Europcar

Do not rent from them! In June last year, I rented a car from Europcar in Paris and drove it to Bretagne (north of France). We had a flat tire and noticed that the car didn't have a spare. So I was not able to take care of the flat tire by my self and had to call them. They sent a truck from a repair center situated 10 km away, and instead of fixing the tire, they took the car and went away with it. The guys from the repair center told me that they were not allowed to change the tire in their location and had to send it to some "authorized repair center." I was left without a replacement car for 3 days (out of 7), and I had to have my friends drive me around (Fortunately, I had friends with cars.).

After 3 days, someone had to drive me to the "authorized repair center" (30 km away) to pick up the car. After returning the car in Paris and getting home (in NY), I noticed they tried to charge me over 300 euros for changing the tire and giving my car a "Tour de France" on a truck. I disputed the charge with American Express, and the case was settled in my favor.

Now, they started sending me letters, asking for the money; and they put me in "collections" with a debt collection company named Progeris. They are threatening to sue me and keep harassing me with letters. If this continues, I plan to sue them in the NY small claims court for ruining my vacation, letting me without a car for 3 days, and harassing me with "collection letters."

In 20/01/2011, we were in Venice, Italy for exhibition and rented a car from Europcar in Venice airport. We returned it back on 20/01/2011, and I forgot my mobile phone in the car. I realized it after 20-30 min later, when I was waiting for boarding. So I called Europcar desk and explained the situation. And at this time, I called my mobile continuously, and after a while, I realized that my mobile was switched off.

I called back the Europcar desk, and they told me that they will inform us and that the colleagues were busy at that moment. After 2 hours, they told us that they haven't found the phone in the car. This is really a very bad experience, because you know you forgot the mobile phone in the car 30 min ago and somebody switched it off and took it. I want to share this with you.

During June to July 2010, I was in Italy with my family, my husband and my sons ages 9 and 12. We hired a car from Europcar for the period of June 16 to July 3.

The office where we had to collect the car was inside the arrival hall at Venice Airport. The parking lot was outside. We were given the keys and sent out to the parking lot. No one showed us where the car was so we had to go back when we realized just how big the parking area was and someone came to point us in the general direction. We found the car but no one ran us through it. There was a manual in the glove compartment so it was find out for yourself! On our second day in Tuscany, there was a torrential downpour (Florence apparently got 2 thirds of its annual rainfall in one hour!).

The country road we were on had been reduced to a mud pit. Our car got stuck. It was almost 6.30pm. We phoned the help line several times, we were cut off on occasions and on one told to find someone who could speak Italian to call them. However we eventually got to speak to a very pleasant lady, who and after checking that we were covered by insurance, dispatched a truck. In the rain they could not find us. I could give them our GPS coordinates but the truck driver apparently did not have a GPS. It was suggested that we walk to the main road so they could find the side road.

It was by then dark, still raining and 10 degree C. I was not going to risk anyone being exposed to hypothermia. We resiled ourselves to spending the night in the car and advised the helpline accordingly- the person on the other end was apologetic. We phoned the owner of the property we were staying in to let him know what we were doing. He came looking for us and enlisted the help of the carabinieri to find us. Which they did at about 1 in the morning.

The next day I again called Europcar helpline. I was asked to call their office in Siena and I was given the details of someone to contact to tow the car. The owner of the property took me to meet him at the car where I left him with the keys. He sorted it out during the course of the day. When the time came to collect the car at about 4pm, he would not release the car without a letter from Europcar (he said they always gave him trouble) or me paying him. The only person who could do the letter at Europcar was a manager, and after spending an hour and half waiting for the elusive letter and calling back only to find that the person I had been speaking to had left the office, I had no option but to pay for the tow (1 215 euros).

I had already lost the whole of Monday, 22 June trying to sort out the car. I was advised by the helpline to go to Europcar in Siena the next day for a refund. I duly went to Siena and was told that they could not do a refund but I could sort it out at head office seeing that was where I would be returning the car, or else after my return home. So I was now out of pocket for 1215 euros nad had lost a day and a half of my holiday time in Tuscany. I arrived at the head office on Saturday, 3 July to return the car and spent about half an hour driving around the block trying to find the entrance. I then established that the entrance was in fact closed. I tried calling, but no one answered the phone.

So off we set having no details on the airport or its setup. We arrived at Europcar at about 1pm. We're very frazzled.

The tow cost refund has however been a nightmare. At first they said:

"Client did not have a normal breakdown for the which he needed our normal road assistance but he drove into a vineyard and the car crashed into half meter of mud. This means that our normal assistance was not helpful to collect the client and the car".

