I was just reading through the thread about your problems with car insurance excess. We use a company called http://www.economycarhire.com based in UK , they are an excellent company and all inclusive insurance with no insurance excess. They take credit card details for petrol only. Items not covered are tyre damage, windscreen & underside of vehicle. You never know when you park a vehicle up and go shopping or for lunch that some inconsiderate person bangs your car and drives off. We use them regular in Portugal and never had a problem. Try them out have a look at the website. Cheers Jayjan

Just forgot to mention on my above post they cover car hire in Spain, Balearics, Italy, Canaries & Portugal. Cheers Jayjan