Tricky times when hiring a car in Europe - an extract from my travelogue, Gadding in Europe:
"At
the car hire counter, we had our first document search. There would be many of
these in the weeks to come. Dad and I can never find anything in our bags and
always have to completely empty them. If anyone knows the solution to this
particular failing, I would be happy to hear from you. Multiple pockets only
compound our problem.
I produced my international driver’s
licence as required and then they asked for my credit card. No, said I, my
father booked the car with his card. No, said they, the driver must pay. Where
did they tell us that when booking online? So Dad produced his credit card, but
they wouldn’t give him the keys because he didn’t have his driver’s licence
with him. We were specifically told that you cannot hire a car in Europe if you
are over 75 and we followed the procedure to ensure that I had the necessary
documents.
By sheer good luck, Dad found a copy of
his temporary licence in his bag, which he had collected on the morning we left,
having misplaced his licence a few days before. The car hire took a copy of
that and assured us that there would be no problem if he wanted to drive. Who
knows what would have happened if he hadn’t had it on him? They certainly had
no interest in our problems (the second time at the same airport). It seems as
though the rules are made up as they go.
We hired a GPS just to be on the safe
side, at an iniquitous €14 per day. Little did we know that it would be less
than useful, as extensive roadworks have altered the landscape and the
information loaded onto the GPS is out of date."
This was three years ago. Perhaps the procedure has become more user friendly!
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