Latest Car Hire News

Mar 30, 2012
Fuel Policy of Spanish Car Hire Companies

Full Out / Full Return with our spanish airport rental car suppliers.

There are a lot of complaints about some Spanish car hire companies that are implementing the so called 'full/empty' fuel policy. In some locations vehicles are supplied with a full tank of petrol and should be returned empty. In this case you will be asked to pay for the fuel at the beginning of the rental and remember to return the car as empty as possible as the value of any unused fuel will not be returned.

The more preferred option is the 'full/full' fuel policy. Vehicles are supplied with a full tank of fuel and you can return it full so you do not get charged for the petrol. With this option you need to fill up the fuel tank in a Spanish petrol station nearly at the end of your rental. Tipoa Car Hire can offer a full out / full return but the rental rate for the car may be a little higher, but still not anywhere near as high as the premium amount charged for fuel by the full out and empty return suppliers. In the case of the FULL OUT/RETURN deal , you pay absolutely nothing for the fuel you get/use.

It's difficult to separate the bad from the very bad when it comes to fuel policies at rental car providers in Spain, as most of the car hire companies are following each other with this FULL out Empty in policy.

This in fact for a one day hire adds approximately €50 - €65 on to the cost of the hire. We can provide airport collection of a major world brand supplier with a full out and full return policy.

If your hire period is for 3 or more days, then the impact of the FULL OUT / EMPTY RETURN is not so bad, although they will still charge a premium figure for the starting tank of petrol.

We try our best to offer a choice of fuel policy, but the majority of Spanish car suppliers operate a full/empty fuel policy.

If your rental is for 3 days or more then the FULL /EMPTY policies of most of the spanish car suppliers should not effect you so badly, if you think you will use the initial full tank ...

If not, then you need to choose a larger car size, for example a VW Golf or bigger, these cars usually come with a FULL/FULL policy and are supplied by companies such as AVIS and HERTZ.

It's a question of balancing the cheapest car hire price possible versus the best fuel policy.

Some suppliers even though they operate the full / empty policy, when you rent a car for 3 or less days, you have the chance of returning it with the tank full and the initial amount of money you paid as a deposit for the fuel when you collected the car, will be reimbursed.

Please be careful and read the specific terms and conditions applicable to your rental - as these can vary between suppliers, vehicles and locations. To do this, at STEP2 of our 3 step online booking process click on the link entitled ¨rate details¨ next to the photo of the car you are considering renting. This will open a smaller window and here it will say what the fuel policy is for this vehicle at the chosen location.

Click here for additional advice on our FAQ page