Top Car Autoreisen.

[Keith Dean]

Does this company have an office at the airport in Fuerteventura?
Been using Payless for years, but Top Car's price has come up a lot cheaper this time. Emailed Payless who have said "from this office we can not do anything
special price whether you want to call it has head office in Lanzarote, asking for the the manager and maybe you can bid lanzarote 34 928 860767"
Is it time for a change?
What are your feelings about Top Car Autoreisen?

Thanks in anticipation!!

[lionfish]

Not used topcar, but have heard suggestions about unexpected extras i.e additional insurance, being offered to bring things up to the standard you already have with Payless as standard.
Have you tried Plus Car?
Yes, they do have an office - next to Cicar I think.

[DaveW]

Yes they want an extra 3€ per day otherwise they take a 200€ deposit that is refunded on safe return of the car.
Used them for a few years, now switched to CICAR who are competetive

[SoCal]

In the past, I have been very happy with this company. The prices have been very low, they have an office in the airport should you have to come in at an hour other than you intended, and they provided the car I asked for.  Since I pay by credit card, I fail to see how them holding an extra 200 euros and then releasing it means it cost me more. Two years ago they started offering extra insurance for sale, which was beyond what the others offered. Examples included paying for those times we really did drive off road and damaged a wheel or tire. However, their standard insurance appears to be identical to Plus Car. If CICAR is now financially competitive, they may be worth investigating, however for a recent search, Autoreisen was the least expensive, less than the popular Plus Car.

[isleswing]

They do have an office in Arrivals, so you can get the paperwork sorted while she's getting the bags off the carousel. They've always been very efficient.
Cars are clean, some have been round the block a few times, but perfectly fine.
Last year we had a Seat, 4000km on the clock, minor scrape on one door and another on opposite corner. Very typical, not perfect bodywork, they seem happy to just get it back at all.
The insurance has been discussed at length elsewhere.
We did have a technical problem when we got to El Cotillo Faro. Phoned them and a replacement car turned up on the back of a recovery truck 90 minutes later. Couldn't fault that for service.
Really, it's only when things go wrong, and you see how a firm get around the problem, that you find out the quality of service.

[Can the Man]

In the early days when I first started visiting Fuerte, I used Autoreissen, I think probably about 4 times, however, as previously said cars were a bit worn and had high mileage on them. But they were clean and the prices were good.
What put me off was the first time I brought my grandson and ordered a car seat which was delivered to the car but not fitted, it was not a normal type seat that I could fit myself so I had to go back to the terminal  and get somebody to fit the seat, I was not impressed with how it was fitted and its safety aspect, they used a crocodile clip (like what you use for keeping a cereal bag closed) to hold the safety belt straps together, I challenged them and was told that was the way they were done, so after that I stopped using them and changed to payless, cabrerra & cicar, more recently to plus cars who I cannot fault.

[Keith Dean]

Thanks to you all for the input. It seems they are all much the same. Give with one hand, take away with the other.

[djk99]

In the past, I have been very happy with this company. The prices have been very low, they have an office in the airport should you have to come in at an hour other than you intended, and they provided the car I asked for.  Since I pay by credit card, I fail to see how them holding an extra 200 euros and then releasing it means it cost me more. Two years ago they started offering extra insurance for sale, which was beyond what the others offered. Examples included paying for those times we really did drive off road and damaged a wheel or tire. However, their standard insurance appears to be identical to Plus Car. If CICAR is now financially competitive, they may be worth investigating, however for a recent search, Autoreisen was the least expensive, less than the popular Plus Car.

If they simply 'ring-fence' the €200 on your card then it's not such a problem-unless your card is ''maxed out' and you were hoping to use it on holidays. But if they actually take the money and then make a refund  it can generate foreign currency charges in some cases, and, depending on your balance situation and bill dates can cause interest to be charged if the refund is not made during the same billing cycle. IIRC Autoreisen did the latter which led me to use Plus Car as a first choice. I'll usually check a few of the others including Autoreisen and if they are significantly cheaper I could live with the Credit Card messing. There's just ONE company I won't use again under any circumstances, but, they have been hammered enough on this site so I don't think many readers would choose them.

[lionfish]

I thought there were several companies best avoided.
Examples, from memory:-
Orlando
Goldcar
Hertz
Avis                 there may be others as well!

[SoCal]

To dkj99, your points are fair. My only comment is that people should understand that given the quality of the bus system on the island, renting a car here s a luxury. (My god, it is not like we are in Los Angeles.)  For many, taking a taxi may be more cost effective. Hence anyone who is in a situation where 200 euros is maxing out his or her credit card, would be best to skip the car and put his or her financial house in order.

Isleswing's experience makes me more inclined to return to Autoreisen.  Coming through when there is a problem is an important attribute of an organization. A fellow forum member told me that on the day he was to leave, someone stole one of his wheels. A phone call to the rental company, Payless, was worthless.  Only through ingenuity of using a nut from each of the remaining wheels and the spar wheel, was he able to get to the airport.  I not inclined to use Payless.

[potash]

lionfish used top car for 8 years don't believe what you hear they are a top company to deal with they swipe your card in case you do damage to car while on hire

[Pat on the hill]

Used them at least 10 times both on Fuerte and Lanza, no problems
of any kind yet !

[djk99]

This week is a good example of why Top Car Autoreisen should not be overlooked - they are charging  €107 / per week for a basic Group A car, while forum favourite Auto plus car want €134.75. After the holiday period both companies drop back to low season rates leaving Plus Car at €84.70 and Top Car at €79.   

[Neilclarke]

I have booked a class C car for Euro 123 for 10 days in June. They always seem to come out cheapest when i run a comparison. We have used them many times and never had any problems with them. We were upgraded from a Seat Leon to a Suzuki Grand Vitara last October and kept it for the whole week. We went off road to Cofete and returned it covered in mud with no problems.