Never again. Intense upselling re insurance, and now they bill us $300 for a "scratch" which was not covered by the insurance they insisted we needed. We were unaware of any scratch that we might have caused. A very expensive lesson. In future it's taxis for us, or car rental through Air Canada when purchasing air ticket, as we did last trip, rather than through Rentalcars.com. We had no hassles on that earlier rental. Of course we didn't follow the advice to photograph all parts of the car before driving off the lot, but who does?
Posted by
Green Bay
21210 posts
Used Sixt 4 times, twice in the US and once each in Germany (local agency) and Geneva (airport location) without problems. I don't know if Malaga is corporate or local franchisee. And I do take photos now days as I've seen return crews go over cars with kid gloves looking for scratches. Unfortunately, a lot of car rentals work on the model of "rent the car at cost (or maybe even below cost) and profit on the insurance and repairs".
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
First of all - Sixt were the unscrupulous ones to pull this one on you...not Rentalcars.com That's like saying you'll never buy another airline ticket from Expedia because Delta treated you poorly.
Secondly - just take the trains if at all possible. Forget that "freedom" people supposedly get from rental vehicles.
Posted by
San Leandro, CA, USA
518 posts
I try to book direct with the provider whenever possible rather than through an agent (online or otherwise). Sometimes it's simply not worth the risk of the middle man screwing things up and not taking responsibility for it.
Posted by
Central Valley, California
293 posts
I don't need convincing: I have always had bad experiences with European rentals; it's public transportation for me. And In July, as I was eating breakfast in the Hotel Am Schloss in Heidelberg, listening to a young man and his brother on the telephone with an agency - oh it was a nightmare. I heard everything: agency was closed from noon to 3 on the day they were supposed to pick their car up; closed again Saturday afternoon, closed all day Sunday - no one to talk to - no answering machine... You can try to be "smart" about being proactive, but it's like they'll "catch you" at something you missed; that's been my experience in the past, so no rentals for me.
Posted by
824 posts
One thing Americans (and Canadians) need to realize bout the rest of the world, owning a personal automobile or even driving a car routinely, is not as ubiquitous as in North America. In the whole of Europe, I think around 25% of the driving-age population does not own a personal car and in the cities it’s over 60% go without a car. Car ownership and driving is expensive and it’s a hassle. So, renting a car is also expensive and a hassle. (Here’s a hack for you – return it CLEAN!)
I agree with everyone else here that public transportation is the way to go. And I’ve driven in Germany, Austria, Italy, the U.K., Japan and Korea. Do yourself a favor and do as the vast majority of locals do – take the bus, train or tube.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
I appreciate the thoughtful responses to my original screed. Definitely agree that we would be better off using public transit whenever possible. Unfortunately for our last trip it wouldn't have worked, but will think twice and plan differently in future. But will always avoid Sixt- we're used rental cars numerous times in the past and have never before felt we were being scammed.