...holidayautos.com as they offer competitive rates, it saves a lot of internet trawling through different companies, they use reputable car rental companies and their Damage Excess Waiver is a great selling point. However, as a precaution, if you are concerned about booking with them, once you ... Read review
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Advantages: Time Saving, Cost Competitive, Leading Car Rental Companies Disadvantages: as there is a third party involved, there is a risk the booking process might go awry
Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.co.uk) is part of the www.lastminute.com group and has been in existence for a number of years. Essentially they operate as a broker to find the best deals in car rental across a broad range of countries.
Although booking through a broker, the company has deals with all the major international car rental companies such as Europcar, Alamo etc and so you can be assured you won't have to pick up a car ... ...that you are provided with the best rates and availability for the dates you choose, and therefore do not have to waste time visiting lots of different sites to get the best deal.
I have used the service a few times now, over a period of four years and I feel it is important to try a service such as this several times to get a good feel for the service provided, before reviewing it. I have noticed that holidayautos seem to be rated ... more
Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.co.uk) is part of the www.lastminute.com group and has been in existence for a number of years. Essentially they operate as a broker to find the best deals in car rental across a broad range of countries.
Although booking through a broker, the company has deals with all the major international car rental companies such as Europcar, Alamo etc and so you can be assured you won't have to pick up a car from "rent-a-wreck" or someone similar! The main obvious attraction is that you are provided with the best rates and availability for the dates you choose, and therefore do not have to waste time visiting lots of different sites to get the best deal.
I have used the service a few times now, over a period of four years and I feel it is important to try a service such as this several times to get a good feel for the service provided, before reviewing it. I have noticed that holidayautos seem to be rated quite low on the consumer websites, and therefore wanted to be sure that my previous positive experiences were not merely luck on my part!
Website ---------- The website is quick and simple to navigate and you do not have to do any pre-registration to get a quote for a vehicle. By simply entering in the basic information of pickup point, dates and age of main driver you will be presented with a number of vehicle options. The basic terms and conditions of hire are shown on the website and are clear and easy to understand. What I particularly like is that all prices are shown including the Collision Damage Waiver protection, liability insurance and unlimited mileage, with the CDW in particular known to raise the basic price quite considerably. My preferred five day rental period in San Francisco resulted in a choice of 14 vehicle sizes with cars available from £80 to £189. It is possible to get an emailed quotation within seconds or proceed to book. It is possible to book over the telephone, but this is actively discouraged simply by the difference in cost, which was as much as £70 for my chosen vehicle!
A particularly helpful feature of the booking process is that once you select a vehicle and proceed to book, you are given some upgrade options however the price is shown as an extra xx pence per day, clearly a sales tactic but a clever one as when you are given an option of a higher specification car for a mere 40p a day, who is going to refuse! (And this might explain why I ended up with a 2 door convertible..). The total cost of the Convertible for my five days was £180. I did cross check this after the fact with Alamo's own website, and the pricing was identical for my dates, which gave reassurance that they have a sound pricing structure.
The website is fairly user friendly and booker friendly, with areas for FAQ and the terms and conditions clearly laid out (and with car hire, these ARE important to read). There is also an area for so called "Offers" but I did not find that particularly helpful, as it was just as easy to use the main pricing search window. Finally there is a driver information section, with information for each country, although some information in here has not been updated recently.
Holiday Autos Main Terms and Conditions ----------------------------------------------------- There are in essence two sets of terms and conditions which will apply to the booking, those of Holiday Autos and those of the rental car company itself. For Holiday Autos, I believe the most important terms and conditions are those which are relating to cancelling and amending your booking.
It is possible to protect yourself from cancellation fees by taking out their own cancellation protection insurance, for £5.50 per rental week, which is fairly reasonable. I didn't opt for this as I had to be in San Francisco no matter what and as I only booked my car about two weeks in advance, I felt cancellation was unlikely. However if you cancel 7 days out, you will be charged £15, between 3-6 days will result in a 50% charge and between 0-2 days will result in 75% charge. If you are booking several months ahead, it makes sense to take out the cancellation protection as a security for the small cost involved.
If you make a booking and need to amend it, there is a £5 fee.
To add to the insurance confusion, there is an excess with all car rental companies that cannot be waived even with the Collision Damage Waiver insurance. In the case of my recent rental this was $100, which is reasonable for most people, however with a rental I made in France three years ago the amount was €600 which was a little steep. However as the car suffered two separate parking dints while left unattended within a 24 hour period in Nice (drivers there simply don't care!) then I can see why there is a €600 excess in that instance.
Holiday Autos have their own insurance product called Damage Excess Waiver which covers you for this excess too. You still have to pay the amount stipulated by the car rental company if there is damage, but at least you can recover this when you get home, which is quite useful, particularly for the higher excesses in Europe. Holiday Autos terms and conditions state they will refund within 28 days, although thankfully I have never had to put this to the test, as Europcar accepted the dints in the doors as a fact of life for driving in Nice, which was very nice of them. Damage Excess Waiver is a flat £2.50 per day of rental regardless of destination.
Customer Service ---------------------
As with any organisation, the real test of Service is what happens if something goes wrong. In the case of my most recent booking everything went absolutely perfect. I booked on line, had confirmation within minutes, printed my documentation, and had no problems with the booking on arrival in San Francisco. I took the car back, undamaged, and therefore had no Damage Claim to make either.
