This was a report about a reader, Kate Rogers who had rented a car in Madeira via Goldcar car rental and instead of the process being straightforward, she was pressurised into buying the insurance that Goldcar was offering even though she had purchased exclusion waiver insurance via Holiday Autos and declined Goldcar's insurance.
She was told by the representative "that my insurance was not acceptable as it would not pay out if I had an accident"
This was only the beginning of a nightmare story on hiring a car. It is well worth reading either if you are planning hiring a car in Madeira or just hiring a car.
Go to the Telegraph's website here
As many people will have had bad experiences of being told by the clerks at the car hire company that "your insurance" will not cover the vehicle if you have an accident so you must by ours. My wife had a similar experience in Dublin a few years ago. Although she declined the car hire company's excess insurance, when it came to signing the contract of hire as is often the case you are asked to sign or initial here, here and here and sure enough the crafty clerk had also included their insurance.
When we discovered this on the credit card company they would not budge and said "she signed for it". That was certainly one Irish car rental company that we never used again.
Do take great care and if you have problems that are not resolved take it up with newspapers like the Telegraph, Mail, Independent, Irish Independent or Irish Times and ask their consumer advice people to look into it.
