Holiday Autos

Made a booking in Dubai and when we arrived at the airport to collect the car the agent said that unfortunately he cannot give us the car because my husband had a Resident Visa and he needed the UAE driving live, however in order to have the driving licence he needs the Emirates ID which he doesn't so he's still basically a tourist until then. We explained this to the agent and he refused to give us the car.

We then asked for a refund and he said that because we booked through a 3rd party (Holiday Autos) they cannot do anything and we have to contact Holiday Autos. We did that and they just said that since we trying to cancel or change the booking name passed the pick up time they cannot do anything. So we paid for a service that we can't get and won't get refunded either.

This is just unbelievable! We have explained the situation and none of the companies would help.

I get it he needs the driving license if he's a resident but he's not a resident yet because he doesn't have the Emirates ID. We actually booked the car for a week because after that week he would get the ID and he can buy a car, but the company which is Thrifty said that we have to talk to Holiday Auto, so one is passing the ball the other one. We just want our money back £200.

I don't rent often, so the intricacies of it are unknown to me.
I booked through HolidayAuto's - and followed all the information on the email. Provided all the documentation that was required, what I didn't know upon arriving at the car rental location (Zoom Car Rentals) is that they required a $500 CAD hold on my card. I intentionally keep my card limit at $500 and thus was unable to rent the car.
I tried canceling my booking through the website - to which it kept erroring out during the process.

Started a chat with their reps and they refused to refund me because it was past my pick up time and because I SHOULD have known that a hold will be placed, they even sent an email to drive the point home, the email says stated that I had to have a card for the deposit - followed by a ($0.00) which lead me to believe we were good.

Apparently not, even after showing them the screenshot they refused to refund.
So now I'm out almost $200 CAD with nothing to show for it. Terrible experience, and I hope no one falls prey to these crooks again.

Flight was delayed so we reached out before our pick up to Holiday Autos assuming (as you would expect decent business practices & standards) they would communicate to the car rental agency and find a reasonable solution. After some back and forth the final walk away was that they could not make the adjustment and I would have to rebook. The option given was they would rebook me for 4,000 dollars (original booking was 1,350). Obviously, not a reasonable option but to them with my back against the wall last minute, of course it was. When we arrived the car rental Centauro blamed Holiday Autos and that they couldn't do anything. Holiday Autos claims we did a no show however we contacted ahead of time and did our due diligence to rectify the situation in hopes they would be compassionate and reasonable about our delay in flight as it was out of our hands. They were not. They were ice cold. THEY DID NOT EVEN OFFER ANY CREDIT. Instead they took the 1350 and said I like money and not happy customers. Read our policy idiot (paraphrasing of course). Oh but not far off, the customer service agents were incredible rude. We are outragged that companies like this exist and will do everything we can to bring these companies to justice. For us and for the good people on this planet that deserve some value for their hard earned money. If you want to book with a company that has your back then look elsewhere. Holiday Autos will blame the other guy and look away. We are now spending countless hours post vacation in dispute.

Families do not book with this company!

We booked a hire car in Majorca. We arrived at the airport and the instructions were to go outside and meet a minibus to take you to the car hire depot.

There was only one minibus operating with a huge queue. After waiting in the queue over an hour in the boiling heat with 2 young children, we decided to get a taxi from the airport to the car depot.

Once we arrived at the depot we were then faced with another huge queue. After waiting in this queue for over an hour, we had two very hungry and tired babies. There was no contact number to call, there were no representatives to even discuss this with. There was no way to contact the company other than the online chat with a computer replying with completely irrelevant responses.

We informed the company through the online chat what had happened and that we were cancelling the car hire, which their T&Cs say you can get a full refund minus £43. Which we were happy to negotiate and accept the £43 charge. However the company has now said that we are not eligible for a refund as we are classed as a no show.

After waiting in two queues for over 3 hours, in the heat, no food or drink, no seats and with a 2 year old and 8 month old baby at 9 oclock at night, this was not an ideal start to the holiday!

My advice to families booking with this company, to avoid this company at all costs!

I made a reservation of 61 € immediately after 10 minutes I canceled my reservation and they returned only 11 € they kept the rest 50 €. This is their "policy".

No rental car provided and no refund.

PURE SCAM!... Stay away from this fraud company.

Legal action is already initiated.

