Surprice Car Rentals - Madeira in Santa Cruz

Overall a good experience, but because it was too busy on arrival, the shuttle wasn't driving, so I spend more than an hour searching for them. Also tried calling them multiple times, but all you get is a computer. In the end I had to take a taxi. Would have saved me a lot of time and searching if I would have received some communication. For the rest all good value for money

Had quite many problems with this rental company. 1) first off, had to wait more than 20mins for the pick up from the airport as compared to other car rental services, there are actually hosts on site to guide and direct you to wait for their shuttle pick up. 2) didn't know that credit card only was required as a form of deposit and the amount on hold was 2460EUR. This wasn't stated anywhere when I was booking the car from the company. They offered me a solution to this which requires me to pay an additional 100+EUR just to waive off the deposit fee required from credit card. 3) requested for a compact car because of the tight streets/road in Madeira but was given a relatively big car instead. 4) returned the car with a minor scratch as attached on the photos and the company charged me a ridiculous amount of 431EUR for just a minor scratch! (Take note to all and read the clause properly, this was a painful lesson for me.) Would recommend renting from another company instead!

Staff were friendly and efficient. Transfer to and from the airport was easy (a 5-10 minute journey) and, on arrival, the car was ready and waiting. The only downside was we weren't given the car we requested, but an "upgrade" which we didn't want. One piece of advice - make sure you have a credit card for the security as, even though you can pay for the car with a debit card, you need a credit card in the name of the primary driver before you can take the car. We would use this company on our next visit.

They picked us up from the airport in their free shuttle bus. Very quick and easy to get the car. Walked us around and made sure we were happy with it. Our little Fiat Panda did the job perfectly. Dropped the car back with absolutely no issues. Then they dropped us back at the airport. I would use them again and recommend them to anyone needing a rental car while they are in Madeira.

My experience was perfect. Transport between the airport and the stand was smooth, I just needed to follow the instructions on the voucher. It was the first time I used a credit card and I received all the help I needed with incredible friendliness. The car behaved very well, I explored a large part of the island with my kids without any mishaps and the return to the airport was also smooth. When I return I will certainly rent a car with them. Excellent price-quality ratio.

SCAM BEWARE After waiting more than one hour for the shuttle after calling because no one was waiting for us, didn't accept a debit card for charging the 5000EUR of deposit, i offer to charge the amount to my debit card and they said it's impossible, only to a credit card. The alternative given by Susan S. was to charge extra 380EUR and "all be solved" on top of the already paid reservation. Susan S. was extremely rude, and when o said i wouldn't pay more for my reservation she said ok, bye, and no even a lift to the airport back was offered. Still waiting for my money back from the original reservation

SCAM That was a really Surprise Rent a Car. We had to wait more than 40 minutes to be picked up at the airport. Then arriving to the office the lady there "Susan" treat us in a very bad mood asking for a mandatory credit card with the drivers name. We had a credit card but on other name so we asked to change the drivers name to be ok with the credit card. She was refusing any possibility and she said we need it to give 5.000EUR as a deposit and pay 250EUR more for a warranty. This lady was so hostile that we just took the claims book to formalise this very bad experience over more than 20 times coming to Madeira. I put one star cause zero is not possible.

Had to wait a little bit longer than expected at the airport but nothing crazy, everything was arranged quickly with the car, we had a lovely Opal Corsa which was perfect for driving around the island. The return of the car went smoothly, we made sure that everything was put back to normal and how we received the car. If you're worried about anything just take lots of photos and check the car over with them. We didn't have any problems.