 Poster: A snowHead
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Rent Occasion is a car hire company that Holiday Autos uses at Geneva airport. Whilst I've invariably been given a car with Alamo when renting through Holiday Autos, on a previous trip and on this trip I was given Rent Occasion.
Rent Occasion used to meet you in the arrivals area in person; take you to car in the short term parking and do the paperwork. To be honest, I was uncomfortable with the whole experience - especially the return bit, which requires you to hand over the hire car to a complete stranger in the car park.
They have changed the system.
Now you have to phone them on arrival (so, yes, your mobile had better be working) whereby you're instructed to go down to level -6 in P1 and pick up the car from a designated spot having read out your details (including credit card) over the phone.
You then have to pay to exit the car park (it cost us 6 CHF).
And here's the kicker...
There's a note in the car that instructs that the interior of the car must be left "clean" - or they slap a 100 CHF charge on you. Now I'm not a messy person and don't leave a car in a state, but there's no way I can clean the inside of a car to the same level that I would expect to find it.
So you...
- must have a mobile that works in France
- need to have some CHF on you - or you'll end up with a £7-10 credit card bill for getting out of the car park (by the time the CC company slaps on the £4 minimum charge)
- must find a way of cleaning the car before return - or it'll cost you £60-75.
Frankly, I'm more than pissed off by the whole experience and will be making my feelings know to Holiday Autos.
I would advise anyone who has a car hire booking at GVA to avoid Rent Occasion.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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From being my automatic goto car hire broker, I always try really hard to avoid using Holiday Autos now.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Sad to hear that. We've used them before by booking directly and they've always been very good. Shame it's all changed.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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sounds like the old EasyCar system - I can well remember my OH rubbing the car down with a pair of old Y-fronts before handing it over....
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by the time the CC company slaps on the £4 minimum charge
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I've found that when I've had to use a CC for the geneva airport carparks, which is many a time as I hardly ever have CHF, the charge comes out very reasonable - certainly nowhere near £4.
Still, that all sounds exceptionally annoying. Just what you can do without, at the start of a holiday. Useful warning.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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slikedges, fortunately it's probably the only time that I need to rent this season.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Used to use Holiday Autos for car hire from Munich
Used to get vehicles from Thrifty which was fine now they are based at airport
Last time we were there in June it was cheeper to book with Thifty direct
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FlyingStantoni, I've used them and found it OK. Finding your way to -6 in P1 could be a bit confusing the first time, but then it is better than the trek to P51 which we all complained about when they moved the rental parking off site. I don't find leaving the interior of a car clean that much of a challenge and despite having been hiking I had no charge. Does anyone go away with a mobile that doesn't roam these days? I don't recall the credit charge card for leaving the airport as being exceptional.
The problem is that you don't know when you book with Holiday Autos who you're going to get as a supplier until you get the confirmation email, so to avoid Rent Occasion you have to avoid HA altogether, and they are often the cheapest.
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HA great in the US - Alamo.
In Italy with Sixt however... 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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stoat of the dead, maybe that's just Italy, rather than Sixt. they do have their funny little ways....
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I stopped using HA a few years ago, they go for the cheapest deals, and screw the hire companies so hard that they have to make their margin by spurious charges at finish of hire. Also they are increasingly off-airport....we once had a 3/4 hour journey to the rental station, after a long journey you just don't need that nonsense. Now I look for deals and book direct with airport based hire companies, Sixt, Budget etc.....even then you have to be careful, they are all there to make as much money as they can at your expense, and go for it at every occasion. IME it's best to be super sceptical and make sure you return the car absolutely spotless. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Never had any problems with HA that Markymark29 suggests. never had a spurious charge (or any other charge), never had off airport rental - I guess it depends on the airport.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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pam w, could be... But fine with Avis and Eurocar there...
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FlyingStantoni, ...I agree, it's all getting a bit weird. Rent Occasion (which is rather like Koi Carp - ie it means Rent Rent, just as Koi Carp means Carp Carp) appeared on the scene in 2010 and we used them twice. Russian youth appeared in car park with car, and it felt like he had borrowed his auntie's car and was renting it out without her knowing. I must say that I was concerned about the legal (insurance) side - have an accident in CH during the winter and the cantonal police do more than kick the tyres. I ended up using them three times in 2010-11 and they were fine, although precise arrangements seemed subject to change each time. I've had far more problems with the major rental companies in Milan, with ridiculous arguments about chains ('...you buy them if you need them and we'll reimburse you...(only we'll have a massive argument with you about this when you return the car and argue that we are NOT going to pay and you now own yet another pair of chains...') and 'yes thank you for returning the car full, we've ticked the box...' only for them to charge for a full tank - it then taking 6 months of wrangling to get the money back.
Holiday Autos is not necessarily the cheapest - I use CarHire3000 quite a bit and they've been fine out of Geneve Airport Swiss side.
Easycar with their Mercedes A Class - those were the days. It felt like you had to walk to Martigny to get the car, when they had their office in ExpoCenter.
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You know it makes sense.
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Rent Occasion (which is rather like Koi Carp - ie it means Rent Rent, just as Koi Carp means Carp Carp)
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I thought "occasion" meant opportunity/chance (and therefore also used for second-hand stuff), not rent?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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pam w, ...strictly speaking 'louer' is 'to rent' - and yes, 'occasion' means opportunity...so strictly it's 'rental opportunity' but 'opportunity for a car' blurs into 'rental' - although a native French speaker may be along shortly to correct my third rate French....
