Hire car problems - Holiday autos / Centauro

[Electrolyte98]

We had a problem with our car when we stayed in PP from 28 May - 4 June that I wanted to share with you all.

We booked a car via Holidayautos to pick up from Palma airport on 28 May 05 but it appeared everyone else had too! Holidayautos had booked the car with Centauro. When we arrived all of the other car hire booths were empty but there was a huge queue from Centauro.

We started queuing at midday and we weren't sitting in the car until just past 2PM! Not the best way to start the holiday. What made it worse was seeing people walk up to Hertz etc and getting their car within 2 mins.

Only bright side was that Centauro upgraded our car from a fiesta to a focus estate for free which almost made the 2 hour wait worthwhile.

Apparently Centauro were undercutting everyone else so this is why they had the massive queue. I guess sometimes the cheapest isn't necessarily the best option.....:lol

 

[pollensa]

A little hint re Car Hire - if you are arriving at a busy time, send one person ahead with all the documentation etc. to stand in the Car Hire queue whilst the other person waits for the luggage to arrive. You will need driving licenses, passports etc. for the Car Hire.

 

[congokid]

My friends arrived about the same time as you, Electrolyte98. They'd booked through Carjet, and faced enormous queues at the Centauro desk. However, as they'd just reserved and not paid, they went to a nearby agent that was very quiet and got a car for about the same price, but without the huge delay.

I arrived later that afternoon. There were still queues at Centauro at about 5.30pm, but not as bad. I had my keys in about 40 minutes - still the longest wait I've had yet if you don't count Easyrentacar which is off airport.

Others in our party weren't so lucky. They'd already paid up, but their flight was delayed until after 1am and when they arrived the Centauro desk in arrivals was closed. I'm sure if they'd known about it they might have found the Centauro office in the car park open, but they ended up renting a car from another agent. I don't know yet whether they asked for or got a refund.

The following Saturday, as I was leaving, I again noticed huge queues at Centauro.

The trouble is with booking through brokers is that you don't know which agent you'll get until you've reserved (in the past Carjet nearly always used Europe Rentacar), or what conditions will be like on the day you arrive.

I have a booking through Carjet in August, with Record Rentacar, which I may amend. Anyone else got experience of them?

 

[smiddy]

The fact it was a bank holiday week-end may have had something to do with it. I've always used Carjet and never experianced any delay.

 

[debz1]

We arrived on the 4th June and queued for over 2 hours at the Europa Gold desk >: ..or at least Chelseadons and his mate did while my friend and I sat in a cafe !! We will not be using car jet again or at least not during the busy Summer season. We all needed double gins by the time we arrived in PP as if we needed an excuse!

Debs

 

[Electrolyte98]

Unfortunately we'd already paid for the car so had to queue. I did think about going to Hertz and forgetting about Centauro but then I'd have been throwing £115 away.

Once we got to PP and saw how many car hire places there were in PP I wished that we had taken the bus from the airport to PP and got a car there. Anyone done this before?

 

[Snowy]

John Hill wrote:
I have been reading the puertopollensa.com web site which people are saying that they are having a two hour wait to get a car booked thru you at Palma airport, I was looking to book with you but I am not waiting in line for two hours. What is being done to sort this out.


Delays only occur when there are flight delays and more than one flight arrive at the same time. Otherwise the offices are adequetly staffed.

Regards
Nik
carjet

Any comments

 

[Sun Properties]

Palma Car Hire

Nik

I have to agree with the comments regarding the delay at the car hire desks at Palma airport. I do not believe the delay of a plane causes a knock on effect - the fact is that there are considerably more budget airlines operating from UK to PMI with travelers booking their own accommodation and onward travel arrangements from the airport with a great deal of people requiring the Independence provided by a hire car.
As I recall when you get to the desks you are asked for a contact address and telephone number whilst on the island. Why not provide your customers with a form to complete prior to their arrival or whilst they are in the queue? You are then asked for your driving license and that of any extra drivers. Tell your customers to have this ready before they stand at the desk looking for it or even worse looking through their various bags to try and locate it. Next request is for a credit card with a long explanation why there is an extra 50 euro or so cost for a tank full of petrol. This could all be explained in the booking confirmation. Generally I think with a bit of pre-planning the time people stand at the desk could be reduced by a third. A sign on the desk wall pointing out the information required would also assist (in English as well !!).
Shorter queues = happier customers.

KAB

 

[diver val]

Hi congokid

You asked if anyone else had experience of Record Rentaca.

David and I always hire through an internet only company and Record rentacar is where you have to pick up the keys and pay.

We have never had any problems with them, finding them efficient and if they don't have a small car available, will automatically up-grade you, which is very good news, as the higher grade cars have air-con.

Hope that helps.

Diver Val

 

[congokid]

Thanks Diver Val

I knew there had been earlier posts that mentioned Record but I wasn't sure if they'd been restored yet.

I always rent online, too, and as the brokers usually offer the option to pay there and then or on arrival, I usually decide to wait. In the past Carjet bookings usually went to Europa Rentacar, but not this year it seems. The price was good, booking was easy, picking up on arrival was speedy and service was good.

At present I have a reservation for August booked through Carjet, but this time I'm collecting at none other than - Record Rentacar - and at a slightly better price than Record is currently offering.

If there's an enormous queue there when I arrive, I suppose I'll decide to either stick with my booking and wait, or look for another rental agency with a good offer and a short queue.

 

[PennyWhite]

We were very impressed with Centauro, we booked our apartment and car via Open Holidays so it was all done for us, Renault Clio... we had thought about have a car for one week but the cost of the transfers was so horrendous that it made sense to have the car for the whole three weeks.
On arrival at Palma hubby dashed on ahead with relevant paperwork, in fact he said he was a bit too efficient as he ended up on the part of the desk that had less people, but anyway by the time son and I ambled through with the bags we were all sorted, took a bit of time finding the car, but we had been upgraded to a Focus which was very spacious for three of us. Journey very straightforward, at Mestrel with first beer and paeilla within the hour.
On return nice lady at the airport took the key and checked everything had been ok, all worked a treat.