car rentals

[gaby]

can someone suggest a car rental place. last year we rented from hans. but he no longer rents to people who stay in small apt complexes or houses where the cars are not parked behind gates. he said if we stay at a place where the car is parked behind a gate, he has no problem. of course when you go to the beach or to town, you're not behind a gate but i don't get it.

anyway, we just want a regular car, not a jeep. any suggestions?

[gaby]

I've checked out two places, Payless and Royal Car Rental. Any suggestions on either one? Which ones are good, which is not. I still am having a hard time with Hans thinking. He was a go ahead until i emailed him where we were staying, which is in malmok and a nice area and he said only if we stay at a place with a gate. we are considering a townhome in gold coast to stay at, they are gated but now i don't even want to use him because his thinking makes no sense. is there a problem with stolen cars in driveways in aruba? what if you go to a restaurant, they don't steal cars there?????

[Arubalisa]

We have had better experiences with Amigo http://www.amigocar.com/ than Royal.
Amigo has an office within the airport property.

[gaby]

thanks lisa, i'll check them out. we are staying now at a gated community but it bugged me about hans so i don't know if i'll use him. where we stayed last time, most of the cars in the complex lot had the amigo sticker on them so i guess they must be good, lol....thanks again.

[Andrea J.]

everytime we have rented from hans (35+) where the car has been parked is not a concern.
we park it at lacabana and that is not a gated parking lot.

i am going to write to him.
that is just too bad.

Originally Posted by gaby

can someone suggest a car rental place. last year we rented from hans. but he no longer rents to people who stay in small apt complexes or houses where the cars are not parked behind gates. he said if we stay at a place where the car is parked behind a gate, he has no problem. of course when you go to the beach or to town, you're not behind a gate but i don't get it.

anyway, we just want a regular car, not a jeep. any suggestions?

[gaby]

Andrea, this is what he wrote

"Due to car theft I decided two years ago not to rent anymore to clients who are staying at small apartment complexes or private houses where the car is parked just on the road, if they can be parked behind a locked gate I don’t have a problem, all those small apartment complexes and private houses are safe to stay but for the cars isn’t that safe, last year one way or another you skipped thru and I didn’t want to cancel upon your arrival, that’s not fair and it’s not that they go out every night but the risk is there and I want to minimize the risk. In case you find a villa with a gate I have no problem if you go to the same place I prefer that you look somewhere else."

I liked renting from him, he's very nice but I don't understand the thinking. I mean if you are going to use the car, you're going to park it in public places. The risk is the same at a restaurant, a casino, a mall, a supermarket, downtown. we went to all those places.

well, I'm checking out Payless and Amigo. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I think we may stay at the Gold Coast because I inquired and can get a very good deal for two weeks. that's gated but now Hans has me scared to use him, lol.....

[AndyM]

We have been renting from Payless for several years and are happy with the quality/condition/cleanliness of the cars and the service level. They are located off the airport on the Toyota dealership property just off the airport.

When we arrived late to Aruba in January (11:30PM-45 minutes late) and then had further delays at customs in Aruba, we were concerned that the Payless driver would have given up on our arrival and left. Not the case. The Payless driver was waiting patiently and courteously assured us he would be there whenever we came out. He loaded our luggage into a van and took us to the car. Due to the late hour we were asked to return the next day to complete the paperwork.

In the past we have been dissatisfied with Budget and others because of cars with bald tires, defective equipment, etc. This has not been an issue with Payless.

[gaby]

does payless pick you up at the airport?

[AndyM]

Originally Posted by gaby

does payless pick you up at the airport?

Yes, that's what I was trying to relate. You walk out of the baggage claim area and there is someone waiting with a sign that has your name on it. They take your bags, load them into a van and drive you to the Payless office. While you complete your paperwork, they load your bags into the car, start the a/c and you're off and running (well, off and driving).

[gaby]

great, which I realized after I posted, lol.....