Unfortunately, we’ve all heard the horror stories of someone who’s been hit by a dodgy charge when they’ve rented a car. Luckily, not every firm does this and nowhere near every customer is affected but it does mean many firms are tarred with the same brush when the press launch another campaign about car hire cons. Here at Economy Car Hire, we’ve worked hard over the years to provide reliable and fair car hire and only work with suppliers we trust. But how can you decide which car hire firm to trust? (Besides looking at the annual Which? report).
How do you know who to trust?
These days, the internet has made researching and reviewing firms or products extremely easy. For example, TripAdvisor, Feefo, Review Centre, and TrustPilot are all commonly used to research and compare reviews of car hire suppliers in general or at specific locations. But can you trust these reviews?
Photo by: Imillian/Fotolia
It’s becoming a well-known fact that reviews can and are bought by many companies trying to get ahead. 20% of reviews on most review sites are thought to be fake and Amazon is currently suing over 1,100 people for leaving fake reviews. This basically means you could be making a booking based on the imagination of someone paid to write a review. Not good!
Anyone can leave a review on TripAdvisor, Review Centre, or TrustPilot which means you should be careful when sifting through the comments. It should be noted however that Trip Advisor are working hard to combat fake reviews.
NB: It should be pointed out Economy Car Hire does NOT buy positive reviews for 2 simple reasons:
- It’s dishonest
- We don’t need to!
Which reviews should I trust?
“the service was appalling – don’t touch this firm” vs “the best service ever!!! 500 stars!”
In the (fictional) scenario above, who would you trust? Part of it depends on which site you’re looking at.
Unlike TrustPilot or Review Centre, review site Feefo operates a system which means only genuine customers can leave reviews for a product. Any review on Feefo whether it’s good or bad is guaranteed to be from a real customer who has used that service. This is why we use Feefo as our main review partner at Economy Car Hire – it’s information you can trust.
Photo by: pichetw/Fotolia
We also collect our own data from customers and display supplier ratings during the booking process. This means you can compare suppliers on vehicle condition and supplier service when searching prices. We also show the last 2 comments for a supplier so you can get even more information to help you make your decision.
If you’re on a forum such as TripAdvisor or a site such as TrustPilot, you need to balance the arguments. There will, I’m afraid to say, be fake reviews on there through no fault of the website.
How to spot fake reviews
- Is the review vague? “I’ve tried lots of these but this is the best” could be copied and pasted for any number of products or services.
- Are lots of the reviews similar? Often the same person will leave a number of reviews under different names. These usually use similar word structures and, in some cases, are exact duplicates.
- Are the writer’s previous reviews all 5 star or all 1 star? If so, they may be fake reviews.
- Search for negative reviews and compare for similar themes e.g. do lots of people say the supplier was lovely but the car was awful? If there’s a common theme, the reviews are probably reliable.
Do you use and trust reviews?
Before making a booking, do you search review sites or look for reassurance with regards to certain suppliers? Let us know below so we can keep improving the website.
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sol mar at alicante airport have con that unless you take out full insurance and leave 1000 deosit , we took photos of the car and pointed ouy a painted over mark on front (photo available ) when we took car back in rush for flight , femail assistant went straight to front pointed to mark and told us it was a chip did not look at any where else only to say that there were foot prints on rear floor she charged 350 euro the same price if we had taken her insurance , is thiss that they do not get there cmision ??? i have been a customer of your company for many years with the best experince
Hi Paul,
If this was a recent hire through us I’d recommend contacting customerrelations@economycarhire.com so we can investigate. I can’t find your details on our system so I’m unable to advise further I’m afraid.
Kind regards,
Mark
Economy Car Hire
A very interesting comment but perhaps you can tell me why nearly all hire car firms charge the same daily/weekly rates in England? And as for long term hire, well thats a “dirty word”! So I presume some form of cartel is operating. Is that correct?
James
Hi James,
As a broker it’s tricky for us to comment on prices and pricing strategy. Most suppliers in the UK are large corporations who set their rates according to supply and demand. On the other hand, countries such as Spain have lots of independent firms trying to stay afloat in a difficult financial climate which leads to lower rates.
With regards to long term rentals, most firms don’t need to hire a car for a month and offer a discount as they can hire the same car out 4 times and make more money. In many long term rental cases, it’s more economical to lease a car rather than hire.
Kind regards,
Mark
Economy Car Hire