• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Spanish Fiestas

Spain Travel Guide

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Search
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Search
  • CITY GUIDES
    • Barcelona
    • Madrid
    • Seville
    • All City Guides
  • TOURISM
    • History of Spain
    • Regions of Spain
    • Spain Cruise Ports
  • HOLIDAYS
    • Mallorca
    • Costa del Sol
    • Costa Blanca
    • Tenerife
    • Benidorm
  • FESTIVALS
    • Pamplona Bullrun
    • Las Fallas
    • La Tomatina
    • All Festivals
  • RECIPES
    • Paella de Mariscos
    • Tortilla Española
    • All Spain Recipes
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • CITY GUIDES
    • Barcelona
    • Madrid
    • Seville
    • All City Guides
  • TOURISM
    • History of Spain
    • Regions of Spain
    • Spain Cruise Ports
  • HOLIDAYS
    • Mallorca
    • Costa del Sol
    • Costa Blanca
    • Tenerife
    • Benidorm
  • FESTIVALS
    • Pamplona Bullrun
    • Las Fallas
    • La Tomatina
    • All Festivals
  • RECIPES
    • Paella de Mariscos
    • Tortilla Española
    • All Spain Recipes
Car Hire Brokers

Which is the Best Car Hire Broker?

You are here: Home / Getting Around / Which is the Best Car Hire Broker?

Anyone who is subscribed to my newsletter or follows us in the social media will know that I’ve long been a big fan of Economy Car Hire. Now I’ve just learned that I’m in good company as the UK consumer association, Which?, has just named them as the top car hire broker for the second year running.

UPDATE: Economy Car Hire have now rebranded as Zest Car Rental.

Here’s confirmation from the Which? website:

Best and worst car hire companies revealed

In order to make a decision on the best car rental broker the association created an online survey last November for its readers asking for feedback on their personal experiences over the previous year with regard to car hire. Questions referred to many aspects of the car rental minefield including transparency of information on the company’s website, how easy the booking process was, what choice of vehicles was made available and general customer service issues.

Having dealt with Economy Car Hire on a personal level as a car rental customer and on a professional level as owner of this website I’ve always found their customer service to be second to none and never hesitate to recommend them to our readers. Their transparency when it comes to pricing is also most welcome as a consumer.

The report from Which? highlighted the problems customers run into with regard to hidden costs of car hire that aren’t evident when searching online. They identified five major issues in this area:

  • damage charges
  • unauthorised payments
  • fuel options
  • automatic toll payments
  • excess waiver fees

We’ve received enormous traffic to our article about such hidden charges being added by Goldcar which led to a record number of comments on our website. In contrast Economy Car Hire were the only broker in the Which? survey to be awarded the full 5 stars for what was referred to as ‘clarity of the pricing’. Personally I think this is the biggest issue facing holidaymakers who are booking their rental vehicles online before travelling and Economy Car Hire deserve enormous credit for their openness and honesty in this shady area.

It’s no surprise that this company has managed to retain top spot as they never rest on their laurels, always listening to customers and looking for ways to improve. Just recently I noticed that on their website they’ve improved an already impressive booking process by clearly identifying which car rental company you will be getting your car from.

If you haven’t yet booked your car hire for this coming summer (wherever you’re visiting) then there’s no need to look any further than Economy Car Hire. As well as very competitive rates they include an additional driver for no extra fee and have a built-in excess cover in their rates. Just click on this link and get a quote straight away. And remember, just because some less reputable companies seem to offer lower rates when you use car search engines online you’ll often find their prices escalate way beyond those offered by Economy Car Hire as soon as all those hidden fees appear at your destination airport.

What do you think are the most annoying extra charges of hiring a car?

   

Share With Your Friends

Category: Getting AroundTag: Car Rental, Holidays

Flights to Spain

Best Ways to Travel to Spain

Brittany Ferries Cap Finistère

Ferries to Spain from the UK

Driving in Spain

Driving in Spain

Alsa Bus in Spain

Alsa Bus and Multi-Day Coach Tours of Spain

Driving in Spain

What Everybody Should Know Before Touring Spain

Car Hire

Most Annoying Hidden Costs of Car Hire

Previous Post: «Spanish Christmas Lottery Ticket Play the Spanish Christmas Lottery
Next Post: Most Annoying Hidden Costs of Car Hire Car Hire»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alan Mackay

    April 2, 2014 at 10:35 am

    Hello Gerry,

    Just to let you know I am most unhappy with Economy Car Hire at the moment. I have been a customer for a number of years and arranged and paid for a 3 week booking from Murcia Airport with them on 7th March. I warned them that I might have to change the car pick-up date as I was unsure about committments and plane schedules. I was told this would not be a problem and that I would get a refund for any part of the arranged hire which I was unable to use if I had to make any change.
    I had to Email them yesterday to say that I would, indeed, need to change the pick-up date from Monday 7th April to Saturday 12th April because of changed plans and was advised that, because of this, the car hire period was now a new agreement and would incur the new Easter period rates – which more than doubled the cost !!!! I expressed my displeasure at this and was told that there was nothing I could do In spite of the fact that I told them they were breaking the contract by seeking to get more money for a previously agreed hire in which I was told I would get a refund !!!!
    I would ask that you consider warning your correspondents about this ‘con’.

    Reply
    • Gerry Kerkhof

      April 3, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      Dear Alan

      I followed up your complaint with Economy Car Hire and received the following explanation:

      I will pass this to the Reservations Team for them to contact Mr Mackay, but just to explain what has happened.

      When Mr Mackay originally made his booking on 7th March for 7th April 2014, he asked if he moved his booking to start on 12th April. We checked and at this time, the prices would not change. When Mr Mackay contacted us on 2nd April to amend his booking, unfortunately this was not still the case.

      The rates are set by the suppliers that we work with. We do not have any control over when they deem their peak periods to be and price changes. As we are approaching Easter, availability lessens and suppliers increase their prices. This meant that in fact Mr Mackay’s change to his hire dates would make the hire more expensive.

      Had he have amended it sooner, this would not have been the case, but in this instance, it is just an unfortunate case of timing.

      Whilst I understand your disappointment with regard to this booking I think it’s very unfair to refer to it as a ‘con’.

      Regards

      Gerry

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

  • Spain City Guides
  • Regions of Spain
  • Spain Cruise Ports
  • Getting Around
  • Spain Festivals
  • Spanish Culture
  • Spanish Recipes
  • History of Spain
  • Costa del Sol Holidays
  • Costa Blanca Holidays
  • Mallorca Holidays
  • Tenerife Holidays
  • Gran Canaria Holidays
  • Lanzarote Holidays
  • Ibiza Holidays
  • Menorca Holidays
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Spanish Fiestas - All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy

This Website Uses Cookies - Please Confirm That You're Okay With That OK Learn More
Privacy Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT

Share

Blogger
Delicious
Digg
Email
Facebook
Facebook messenger
Google
Hacker News
Line
LinkedIn
Mix
Odnoklassniki
PDF
Pinterest
Pocket
Print
Reddit
Renren
Short link
SMS
Skype
Telegram
Tumblr
Twitter
VKontakte
wechat
Weibo
WhatsApp
Xing
Yahoo! Mail
Powered by WP Socializer

Copy short link

Copy link
Powered by WP Socializer