Hi,
I too would be interested in a rough price and availabilty of car hire in this area as we are going for 2 weeks in june and having never been to spain for many years would like to get out and about off the beaten track as they say.

Thanks

the best car hire co. I've ever used in Spain is Solmar - solmar-online.com who have their office and car depot based at Reus Airport, but I've found that you can also block the same car cheaper with Solmar through another web site call email-car-hire.co.uk.

The car hire rates are 'ALL INCLUSIVE', ie 'No Insurance XS'

Its a very easy drive from the airport to either salou or cambrills, and from either you can explore Tarragone or Reus cities and even venture as far as Barcelona !

A great option is to borrow or buy a European Sat Nav and you'll never get lost.

All the best,

T

tomgilboy (et al), hi

thanks for that but I'm afraid I was away when you posted it ! I asked everyone at the airport when we got there that had a rep in attendance (Europcar, AA, and Solmar) but no one delivered to the hotel. At the time I did not know the roads or the distance so wanted this option.

The company we went with was AVIS. I have used them before in other countries and as a company they always seem to be one of the cheapest. They have an office on the main beach road, right next to the Cambrils Princess Hotel in Cambrils just over the railway bridge from Cambrils park.

Hotel Cambrils Princess
Avd De La Diputacion 141
Cambrils Tarragona 43850, ES
977-793011

Mon-Fri: 0900-1300 1600-1930
Sat: 1000-1230
Sun: closed

We got a group B for 3 days (picked it up at 4:30pm Tuesday, only charged for Wed, Thu, Fri returned 7:30pm Friday). They gave us a practically spanking new 1.3 Vauxhall (ok, Opel!) Corsa (CDTi 75CV EN , no less for all you other car buffs out there for whom that might make any difference!), shiny black with A/C, electric windows, two booster seats, Fully Comp insurance, 13,000 on the clock for 198.00EUR. The tank was full when started and returned full. This was the cheapest of the various options for returning the car (with the full tank).

They have agreed discounted rates for Thomas Cook holiday makers. I think we saved 10 or 20EUR (a saving is a saving!). They had a chart so probably more days or bigger car would be a higher saving. The Thomas Cook Rep at Cambrils Park had exactly the same chart.

We agreed with them at the time of booking that they would happily deliver the car to Camrbils Park for free. When the time came to deliver, however, they were too busy and understaffed so I had to pick it up and drive it back. The literally two minute drive, though, was fine!

There was also a local dealer 10 minutes walk down the same street towards Salou (Autofil, I think ?) but the prices were a bit steeper and the cars didn't look so good.

I hope, in addition to the info from tomgilboy, that this helps. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

kind regards and happy holidays

your friendly neighbourhood

Spider-Man

hi all,

just to say, without going too far into detail and risk the post being blocked by the ever-vigilant admins -the Local dealer from where we got the hire car is trying to stitch us for an extra day. As always, watch out for duff reps, even of good companiues like Avis! make sure you always get some kind of signed hardcopy proof of an agreed price ( as I have).

I'll keep you posted as to how it works out.

still a fab holiday though

your friendly neighbourhood

Spider-man

Hi all,

for those of you who may be interested, the upshot of the interim calls and emails (detals of which I won't bore you with), is that the supervisor on the end of the line at the Avis Call centre said that she was going to happily make a refund for the complete amount of the difference.

So kids, remember:
1. Always get written and, most important -signed, proof of what you have agreed with the local reps.
2. Check and double check the written document agrees with any verbal agreements -however friendly and reassuring the reps may be -This is where I came unstuck a little.
3. Never lose your cool on the phone to the call centre, manners and decorum at all times work wonders.
4. If the person answering the call cannot help (as in my case) ask nicely for their supervisor instead of getting angry at them. Most of the time their hands really are tied. The supervisor came right out and said she would refund the difference without being asked.

live and learn

happy travels

your friendly neighbourhood
Spider-man