MalagaCar.com Reviews

I will shortly have my 37th hire from Malagacar. Their service is excellent and staff very friendly. Avoid the delays and rip offs at terminal based car hire firms and use Malagacar. On a couple of occasions I had problems with the car (faulty air con) the vehicle was exchanged immediately and without question. Keep up the good work guys (and girls) !!

We rented a car for 5 nights, taking the full insurance package. Unfortunately the car would not start on the second morning and MalagaCar promptly sent a recovery vehicle. The breakdown guy was able to start the car. We then exchanged the car for a new one on the same day. I am very pleased with MalagaCar as they did exchange the car and did compensate us for the inconvenience on our return when we contacted them. I think the real test for a company is the customer service when problems occur. I would definitely use them again.

I had an excellent experience with them on our recent holiday in October. Excellent quality of the car (got a Renault Captur) and brilliant customer service. Great value for money. Thank you for a great holiday.

We rented a car for a few days to drive around Malaga, and we had a great experience. We booked the all-inclusive package, where insurance was already included. This turned out to be a smart choice for us as the car got scratched by another driver while parked. We did not have to pay anything extra for this.
The service was fantastic, we got picked up by a shuttle bus from the central station, and delivered back once we returned the car at their airport office. We even got a better car then expected.
Overall, we had a great experience using MalagaCar and we would definitely recommend getting the premium package with insurance.

This is the second time we have used this company. We always have the gold package. The first car that they gave us, the 12v power did not work so I could not use our Satnav, they immediately brought any the car out to us. Will defiantly be using them again

Terrible service. I rented a car with them in July 2019. When I picked up the car they charged 1000 euro to my American Express card. They should have just blocked that amount but claimed they had to charge it because it was American Express. I have been renting cars in Malaga for years and no other company has ever done this - they just block the amount on the card. Because they actually charged the amount I incurred a £35 foreign transaction charge on my card - the car hire was only 168 euro.

9 days after returning the car and them confirming that everything was OK with the car I still have not received the return of my 1000 euro. On top of that they charged a further 16 euro to my card with no reason or explanation.

I have chased them but the money has not been returned.

I had high hopes for MalagaCar.com when I read their website it said that service was important and they display good reviews - but having searched further I can now see that other people had difficulty getting their deposit back.

I rent around 10 cars during the year in Malaga - every year, but I will never use or recommend MalagaCar.com.

Updated 4th September 2019

This is not a problem with American Express. This is a problem with Malagacar.com. Have been using American Express with car rental companies at Malaga without a problem for more than 10 years. II can see other reviewers have reported the same issue.

What about the issue of charging extra amount to my card for no reason then refunding only after I complained.

Never had such poor service from a car rental company in Malaga.

Very bad.

Good service from booking to collection. Member of staff available at airport to direct to shuttle although better information at bus would have helped, ie not obviously Malagarcar.

Minimal wait at desk and no issues with car, clean etc. No pressure to buy additional insurance and half half fuel policy.

On return, again all fine and not a long wait for shuttle. No receipt given although despite being told all ok, when back home saw an additional charge made. On querying this was due to fuel policy being same same - car had 6/8 fuel in at start and staff member said return half.

However, Malagacar have agreed to refund this amount as a gesture which was appreciated.

Would use again but just check the fuel in the car at the start.

I have used Malaga Car for the last few years, on the recommendation of friends who live out there. On the positive side, the cars are always very good and the rates seem very competitive.
But this year, having just returned, my experience of customer service has been poor and very frustrating.

Firstly, the queues were enormous - maybe peak hour arrival but not all the desks were manned so well over an hour to get the car

Secondly, and most frustratingly, is the seemingly shared problem of delays to the return of the deposit. A €3,000 deposit that still has not been returned a week after the return of the car! I was advised by Malaga Car to use a debit card (a blocked transaction) and not a credit card (a real transaction), but the deposit is seen by my UK bank as a pending transaction and therefore reduces available funds in my current account. This has caused real inconvenience and bank charges. Despite calls and emails to Malaga Car I have heard nothing and have no explanation for this.

Great deals, great cars and outstanding customer service. A quick shuttle from the airport and takes a few mins in the office and you’re on your way. Easy and 100% reliable

Unfortunately very poor service. Second time using this company after a good experience last year. Good car this year however let down with terrible service relating to baby car seat. Baby seat that we rented from them was not maxi cosi (as advertised on website), staff did not know how to fit baby seat in the car, when challenged as they tried to give us a front facing seat for an infant said they don’t do any other type of seat, when I insisted they have it advertised on their website our member of staff walked away and never came back. We asked two other staff for help, they refused. I ended up rummaging through the baby seat section on my own to try and find an appropriate seat for my baby and had to figure out how to fit it myself. The only assistance we received was from another family who were also struggling to secure a baby seat in their rental car and who also received no help from the staff. Shockingly poor service related to something as important as the safety of babies. Will never use this company again for this reason. Such a shame because the car supplied was great but the whole holiday we were worried as the baby seat we eventually found was nowhere near the standard we use back home.

