Mediterranean Car Hire Problems - Rogue Car Rental Vehicles

The findings were shocking. Over 10% of the cars they checked had fuel tanks which were empty, one car had brakes that were falling to pieces and another had oil leaking from its engine. They also stated that if you rented a four by four vehicle in the Med there was a high chance that it would be in inadequate condition.
Paul Watters of the AA said: "The threat to drivers and passengers from rogue vehicles was considerable."
The survey found that many car hire operators had bad customer service, that they levied hidden charges and offered insurance which was too complicated for the customers to understand.
Furthermore many of the insurance agreements in Italy had not been translated into English and gave the customer no defence if an unjustified claim for damage to the hire car was made.
Among those places the report was most critical of was the island of Malta where customer service was lacking and a selection of vehicles were found to be in very poor condition.
One of the worst of these was an off road vehicle which had bald tires, leaking oil and a handbreak which did not work.
The report offered the following advice: “Use a credit card where there may be some support for a rip-off and a video camera to film the outside of a hire car before and after driving it.
“This may be the only defence for holidaymakers trying their luck with a local firm. Recommendation from friends may also be invaluable.”