Hello,
We are traveling to Madrid in November arriving on the 22nd and are planning to rent a car to travel to Valencia and other cities as well as traveling in and around Madrid. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good reputable car rental agency? Looking at reviews on certain websites leave me feeling inconclusive as to which agency is the best. I'm a AAA member, if that helps.
Thanks for your advice!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7157 posts
Best is relative. I always rent from a large company like Enterprise, Avis, Budget, Alamo, etc. They are all pretty similar. My last few trips to Spain have been with Enterprise because I reserved through Costco travel and for Spain it works with Enterprise and Alamo.
After making a no cancellation fee reservation, keep checking back to see if the price has gone down. If it does, make a new reservation and cancel the other. Rental car prices change almost daily.
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
6974 posts
You don't mention much about your planned itinerary, but renting a car in order to travel in and around a major city is in general a terrible idea. There are much better ways to get around. The same for going to Valencia. Unless you plan to make a lot of stops on the way, using a car for that route is a waste of time. It's a 4-5 hour drive compared to 2 hours by train.
Posted by
NC
396 posts
Based on experience last month, can recommend Hertz.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
2014 posts
You might want to take a look at www.AutoEurope.com
which is the website of the consolidator that offers car rentals from the big agencies ( Hertz, Avis, Sixt, Europcar, Dollar, National etc). AutoEurope discounts the rates of these rental agencies. I’ve found it ‘s less expensive to rent through AutoEurope— even less than renting directly through the car rental company. For some cars, some insurance coverages are included beyond the coverages the rental companies are legally required to include.
I’ve been told that the various car rental companies which went bankrupt during the pandemic— have all consolidated under the umbrella of a single parent company.
I’ve always rented through AutoEurope when I could and found good deals and great customer service.
The rental rates fluctuate quite a bit. If you reserve a car for a trip months away— be sure to check the AutoEurope website periodically because if the rental price drops, you can rebook at the lower rate and save even more off the rental cost.
Posted by
Virgina US
25 posts
We rented just a month ago with Budget through Priceline, picked up at the Madrid airport T2. Price were very good and included with second driver. Like the other says, by keep checking prices until the last two weeks before travel, we got good price.
Just keep in mind that with a car, comes with the hassel of looking for parking. We were lucky to have found free parkings in all cities we visited big or small. November is not a busy time, you should be able to find parking not too hard.