Gayle and I rented a car in Spain for 9 days. We arranged the Reservation through Auto Europe and…read morepaid slightly less than $50 per day, which included basic and comprehensive insurance. That means a high Euro deductible and no real personal theft coverage. A GPS and putting Gayle on as the second driver were also extra. I declined all the extras, although in hindsight I would have changed my mind on the GPS. Also extra (of course) was gasoline and various Toll Roads/Tunnels that popped up here and there during our journeys.
Europcar rented us a VW Golf, which had plenty of personal and luggage room, had good pep and acceleration, scored good gas mileage, and made driving a stick enjoyable again. The only time I was concerned about traffic was in the commercial areas of Andorra, although Gayle was sure that I was going to drive the car off the road in on narrow section above Pal in the Mountains. Our biggest complaint over the entire trip was that the CD Player didn't work. We brought music to pass the time (including our favourite - The Crazy Heart Soundtrack). Short of that, we occasionally listened to trashy Euro-Pop, got on each others nerves more when trying to navigate, but otherwise enjoyed each others company and conversation.
We picked up the car at Atocha Station in Madrid. The Rental Desk is upstairs and it took awhile to figure out how to find where the car was on the level below and farther back. The folks here were cordial, but not particularly helpful in getting us on our way. Yet once we got in and the guy moved the vehicle that was blocking us, we were pleasantly surprised to discover how easy it was to get out of Town. I also appreciated the thorough pre-inspection they did, which identified every scratch and dent on this car. I figured from the description, that anything short of significant fender bender would go unnoticed when we returned the car. Luckily, we returned the car in better shape than we found it.