Car Hire

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 6:34 am

As many of you know, I have always been a loyal Algarvedriver customer but that might change. I've just looked up the price for Easter and because we will want to collect the car at 10pm and drop off at 8am, there are two lots of out of hours charges amounting to €40.

Can anyone recommend an alternative I can consider?

EMM · Post by **EMM** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:42 am

I agree it is an issue. Given that the majority of UK flights and from observation those to Holland and Germany are early or late why should we pay the hire companies these additional costs.
Are we to believe that they keep their staff at the airport for the hours when there are no flights or those carrying few customers for them.
Like so many suppliers in the service industry , we the consumer has to pay the the conveninece of giving them business.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:55 am

EMM wrote:I agree it is an issue. Given that the majority of UK flights and from observation those to Holland and Germany are early or late why should we pay the hire companies these additional costs.
Are we to believe that they keep their staff at the airport for the hours when there are no flights or those carrying few customers for them.
Like so many suppliers in the service industry , we the consumer has to pay the the conveninece of giving them business.

It seems to me that the out of hours duration and cost has slowly been increasing. I think I might register my concerns with the Boss.

loonytoon · Post by **loonytoon** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:20 am

travel rent via economy car hire seem to have much better times - just booked for october and opening times are 7.30 to 23.59

jeff

HampshireRich · Post by **HampshireRich** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:32 am

Would any of you work late/early hours for nothing? As far as I know we pay shift allowance in the UK!

Be careful what you ask for - reducing this cost for those of you who take cheap flights to save money may result in an increase in daily rental charges which will affect all of us

EMM · Post by **EMM** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:51 am

If you look at the times the majority of flights are scheduled you will see that they can fall within the " premium " drop off and collection periods.
Are we paying for staff to sit in their vans when there is little business actually going on.
We have come across reps asleep in their vans
A well managed business uses its rescources to match demand and does not charge premiums.

sunman · Post by **sunman** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:30 am

EMM wrote:If you look at the times the majority of flights are scheduled you will see that they can fall within the " premium " drop off and collection periods.
Are we paying for staff to sit in their vans when there is little business actually going on.
We have come across reps asleep in their vans
A well managed business uses its rescources to match demand and does not charge premiums.

EMM, not too long ago you held a 'if you want to holiday in Portugal you pay the prices, like it or lump it' attitude,

I mean this genuinely, it's nice to see that you're coming round to the view that we can vote with our feet if we don't like it.

HampshireRich · Post by **HampshireRich** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:32 am

EMM wrote:If you look at the times the majority of flights are scheduled you will see that they can fall within the " premium " drop off and collection periods.
Are we paying for staff to sit in their vans when there is little business actually going on.
We have come across reps asleep in their vans
A well managed business uses its rescources to match demand and does not charge premiums.

Looking at FARO arrivals todays, there is a hell of a lot more arrivals between 8:30am and 9:00pm than after 9:00pm (which was 9) - where on earth do you get your figures from?

EMM · Post by **EMM** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:38 am

Its is not just arrivals but drop off as well.
A 8.30.-9.00am departure means a 7.00 7.30 drop off for most which puts you into the premium charge period.

HampshireRich · Post by **HampshireRich** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:46 am

EMM wrote:Its is not just arrivals but drop off as well.
A 8.30.-9.00am departure means a 7.00 7.30 drop off for most which puts you into the premium charge period.

10 flights leaving today between 6:30 and 9:00am - hardly the majority. You are basically saying for your (ie a passenger) convenience, the hire-companies have to operate between 6:00am and 10:00pm without incurring more costs than a normal 9 - 5 day? These are businesses and have to make money or go bust! So they have to charge according to their costs, supply and demand - it is not just "me, me, me" from a customer perspective. As suman said, vote with your feet if you don't like it, but I suspect other hire-car companies compensate for this in other ways if they do not charge, or offer a lesser service.

Alternatively (from my "me, me, me" perpesctive) get a decent flight that costs a bit more but takes off and lands at civilised times, and don't pay the extra 40euros

Farol · Post by **Farol** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:55 am

As you can drop the car off when no rep is there and leave the keys in the normal place I see no reason to put a return time that is out of hours nor to pay for the privilege of dropping the car off in an unattended car park for the rep to check when he comes on shift. If the rep was there that would be different.

Collections do require staff to work late, either as part of a normal shift or as overtime, and that has to be paid for. It is far fairer to just charge clients wanting an out of hours service than spreading the cost across all rentals. The thing to consider is whether the out of hours charge seems reasonable looking at the wages and other charges that the rental firm would be paying.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:21 am

Farol, are you saying put in a return time of 9.30am even though you know it will be 7am? That's a great idea

Last time we left the car at P4 at 8am and there was nobody there, so we just left the keys in the usual location.

I'm not saying YOR are wrong to have a surcharge but when it adds €40 to the cost, there may be better options. I've always used Algarvedriver and recommended them on this site but loyalty only goes so far.

EMM · Post by **EMM** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:52 am

If flights arrive/depart with customers between 5.00am and 11.00pm then yes the hire companies should schedule there operation to meet peak times and NOT charge us for the priviledge of booking with them.
It is " me me me " without me and tens of thousands like us there would be no jobs, no hire car business.
As for dropping off your car " earlier " than notified to the hire car company, we have done that and received a call when we were back in the UK from an irate faro airport rep wanting to know where the vehicle was, why had we not waited for them etc etc.
A company we no longer deal with as they forgot who was paying the bill.
We have noticed a fall substantial in the number of guests using our apartment who now rent cars. cost being given as the main reason.

bruce · Post by **bruce** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:00 pm

Oh dear EMM seeing some flaws in Portugal!

We don't do early morning or late evening flights so never really had a problem with pick up - drop off, however we were dropping the car off at 8am one Sunday morning and were told where to leave the keys in case the agent wasn't there.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:37 pm

Just got the quote from Zitauto and it is better than Algarvedriver by quite a margin and covers Spain as far as Seville.

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