I booked my trip to Casablanca in Morocco virtually at the last minute; and since I wanted to travel to Fes and Marrakech on my own schedule, I decided to rent a car — especially since the public transportation options were not much less expensive.
Renting a Car With Green Motion in Morocco
I decided to use RentalCars.com to search for a car to rent for 3.5 days and found one for $68.98 total with a company called Green Motion for the smallest class of car with unlimited kilometers and including all taxes and fees.
I knew nothing about Green Motion, as I have never rented from them before — and I have barely heard the name in the past. I did briefly refer to the rental car company in my trip report pertaining to renting a car in Iceland; but I wound up renting from Procar instead of Green Motion.
Arrival
I printed out a rental voucher and brought it with me to Morocco as proof that I had already paid for the rental.
When I arrived in Morocco as a passenger aboard an airplane — which was operated by Royal Air Maroc — after 9:00 in the evening, I proceeded to the rental car area of the terminal. None of the counters of the rental car companies were opened for business.
One of two men then approached me and asked with which company did I rent a car. When I told him, he instructed me to head straight out to the parking lot where the rental cars are located. I walked through crowds of people in the night air outside of the terminal as I headed for the rental car lot.
After waiting for someone to assist me, an employee of Green Motion said that he will be with me after he finished processing the rental of another customer. I had to wait at least 20 minutes as I stood in the dark.
The Car
When he finally was able to assist me and he finished the paperwork in the car which I was to rent, we did an extended inspection of the entire car — which was rather difficult, as this was at night time; and the lighting was not exactly the best.
He pointed out all of the damage and recorded it on the contract. As he did not really speak much English, most of our conversation was in French.
When all of the formalities were finally finished, I was given the keys to a silver Fiat Panda and a packet; and I was instructed to not lose that packet under any circumstances, as it contained important documents for the car. In fact, I was strongly advised to keep that packet with me at all times and to never leave it in the car.
That had me wondering if I did not just get myself into another situation similar to renting a car in Cairo.
As the gasoline tank was not full, he let me know where a fuel station was located near the airport prior to entering the toll road so that the tank will be full on my drive to Fes.
I slipped into the car, which definitely was not upgraded — not that I qualified for an upgrade. The seat was not exactly the most comfortable seat which I have ever experienced in an automobile; but it sufficed. A further inspection in the daytime the next day revealed that the seats were not in great shape, as evidenced by the worn and stained fabric. The seats were not easily adjustable, either.
The door was equipped with a door handle; a storage area with a bottle holder — note the shape of the bottle in the door; and a stereo speaker. The button to control the power window is not on the door.
Many of the controls and devices within the car were not intuitive; and I found the foot pedals to be slightly uncomfortable to use.
The car was almost basic; but it sufficed for its main purpose: to get me around Morocco.
Shifting from one gear to another was not as easy as in other cars which I have driven over the years. I found the manual transmission rough and hard to operate — especially when going from fourth gear to fifth gear.
I could not use my portable electronic device to play my music through the stereo system of the car because there was no place to plug it in; and technology such as Bluetooth did not seem to be available. I have not needed compact discs in a long time to listen to music while driving a car; but I sure could have used them on this trip.
Note the location of the power window controls above the stick shift. The buttons below the radio — which had nothing to do with the functionality of the radio — were not intuitive.
Although I can read French and I am rather good at figuring out how to use the control settings in cars, I could not easily figure out how to have the spartan digital display converted to English. If I recall correctly, the car already had high mileage on it.
Two storage bins are on the passenger side of the car; but neither of them had a locking door — or a door at all to better hide anything, come to think of it.
The ride itself was rather choppy and strained; but then was fine once the car was cruising at highway speeds.
What looks like an automatic transmission lever is actually the parking brake — and cup holders and storage areas were numerous in the front of the car…
…as well as in the back of the car — none of which were properly cleaned. The storage areas sufficed for holding money for the toll booths along the highway.
Speaking of tolls, please read this article about how a toll collector in Morocco tried to swindle me out of money — and failed if you are interested.
The trunk area had ample room — not that I needed it — and the rear seats could be folded down if necessary.
The Return
Given how strict the agent was with inspecting the car — similarly to the aforementioned rental car experience at Procar in Iceland — I thought for certain that he would find some ding on which to ding me.
Actually, the return of the car could not have been much easier. After the inspection of the rental car was officially cleared with no damage, I simply walked back to the terminal to catch my flight back to Amsterdam.
Summary
The total cost of renting that car remained at $68.98 for what was essentially four days — even though it was three days and 15 hours — which works out to slightly less than United States $17.25 per day — which is a bargain, in my opinion…
…but I also felt like I received the car for which I paid. That is okay. Although I have commented negatively on some aspects of the car, I really cannot complain about the experience.
I cautiously recommend renting a vehicle from Green Motion — but ensure that you are prepared for any impediment to your rental experience to happen, just in case.
I was fortunate — or perhaps lucky — that my rental experience was flawless.
I intend to relate my experience of driving in Morocco in general in a future article — but a spoiler alert: it was rather routine with no real issues aside from the aforementioned toll booth incident.
All photographs ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
