Rosemary we have been in touch with travel rent this week for a price for September, and they were dearer when the full insurance was added on, we tried to negotiate with them as we have had 5 cars from them this year but they wouldn't budge, so we booked with ECH.
You have a point ECH having your money for 10 months, but do you not think prices will come down for next years bookings, I suppose thats the gamble you take as it could go either way.

Hi,
we booked in March, through Atlas Choice, with Air Auto for a mini-van for 2 weeks in August, then I read lots of negative reviews about both........so, I took out a car hire excess policy and hoped for the best.

We had absolutely no problems at all.

I would not hesitate in using either again.

Mandy

Hi - not posted for a while but am off to Portugal on Thursday and have still not booked my car yet!!

Bit confused after reading the posts on who i should book with ? and if there are any cars left?

Seems that Economy CH and Travel rent are ok but would prefer a rep to meet me with the car than go to a porta cabin etc

Any more advice details would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Just had a quote from car rental abroad .com for 3 adults 2 kids in a Peugot 207 at £218??

Seems very cheap it also includes booster seat/insurance/extra drivers etc

He is calling back with availabilty

does this ring true?

Any watchouts.........thanks

No idea about availabilty but that does ring one alarm bell! Were you planning on taking luggage? Three adults and two kids is going to be very tight in a 207 and you won't get that much in the boot.

Cheers Steve

got 2 cases and a holdall so maybe a bit tight?

He is getting back to me before 5pm supposedly

Not sure what to do looked at ECH and they want over £380?

Need to sort something ASAP reallly

Does anyone know if its worth booking direct at the airport?

The problem with cases is that they aren't flexible and you can't make them fit! It's possible you'd have enough volume but not in the right shape, do you know anyone with a 207 (or is the a friendly dealer near you)?

I'd have thought leaving it till you land at the airport is the worst option. Have you checked whether there are any local companies in your resort? Try the resort's homepage. If you got that you could get a private transfer from and to the airport, maybe offset against 2 days less on the hire?? ECH do offer resort hire but the companies they use might be pooling with the airport fleet, you'd have to look for a name that doesn't appear on the airport list.

What have you looked for with ECH, if you've limited the search to a type of vehicle such as hatchback try looking under estates or small MPV. My boss wanted something for 2+2 and found a 207 SW (estate) was much cheaper than a 307 hatchback (same volume) but didn't come out in the first search because he'd specified hatchback.

Cheers Steve

I am going to get my usual taxi company

Working out way too expensive be cheaper to get a few taxis here and there like i normally do

All the best

Rob

Jayjan or anyone else who can help for that matter!

I read your message on June 17th 2009 regarding Rentauto as below:

The message was as follows: I have just been looking at economycarhire website to book some carhire and have noticed a company called Rentauto, & included in their insurance they are also covering you for the roof ,glass, underside of car, tyres etc, which a lot of the other hire companies don't, its an option extra charge for the cover.......It says they still have a rep meeting you within arrivals hall to take you to you car ,so maybe all the companies arn't using the portakabin on P4, has anyone used them?

and then on June 19th. But I think you may have been referring to Auriga Crown.

It looks as though I shouldn't touch Auriga Crown with a barge pole but Does anyone have any reviews or information on Rentauto and are they any good? I have booked them through ECH with a propomotional code and have free excess and extra driver included.

Yes Ross I was referring to Auriga Crown.
I have done some searches and can't find anything negative about Rentauto so hopefully they will live up to your expectations.
If you read through all the car hire section comments you will see which ones are satisfactory & recommended
You may also see some complaints about SEVIS, this name has now been changed to INTERNATIONAL on ECH website, this is another company that is to be avoided..

I am not sure what is happening anymore, I have recently booked both with Economy (Travelrent) and Your-car hire(Algarve Auto's) and on arrival at the shed I had to queue in the same line and the same woman who has been there many years served me both times albeit for the different companies. what I did notice though, was that all the paperwork on both occasions was on international cars headed forms has anyone else noticed this or other abnormalities ?

Thanks for the info nosivad, I will check our paperwork in two weeks time. Wonder whether its because all the bad reports international have had that they have a stock of spare cars for other companies to use as overflow, oh dear thats not good is it, I wonder who you would be liable to though, the company you originally booked with & have confirmation of, or with them?

I am still waiting for a reply with regard to the question of the paperwork and the fact that the vehicle i ended up with was not on any agents hire lists !!! they say it can take up to 28days to get a reply.

Hello..I'm flying into Faro next Friday for a fortnights holiday in Albufeira...Never been to Portugal before, therefore never rented a car in Portugal....I've been looking around a few car hire websites, and got a reasonable quote from a company called Atlaschoice, everything seemed good and above board...However, I looked up some customer reviews, and Atlaschoice didn't favour too well with a few people...People being people, only really speak up when they've had bad service.

Has anybody on here used Atlaschoice before? and had good or bad service?

Thanks

Lawton,

Atlas Choice are the broker based in London, your confirmation email should tell you the company your car is with. It could be one of the more well known companies or someone local such as Local Cars. What type of vehicle have you booked?

Hi,

Does anyone know if ECH have stopped the discount code which used to exist? i have looked twice now and cannot find it!

Cheers

SB.

Superbok I found the last time we booked a car with ECH the discount code wouldn't show up on my laptop using windows vista but I then decided to use my main computer using windows XP and it showed up. I found this very strange why it didn't show when the page was identical.
Just checked ECH website and the box for the promotional code is showing.

jayjan,

Many thanks for that i have tried at work which operates windows 2000 so i will try at home instead with XP.

Many thanks again.

SB

Has anyone had dealings with ZitAuto hiring from Faro airport. Have had a reasonable quote from them, all inclusive insurance, apart from the normal kyes, tyres, glass etc (but I've got yearly hire insurance so no problem there), however, you can also go as far as Seville (should you wish) and be covered, but I'm still waiting for confirmation with regard breakdown cover, should you be in Spain. Any information on this company would be most appreciated. Thanks.