Phangan Car Rental Avis 5

I travelled with my family to Koh Phangan from 16 February to 24 March this year, and our landlord recommended us to rent from phangancarrental.

The price was quite reasonable, 27'000 THB for Toyota Yaris with two child seats, and we agreed.
We decided to stay for another week and prolonged it for that period, totalling roughly 33 thousand.

Jon arrived with the car to our house. The car looked pretty good except that was scratched all over the place (see photos in my review on Facebook), and underguard was attached with plastic straps. Car's odometer displayed 100 thousand something kilometres as far as I remember.
He mentioned that while cleaning one of the child seats he was unable to assemble it back and asked me to do it myself.
I paid 27000 and 5000 security deposit, Jon took a photo of my passport and driving license, added some marks where the car was scratched and asked me to put my signature.

Some of the above should have raised a red flag, but I was in a really good mood and didn't pay attention to any of that.

Once in the morning, the car didn't open with the wireless key, and we called Jon.
Jon arrived shortly and checked the level of liquid in the battery. It looked totally discharged, but the lights were turned off, and I have no idea what might have caused the discharge. Jon charged the battery connecting with the wires to his car and left.

Boy was I wrong about not paying attention to bad signs.

I have never got a copy of the contract where Jon made marks where the car was scratched.
I have never received any receipts for the money I've paid.

During that time my spouse had a small accident, where she scraped the car's front bumper. Surprisingly, the bumper fell off on that side. Even more surprisingly, it fell off on the other side of the car as well.

On the last day, about an hour before the taxi to the pier, Jon showed up, and I showed him the damage. He took the car to the repair shop and returned with a receipt showing 7'500 THB and something in Thai. I asked what is in there, he said he doesn't read Thai and has no idea, but that's what I have to pay.
He also mentioned that I owe him 2'000 for battery recharge, explaining that this is what they usually charge so that the people care about the car they rent.

I had no time to haggle, and paid.

Not to say I didn't get any receipts.
Not to say, the price of 7'500 THB for a small scratch and front bumper "repair" with plastic straps is excessive.
Not to say, 2'000 THB is the price for the new battery, definitely not a service to quickly come and charge the worn off one.

Just for the comparison, we've paid 189 euro (about 6700 THB) for seriously damaging the door and a car-long fender element on a brand new shiny VW Caddy Maxi kombi.

Just for the comparison, Sixt Toyota Yaris, 30 days, 2 child seats:

Vehicle damage and theft deductible liability THB 8,000: THB 25,455.30
Vehicle damage and theft deductible liability THB 0: THB 27,595.30

To be fair, Sixt only has an office in Samui Airport, but Rajah Ferry offers to transport a car from Samui to Phangan for 320 one way for the car, and that way could have saved on the taxi, both from the airport to the pier and from the pier to our house.

Bottom line: scam with a nice face, more expensive than big international renters, stay away.

Very easy to organise rental through their website. Delivery and collection to our resort went very smoothly. The cars are already fully insured at advertised price, so no upselling at the point of purchase. The Honda BRV that we rented was fairly new, well specced and in very good condition. Prices were reasonable and they accept payment by PayPal or cash. We were very pleased with the service and found them to be friendly and hassle free. Would thoroughly recommend.

I emailed a week before I wanted to hire a car and after getting no email back I called to chase up a response. I spoke to a guy called David who said you can rent cars for 1 Day just call back on the day.

On the day I call and a Thai lady says she doesn't know David and latest pick up is 6pm. God knows why David is on their website then. So I called David who said everything would still be OK just call another number. I called that number and it was the same Thai lady who then just hung up on me.

Really poor communication! And the most tedious way of booking a car. Whoever said it was like European car hire was completely wrong and set my expectations way too high. Basic communication is a struggle for this company.

If they don't rent for the day, or can't be bothered staying open late as they said they would. They just need to have the decency and honesty and let people know rather than mess them around. We could have been making other plans.

Already used Phangan Car Rental 2-3 times,very easy process.Great how they pick you up from the boat on arrival. Was recommended by my hotel.

At last a decent car rental service on Phangan. Rented from these guys twice. They delivered the car, which was only a couple of weeks old to my resort, not sure i should say this but i did scratch the bumper and they said dont worry about it. Now that is unheard of on Phangan, it was only a small one though. Cars have insurance.