Not great

We were happy with our hire car but did feel surprised to find out about the £1500 deposit payment which although was on the fine print did still come as a surprise.

We waited over an hour and despite booking with ‘Ace’ we were with Goldcar. When we got seen, it took 20 minutes for the rep to find us a suitable car and then I was told the deposit on my credit card was a lot higher than I had expected and exceeded my credit limit. I therefore had to pay an extra €118 for the Super Relax Cover, thus doubling the hire charge. Not a pleasant experience.

It was fine.

The sign at Bordeaux Airport for ACE car rentals was a tiny A4 piece of paper with no other directions. Wait time at the desk was 10minutes yet took over 3hrs to get all the cars for my party! Was given 3 different cars, the children seats I had pre booked weren't available and as a result was pulled over by the police which was a horrific experience for my 18month old daughter. We were asked for a 1,400 Euro deposit each for each car which was news to us. Having finally paid everything and gotten our cars after multiple changes and a police stop (they wanted to make us get taxis for the kids) we were on our way. 2 out 3 cars we didn't fill up on return and were fined 50 euros per car atop the petrol cost. 1 car was filled up but apparently 4 euros short of a full tank and an additional 50 euro charge was placed on our card a week later (having agreed at the drop off the tank was full). Bottom line is this was the worst experience of my life and thing ACE and all their staff should be ashamed of themselves.

We have used several times. Due to this and our yearly car hire excess insurance, we no longer get the hard sell for own car rentals unnecessary insurance which we have found stressful with other companies. The car was very clean and in excellent condition.

Price drop protector was really good - we did pay less than initial booking price. Would definitely use again.

It took 5 hours to rent the car and everything was as vague as can be. The whole process is designed to sell Insurance and upgrades. A ridiculous process which created 60 people long queues. I am sure that these rental agencies are either owned or financed by the main players like Hertz with the sole objective to drive people back to them and NEVER , EVER consider leaving again.