Joe Wege impressed us from the start. We originally inquired about getting a special model of a Ford Escape and were told that one was not available. Within days Joe called us back to say that they had just received this same model in at the dealership.
We asked for a price quote which Joe worked up very quickly and sent to us via email. We thought this over for a few days and then called Joe back to ask to see the vehicle. We were lucky it wasn't gone by then to be honest, but we were in luck. We came in that same day.
Joe had moved the vehicle to the showroom for us so we could look at it in warmer temps (it was the middle of January after all!). He gave us a tour of the vehicle and really impressed us with his level of knowledge. This was a 2022 and he was already comfortable telling us all about it and showing us the features.
We ended up buying that vehicle that day. The entire staff was quick to help and comfortable with the entire process. We were also greated by the Sales Manager, Ned, who congratulated us on our purchase.
I can honestly say that this was my best buying experience.
Thank you to Joe and the staff. What a great job!

That's a message they sent me after I could not get my car from a rental... I have spent 800 euros for that...

Thank you for your correspondence.

I regret that you were unable to use the car rental booking you made through us.

I can only imagine how frustrating this could be for you, please accept my sincere apologies for the whole stressful situation

Every effort is made to accommodate changing pick-up times, but the car rental agent is not always in a position to hold a vehicle after the pick-up time has passed or to keep the rental desk open. Our customer is our primary concern, but we must stand by the rental terms and conditions that you agreed to at the time of booking:

All cancellations (which includes the amendments) should be made online via the Manage Booking page prior to the scheduled pick-up time and not with the car rental provider.

I am sorry Mantas but in this case the booking will be considered as a no-show which occurs for various reasons including the following:

"1 - You didn't inform us about your cancellation prior to your pick-up time.

2 - You failed to pick up the car at the arranged time and date.

3 - Your flight is delayed which results in a late arrival at the rental desk and your flight number was not provided.

In the event of any of the above, no refunds will be made to you.

Please be advised that the above-mentioned terms and conditions were available to you prior to completing the booking (it is mandatory to tick the box "I agree to the terms and conditions"). They were also displayed on your confirmation voucher sent to your email address upon confirming the offer on: Thu, 20-Jun-2024 | 14:05

Therefore, due to the fact that the terms and conditions were not met, and the cancellation policy was agreed to by you at the time of making the booking, we are unable to offer you a refund on this occasion.

I trust you appreciate the fact that we do not have any influence or control over flight disruptions. I do recommend that you contact your travel insurance company, you may find you are entitled to claim a refund. Alternatively, you can contact your airline to find out if they are in a position to offer you compensation for the inconvenience caused by the flight disruption.

I am sorry that we are unable to provide the solution you were hoping for on this occasion and I apologize for any inconvenience caused by this matter.

Horrible service and FRAUDULENT at best.

We made an original "mystery car" rental 4 weeks ago through Holiday Autos but with Dollar Car Rental in SFO. In the booking it fully states a free additional driver is included, along with sales and tourism taxes. It is also a mystery vehicle that would comfortably seat 5 people and 3 suitcases. When we showed up to the desk very late in the evening for our pickup, we were given a pickup truck for 4 people, with no room to safely secure our suitcases. We then had to upgrade on the spot. They also would not provide the additional driver for free, as per what was advertised - stating that it was not their issue there were discrepancies on the third party payment platform. Lastly, they will try to upsell a $59 unlimited toll pass for the week, which really isn't necessary if you aren't intending to drive a lot while in town.

They took a $289.95 USD booking and made it $754.59 USD... we could have easily found a new booking for under $500 USD with a premium rental company!

BEWARE AND STAY AWAY IF YOU WANT A SMOOTH TRIP!

Systematic scam by Avis/Budget and Holiday Autos
An absolute scam at the airport in Rome when renting a car at Budget/Avis, via Holiday Autos! I had a clear contract of what was included in terms of insurance and 0% tax. When checking out three days later I notice that the agent had added additional insurances, services and added 22% tax on everything, making me pay the double for the car! When such additional services are added, WITHOUT TELLING THE CUSTOMER, that is a scam. And when adding tax and fees that you have a contract of being included, it's FRAUD! Nor Holiday Autos or Avis/Budget respect the contact and have not refund me even after referring to these terms and conditions:

Included for Free (from my contract)
· Other fees
· Tax
· Airport fee
· Breakdown assistance
· Unlimited mileage
· Collision damage waiver (CDW)
· Theft waiver (TW)
· Third party liability protection (TP)
· Premium Location Fee

Watch out! Never trust these companies, and their customer service only send standard messages of "apologies for the inconvenience", but keep the money they stole from me!
After seeing more reviews of the same issues, it's clear that this was not a random situation. This is a systematic scam they are doing as part of their business. Embarrassing and no business ethics at all.