I have used malagacar many times and have always been very happy with the service. I rented a 7-seater from them for three weeks in June 2019 and found their service, premises and staff to be even better than previous years. Unfortunately we had a puncture in a small town some 150 km away from Malaga and received excellent service from the company. Having phoned them,a breakdown vehicle arrived within 15 minutes of my phone call and I was transported, with the vehicle, to a tyre depot c15 km away where the puncture was repaired and we were back on the road very quickly. The service was brilliant and I can strongly recommend malgacar whose service levels are extremely high. Many thanks, Andrew Ransom

Rented an expensive car in Malaga airport for our family trip. Car was not ready when we arrived, still waiting after 45 minutes. Staff is rude and will not even tell us when the car is ready. No help, no service - do not do it!

Second time of using Malgacar.com, and will be using them again this time next year. We paid for the full package which we recommend. When we picked up the car found that the 12v power supply for my satnav did not work and the car was changed immediately. Staff very friendly in the office and when dropping off. Recommend this company

I used this company on a recomendation from a friend. Was easy to book and seemed reasonable in price. Quick pick up from airport and simple to pick up car, albeit staff were very rushed and did not explain any of the workings of the car. Car was clean, spacious and nice to drive. We booked an infant car seat and 2 boosters (FYI they're not the booster seats that they show on the webiste suitable for 3 yr olds-but the backless boosters-very misleading) which were in good condition and clean. Drop off easy, no hassle and easy tranfer back to airport.

My concern with the company is that it has now been 4 days since i dropped the car off and my blocked insurance excess of £1,073 has not been unfrozen and returned to me. I do not have this money simply 'lying around' and need it to pay my bills and live. I accept that it was my issue for not reading the terms closely enough as it is hidden deep down that there will be a block-however I was assured this would be released upon return. It hasn't been yet.Luckily it was payday the day i hired the car and did have proof of monies, yet had i booked to collect the car today-i would not have had access to this money and i assume my booking would not have been honoured. I have previously used a different company in malaga airport as i travel there to visit family quite frequently. I have never had this block before and would not use this company again simply because I cannot afford that sort of money to be 'witheld' from me.

Terrible service. I rented a car with them in July 2019. When I picked up the car they charged 1000 euro to my American Express card. They should have just blocked that amount but claimed they had to charge it because it was American Express. I have been renting cars in Malaga for years and no other company has ever done this - they just block the amount on the card. Because they actually charged the amount I incurred a £35 foreign transaction charge on my card - the car hire was only 168 euro.

9 days after returning the car and them confirming that everything was OK with the car I still have not received the return of my 1000 euro. On top of that they charged a further 16 euro to my card with no reason or explanation.

I have chased them but the money has not been returned.

I had high hopes for MalagaCar.com when I read their website it said that service was important and they display good reviews - but having searched further I can now see that other people had difficulty getting their deposit back.

I rent around 10 cars during the year in Malaga - every year, but I will never use or recommend MalagaCar.com.

Worst customer service ever!!! The lady from customer service called Paloma was so rude with us she looked so angry and so annoyed we felt very disrespected when she took our identifications and did the registration for us.

I tired to rent a car but they just said I needed to make a booking first before they would talk to me. I wanted to rent one for the day and the comms over whatsapp were useless. I would advise to not use this company and go for one of the bigger names brands. 👎🏻

We had the best experience with malagacar.com! Practically new car, no problems at pickup, no problems at drop off... they even drove us to our hotel. Will definitely rent car from them again.

Fourth time using them, very reluctant to try anyone else now, each experience has been good. Cars are always quite new, well presented and with their full package everything is covered. We paid €160 for 8 days (full to full) and were upgraded as well. No blocking deposit. Two of our party rented with Hertz and Record and both had all sorts of hassle.

Lose one star as the queue at the airport shuttle bus was poorly managed (no obvious Q here sign) with a 15 min wait.

We left Malaga on 27th of June. Previous morning the company charged me 40 euros of 'administration fee', based on a speeding ticked issued on 22th of June in Cadíz by the local authorities, which is already paid almost a week ago, immediately after it was arrived. We booked and paid the FULL PACK rate, which includes, and I quote from their Terms and Conditions 'Fully comprehensive insurance WITHOUT EXCESS' end of quote. There's a huge list about fees which doesn't included in the rental fee, but refers only the Basic and Comfort Pack rate, as it can be clearly seen for everyone not illiterate.

Since I was warned by some of my friends that the spanish car rental companies on the continent are tend to charge extra fees, I read the terms and conditions (twice), and decided to pay the Full Pack rate, to avoid this. Unfortunately, they still found a way for a ripoff. When I wrote to the customer care and requested a refund, Jose Luis Valero lectured me, about 'my negligence', which 'they cannot pay for'.

