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Firefly car hire at Girona airport

Posted: Thu 06 Feb 2014 21:11
by Kate
Hi Kate, I thought I had better tell you of my experience with Firefly car hire at Girona airport! Hertz has closed their office at Girona airport and opened a firefly office instead(owned by hertz). I have booked a car through firefly for Easter and presumed that since they are owned by Hertz that none of terms and conditions would have changed! How wrong could i have been! They now don't allow you to take one of their cars across the border to France! They don't offer insurance outside Spain for any countries other than Portugal or Gibralter! I can't believe it and will now have to cancel this booking and lose 50 euros I think! The thing I find so irksome is that when you book car hire through the Ryanair website the banner at top is for Hertz firefly and thrifty! Nowhere does it say that there is a difference in terms and conditions between any of their companies!!! Grrrr! I thought you might want to make the forum aware!!!

Posted: Tue 25 Feb 2014 14:35
by Kate
Received by email

John Fairclough and many of your readers may be interested in recent car hire changes at Girona airport. Hire from there has always been a trial but the demise of Hertz there has led to even more problems. Hertz used to be the only company which didn't charge for cross border travel into France. Other companies either don't allow it at all or charge a high premium for the service. Since Hertz left at the end of the last year they have made some commercial arrangement through a company called Firefly to replace them. I asked customer services at Hertz why they left and the reply was "commercial reasons " but suggested Firefly would provide all the services they had in the past. They don't.
The problem is further compounded as Ryanair (the main carrier to Girona) still advertises its cheap car hire with Hertz at the airport. The arrangement is of course with Firefly now which will lead to confusion and of course distress when France bound passengers arrive at the airport.

Any publicity you can give to this or pressure on Hertz would I am sure be very welcome to the many people who have homes in France arriving at Girona.

Posted: Tue 25 Feb 2014 17:05
by Anthea & Tim
The Ryanair website does show Firefly (not Hertz) operating from Girona. Although Firefly are a Hertz owned company their small print (on the Firefly website but NOT on the Ryanair website) states that (apart from Portugal & Gibraltar) there is to be no cross border travel:

"Cross border
Driving from Spain into Portugal/Gibraltar is permitted with the purchase of additional cover. This cover costs €7.50/day (min charge €22.50 / max charge €82.50). Driving outside Spain in countries mentioned above without having purchased this additional cover results in breach of contract, and all coverages, including CDW & TP will be void. Driving outside Spain Mainland (Balearics, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla) or any other country not mentioned above is strictly forbidden, and results in breach of contract. Customer will be liable for all expenses generated and all coverages (included those included in the pre-booked rate) will become void.

All other cross border rentals are not permitted."

I asked if cross border travel to France was possible, subject to an additional premium, but was told "no".

However, Europcar appears more amenable, their Ts&Cs state:

"Restriction of Use:
It is forbidden to drive vehicles into Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, all States of the former U.S.S.R and Yugoslavia, UK and the Czech Republic.
It is also prohibited to drive vehicles from Spain outside the European Continent such as to any island.
Only Economy, Compact, Intermediate and Standard car categories are permitted to be driven into Italy.
In the Balearic and canary Islands, ONLY ONE ADDITIONAL DRIVER is allowed due to insurance restrictions."

I have therefore booked with Europcar, the price was comparable to Hertz.

I have also rung Hertz and was told that their Gerona operation has closed (for the moment) and Firefly has taken over.

Firefly

Posted: Tue 25 Feb 2014 17:24
by Rose
We have always used Sol y Mar when necessary. They are on the last roundabout before you drive to the airport entrance. No problem ever with them.

Reservation site is www.solmar.es

Posted: Wed 26 Feb 2014 09:54
by Kate
by email

Have been doing a little research and Avis seems to be the best bet from Girona Airport to cross border. No extra charge for cross border and full to full petrol tank.

Posted: Wed 26 Feb 2014 15:51
by Owens88
Goldcar

•Rentals commencing from Gerona, Reus or Barcelona are permitted to travel into France and Andorra for a fee of approx. EUR 9 per day, min. charge of approx. EUR 25 and max charge of approx. EUR 90.

Atesa

•Travel is permitted into Andorra, Gibralta & Portugal at no additional charge.Travel is permitted into Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco & Switzerland upon purchase of additional insurance locally.


