At a time when budget airlines are increasingly being criticised over their ever-extending list of unavoidable extra charges, there is perhaps one area where they are being even more brazen, and this is when it comes to adding on a hire car to their flight booking process.
We looked at flights to Malaga from all the major budget airlines which offer flights from the UK to Spain, and this time compared the cost of the car hire for one week, rather than just looking at the cost of the flights to Malaga, which showed relatively little variance in price, even from different UK regional airports.
Out of six airlines we looked at, five included a car hire quote as part of the booking process, which customers had to opt out of in order to avoid booking through the airline’s partner. Jet2 was the only airline not to include an opt-out-only car hire booking quote, so this had to be looked up separately.
In most cases, the airlines have entered into an affiliate agreement with a major car hire provider — Hertz in the case of Aer Lingus and Ryanair, Europcar with easyJet and Avis with Flybe. In all of these four cases, the cost of a hire car was substantially more than the cost quoted using car hire comparison engines, with Aer Lingus working out at the most expensive at £312.80, a staggering 627% more than the cheapest price. Of the airlines which gave a direct booking option, Ryanair were the cheapest at £122.99, even though this was also booked through Hertz.
Meanwhile, the Bmibaby were by far the cheapest of the airlines which included car hire booking as part of the flight booking process, as they are powered by car hire comparison engine Cartrawler, who compare prices across a number of different car hire companies, instead of sticking to just one major brand.The price with Bmibaby was £67.48, but even this was still more than half as expensive again as the cheapest option.
Jet2 were the cheapest of the airlines we looked at, coming in at £51.06, and this was through their Jet2cars.com website, which is powered by Carhire3000.
| AIRLINE |
PARTNER |
COST |
| RYANAIR |
HERTZ |
£122.99 |
| EASYJET |
EUROPCAR |
£129.00 |
| AER LINGUS |
HERTZ |
£312.80 |
| BMIBABY |
CARTRAWLER |
£67.48 |
| FLYBE |
AVIS |
£157.98 |
| JET2 |
CARHIRE3000 |
£51.06 |
Cheapest Malaga Airport Car Hire
So what was the cheapest option? We looked at two leading car hire price comparison websites — carrentals.co.uk and carhiresearch.co.uk, and both gave us car options for just £43.
Conclusions
Car hire might well be an optional extra on low-cost airline websites, but users still need to make sure they opt out of it to avoid being charged.
These airlines aren’t stupid, so we can only assume that they have done their calculations, and they know that they will get a certain percentage of people who will opt in at these prices. Quite how anyone will pay over £300 for a week’s basic off-season car rental in Malaga is beyond us, but Aer Lingus clearly seem to think that some people will. The lowest prices we looked at might be for the very cheapest model car with less well known agencies, but the price differences are still vast. Where is the logic in booking cheap flights and expensive car hire?
Do you need a car for a visit to Malaga?
Meanwhile, another option is to consider whether or not you need a hire car at your destination in the first place. We are developing a new website, Carornocar.com, to provide advice on car hire and public transport options in a range of destinations around the world. Do you think a hire car is necessary to make the best out of a trip to Malaga and the surrounding Andalusia region? Or can you get around without one? See what we say, and let us know whether you agree or not – Car Or No Car’s Malaga Car Hire Verdict.
Notes:
- Comparisons were done for Malaga Airport car hire between 22nd and 29th March 2012, searching for the cheapest car available with no extras added on.
- Since doing initial check, prices were checked again on October 20th, with the cheapest car coming in at an even lower price – just £39!