Car Rental Recommendations, Murcia?

Be sure and pick up your IDP at AAA.
What are you planning to do which requires the car rental? Stop! Not being cruel, just striving to point out to first closely examine your itinerary to determine if you really need to rent a car. This guidance comes from someone who owns a car and keeps it in Malaga.

Hi,
We have arranged a 2 week home exchange in Los Alcazares, flying into Murcia airport from Madrid. We have arranged for a ride from the airport to the house, after which we will use bus service to see the nearby area, i.e., Cartegena, Murcia City etc. We want the rental so we can go to Granada with a few stops along the way (Lorca?, Guadix? before staying 2 nights in Granada, then backtracking to go to Valencia for 1 night. I also want to see Elche and Alicante, and plan to use the car to go there.

I think we will need the car for at least 5 nights, and possibly 7. I have our itinerary set and plan to arrange for the rental before departing the US per R.S. advice to get as good a rate as we can.

We do not have AAA, but plan to rent using a Chase Sapphire card which has some level of ins. coverage and will decide what else to buy when I get closer to making the rental commitment.

Does IDP stand for International Driver's permit, and are there requirements other than a valid US drivers license?

Any advice you can give will be appreciated; we've not rented a car in Spain before. Thanks.

"Does IDP stand for International Driver's permit, and are there requirements other than a valid US drivers license?"

Yes, Spain requires that you carry an IDP (International Driver's Permit) in addition to your valid US license. You get the IDP at a AAA office, even if you're not a member. It's cheap and is good for one year (and the year can start at any time, not just January 1).