Avis, Europcar
No surcharges.
No driving into Africa or Eastern Europe or Balearics .....



On balance train to Perpignan might become my choice ! Or Ryanair to Carcassone instead of Gerona.

Posted: Fri 28 Feb 2014 19:06
by Phil Harris
That's what we've been considering. But have you compared the cost of car-hire in Spain with the cost for the same period from Carcassonne? We found a BIG difference - France seems to be MUCH more expensive.

Posted: Fri 28 Feb 2014 21:28
by Geoman
I go through economy car hire or do you Spain, they usually find one who lets you take car into France for a supplement but they also have a no excess policy which usually cancels out the French insurance.

Posted: Wed 24 Feb 2016 10:01
by Gerry
Phil Harris wrote:That's what we've been considering. But have you compared the cost of car-hire in Spain with the cost for the same period from Carcassonne? We found a BIG difference - France seems to be MUCH more expensive.
You're right, France is way more expensive. I wonder why this is?

Posted: Wed 24 Feb 2016 14:15
by martyn94
Gerry wrote:
Phil Harris wrote:That's what we've been considering. But have you compared the cost of car-hire in Spain with the cost for the same period from Carcassonne? We found a BIG difference - France seems to be MUCH more expensive.
You're right, France is way more expensive. I wonder why this is?
Mostly, I guess, because they have a lot more tourists over a longer season, a lot more tourists who hire rather than drive, and almost entirely customers who return the car to where they hired it. And hence more competition. Every time I have been to Beauvais airport (Paris Beauvais in Ryanair-speak) in the last few years, I have seen a car-transporter "re-balancing" their stock of hire cars: it can't be cheap. And obviously lower wages and social charges, and maybe slightly cheaper cars.

Posted: Wed 24 Feb 2016 16:27
by Sus
I have recently started taking the train instead of flying and I found the car rental prices at Perpignan station pretty reasonable. I used Sixt and the pick up/drop off is in the hotel right next to the station. The service is also really good, fast and very polite.

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 11:19
by Nigel and Karen
how much is the train ? I presumed it was very expensive compared to flying.

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 13:41
by martyn94
Nigel and Karen wrote:how much is the train ? I presumed it was very expensive compared to flying.
It depends where you are coming from. From Paris, which is my usual trip, about €70-100 or much less if you book in advance. From Litchfield, my usual sites wouldn't give me a price, though again it must help to book in advance. I would guess that Sus is coming from somewhere else again.

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 14:55
by Sue
A friend of ours is taking the train next week from Perpignan to St Pancras, the total fair is 70€.

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 18:37
by martyn94
Sue wrote:A friend of ours is taking the train next week from Perpignan to St Pancras, the total fair is 70€.
All's fair in love and war. But that seems a very decent fare.

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 18:39
by Sue
Touché :D :D

Posted: Fri 26 Feb 2016 20:11
by Sus
I normally travel from St Pancras and have been getting tickets around £100, as long as you are a bit flexible with timing, the ticket price is not so bad, I don't think that it will ever be as low as some budget airlines but I much prefer to go by train. The other advantage for me is that I like to break the journey in Paris to have lunch with friends or go to an exhibition and then take a later train on to Perpignan. I also recently discovered that there is an overnight option from Paris to Perpignan and a special compartment for women travelling on their own, haven't tried it yet but I love travelling on overnight trains and it is next on my list.

Posted: Sat 27 Feb 2016 11:08
by martyn94
Sus wrote:I normally travel from St Pancras and have been getting tickets around £100, as long as you are a bit flexible with timing, the ticket price is not so bad, I don't think that it will ever be as low as some budget airlines but I much prefer to go by train. The other advantage for me is that I like to break the journey in Paris to have lunch with friends or go to an exhibition and then take a later train on to Perpignan. I also recently discovered that there is an overnight option from Paris to Perpignan and a special compartment for women travelling on their own, haven't tried it yet but I love travelling on overnight trains and it is next on my list.
Don't wait too long: they will be scrapping all but two night sleeper services quite soon (including the Perpignan service, but they plan to keep the one to Latour de Carol): they lose money by around €100 a head. It's a long time since I've done it, but there's a special pleasure in putting your head down at night in Austerlitz and waking up to the light down here. Though perhaps not today, and the sleep in the middle isn't guaranteed if you're as tall as me ( which is not v tall).