Stefan Ohlsson

They canceled my reservation, didn't tell me, and didn't give me a full refund. No notification of cancellation & took 100$ off

I booked a car with HolidayAutos with Budget in Orlando. Paid in full for the car £600 for 1 week.

The flight to Orlando was late due to the current airport baggage/staff issues, as I was late the car was refused and I contacted Holiday Autos to change the details, they stated that they couldn't change anything despite the car hire company saying they could, I was then assured if they refused the car they would refund me.

I then had to book a new car with Budget for £1100 on the day and had to await a refund from Holiday Autos, I heard nothing back, when i chased up they said the request was cancelled from them, I complained and asked for it to be sorted, several chase ups late they are now refusing to refund despite their agent telling me otherwise in writing and now saying due to the flight being delayed (common at the moment) that I am not entitled.

£1700 later and a lot of trouble for a £600 hire, being messed around, misled, then lied to, I have reported to TS and VISA.

I am always fair when it comes to reviews and a chance for the company to make it right, but despite my best efforts they are simply con artists.

The worst rental car experience I've ever had. I have rented many cars for both personal and business travel over the years, and while I've had some issues, never have I been treated like this. I rented a car a few weeks back for pick-up at Calgary, AB. We had a direct flight from Ottawa booked, however there was an overnight snow storm which messed up our flight departure time and rerouted us through 2 other cities before getting us to Calgary. I tried calling the ZOOM rental car location once this all started happening. This was within business hours and before our designated pick-up time, but no one answered the phone. I tried calling again once again from our second flight just before take-off and finally reached them and told them we were going to be late arriving. They were brutally rude and said they had already cancelled our reservation, wouldn't help rebook it and told us to take it up with Holiday Autos, whom we originally booked through. So I tried communicating twice through live chats with Holiday Autos. I'd only get so far and then these would simply just discontinue. I then sent an email with proof of our flight cancellations and changes. I got no response. A few days later I called their UK office (at my expense) and got a customer service agent. She was able so find the reservation and record of the chat conversations and our attempt to contact them in good faith while en route during a very delayed and frankly rather traumatic trip. Even with these circumstances and all the day of correspondence, I was told in a reading from a script robotic way that they would not refund any of the fee that we had prepaid at the time of booking. Nothing. So they've kept $345, despite things being completely out of our control and all our effort to reach out to them. I would highly recommend not booking through Holiday Autos. There are so many other reasonably priced options that don't take all your money up front, or fail so miserably at customer service and even basic compassion.

SCAM and FRAUD! DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! They have NO control over their car suppliers in other countries. And NOT willing to taking any responsibility / action when there are issues.
Lately I booked a car and paid online at Holiday Autos, and they provided a Thailand local car supplier called 'ASAP Rent a Car'. The local car supplier required a deposit when I collect the car. I paid, used the car and returned it on time and without any damages. The staff checked the car on site and said all ok, and promised they would refund the safety deposit to my credit card. But they never did. So after returning home I of course asked Holiday Autos for help but Holiday Autos DO NOT CARE. Kept saying their supplier already did the refund and side nothing they could do. But at the same time refused to send me any proof or record of the bank transfer etc. Couldn't even provide a transfer date but kept saying they already refund. A ridiculous company that took customer money and hide. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE!

Booked a car through holidayautos for collection in malaga. A company called delpaso. I paid the extra axa insurance through holidayautos. When we arrived at the delpaso they refused my credit card for the £1500 deposit because the name on my booking was Lee Brown and credit card was L K Brown. This was the same card I booked with and driving licence and passport shows my name but delpaso would only let me have the car for an additional charge of €270. He suggested I speak to holidayauto and ask for a refund on the insurance I had taken out with them. I spoke to there helpline and the person who spoke poor English refused to refund me the insurance with the and told me I needed to pay the for the insurance with them if I wanted the car. This was a really stressful start to a family holiday. I had a mastercard travel card with my name Lee Brown the same as the booking but the still refused so I had to pay the €270 insurance on top of the £70 insurance with holidayautos. I think you only find out about a company when things go wrong and the stress and anxiety cause at the start of a holiday it isn't worth using a broker and I is better dealing with a company direct. So holidayautos when I needed them didn't help one bit and Delpso car hire seem to be looking for any excuse to charge you extra plus the car was in poor condition. Please AVOID AVOID AVOID holidayautos and delpaso car hire