got an email from them stating the case was now closed and they asked me to provide a review, i did and it wasn't nice. Again no invoice, payment notification, etc..... Fortunately I had booked the car through DYS, as a last resort I called them, I had taken out their additional insurance, good decision. I would add that the lovely lady on Goldcar reception told me that the insurance was worthless and I should take out Goldcar's insurance and ask for a refund from DYS. I explained the whole thing to a DYS and they immediately said ok, leave it with us. Having had insurance, I also have icarhire excess insurance (i spoke to them too) I could have just rolled over, paid the EUR430 and claimed it back on the insurance. But I was so annoyed about this blatant fraud that I decided I would fight, a point I made to both DYS and ICH, I asked the DYS person to promise they would not pay Goldcar. I've spent about PS50 on phone calls to Spain to get this resolved, I should really ask DYS to recover this too. So in summary, DO NOT EVER USE GOLDCAR, I recommend Centauro

Great car and price. Easy to organise and return once I worked out how to get into airport. Only slight downside was the hard push to take high cost Goldcar insurance when I already had arranged additional protection.

Cheap. Fast & easy pick up, friendly staff, easy return. Lovely car. No issues. Refunded deposit in a couple of days. No pressure to buy excess insurance, which I already bought in the UK. We took before and after photos of the car, but not needed as no issues.

Nice car with ApplePlay. Automatic hybrid too. The queue for Goldcar at Alicante was quite long but that's because they're popular. I opted for the full insurance which was good as the car was 'keyed' by locals who don't appreciate tourists. Drop off was simple, just pop the keys in the key safe. All the cars looked clean and tidy in the garage. Definitely a better option than some of the dodgy off-airport hire places. I've used them 5 or 6 times now with no problems:-)

Be aware that unless you are prepared to pay high additional insurance costs to avoid paying the first 1000 euros excess for any damage to your car, you should be prepared to put a 1000 euro deposit on your credit card. If you haven't got a credit card and won't pay for insurance you won't get your car! I spent a fair while in the queue to get my car as other renters hadn't read the small print and thought they were being ripped off. You can buy annual excess insurance for about PS40 which means you'd still have to pay for any damage up to PS1000 but you'd claim it back under your cover. We've never had any issues with Goldcar and use them regularly but you need to play fair with them. Return your car as clean as you collected it with a full petrol tank. Full/Full means you pay for a full tank and return it with a full tank and get your petrol deposit refunded. Hiring a car full/empty gets you a cheaper rate for car hire but means you've either got to drive the car on fumes back into the airport or give Goldcar all the petrol left in the tank. If you return your car with a dirty exterior and the interior full of sand, crisp packets and sticky finger marks don't be surprised to be charged a cleaning fee. Likewise if you've paid for full/full rates and only fill it up to three quarters full, you'll be stung for a refuelling charge. Like I said we've never had any issues with Goldcar and that's because we know and follow their rules.

We have hired a few times from Goldcar and have always been happy. I wanted to use my cc against husband's booking but this isn't allowed and it does say this in the terms. So we had to pay plus PS1000 from our debit card. This has been returned quickly to us. So next time we will ensure have a credit card in his name.