Cheap but not cheerful

“Cheap but not cheerful”

Written on: 15/04/2012 by anglomex (1 review written)

Booked through Holiday Autos. This is my complaint to them:

I think you should consider whether Record car hire in Malaga are providing the service you expect for your customers. This was my experience:

No damage recorded by the agency before I was given the key, despite multiple dents and scratches; the agents said there was no damage at all and not to worry about it
The two front tyres appeared low. They swapped the car when I asked but again no damage record despite multiple dents and scratches. In the end it was late and we wanted to get going and I just took photos to prove the existing damage.
In the swapped car, the radio code needed to be entered but I was not given it so could not use the radio for the whole hire period.
The car was also difficult to start on the last day at the ski resort and when I had a good look at the tyres I think they were barely legal for the UK, which is not what you want when driving down a mountain with snow on the ground.
When I returned the car, there was no formal check-in, just a handover of the key. I had to get the person who received the vehicle to sign on my copy of the contract that there was no additional damage.

This was not an isolated incident.
While I was sorting out my problem, in the space of about half an hour, three other hirers had problems: another person found his car had a windscreen wiper blade broken and had to swap the car. He commented he had generally had very good car hire experiences with your company but this was the exception.
Some-one else's car had to be swapped because they had five people but the car they were given only had four seatbelts.
Another person swapped their car as well but I do not know why.

It appears to me that this agency just turns the cars around as quickly as possible without checking whether they are in a fit state to be given to the customers and are lax on the maintenance. Next time I rent I shall want to be sure that I will not be getting a Record car again, and if that cannot be guaranteed then I shall use another company.