Propose to hire a car in Spain at end of month through package company. All the advice I can find says bail bonds are no longer required by Spanish; anyone here know anything about this. I plead extreme ignorance. If I need one how/ who do I get one from ?/
Tia
John H
I live and work in Spain and recently had cause to hire a car for 3 months - I can confirm that bonds are no longer required. In fact they haven't been for quite a few years, although I can't recall exactly when the requirment was dropped. As a benchmark, you should expect to pay about a hundred sterling a week for a eurobox runaround btw. At the other end of the scale, a big jap 4WD runs at about =80700/week. Note though that most, if not all, hire cars are *not* insured for use on unmade roads - and there are a lot of unmade roads, if you venture out into the campo. Should you break down on a dirt road, flag down the next passing Santana and get towed (illegal btw!) back onto the tarmac before you 'phone it in. Hope this helps.
when the requirment was dropped.
Ah, insert 'e' in 'requirment', according to taste...
Thanks Peter much appreciated ( I'll keep an eye out for the Santana ! )
John H
Illegal to be towed? At all or just on unmade roads? Sounds a tad odd really.
Might refer just to hire cars which usually have a clause in small print restricting them to metalled roads etc.
( After I graduated I spent a while in Australia. My cousin was sent off to hire a 4wd to use for a hunting trip in the bush, being tight fisted he hired a 1.6 ford escourt so we had a weekend off road in that. Ran the battery down after spotlighting at night and had heart in mouth each time he drove over "boulders" which usually turned out to be cow pats! Sump was safe. Small print in that agreement was " no unmetalled roads. Little town was called Texas I think and was on the NSW border. No wonder students get a bad reputation !! )
John H
Yeah, illegal anywhere for any vehicle. You have to use a rescue truck (the 'grua') as a result of which, every small town has it's grua men. It can be a real pain in the neck. Neither can you drive a non mot'd car for it's test, you're supposed to grua them there as well. (Yeah, right!) For that matter, you can't book an appointment for the ITV (the MOT) anyway.
Yes, that's it exactly. But if you're exploring inland, it's difficult not to find yourself on unmade roads at some time or other. People regularly bring unsuitable vehicles down the track I live down and then knock the sumps out on the rocks down the middle. It looks nice and scenic alongside the river but it just gets worse and worse. So I come trundling down in the Landie and there's a thin black line down the middle of the track, and I think, betcha there's a dead car at the end of that stripe! 6 last year, in all. Every one an alloy sump btw.
If the hire company have to come and get you and they find you down an unmade road, you're usually liable for the repairs yourself, was what I was getting at.
It's only a single track here so I often end up moving them just so as I can get home. But sometimes it gets surreal. I pulled a guy out last week; they plough up the olive groves in the spring with a tracked tractor with serious hooks on it, down 18" or so, as a firebreak - there's big rocks turned up all over the place, ok, and it's furrowed like a potato field; you would drive a 4WD across it *carefully* if you had to. And right in the middle of it is a goddam Ford Escort of all things, completely dug in flat on it's belly pan with about 25 bags of cement in the boot and on the back seat. I pulled it out in low 1st, I have *no idea* how he got it in there. Maybe he took a run at it.
Well, I'm coming to Spain for a couple of week on Tuesday, Casares to be precise & bloody nice it is too!
I just hope Malaga airport is finished as it was utter chaos last time we came!
Nige
precise & bloody nice it is too!
Was there in November and the car hire hall was like turning out time at Wembley Stadium - absolute chaos. That said, the car hire was excellent - good cars, upgraded and pretty cheap. Booked a Megane and a Clio (7 of us in the party) and got a Megane and a Zafira.
Ummm... I'm very sorry to tell you.... they apologise for the inconvenience, and all that.... but should you happen to work in the construction industry you're going to feel right at home!! Complete chaos. I know you don't want to think about going home when you haven't got here yet, but when the time comes, the word on the street here says allow an extra hour to check in. (For check-in, read, to 'get'-in!)
You're actually not far from me - I live near a very similar white pueblo, Monda.
Peter.
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