Centauro Rent a Car
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Disgraceful experience ever at Alicante Airport
I had hired a car for 17 days and arrived at Alicante Airport on the afternoon of 23/06/25. I had paid 459 euros to 'Do you Spain' in advance for this At the Centauro desk I was serviced by a member of staff called JELENA In short, she was incredibly rude from start to finish. She sneered at the 'platinum Excess waiver' I had paid 71.62 euros for through 'Do you Spain' (included in the 459 euros I had paid in advance). I quote, "its not recognised by Centauro". She explained that I should pay an additional 300 euros (!) for additional insurance and then proceeded to, what can only be described as, scaremonger me in explaining all the things that could go wrong and what I would not be covered for. I have had some shocking experiences at Alicante airport with car hire staff but this was an absolute disgrace. She then followed this up with a "why do you think the car hire is so cheap?". Here tone was as if I was a complete idiot and very derogatory. I refused to pay the 300 euros as I hire cars at Alicante airport many times per year, and knew exactly what she was trying to do. I was provided with no paperwork by her when leaving the desk and went to collect my car. As per usual, the parking bay was in virtual darkness making inspection very difficult. On careful inspection (and 10 minutes in making a video which everyone should do) there were clear dents and scratches on the car. However, I had no paperwork to check it was recorded. I checked my emails and nothing had been sent through. I went to the office and they printed out my paperwork. For the record, Centauro failed to send me any paperwork through in the entire 17 days because they (the incredibly rude Jelena) typed my email address incorrectly When I returned the car back to Alicante airport 17 days later, all Centauro did was check the petrol gauge was full. They did not inspect the car at all and did not provide me with any paperwork. I went up to the terminal but then returned back to the car. It occurred to me that because they had not inspected the car and failed to provide any paperwork, 'if' a dent had been found it would have been my word against theirs. It had potential 'scam' written all over it and I was falling for it. On returning to the car I asked them to give me something to prove they had said everything was fine. At this point we checked the email address they had for me and confirmed it was incorrect. I corrected it for them and they assured me an email confirmation would be received. Nothing came through which on reflection is no surprise. The only positives were the quality of the car and fortunately, all the deposits on my credit card have now been refunded. Will NEVER EVER use Centauro and do everything to warn off others. Worst ever experience.