For a long time now, Alicante, Malaga, Barcelona, and indeed Spain in general have been places to go where you can not only rely on getting the sun, you can also rely on the prices being very cheap. If you put Cheap car hire Alicante into any internet search engine, you were almost always guaranteed to find vehicles at very cheap rates, but this has changed in recent years. According to Sophie Butler in her article “Travel advice: car hire prices compared” for the Telegraph, the price of renting a car in the major tourist destinations of Spain has risen by two thirds. She gives the example of the website travel supermarket and says that renting a car for one week in Alicante during the period of Easter has seen a “rise from about £85 to nearly £140 per week”.
Now, it has to be said that everyone who is arriving to Alicante from many different countries around the world, especially from Europe, will still see that these prices are very cheap in comparison to other European destinations. For instance, you are going to pay a lot more to hire a car in Dublin at any time of year than you would in Alicante.
But, what is the cause of this dramatic rise in prices? The major car rental companies had to cut back a lot on the stock of cars that they were using during the recession period and this has adversely affected the price of cars now because the demand during peak periods is obviously outstripping the ready supply of cars that is available for rental. According to Ms Butler, you are far better off not
approaching individual car rental companies at all. If you’re looking for cheap car hire in Alicante you should really go to the larger price comparison car companies. Many of these car hire comparison websites will be able to offer better deals with the larger car hire companies or indeed local Alicante car hire companies. Also, try to get a car deal when you are booking a flight. The airlines often have deals with the car rental companies in Alicante, or other areas in Spain. For instance, Ryanair always offers a deal through their car hire partners Hertz car rental and you can click through on the Ryanair website quoting your flight details.
How to Save Money?
Of course there are several things you can do yourself to make sure that you are going to get the best from your cheap car hire. You can try to holiday during the off-peak periods. You’re going to save a lot of money this way. Another cost saving method that you can employ when hiring a car is to only rent a smaller car. The more powerful and larger cars are going to cost more money and in most cases are completely unnecessary. Always try to get a deal where you are returning the car full of fuel. By filling the car up at a filling station close to the airport you will save more money than by prepaying for your tank of gas and returning the car empty. Most people will not return the car with an empty tank and are therefore only paying for fuel that they have not used. A diesel car will also save you money.