Unabashed business practice and tone with the customer. Simply unbelivable. Such a shame they decided to ruin a by the way smooth and nice experience for 40 euros.

Avoid this company!!!!

Overall a good experience. The car has a few more scrapes and marks than indicated on the checkout sheet, but these were added without any issue.

The car itself (VW Touran) was clean, reliable and no issues at all.

Drop off was a bit confusing. Assumed it was at the airport, rather than the office (this is not clear from the documentation) and you need to ensure you enter the office from the roundabout near the terminal, otherwise it's a very long drive to get back again - there is no other entrance...

Having read some horror stories of car hire in CDS, this experience was refreshing and I would use again

The half to half policy is a bit stupid. It's impossible to determine how much fuel to put in to make it to half a tank - but I guess it's the same for everybody and you may end up with more than half a tank (like the next customer to use the car I hired!)

I rent cars very often, so I know the business pretty well. For the first time I wanted to try MalagaCar, but it will most likely be the last time as well.

1. When I went to find the shuttle bus in the arrival hall, the MalagaCar employee gave very vague instructions about how to get to the shuttle bus. She said "go right, right and right when you exit through the doors." To my luck there was another couple going to get their car at the same time, so I could follow them, as they had tried it before.

2. I had paid for the "Full Pack" which supposedly includes prirority treatment at the desk, so upon entering the MalagaCar office, I placed myself in the "Full Pack - VIP" line, where no one attended me. There were a lot of customers in the normal lines, and as more employees arrived to attend them, they attended people in the order they had arrived, ignoring me as I had arrived last, altough they should have attended me first, so this extra service was basically useless.

3. When I went to return the car after 10 days, the employee in the return hall with his clipboard seemed tired of working, and didn't welcome me with anything else but "keys in the car" and then walked away again. I had an arranged transfer with the MalagaCar shuttle bus from the rental office to the train station, but as no one gave me any information about where to catch the bus, and seeing the long line at the desk again, I decided to just take a taxi on my own as I was in a hurry.

4. In the glove compartment of the car, I found several old rental contracts from previous clients, with all their private information in form of name, address, hotel information and payment details. I find it shocking that this is not checked routinely by the cleaning staff, so it could have been removed before re-rental of the car.

The only positive twist to this rental, was that the car (a Toyota Auris diesel) was in good condition and relatively clean.

All in all I will not recommend anyone to rent here, as the few bucks you save in comparison with other companies, is not worth the hassle.

Being regular customers with our family since the last 5-7 years, we have been experiencing a lack of customer service since the last year. We had to pay 35€ additional rental for late arrival although it's due to the airline. Another example is that our reservation was not booked and that we received a damaged and dirty car and had to pay an additional fee compared to the original quotation. Above all, we had been sending several emails always without any reply from Malagacar.

We holiday in Spain about 6/7 times each year and always use Malaga.car.com. We nearly always get an upgrade winter/spring time for no extra cost. Find the staff very professional and friendly, never encountered any problems even when we don't take out their excess insurance, unlike some car hire companies. Would definitely recommend and look forward to booking again very soon.

Unfortunately, we did not have a very well experience:
1.) First, nobody was waiting for us at the airport. So we had to call them in order to get to know where the guy is standing and where the pick-up point of the shuttle bus will be.
2.) Very Long way to the bus stop at the dead end of the terminal. many people where already waiting there. They only have a small bus which means we had to wait for the next turn which took another 10min. Could have walked in the meantime.(overall needed much time to finally get to the rental station. In contrast, the competitors do have a bunch of coaches waiting there).
3.) Car rental counter seems to be quite disorganized. Many guys and customers around, but not really caring for queueing passengers. We had to make ourselves visible...a ticketing systems would probably help here.
4.) They always try to sell you a car with a tank which is not full. Ok, that's in the rental contract, but next to the car rental station, there is a petrol station. So why don't you just provide full/full policy?? Why always trying to gain this extra money?
(finally, we managed to get a full/full car).
5.) Car was pretty old. Already 55'000km on the clock, lots of scratches all around. ok, that's not that big problem in Spain, but: the brakes and tyres already have been near to the end of their life. Same to the interior. Fortunately, it did not rain during our rental period.
6.) Booked a child seat for much money. However, got a very old one which obviously has been used very often and which was not in good overall condition anymore.
Furthermore, you have to install the seat by your own. Nobody is helping you or giving you instructions.
7.) When returning the car, we encountered a full chaos. Many people already queuing around. A guy took over our car keys without saying anything to us.
8.) Shutlte bus was standing around, but no driver seemed to be available. We started waiting, but nothing happened. In order to not miss our flight, we had wo walk to the airport (with 2 big suitecases and a small child, crossing a 4-lane road etc.).

According to the recommendations placed here, we really expected it to be better...however, the next time, I guess we will roll-back to the "classical" operators which do have the counters and cars at the terminal.