Hi Jilly,
We used Record when we visited in August. I wasn't impressed by the multitude of additional charges that were thrown at me over and above what I had already paid (and thought was the grand total) when I booked the car on-line. However, that said, we did pay the extra bit for the fast lane (I think it was called PREMIUM check-in) and I have to say that it was well worth the price.
We arrived late-morning on Saturday 3rd August, so pretty much peak time I would've thought, and there was a MASSIVE queue at the normal desk, but we headed for the sectioned off bit which was signposted as the fast lane, where there was only 1 person being served. He almost immediately finished and we were beckoned forward, but not before a rather irate German gentleman had had his say about us 'jumping' the queue! We pointed out to him that we had paid for the fast lane, but he was more bothered about telling everybody else in the queue that we had pushed in in front of everyone. We then moved up to the desk and the lady there looked at our paperwork and said we were correct to go to her and to just ignore him - 'people do tend to get upset, but they had the opportunity to pay the extra as you had' was what she told us.
So, if you are expecting to arrive at a busy time, I would say it's definitely worth paying the extra. Of course, the problem may come when everybody reads this post and does the same thing, and then there's nobody at the normal queue and everybody else at the fast lane!
We are out again in 3 weeks time, but staying with Sealand Villas this time, so the car hire is all sorted before we arrive.
Enjoy your holiday, whenever that may be.
David.
