Auto Rental Albania "ARA" - Makina me Qera

Considering our flight was 1.5 hrs delayed, and I'd emailed to make the company aware, I had no reply. On arrival our car was ready, in fact it was even there ! I'd booked a Citroën C1, but given a Peugeot 108 instead (same group). After an approx 1 hr wait and a further 10 min walk, we were presented with what could only be described as something that had been through a demolition derby. Basically we were in a position of take it or leave it as we had a 200km drive to Sarande (and our overnight hotel). As you can see by the photos (video) any new bumps / would be difficult to identify. Now the driving experience, anyone who's driven in Albania will know it's interesting at the best of times, but at to that a car who's clutch has more play than a sausage been thrown down an alley, lights that were as bright as candles ( that were extinguished). The gear box was a total pick and mix, any gear in a storm basically. As for reverse, it was there somewhere. As for the drive, it was gutless (even accepting it was only 1000cc) Then there was that lovely metal on metal grind from the front offside wheel on every right hand bend. No washer fluid in the reservoir. All this was relayed to the company on the cars return, which earned a smirk and a shrug of the shoulders. Seriously avoid at all cost !!!!

The experience with this company was awful. The people checking us in after landing was good and the person helping us to get to the car was also good however, and this is a big however, the person checking us in failed to mention that I needed to bring the car back to the airport clean, inside and out. It was a very small print on the contract stating that information. When we got to our car it was DIRTY, inside and out and we have video to confirm it. The tank was empty and we were told to bring it back with an empty tank which is ridiculous and impossible to achieve unless you want to be stranded in a foreign country while trying to get to the airport. Besides all of that, the car itself was horrible, it had wires hanging from underneath, it barely picked up speed and driving it thru the Albanian mountains I though for sure half of the time we would not be able to make it. I hate to say it but it altered our travels and plans as I was scared the car would breakdown halfway thru our trip. We couldn't go back to the airport to return it and risk getting another crappy car, so we just altered our travels and rearranged where we would go, to avoid driving up mountains and risk the car falling apart or breaking down on us. Very very unhappy and disappointed with the car that we received, and to make matters worse at the time we dropped it off, we found out at that time about the small print on the contract about returning the car clean even thought when we got it it was dirty. The person that we dropped the car off with demanded $50 dollars from me as per the contract violation, stating that the car was already rented and he wouldn't have time to get it clean, and when I stated the car was dirty when we picked it up he lowered that amount to $10. Threatening he would just charge the credit card on file the full $50 if I didn't give him $10 in cash right then and there. A total and complete scam, as we all know he put that in his pocket and gave the poor person, the next victim of their scam a dirty car. Lesson learned, do not rent in advance. Albania has so many car rental places right at the airport you can just walk up to, select the car you want and drive off. Do not do it in advance or you will get stuck with a shitty car.