Funchal Drive Omdömen 

everything went realy well and smooth. People were friendly

This company is located about a 10 minutes drive away from the airport, despite their name. They use a shuttle to transport people between the airport and their site.

They use this location to bully you into paying exorbitant repair fees for non-existant damage because, on an island with few cabs, if you don't take their shuttle, you'll likely miss your flight. They even had the audacity to suggest I drop my car off later than I wanted to. I witnessed this particular scam happen, but was 'lucky' enough to have purchased their insurance first which I'll get to next.

I booked this service last minute and through Avion points so I didn't think to check reviews. While I was on my way I decided to check reviews and saw many people reporting the same things I witnessed. Because of this I decided to go with their 'insurance policy'.

First of all, their 'insurance' cost about 80% of what I had already paid. On my ~$600 rental, they asked for insurance of $500. Knowing that they would try to get even more money from me if I didn't pay upfront I decided to eat the cost. Then, AFTER I paid, he told me that insurance didn't cover any scuffs on the wheels, or any mud on the inside of the car. These are both insane caveats for the following reasons.
1) Ponta Delgada (and most cities on São Miguel) has notoriously skinny streets with 90 degree angled curbs made of volcanic rock. Every single car you see there has scuffs on their tires as well as small dings and scratches on their doors and windows. You NEED to jump up on curbs at times - there are even signs telling you to park half on the curb!!!!
2) The main reason people go to this island is to hike to see beautiful views. The island is famous for experiencing all four seasons in a day. Mud is an inevitability.

Secondly, I did a walkaround of the damages to the car with the employee and then I was sent a contract with the damages listed - except there were several not listed and the gas was not as full as the contract said. More signs that they're trying to scam people.

I left the rental place with my spirits quite dampened - I was expecting to pay some insurance but not that much, and the fact that it seemed like I would be screwed when I dropped the car off anyway made it even worse. And then I had the pleasure of using a car with a transmission that was on its last legs (lurches abound, often not switching gears and revving up to 5 and 6k RPM), squeeky brakes, and faulty lane assist and cruise control.

I managed to clean the car up as best I could and returned the car with little hassle (I arrived two hours earlier than I had intended, to be sure that I had time to catch a cab if needed). The person who was working when I dropped the car was generally nicer than the person I had when I dropped it off and it went off without a hitch.

All in all this was a horrible way to start my vacation - the rental weighed heavy on my for my entire stay. Luckily every other person I interacted with on the island was lovely and the scenery was beautiful.

Car completely scratched up and dented with a very weak engine for the Madeira Landscape

First of all, when you arrive at the airport someone will collect you and take you from the airport to the car drive. Same happens the other way around.

We were upset because the rental car requested us to pay several taxes at arrival:
1) Extra tax to leave the car “out of hours” even though the last employee leaves at 22:00 (we were charges to deliver the car at 21:30) 35€
Our flight was late and if we deliver the car after 22:00 they referred that we will have to “trust” the possible stretch marks will be checked afterwards and only than we will know if we won’t be charged.
2) Tax for cleaning 12,50€

We rented a SUV (that we actually paid extra for) and they did not had a SUV ready for us so we ended up getting a normal Skoda Fabia car automatic and of course we accepted because it was automatic and the SUV they had later was manual so in Madeira of course it does help to be driving automatic also because they referred if we had a manual car we might ended up paying for the car clutch if something happened and loose partial deposit (?) - this was not really acceptable as clutch is part of the maintenance and would not be our fault.

The reason I mostly wanted a SUV was because I am pregnant and wanted to be comfortable otherwise this wouldn’t have been so important but still, we paid extra for an SUV!

Overall the car was great but we rented this car in CarJet (turned to be cheaper online) but with the taxes we paid, the price ended up being the same as other online rentals.

Mi experiencia ha sido muy negativa. Al recoger el vehículo me retuvieron una fianza de 1.400 €. Devolví el coche el 18 de junio en las condiciones acordadas y, a fecha de hoy, más de 11 días después, sigo sin haber recibido el reembolso de la fianza ni una explicación clara sobre el retraso. Considero que este tipo de demoras en la devolución de un importe tan elevado son inaceptables y generan una gran incertidumbre al cliente. Espero que resuelvan esta situación cuanto antes y mejoren la gestión de las fianzas para futuros usuarios.

Gracias por su respuesta, pero lamentablemente no se corresponde con mi situación.

A fecha de hoy, 14 de julio, sigo teniendo retenidos los 1.400 € de la fianza en el crédito de mi tarjeta. Tras ponerme en contacto con mi entidad bancaria, me han informado de que la retención no será liberada hasta el 1 de agosto, ya que ustedes no han procedido a su levantamiento efectivo antes de esa fecha.

Esto significa que, habiendo devuelto el vehículo el pasado 18 de junio, tendré inmovilizados 1.400 € durante casi un mes y medio, una situación completamente desproporcionada e injustificable para un cliente que devolvió el vehículo y aceptó incluso el cargo correspondiente por el pequeño daño reflejado en el parte de devolución.

Además, considero poco transparente la política comercial de la empresa, ya que la única alternativa para evitar una fianza tan elevada es contratar un seguro adicional ofrecido por ustedes, cuyo coste resulta excesivamente alto y puede llegar a suponer una parte muy importante del precio total del alquiler.

Mi recomendación para futuros clientes es que tengan muy en cuenta estas condiciones antes de contratar. Una retención de 1.400 € durante un periodo tan prolongado puede suponer un importante perjuicio económico, especialmente para quienes disponen de un límite de crédito reducido en su tarjeta.

Second time with Funchal Drive, and it will be my first choice when renting a car in Funchal. Already recommended to my friends to rent here, and they have already, both with a great experience. Easy, simple, quick, and friendly. Quality and new cars.

We had a great time in Madeira with the rental car. Funchal drive had good prices and service except for the pick up shuttle. We waited really long at the airport for them and when they finally arrived there were too many people waiting so we had to wait for two more shuttles till we finally left. Otherwise the staff was really nice and we would book it again.

Me hicieron pagar el seguro todo riesgo sabiendo que ya lo tenía contratado con discovercars. Y sabiendo que mi Visa tenía saldo suficiente ya que llamé a mi banco. Teníamos más Visas pero al agente no le dió la gana de ayudar, por lo que la única opción fue pagar un seguro
Además yo había reservado un coche económico y me dieron un Fiat Panda, que no es un coche económico sino mini.
En la vida he pagado tan caro un alquiler de un coche además de mini, viejo y sin fuerza.
También señalar que es la primera vez que pago un plus por la limpieza del coche 🤷‍♀️

Good service, nice car!

I rented from Funchal Drive / Auto Union and it was the worst rental experience I have ever had, start to finish.
It began with their app promising pickup within 5 minutes of arriving at the designated airport spot. Instead, I made nearly 20 phone calls that went unanswered and waited well over an hour before anyone showed up.
When they finally did, they handed us a car with serious brake problems. The brakes were grinding from the moment we pulled out of their facility. We turned around to bring it straight back, but the office had already closed for the day, leaving us no choice but to drive a clearly unsafe vehicle across the island to where we were staying, with the brakes getting worse the entire way.
The next day the automatic transmission started overheating and slipping. I called about the safety of the car and they answered exactly one of roughly 15 calls, said they would look into it, and never called back. The only responses I got were occasional texts telling me to "try locking and unlocking the doors," which has nothing whatsoever to do with a failing transmission. The car then jammed in the wrong gear and lurched into drive when I put it in reverse, nearly causing an accident. This vehicle was plainly not maintained, and the company showed no concern for our safety.
We were then left stranded for several hours while the company stayed largely unresponsive and combative every time we did reach them. After all of that back and forth, they finally agreed to swap the car, then showed up with a much smaller, cheaper vehicle that could not fit all of our bags and passengers.
The return was the final insult. I confirmed with them directly that I could drop the car at 8am when the office opened and catch their shuttle to the airport for a flight that began boarding at 8:25 (again, supposedly a 5 minute drive). The office did not open at 8. After waiting 10 minutes with no one in sight, I had to bang on the door and call out for help so I would not miss my flight. An employee cleaning other cars responded by yelling profanities and threats, telling me it "wasn't his responsibility" and that he was angry I wanted to be checked in quickly.
To top it off, the receipt hit my email with a fuel charge, despite the fact that I returned the tank with more fuel than was agreed upon.
This company is extraordinarily disorganized, runs a dangerous fleet, and does not care about customer safety or service in the slightest. They should not be allowed to operate. This is a scam that preys on visitors to the island. Buyer beware.

I bought the rental on line incl. Insurance. You said you wanted a €1 400 ðeposit. You refused to take it from a debit card. You refused to take it from a mastercard because it was a card I had from PayPal. (Still Mastercard and with a $10 000 credit limit). Thus I had two options pay €110 or walk back to the airport.
Let me say that is not my way of doing business.
Nothing wrong with your people , just a poor policy.
There are other car rental places.

Bon accueil, rapide et retour d'infos rapide

We cannot recommend this company at all... We needed to pay an extra insurance because my Visa was not accepted for the deposit. Nothing was mentioned about that in the contract before that Visa cards from "virtual" banks will not be accepted. The extra costs could be payed with this exact card. How odd is that?!

We will never book this company again because it felt like a scam. At the counter of the check in office already a price list was shown with the costs of possible damages... Clearly no sign of trust. I am disappointed with the experience of Auto union/ Funchal Drive. Worst Car Rental Company ever...

At least no extra costs were charged after the return for additional damages. We needed to pay extra for the return as well as we returned it not in the opening hours. This was also not mentioned before as we booked it. Aah, and I almost forgot the extra costs for the cleaning which was also mandatory 12,50€ with the start of the rental or 25€ after the return...

Carro super limpo e impecável.
Esperámos um pouco para no irem buscar ao aeroporto e depois foi tudo super rápido para o aluguer do carro.
Colaboradores espetaculares.

All the process was quite easy and the staff was correct. Some points I didn't like were to pay an extra for them to clean the car, something I have never paid for when I have rented a car. And another thing was that the car we rented, a Fiat Panda, had no power enough to easily climb Madeira's hills. Next time we'll choose better. Anyway, a good experience.

The instructions was clear. The service is good. Everything was OK with the car.

Muito bom,otimo atendimento, gostei da experiência, recomendo a Funchal drive

Cette entreprise a toujours réponse à tout. Vous mettez des avis, négatifs je précise pour nous, ils vous répondent à côté rien n avoir avec l avis que vous avez mis. Des explications qui ne tiennent pas la route. Prenez vos responsabilités.

La voiture prise n'était pas conforme à la réservation.
Un phare sur 2 fonctionnait et le support GPS était bancal et ne tenait pas bien.
De plus, lors de la prise du véhicule, le loueur refuse ma carte bancaire (pour la caution) sous prétexte qu'elle expire dans moins de 6 mois.
Il m'oblige à prendre une assurance à 350€ avec une autre carte (celle de la personne qui m'accompagnait) pour bénéficier d'un véhicule, sinon je me retrouvais à la rue, sans véhicule.
Pris au piège, je suis obligé de prendre cette assurance, sachant que ce loueur n'est pas dans l'aérogare et qu'il faut une navette pour s'y rendre.
Mauvaise expérience et manquement commercial.
On n'y retournera pas.

Nice people, fast check-in and check-out. Good documentation of vehicles sate refering dents etc. Shuttle service without waiting time.