Initially I was worried
Initially I was worried, when I rented the car, reading the experiences from other people on Trustpilot. And certainly there was some trouble at first. I used some car rental portal on the internet and found a car at a reasonable price, that I could rent to take to the F1 weekend in Spielberg, Austria. I selected a pickup point close to my hotel in the center of Vienna. However after I received confirmation on my booking, the pickup point was changed to the airport. I called a number that I found in the reservation, and the company explained that this was actually the only pickup point available. So I went to Austria, and at the airport I decided I should find the company and ask to change the pickup time, seeing as 7 in the morning might be a bit early since I had to get to the airport from the hotel. I could however not find the company at the airport. I asked some guy at another car rental business, and he told me my company was situated by a hotel outside the airport. I tried calling the company, on two different numbers but got no answer, so I walked to the hotel, but found no office. While searching for the address to the company, somebody called me back on one of the numbers I had called. He could however not find my booking number in his system. I sent him the reservation and all documentation on WhatsApp, but he still could find nothing. My reservation was sent from a company called Surprice Car Hire. The guy on the phone however suggested I contact another company, which was U-Save. As it turned out, they did have an office in the adjacent building to where I was at. I went there and found a rather makeshift office with a few young guys from Bulgaria. I explained to them that Surprice Car Hire could not find my booking, and that they had told me to ask with them. They were confused at first, saying that it made no sense that they would have my booking, as my reservation clearly came from Surprice Car Hire, but then one of the guys had a look in his system, and actually found my name, hooray!! The guys agreed to change my pickup time, and also the time for delivery, which was on Sunday. Originally 9 PM was the time for delivery, but I was a bit worried that might be to early, in case of a traffic jam, so they let me change it to 11 PM, which was their closing time. The day after, I payed the deposit and signed some papers, before I was given the keys to a pretty much brand new Citroën C3. An excellent car for my use, it worked perfectly over the F1 weekend. I drove 1300 kilometers from Friday to Sunday, and was very happy with the car. On Sunday, after the race, I hurried out from the race track, but it took around two hours before I was on the highway. There, I only drove a few kilometres before traffic came to a halt. I was snailing on for at least half an hour before it finally dissolved. But only a few kilometres further down the road, there was a full stop, because of an accident. I did not move for such a long time, people got out of their cars all around me. When eventually we all got going again, I was starting to worry that I might not get back to Vienna in time to deliver the car. I had received a message on WhatsApp, with directions to where I should deliver the car, and how to contact U-Save, so I called them and explained that there was a traffic jam. They said to call them back 15 minutes before arrival, which Google Maps at the time estimated to be a 10:15 PM. The road was open now for about 45 minutes, but then I entered a mountainous region with a lot of tunnels, and in one of them there had actually been another accident, and so the road closed down again, and I was at a full stop for almost an hour. Even driving off the highway around some of the traffic did not help much. It was now getting dark as well. Finally I was back on the highway, and a bit later the traffic jam actually dissolved, but I was running desperately late, knowing that I also had to refuel the car before delivery. It had also started raining now, and so I could not drive as fast as I needed, to be at the airport on time. I did not dare to wait until I was 15 minutes out, to call U-Save, because I would be running the risk of taking a wrong exit on the roads in the outskirts of the city, so I called them before I took of the highway, at about 10:30 PM. The guy on the phone was my saviour, he told me to just drive normally and get to the petrol station at the airport to refuel the car, and then come and deliver it. He told me there was a one hour leniency, so there was nothing to worry about! I found the petrol station, refueled and cleaned out the car, and then went to deliver it. There, the guy was waiting, and everything was ok. I was there maybe 10 minutes late, but that was all ok. He told me I would get my deposit back as soon as they had checked the car. The morning after, I got a photo of a receipt, confirming that the deposit was returned. Thank you very much U-Save!