Posted: Fri 18 Mar 2016 11:08
by Sus
Sorry to hear that they are planning on stopping the overnight service and maybe not surprising as it is quite reasonably priced!

Posted: Fri 18 Mar 2016 17:08
by martyn94
Sus wrote:Sorry to hear that they are planning on stopping the overnight service and maybe not surprising as it is quite reasonably priced!
I doubt if it has been used much apart from Australian kids with rail passes for twenty years. I bought the odd ticket back in the day from French Railways in London. Before it was all computerised centrally in real time, they just had their own preset ration of places: you generally got a compartment to yourself, except in August.

Needless to say, there has been some kickback against the proposed closures from local pols, and these things don't happen quickly in France. You've probably got a year or two.

Posted: Fri 18 Mar 2016 20:13
by Ariègeoise
I've used the Latour de Carol service a few times now (to Foix) - it's a brilliant way to travel, for around 30 euros if you get advance 'Prems' tickets. Lovely to lull yourself to sleep to the gentle juddering of the train. Certainly not just Aussie kids - all sorts of people of all ages (and lots of them).

The only problem is that on that service at least, there are no announcements to say that you've reached such and such a station so you have to rely on waking yourself up and noticing which station you're at ... not easy at 5.30 in the morning!

Posted: Thu 07 Apr 2016 17:25
by harleybin
Sus wrote:I normally travel from St Pancras and have been getting tickets around £100, as long as you are a bit flexible with timing, the ticket price is not so bad, I don't think that it will ever be as low as some budget airlines but I much prefer to go by train. The other advantage for me is that I like to break the journey in Paris to have lunch with friends or go to an exhibition and then take a later train on to Perpignan. I also recently discovered that there is an overnight option from Paris to Perpignan and a special compartment for women travelling on their own, haven't tried it yet but I love travelling on overnight trains and it is next on my list.
I still wish they'd come down in prices.
Interesting the ovenight option, must give it a go sometime.

Posted: Fri 08 Apr 2016 10:08
by martyn94
harleybin wrote:
Sus wrote:I normally travel from St Pancras and have been getting tickets around £100, as long as you are a bit flexible with timing, the ticket price is not so bad, I don't think that it will ever be as low as some budget airlines but I much prefer to go by train. The other advantage for me is that I like to break the journey in Paris to have lunch with friends or go to an exhibition and then take a later train on to Perpignan. I also recently discovered that there is an overnight option from Paris to Perpignan and a special compartment for women travelling on their own, haven't tried it yet but I love travelling on overnight trains and it is next on my list.
I still wish they'd come down in prices.
Interesting the ovenight option, must give it a go sometime.
As I said above, don't hang around for the night service. The Govt have confirmed that they are going to drop almost all of them (barring Latour de Carol via Rodez in our part of the world). They have however invited private operators to bid to take them over. This is a wholly cynical manoeuvre: the spokesman for Thello (who run the Paris-Venice sleeper) said, paraphrasing, that you'd have to be out of your mind.

See here
http://www.lindependant.fr/2016/04/01/t ... 178864.php

Re: Firefly car hire at Girona airport

Posted: Fri 17 Nov 2017 23:30
by Alyssa
Kate wrote:Hi Kate, I thought I had better tell you of my experience with Firefly car hire at Girona airport! Hertz has closed their office at Girona airport and opened a firefly office instead(owned by hertz). I have booked a car through firefly for Easter and presumed that since they are owned by Hertz that none of terms and conditions would have changed! although legal steroids https://legalsteroids.best/ for bulking and cutting How wrong could i have been! They now don't allow you to take one of their cars across the border to France! They don't offer insurance outside Spain for any countries other than Portugal or Gibralter! I can't believe it and will now have to cancel this booking and lose 50 euros I think! The thing I find so irksome is that when you book car hire through the Ryanair website the banner at top is for Hertz firefly and thrifty! Nowhere does it say that there is a difference in terms and conditions between any of their companies!!! Grrrr! I thought you might want to make the forum aware!!!
Thank you for your info on your experience with Firefly :idea: