10 things to look for when booking car hire in Malaga

A guide to the 10 most important things to look for when booking car hire in Málaga and assure yourself that you will  get a great start to your holidays in Spain.

Quiet often it’s like walking through a jungle to simply book a hire car and to ensure that you get yourself a good car rental experience, with no hidden extras.

When you book with Helle Hollis you will experience no problems since we have no hidden extras and clear pricing.

Sometimes it makes us appear more expensive than other car rental companies in Málaga, although we are not, and therefore we have made this short guide with tips for booking a car in Malaga.

1. A very cheap rental rate = hidden extras!
If you see advertised an incredibly cheap rental rate as 7 days rental for 15 euros then you can be sure that there will be hidden extras. The hidden costs are usually to be paid as an extra insurance or to pay a deposit of 1200-2500 euros, or you will find extra driver fees or overpriced fuel amounts.

2.  Read all the small print
Take time to read the rental conditions, particularly points as:
– Sales of insurances or requirements of large deposits
– Fuel Policy
– Additional drivers
– Late night/out of hour’s fee

You will find the “hidden extras” by reading the “i” for information, and only when you go through point by point will you get an overview of what will be added on as extras.

3.  Insurance
Do not be misled by the fact that the car hire offer is advertised with an all-inclusive insurance and no excess. Most often when you study the terms you will see that it is only an all-inclusive insurance if you purchase an extra insurance.  This can range from 20-25 euros per day and will more than double the rental rate.

If you do not want to buy the extra insurance you will be required to pay a deposit from 1000-1900 euros depending on the selected car group size.  This deposit will be deducted from the credit card.

These car rental companies do not use the word “insurance excess/deductible” but rather the word “deposit” and will make you believe that it has nothing to do with the insurance of the car. In reality the deposit is the same as an insurance excess as if there are damages to the car they will be taken from this deposit.

At Helle Hollis you have a comprehensive insurance (CDW) with excess. You can choose to make an excess deposit or to purchase a super excess waiver. If you choose to place an excess deposit, then the amount is deducted from your credit card and refunded back on return of the car if no damage has occurred during rental. Our insurance excess amount for a medium-size car is 600 euros.

On the other hand, you can choose to purchase a super excess waiver where you will be full damage covered. It includes damage to the undercarriage, clutch, tyres, door lock, glass, wheels trims , loss of car keys and also a Personal Accident Insurance (PAI). The PAI gives you free medical attention in case of an accident. The super excess waiver also includes a cancellation insurance. If you want to be covered for these damages then you can purchase a super excess waiver, our price is from 9-15 euros per day for a mid-range car.

When you return the car we will give you a receipt, acknowledging that the car was handed back to us and that “business is closed”.

4.  Fuel Policy
Fuel policies are one of the points where a lot of scams can take place.

If the option is full – empty, you will for sure lose money as you will not get any refund for unused fuel.
The other option full – full will permit you to return the car with a full tank but most often there is applied a fuel administration fee of 20-45 Euros as an additional cost which is not refunded again.

You can also risk having to pay a refuelling fee if the car is not returned with a complete full tank.

At Helle Hollis we have fair fuel policy, which means that you pay for a full tank of fuel, and you decide how you want to return the car again.

You can choose to return the car with a full tank, and we will refund the full amount – or you can choose to return with ¼ tank and we will refund ¼ part.  This means that Helle Hollis always reimburses you to the nearest quarter of a tank left.  Our fair fuel policy makes it easy and flexible for you as a customer to choose the way that suits you best.

5.  Additional drivers
It’s great to be two drivers to share the driving between yourself on a holiday.

It can though become an expensive extra as often the additional driver fee is a daily surcharge so it can be quite expensive for a 14-days holiday if you have to pay 6-9 euro per day for an additional driver.  It could sum up to an additional 126 euros for  just to add an additional driver to the contract!

At Helle Hollis the additional driver is free when it comes to spouse or partner.

 6.  Arrival late night
If you arrive very late or if you have to return the rental car at out of office hours then a “late night” fee is applied – some car rental companies charge between 30-49 euros.  These companies already start to apply this fee for arrivals or departures between 23hours till 8 o’clock in the morning.

Helle Hollis are open 24 hours 7 days a week with English-speaking staff and we first apply our late night fee from midnight till 7 o’clock in the morning. Our late night fee is just 20 euros.

7.  Travel to Portugal or Gibraltar
Don’t be surprised if a car hire company sells you an extra insurance to drive with the rental car to Portugal or Gibraltar.  This is another one of the hidden extras, sold as a daily insurance from 9 euros per day.

At Helle Hollis you can drive to Portugal and Gibraltar as you please.  Furthermore we have unlimited mileage included in the rental price.

8.  Choose a car rental company that speaks your language
It’s always reassuring to know that you can get all the information and help in your own language.

E.g. should you be unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, it’s nice to know that there are English-speaking staff available.

At Helle Hollis our reception team are English-speaking and with a second language as Danish, German, French, Russian or Spanish.  We have the rental contract and rental conditions in five languages, so you will sign your contract in your own language.

9.   Opening hours
Choose a car rental company which is open and staffed 24 hours 7 days a week.

This will ensure that you can always get in touch with staff of the car rental company in case of an accident, and if you return the car early in the morning, it is more convenient to have any outstanding e.g. fuel settled when you are present instead of returning the car key to a box in a public parking.

Helle Hollis is staffed 24 hours 7 days a week.
10.   Read customer reviews

Finally it’s always a good idea to read customer reviews e.g. from TripAdvisor, Trust pilot or Google Reviews. You will always get the unbiased views from other customers and a general impression of service and standards of the car hire companies or the car suppliers at a car hire broker site.

At Helle Hollis we always aim to give the best possible service so you get you a stress-free start to your holiday. Have a look at our website to see what our customers think about us and also take a look at Google Reviews, Trustpilot or Tripadvisor.

We always do our best to ensure that you do not have a long wait upon your arrival, and can even offer to have the contract prepared in advance with our Fast Lane Service.

We wish you a good start to your holiday, and look forward to seeing you at Helle Hollis.

Updated article 12/09/2023