Cheap car hire Malaga Blog
Malaga car hire tips and general advice

From 14th to 17th of august, medieval fair at Fuengirola´s castle Sohail
The castle Sohail of Fuengirola will host from the 14th to the 17th the sixth edition of the medieval Market, being one of the biggest in Spain.
In the Arabian fortress of the 11th century will host more than 70 stands which offer all kinds of artwork and food, being this leisure event for families open to all the public. The visitors will see how the ancient artisans worked, enjoy stories of minstrels and jugglers, practice bow and arrow, take a walk on a donkey and of course sample artisan food of the epoch. The castle opens its doors from 19.00h until 02.00h.

The car hire sector actually is experiencing a strange paradox during this high season: The demand for hiring cars is much higher than the actual offer.
This situation, which is displeasing for both, tourist and hiring companies, is due to the lack of financing. During the present year, car hiring companies had to encounter mayor difficulties obtaining credit which had a sensitive impact in renovation or extension of their fleet.

For practical purposes, this means getting in touch with the car hiring company well in advance to make sure the booking, especially if you are looking for a vehicle of a more economic range.

Nevertheless, the small and medium large car hiring companies in Malaga affirm availability of cars, although nearly discarding the possibility of election of the model. By this time of the year, only can be guaranteed the days that have been reserved in advance. More difficult is the situation at the airport, if you want to hire to hire something on arrival without previous booking.

Both clients and agents confirm another law of the market: Before a lesser offer, the prices rise.
Car hiring companies prefer to label this increase as a “regularization” of the relatively low prices during the last years due to a fierce competency. As well the affirm that the impression of higher cost is due to the fact that by being unavailable the cheaper range, the client necessarily has to restore to a higher range.

Málaga’s mayor, Francisco de la Torre, accompanied by his councillors Juan Ramón Casero (Mobility), Raúl López (Universal Accessibility) and Carolina España (Economy) presented today the access requirements for new transport certificates that will cover the necessity of mobility of two significant user groups. He announced that the access conditions to obtain such a ticket for persons with a disability equal or superior to 33 % will improve and the so-called “PMR ticket” will be valid for all local EMT buses, containing 50 rides or the multiple of this amount.

This new ticket is subsidised by 50% by the Area of Universal Accessibility (Área de Accesibilidad Universal), so that a person who applies for it will receive an aid equal to the half of the cost. The ticket price will be 16,12 €, resulting in an amount of approximately 0,32 € per ride. The innovation benefits about 1300 disabled persons that can profit immediately by the new ticket.

On the other hand, the mayor announced the implementation of the “Employment Help Ticket” (“Tarjeta Ayuda Empleo”), which will be totally free of charge. The beneficiaries of this coupon are unemployed inhabitants of Málaga who are registered in programs of the active job-seeking IMFE / MALAGA EMPLEO. According to estimations, more than 1000 persons will be able to benefit immediately from this new ticket that includes 50 rides per capita. The purpose is to help unemployed people who are searching actively for work or who take part in training courses.

The points system is having its second birthday this month. The free daily newspaper Qué! reports that since Spain instituted the points system in 2006, 4.1 million points have been taken away and 7,162 people have completely lost their licences. Points are lost by any number of reasons, including speeding, running red lights, driving without a seatbelt and drunk driving. During the course of this year, there have been 244 less deaths as consequence of driving accidents than last year, a 20% decrease.

Spanish lawmakers must see this as an opportunity to step up the safe driving campaign at the same time as they tweak other aspects of the traffic law. Up until now, new drivers have started with 8 points, while those who have driven for 3+ years started out with 12. Starting next July (2009), those who haven’t committed any driving infractions in 3 years will be rewarded with two additional points, bringing the maximum total up to 14. Keep up the safe driving folks… just because we get a few extra points doesn’t mean we should drive pedal to the metal now.

If you’re expecting to hire a car in Malaga or anywhere else in Spain really, consider yourself forewarned. First, the hard facts: recently reformed penal codes require an offence charge for drivers caught passing the speed limits by 60 km/h within city limits or by 80 km/h on the highway. This kind of charge can carry from 3 to 6 months jail time, no laughing matter to say the least. And even if you’re only speeding marginally, according to the Spanish points system, they’ll also drain your licence of between 2 and 6 points as well. (Drivers with a clean record generally start out with 12 points.)

Thought that was it? Wait, there’s more! Beginning yesterday, the government has implemented a two-week bout of radar checkpoints across the country. They’re setting them up on secondary highways, along with safety reminders on electronic panels and radio messages. In Malaga alone, they’re planning to control about 50,000 vehicles, an average of about 3,000 a day.

The Spanish authorities are doing a notable job of cracking down on irresponsible behaviour on the road, with the intention of reducing the number of accidents. So before you get into speed-demon mode behind the wheel of your car hire, think twice. Or even three times… cause it will certainly be worth your while!