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Poster: A snowHead
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Had some shouting matches with HA call centres when Thrifty moved back on site at thew airport but booking confirmation had the old address which we schlepped to, to find Thrifty packing. Keep using them as their rate for a 9 seater is cheapest by far. Thrifty direct always seems dearer.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| valais2 wrote: |
| pam w, ...strictly speaking 'louer' is 'to rent' - and yes, 'occasion' means opportunity...so strictly it's 'rental opportunity' but 'opportunity for a car' blurs into 'rental' - although a native French speaker may be along shortly to correct my third rate French.... |
Occasion can indeed mean "opportunity".....but in motoring speak, it actually means "2nd hand"...
Used/2nd hand car = voiture d'occasion..
Maybe it says it all on what vehicles you should expect.. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Always been happy with Holiday Autos in Spain - always been on airport with a decent company.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We had a similar experience to FlyingStantoni, hiring in Barcelona from Holiday Autos. It wasn't rent occasion but a similar dodgy operation which met us in the car park and did the paperwork in the back of a van. Total nightmare of extra charges, followed by the wrong class of car (small saloon car for 4 people with skis). Such a disastrous experience that i now insist on paying more money to book directly with someone reputable. It is, in my view, totally worth it.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I should have been clearer that it's only Rent Occasion I've got a problem with. HA has always been fine otherwise.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've given up on HA as well. Don't find them the cheapest any more (Even with the one account discount).
They have also pulled a rather unpleasant trick of booking us with a lower class car than they advertised so that when we arrived at Geneva all we ended up with was a Peugeot 207 for four blokes and a lot of bags. Debate with the staff got us nowhere as they claimed to have no alternative cars (we even offered to pay the difference so they probably did have no cars). Actually the staff were fine and showed us the booking they had received from HA. We piled in with the biggest bag between the two rear seat passengers, jammed the boot full and had boot bags on knees. I was driving so ghot the only comfortable seat!
On taking it up with HA they blamed the inefficiency of their rental partners which was blatant bull$hit. We did get a discount though.
Last few trips I have booked with Auto-Europe via the Topcashback website - prices were good and got about £20 back per rental.
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DJL, My last trip with HA was for the smallest car available , I got a Meriva. V nice, but I really, really wanted a small car!
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The difficulty I have found with this broker-type of website is that they use very generic classifications for cars, which inevitably do not match with the classifications used by the actual companies. For example I once booked a Toyota Avensis estate "or equivalent" and was offered (by Sixt) a Peugeot 307 (I think, all their cars look the same to me) and had to kick up a right fuss to be given something big enough for five adults and luggage - I think it was a Fiat Brava. And they acted like they were lending me the Pope's car or something. It was ok but it doesnt start the trip off well. And as DJL found, if it goes wrong, the broker just wriggles and blames it on the hire company.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I do find the whole "class" thing weird. We flew in to Munich in July, having booked two "standard wagon" advertised as VW Passat or similar. I was offered a Seat people carrier or a Peugeot 5007 (which I chose as it was a deisel). My mate booking in at same time was offered no choice (not even my rejected Seat) but was given a Volvo V50 which although quite nice is a tad smaller than a Passat Estate and quite a tight fit for a family of four and lots of luggage.
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FlyingStantoni, lucky you, not having to hire. Currently I'm going to be hiring twice this season (Munich, Milan Malpensa) and driving over twice. Might add one or two to that but dunno if that'll be hiring or transferring.
So far I've had 3 separate issues with HA. First was when they didn't warn me about their rental partner being off-site and I was in a hurry (now I know where to look for this in the fine print). Second time was when the rental partner simply didn't have a car for me and told me it was HA's fault. I don't really know who was at fault but in the end after much to-ing and fro-ing and general wrangling HA arranged a car for me with another provider and promised to pay for it. The provider charged an exorbitant amount, some of which were various surcharges. I forget the details but ultimately I only got the hire charge and part of the surcharge (which only brought the product up to the level of that which I should have had via HA in the first place) refunded.
Third case was Xmas just gone in Madrid when we booked an Alhambra/Espace/Galaxy sized MPV to negotiate the narrow old streets of the centre and were forcibly upgraded to this. Ok, it was the 9 seat version and not the 18 seat LWB one in the pic but come on! The Citroen Jumper is a plus sized white van. It dwarfs a standard white van like a Vito/Traffic/Vivaro. I could at last see eye-to-eye with truck drivers and look down on 4x4 drivers. It's the only vehicle I've ever driven anywhere in which I could simply open the back doors and casually put in a pair of 188cm skis without any need to think about what angle to put it in at, under this or on top of that. It was literally open, put in vertically, close.
Like valais2, I usually use CarHire3000 now.
Garfield, will be using Thrifty at Munich in 2 weeks or so. Haven't used them since they moved on-site and heard a few stories so a little apprehensive. Didn't imagine it may be cheaper direct.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Mon 10-10-11 23:01; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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slikedges, we used Thrifty at Munich through carhire3000 in May. No problems at all. We had a little incident in that a cat jumped on the roof of the car and broke the aerial - there were paw prints all over. We tried to tell the bloke when we returned it but it was so busy they were just marshalling the cars into rows. We were told to tell the desk, which we did - he just waved it away, didn't take the return docket (which we had pre-completed with the damage report) and we never were charged (touches wood it doesn't still come through)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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holidayloverxx, I bet you were good at making up excuses for not doing your homework Knowing how calculating car hire companies are these days I'd be surprised if they didn't trace the cat from his paw prints and make him pay for it in cat biscuits. He'll remember the little booties next time.
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holidayloverxx, They were feline generous. 
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You know it makes sense.
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They were feline generous.
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...just awful. Get your coat
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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sanman,
Surely you meant to "get your cat.."?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Happened again. Just cancelled a booking with HA for Malpensa on account of there totally was no info to indicate that the supplier was off-airport this time. They told me that they don't have any on-airport suppliers at Malpensa at all and apologised for the info not being available before booking.
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FAQ
