Renting a car all through the off-peak months

[Octopus]

Just been looking at the algarve driver website - http://www.algarvedriver.com/pricelist.php and the off-peak runs from November to March so 5 months.

At only 48 euros a week for a small car thats starting to look good value to me to keep one as a cheap run around for the winter. I'm unsure of exact costs, but I don't think you could buy/finance a small car, insure it, tax, mot and running costs for 200 euros a month could you?

How old are these cars likely to be, roughly?

[laserblazer]

And you can probably get a better deal for long term rental. BTW, if you have excess insurance for insurance4carhire, then it only covers for 31days. To get around it, arrange with the carhire company to renew the contract every month.

[Octopus]

Yeah was looking at that, i wouldn't even mind changing the car once a month to try the other ones

Are the cars likely be relatively new, does anyone know?

[alf1956]

i hire cars regular through all the seasons&in the winter months you can hire cars for as little as £4 per day

[Bruce Wallis]

Most hire cars are younger than 3 years old.

[Octopus]

Most hire cars are younger than 3 years old.

Thanks, but 'most' isn't going to be much use if I sign a 4 month deal then get hit with a 15 year old thing thats ready for the scrap heap I can't remember who he used but my dad hired two Mitsubishi's, no idea on model but they were small (Clio sized). One of them was so old it didn't even have central locking. The other one looked a couple of years old though so it seemed down to luck really.

i hire cars regular through all the seasons&in the winter months you can hire cars for as little as £4 per day

Who hires cars for £4 a day?

thanks

[laserblazer]

If you don't like the car you can always ask for a different one.

[bradybunch]

And you can probably get a better deal for long term rental. BTW, if you have excess insurance for insurance4carhire, then it only covers for 31days. To get around it, arrange with the carhire company to renew the contract every month.

The car excess company I use covers up to 62days for any one visit.www.carhireexcess.co.uk. It costs me £39.99 for annual cover to europe. As you can see from my previous posts about car breakins this is my second claim this year. So glad I use them. Please don't hire a car without getting excess cover. It can be very costly otherwise.

[alf1956]

Atlaschoice hire cars at £4 per day i have just booked with them for 4 days 18th to 22nd november plus €20 out of hours fee which is usually €15 euros with other companies but im not going to complain about that as they are the cheapest by far.

[Octopus]

Thanks, just tried Atlas and its coming out to £40 a week from now till mid March, so pretty much the same price as algarvedriver.

That early return fee is a total scam... my dad got charged 50 euros for 2 cars and the woman refused to give him a receipt. No doubt she just marked those cars as returned in regular hours and that went straight in her pocket.

[Octopus]

Just spoke to my dad, it was Argus Car Hire that stole the 50 euros from him.

[alf1956]

i have also found economy car hire to be quite reasonable they might be worth a try

[roy4eyes]

Today we went to Albufeira and found that parking in the area below the old bus station and the nearest to the old town now has parking meters charging €1 per hour 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Previous years parking has been free after 18.00, 13.00 Saturdays and all day Sunday.
Result - approximately 35 cars occupying some 200 spaces and the centre of Albufeira absolutely dead.
After a euros worth we went to Armaçao (no meters) and in a change from the past it was the busier of the two resorts.
Could this also be the future for CVO?

[joeysoap]

No charge in Lagos on the Saturday we visited towards the end of October. Still had to pay in Portimao though.

[laserblazer]

Could this also be the future for CVO?

As you are pushed to find a parking space in Carvoeiro it probably won't make any difference. The traders will now park further up the road, where it's free, so there should be spaces in the pay spaces, so it might bring more people into town. If you are planning to spend €20+ on lunch, then another €2 to park close by seems reasonable.