Malta’s car hire industry received intensive negative publicity in Britain and Germany, two of Malta’s core tourist markets this week, after a report was published detailing the service provided by car rental companies in Malta, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Turkey.
In certain cases, the international media singled out Malta specifically with details about the allegedly poor service and state of vehicles.
The third annual report, published on Tuesday by EuroTest, was widely published in the British and German media. The report was compiled by EuroTest partner clubs and the vehicles were rented directly on site for a spontaneous day trip between 5 and 18 July last year. In order to gain a representative sample, the testers were incognito and rented six vehicles within four days from different car rental companies on location. Since the test had a ‘daytrip’ orientation, small cars, as well as one off-road vehicle, were rented.
The testers concentrated only on Bugibba. In Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, the testers rented cars from more than one location.
The test team hired six vehicles from Nova Car Rentals, Avis, Compass Car Hire, Dollar Thrifty, E.M.M. Enterprises and Hertz.
At least 54 other companies are listed with the Malta Rent-A-Car Association including both local companies operating under their own brand and international franchises represented in Malta.
Nova Car Rentals received an overall rating of “very poor” with rental service and procedure also billed as “very poor”. The vehicle, rented for e34.5 per day was a Daewoo Matiz first registered in 2002 and had 104,162km on the clock. The technical condition of the vehicle was considered to be no longer road worthy due to the many serious defects.
E.M.M. Enterprises also received a ‘very poor’ rating even though the rental service was ‘acceptable’. The vehicle rented for e53.81 per day was a Toyota Starlet, which was first registered in 1998 and had covered 142,840km. This vehicle was also considered no longer road worthy due to its poor mechanical condition.
Avis, Compass Car Hire, Dollar Thrifty and Hertz received an overall “good” rating even though various shortcomings were noted. Among the issues that irked the testers were: extremely high additional charge for child seat (e23.60), rear left shock absorber leaking, engine leaking oil, incorrect tyre size fitted, tread of the front tyre almost completely worn, pressure in the front tyre much higher than the manufacturer’s specifications and much lower in the rear tyre; three tyres with considerable cracks in the tread and side walls caused by ageing, handbrake had too much play and brake effect no longer sufficient, spare wheel flat
On the other hand, employees were lauded for being friendly, competent, and professional in their approach and spoke English.
The 2009 winner was the car rental agency National on the Greek island of Kos, which provided good service and a very good vehicle in the form of a Chevrolet Matiz. Second and third place went to Croatia. Hertz in Dubrovnik, with a brand new Fiat Punto, was the only agency in the test to come up with a perfect car without a single fault. However, this agency was found to have some flaws in service and this was why it missed first place.
The last place went to a Nissan Micra, offered by Europcar in Thira on the Greek island of Santorini, which was found to be in terrible condition with numerous serious defects, such as two distorted rims on the front axle, a badly damaged tyre side wall and a missing wheel nut on the rear right tyre.
The full EuroTest report, including detailed findings on car hiring in Malta can be found at: http://www.eurotestmobility.com/eurotest.php?itemno=305&lang=EN
