I have friends visiting soon who want to hire a car and explore a bit.  I recall there was both approval and condemnation of certain companies but can't remember which was which.  I know that some companies insist on you buying and over-priced tank of fuel to bring the car back empty (even though you can't get through a whole tank in the duration of the visit) whilst others do not. 

The options seem to be: 
Hetrz/Advantage
National/Europcar/Alamo or
Goldcar

Any preferences?
Thanks
Mike

just siphon surplus gas to a can and retain enough in the tank to make it back to the rental place...they did the same to me but I was fortunate to use the whole tank for the 3 days from Barcelona to Ampolla and back....

I've always used Hertz and found them good. One exception was when I went for a cheaper company and got stung. I had to pay extra 250 euro for insurance when picking the car up and couldn't get an explanation as to why. Will never use them again. Hertz only for me after that.

I use Hertz without problems. They use the full out/empty in system. You pay more for a full tank like this & usually there is fuel left when handing in. Also they pressure you to buy an unnecessary breakdown insurance, you just have to be firm and say no. They will go so far as to tell you it is the law but that is not true. :)

i used to use gold car i always thought they where good until the last time when they helped them selves to an extra 120 euros from my credit card for no reason, they ignored my emails in the end i contacted my bank and they reclaimed the money for me i would not use them again

Hi Robo I have just booked Goldcar I must be careful.

At Reus Hertz is now called Advantage.  Not sure what the difference is!

I use this company. Print off their terms and conditions and there are no problems. I have used them over the last 9 years and recommend them to all my family and both my friends
http://www.arguscarhire.com/

Hmmm.  The first thing I would do is ask them to remove the Goldcar sticker from the back window.  It announces to the world in general that you are in a hire car and easy prey as you could be carrying luggage and valuables.  Hope that you travel safely.

Some friends of ours visited and hired a car from 'Advantage' which operates the 'return empty' policy.
It was a VW Polo which has an 'anti syphone' device fitted.... :(
I sat and looked at their paperwork and the full tank charge has 'tax' added..so if they took it back half full I wondered if anyone got a tax rebate....or do they continually carry on taxing the tax....?
They paid 80 euro for the full tank but used less than half so if another hirer had charged 30 euro more for the hire but had a return full policy they would have been better off..... do any of them have a 'return full' policy currently?

Has any body actually asked at the desk if they 'will' do a full to full return...??

Hi cactus jack, I have used Argus many times and they are good. When you book with them you might end up with a car from any company they are agents only.
I often suspect the fuel guage when it goes below quarter full. On two occasions last year with the same company the dial was showing empty when there was still a significant amount of petrol in the tank.

Hi All,
       I've used most companies at Reus airport over the years and most do a full/full policy but only for hires 3 days or under so the siphon method is the best if you're not going to use it all, keep it for your genny. The only problem I had was when I took a "fuel refund" offer from Goldcar last year where the hire was for 2 days and they return the money to your card for each 1/8 tank unused. They took their time and only for I had taken a picture of the fuel guage I would have had a tough time I suspect. That said we're out again over Easter and using a different company so we'll see how that goes. :) I've toyed with the idea of buying a car and leaving it out there but when you do the sums and add in the red tape its not worth it for 5 weeks a year, you'd need to be coming out regularly for longish, month or so visits to make it pay. I know Irish people who leave Irish reg cars out here and take a chance with no N.C.T. OR m.o.t. cert but if you have a prang your insurance won't pay out cos the car isn't roadworthy and then the sh!te hits the fan.

Hi  I don't reckon much to Argus aka-Cartraller I had a load of trouble last year with them,or should I say the hire car company they used out of El Prat "SOLMAR" after loads of promises etc.. phone calls, emails it took me 6 months to get 60/70 euros  compensation for tolls/fuel that was down to unroadworthy hire car, like Smige say,s they are only agents, brokers,
I found it a hell of allot better experience using CENTAURO "I would recommend them" last November, polite, no waiting at airport for pick up ,or having to phone them up WERE ARE YOU !!! good cars, and I only got hammered 20/30 euros for the Full/Empty scam which was less than I expected.
Saying all this, that was out of El Prat and it,s ages since I last hired a car out of Reus so don't know who they use.
It really put a cloud  on that trip, and I will defiantly do the research again before I hire a car. ;)

I would not recommend Centauro,as the last car we had was in poor condition and did not drive correctly.
We eventually found the both back tyres to be half the pressure they should have been,could have been very dangerous.We complained about all the faults and they said sorry,but should not have happened.
Philmountains hope the snow melts for your journey down.
Last time I looked there was no snow on the top of Mt. Caro,are you planning on doing any walking around the area ?

Hi Fil I always want to go for a walk, bought the Cirrone book of the area a couple of years ago, but I only get as far as the top of track near me with my wheelbarrow collecting stone,s !!!!!! bet there are some great walk,s /scrambles up in those mountains ::)