Buyer Beware - This is a broker - You may not get what you expect
I chose this company and generally had a good experience booking with them. As we were staying close to their 'office' I agreed to pick the car up there.
I realised all was not as it should be when the day before the pick up I walked to their office to find it closed, empty bar a desk and a phone contact number on the door.
All around, there were car hire companies doing bustling business.
On the day I went to collect the car, the same - an empty office. So I called and was told a colleague would be with me shortly...outside.
Someone did indeed appear and with a perfectly good car. However, he was from another company who told me they had accepted the contract from CarRentMadeira who were just a broker using multiple companies. Things went down hill from there. As we stood in the street, he informed me that I was too old and they didn't rent to over 65s. A while later, he offered to do so for a 1000 euro deposit. I am unclear how that was suddenly possible. After some consideration, I decided that I should not proceed with renting a car from someone I had just met in the middle of the street, who didn't represent the company I had agreed to rent through and required such a large deposit.
I did speak to CarRentMadeira, who denied that I had ever asked about the maximum age before booking. By the way, there is no mention of age limits on their website.
In the end we cut our losses of a wasted hour and booked with a local company who offered a similar car with no deposit at a lower cost.
My advice - steer clear. Anyone can produce a website that promises the world but you don't want to be caught out with a dodgy car rental company.








