What is really the best car rental in Mallorca? My own experience
After one too many bad rentals in Mallorca I've basically given up on the budget options
Been coming to the island for years. Used to treat the car rental like any other line item. Filter by price, book the cheapest, sort the rest on the day. After enough bad mornings at the Palma airport counter I've completely changed how I do it.
The routine with the cheap places is always the same. Queue for 40 minutes. Get told the insurance you already paid for online doesn't count. Get pushed into a €20 a day "peace of mind" top up you didn't ask for. Pre auth of €1,200 to €1,500 on the card that takes a month to come back. Then the walk around the car with the clipboard guy, where you basically have to photograph every panel yourself because you know what phone call is coming if you don't. And that's before you get to the actual service, which at some of these places goes from indifferent to openly rude.
Now I just go with Azul Cars or Sixt and pay the premium. Azul is a local operator, proper insurance, no deposit circus, and they deliver the car to the hotel or airport so you skip the counter entirely. That alone is worth the price gap for me. Sixt is the big name fallback when I need something specific or last minute. More expensive but predictable, and I've never had to argue with them over a scratch at return. Between the two I've stopped dreading the rental pickup.
I know it's a "you get what you pay for" post. But the premium over the cheapest options isn't that wild once you factor in the stress, the time at the desk, and the phantom damage charges that sometimes hit the card anyway.
Whats your experience with these more premium car rentals compared to cheaper ones? Do you agree with my favorites or not?