I do recall on a previous booking that my ISP failed me right in the middle of the booking confirmation, when I was waiting for the online confirmation. I contacted customer services via phone at this time, and I was advised if I didn't get a confirmation, then go ahead and rebook. I did this and unfortunately was charged twice on to my credit card. However once I explained this, holiday autos did rectify the problem without any further problems.
I have read/re-read all the other reviews and when people have had problems, they seem to be around the booking process failing and the customer services division being slow in putting things right, or, quite frankly, they didn't understand the terms and conditions. I did make a quick call to the customer services division and got through right away, and my question was handled with confidence and knowledge - and I was definitely given the correct information. I also feel the website is clear and accurate with regards to terms and conditions.
I do recommend www.holidayautos.com as they offer competitive rates, it saves a lot of internet trawling through different companies, they use reputable car rental companies and their Damage Excess Waiver is a great selling point. However, as a precaution, if you are concerned about booking with them, once you have your vouchers and a confirmed booking, you could always follow this up with a quick call to the rental office where you are picking the car up, to ensure the booking has been received by them.
Advantages: Competitive prices from an excellent website Disadvantages: Online processing may occasionally fail
...a week in Lanzarote.
HolidayAutos.com claims to be the world's largest leisure car rental site. You can link via bargainholidays.com, or to the sites own home page. Recommended by Which? Webtraders, and winner of a whole host of accolades, the site is extremely simple and well-laid out. At the time I booked, the home page indicated a £5 discount for booking online, which encouraged me to at least investigate their rates.
After choosing my basic ... ...to give specific details as to my requirements. You are not required to register or give any personal details at this point, aprat from the age of the driver. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could either arrange car pick-up at the airport in Arrecife upon my arrival, or collect at my resort. As we already had transport from the airport as part of our holiday package, I selected to collect the car in Playa Blanca the day after our arrival. ...
tartantribe 12.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of holidayautos.com
Advantages: Prices can't be beat! Disadvantages: None!
Holiday Autos has been around for a few years now. Once an independent company, it was bought by the lastminute.com group. Thankfully, nothing changed when this happened and their service has been as good as ever.
I've used them numerous times, and most recently on a trip to California. This time, I went luxury and rented a convertible. Most times I rent an average family car. My experiences have all been for US trips, but in various States.
When ... ...be easier. First you choose the country you are travelling too. You may have to choose a region within the country too at this point. You then select the pick/drop off points for the rental. This is usually airport locations, but you can on occasion find other points. Provide your pickup/drop off dates, and search!
They will return with a list of car choices available to you, and give an indication as to the actual car type. Don't count on this ...
jcduk 21.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of holidayautos.com
Advantages: Inclusive prices Disadvantages: unhelpful customer service
As we are going on our hols in October and had not booked a hire car with the tour operator, I thought that I would trawl the net for competitive quotes, which I had successfully done for the holiday, travel insurance and airport parking.
After a few high prices I came to holiday autos, put in all my details for a quote and was quite surprised when it came back cheaper than all the others, I then proceeded to the booking stage put in all our details, ... ...experiencing difficulties, so thought I'll try again in a little while, 1 hour later I tried again, same problem so I rang them.
Went through the booking with the man at the other end, up until this point everything was fine, because our flight arrived in the wee small hours I was told we wouldn't be able to pick up the car at the airport, this was fine because we had transfers available to our resort, was then told you'll have to come back to the ...
dawnybabes2000 06.09.2003 (13.09.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of holidayautos.com
Advantages: None, that I am aware of Disadvantages: Shady practices, Very rude staff
I booked a rental car in Geneva for a few days, naming my girlfriend as the sole driver. On turning up at the airport, I was told that they needed a credit card imprint to cover the excess. This is standard practice, of course, and I offered them my Amex or Visa. They refused, saying that the card needed to be in the name of the named driver. This is not something I have encountered before, and should have been spelt out on their web site before ... ...insurance with no excess (in which case they agreed that no deposit would have been required). However they refused to accept payment for the insurance by my credit card or in cash. I asked them to write a note acknowledging that they had refused to let me collect the car and specifying the reason. The note was not correct, and when I asked them to correct some details the staff became very irritable, swearing 'Putain' and threatening to call the ...
heraclituso 24.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of holidayautos.com
Advantages: None Disadvantages: My son & his girlfriends holiday was ruined.
I booked a car for my son and his girlfriend to be picked up at Alicante airport at 11.30pm on 27th July. When they arrived, they were told that there were no cars available, even though we had received a confirmation email from holiday autos and the money had been deducted from my debit card.
I spoke on the phone to holiday autos customer support the following morning (28th) and requested a refund. This has still not been received.
My advice would ... ...through a 3rd party and have no control over the availability of cars. There were about 30 customers who were unable to get their cars on that night. I'm sure that Holiday Autos will still be gaining the interes on the monies paid by these disappointed customers for a service that Holiday Autos didn't provide.
Use one of the main car rental dealers, to avoid his type of fiasco. My son and his girlfrend's holiday was ruined by not having a car as ...
wintersje 04.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of holidayautos.com
