�71 for 10 days - Final charge was �501 after all cleaning and fictitous scratches.

€71 for 10 days - Final charge was €501 after all cleaning and fictitous scratches.

We booked a car for 10 days at a cost of €71, which was a bargain with Goldcar Murcia (airport).
When we got there, they tried to sell us a different insurance where they make the excess charge €0 rather than €1400. I think the cost of this was about €180, which was just ridiculous. They also said they charge €250 for every scratch bigger than about 2 or 3 cm.
At this point I realised how they make their money, it’s either on the insurance or fictitious charges for damage.
When they then showed us the paperwork showing a flatplan of the car, with all damage already marked on it, there was 12 crosses marking where damage is already in place (these were pretty small scratches). To me this meant that they had already taken €3,000 from punters for minor damage. But this money isn’t for redoing paintwork. This goes straight in their pocket.
This started to set alarm bells ringing in my mind, so when I got the car I photographed all the panels and the wheels. I didn’t check them all off against the paperwork, which I really should have done.
When we returned the car, we handed in the key at the desk but there was no-one there to look over the body work.
A few days later we got the full bill. They had already taken the money, which was an extra €250 for a scratch and €180 for cleaning.
The small print does say the car must be returned in the same state as when you received it. When we got it, it really was in a showroom condition in terms of clean, which means that unless you get the car valet cleaned, they can charge you a cleaning cost. In reality no-one will have time and equipment to clean it thoroughly. I don’t think they’ll charge everyone, but it just means they have the right to for whatever reason they feel appropriate.
Luckily we had the photos showing the damage to the car when we got it, so when they sent their photos, we sent ours showing the same damage. We explained how the cleaning was excessive too.
They refunded part of the cost of cleaning reducing it from €180 to €60 and said that this was an error, but with regards to the damage, there was no timestamp on the photo, so I replied with another email showing a timestamp with the photo.
After weeks of waiting, and many phone calls – you cannot speak to customer services, you have to send them emails, which you then get ‘not read’ receipts back. So I submitted this again via the online portal as suggested, but you cannot attach images. I finally got an email back saying they have looked into this and they cannot take this any further despite not being able to look at the photo. There really was not way of communicating with them, so I left it up to Nationwide building society to sort out, as charged to my credit card. Goldcar gave a response back with a copy of the contract and photos of the damage. I then replied to nationwide again with exactly the same details, which they sent back to Goldcar. After about a month, they decided to refund the full €430.
So overall, they initially refunded me €120, and then refunded the full disputed about of €430. A total refund of €550. I only spent €501 in total, so overall they paid me €49 and gave me a car for free for 10 days. It cost me a lot of time sorting all this out, so still not happy.
If Goldcar want this money back, they are welcome to ask and I’ll say that I have investigated and cannot take this any further, while leaving many weeks before replying.

Sterke punten
Car provided in show room condition (although small print says you have to return the car in the same condition, which unless you have it valeted, is pretty much impossible when you're in a holiday flat and can't even get a vacuum cleaner to the car - therefore expect cleaning charges)
ONE BIG CON

Zwakke punten
Extra hidden costs like cleaning and fictitious scratches.
No customer services to talk to when you want to dispute charges.
Selling of extra insurance at a rediculous rate.
Ability for them to charge you whatever they want once you sign the contract.
Very expensive (although advertised very cheaply)
Business model doesn't make money from the rental, but the insurance and cleaning etc.