I have hired cars through Economy Car Rentals for 10 years now, this year I was put with a company called INTERRENT! They have office on the road into the airport. Has anyone had bad experiences with this company??

The car we collected was in very good condition, the usual quick visual check was made on collection by their rep and I checked the car to make sure any damage had been recorded, there was only he odd mark.

I had taken the 'no excesses' option at the time of booking with ECR but on collection INTERRENT told me that I would have to pay an additional 10 euros a day to delete the excesses as far as they were concerned. If I didn't then the excess with them would be 900 euros and I would need to complete any damage report and police report to reclaim through Economy Car Rentals!

On return we were well and truly 'conned', the same lady who we saw on collection (not at all pleasant) wen to inspect our car and came back to say there was damage to the front passenger door?? We were totally unaware of an damage to the car and went to look, she had identified a very slight indentation (no paint damage) no more than 2 cms which was only visible from a certain angle, it was astonishing that she even noticed it!! This was more than likely there when we collected the car!! She insisted it was our responsibility and then proceeded to 'con' us out if the sum of 370 euros plus a 30 euro admin fee!!!!

We were thoroughly disgusted but there was nothing we could do at the time. We are naturally taking this matter up with ECR.

We have on many occasions in the past with ECR been told to just leave cars in P4 with keys under sun visor with no inspections made in return so this experience has left a very nasty taste!

Beware and definitely avoid INTERRENT Car Hire!!

Just in case some members think this is connected to Economy Car Hire, Economy Car Hire are a different company and do not use Interrent as a supplier at any location.

It looks as if either ECR is ripping people off or its suppliers are and have been for some time now: Click Here and view Newest Replies first in Comments.

Redford

Best place is to post it is on their facebook page (if they have one)- that way a lot of people will see it.
Surely the repair would not cost €370 but from my previous experience with a major car rental company (Bu) (when i was not at fault in an accident) you are just wasting your time. Lesson learnt.
Only way is to pay the excess charge but shop around as prices vary especially outside the months of June-August.
For me Algarve Driver / YOR are excellent and if you do have problems you can also rely on Steen to add his voice to yours.
Hope you enjoyed your visit.

Sorry to hear of your experience with Interrent, and hope that you can sort it out. We have used Travel Rent for ten years and never had a problem. Found some damage last year to the car we had rented, which probably happened in a parking lot. We pointed it out to TR when we took the car back to the airport and they said not to worry about it.

I have taken out annual excess insurance which is certainly worth it if you hire more than once a year. It takes away all the worries too. You can shop around this.

I took the advice on the AlgarveDriver car hire company's site and took out my own worldwide excess cover last September for 12 months. This covered me for my rental car from AD last September and for a three week trip to Florida in December for a car hired from Alamo Rentals. It is still in force and will cover my car from AlgarveDriver when we arrive at Faro next Friday. So that's three bites of the cherry for a premium of £55. When you consider that AlgarveDriver's own excess charge would be €7 per day (a two week hire would cost €98), it makes sense even if you're only renting once a year. It is even cheaper if you choose 'Europe only' cover instead of Worldwide. The company I chose was Questor Insurance.com who are a fully accredited insurer, there is also 'insurance4carhire.com'. Both companies get good reviews. I found Questor slightly the cheaper of the two.