When I sent them a map showing that it was a road this was the response:

"In any case the client is not authorized to drive outside the road, even if it's a GPS to suggest that or a property owner. The client had to call our assistance our number is on car keys and inside the car. The receipt sent says that road assistance needed a special tow truck : a caterpillar. This should mean that the car was in the mud. The only refund I can make is a refund of 120 which is that one we would have paid if client had called our assistance".

They ignore the fact that I was in the middle of the road I did not get off the road. The method of retraction is whatever they and their appointed agent decided upon, and I did call their helpline. So I sent them a printout of all the calls made to their helpline from my cellular telephone. And this was their response: "Regarding the above client, we confirm the charges are correct and the file is closed there is no further refund due."

The tow was arranged by their office in Siena. The towing company was someone they use extensively- he had a number of shelves in the office full of lever arch files labeled "Europcar". I quite honestly feel totally scammed. I will never ever use Europcar again. I have hired vehicles through Alamo, Avis & Hertz in the past- you cannot even start to compare the service levels. Stay away from Europcar!

I booked a car online for December 15, 2010 until January 6, 2011. Then I realized it was the wrong date, so I amended the date to December 14, 2010. I received an email confirming the alteration (have copy). They claim they will refund twice the difference if found cheaper elsewhere. I did and it's 60 cheaper. I emailed the same person and reservations. No reply. So I emailed customer service asking for the refund or at least a more competitive rate. No reply. I've now cancelled the booking. The monies weren't due yet.

To my horror after checking my bank account, two amounts (as for two rentals) have been withdrawn. I've emailed both addresses again but there's still no answer. I can ill afford these debits as I'm a pensioner and I need swift recompense. Can you please help? I'm 784.50 down on my current account apart from the stress since the firm is not replying.

We reserved a car over Internet using Europcar web page and received a reservation that explicitly listed the total price. However, when picking up the car at the Europcar station in Mexico, the employees demanded us to pay additional Liability Insurance Supplement, saying it is mandatory. The official Europcar reservation clearly listed this Supplement as optional. We ended up paying almost 50% more than was the total price in the official reservation.

This is a bait-and-switch from Europcar in Mexico: The Europcar customer service agent Amar ** was intentionally dodging the response, responding to something else, and never responded to the subject of our complaint. We had to pay almost 50% more than the official reservation quoted.

We are writing to report on the unfair treatment we received by the Europcar Group UK/ National Alamo when renting a car in the UK in November 2009 and the subsequent lack of response from this company to any communications sent regarding this complaint.

The hire car was originally booked from Australia online through an internet company Carhire 3000/ Traveljigsaw and fully paid for the terms of rental. On collection of the car at Heathrow on 11th November 2009, we were asked whether we wanted additional insurance to waive the 550 excess. We explicitly stated that we did not want it as this was already covered by our travel insurance, a copy of which was displayed to the staff member at the time.

On 22nd December, we noted that an amount of 139.75 had been charged to our credit card by "EC Group UK". On ringing the customer service, we were told that this was for the additional insurance fee. We explained that this was a mistake as we had specifically refused this service but were told to direct all queries via Traveljigsaw. We subsequently sent emails to both companies explaining the error and requesting that the charges be refunded but received no response. On returning the car to Heathrow on 3rd January, we were told that Alamo had refused to refund the insurance charge as the credit card authorization was a legal contract and the remaining amount of 177.31 was then also charged to our credit card for another installment of the insurance (including VAT of 17.5%) and the fuel charge.

Admittedly we had not noticed that this insurance had been included on the credit card authorization when we signed for the vehicle. Bearing in mind that it was 5:30 am and we had just arrived in London after a long haul flight from Australia and we had already refused the offers of GPS, an upgrade and additional insurance, it did not occur to us that the authorization was for anything other than the estimated fuel charge as indicated by the staff member. We also had the Confirmation Voucher from Traveljigsaw stating "Paid in Full". However, please note that we queried this mistake as soon as we discovered it, which was part way through the rental period, not at the end or after the fact, so surely the charges should have at least been terminated at that point.

We have since received an email from Traveljigsaw stating that this is a "point of sale" issue and the "contract" for the additional insurance is totally independent of their company, so they should not be involved. On returning to Australia, we then received a further invoice from Alamo for an additional fuel charge of 35.48 + VAT with no explanation as to why we are being charged for fuel twice. On receiving a final demand for this payment, we rang the Customer Service department to be told that this invoice had been sent in error and a credit note was then issued with no apology.

We have sent 2 registered letters to Mark **, the Managing Director of Europcar Group UK/ National Alamo giving all details of this case but have had no response from him or anyone else at Alamo. However, they have now sent us a bill for a parking fine which we apparently incurred; we were not aware of this. In our second letter to Mark **, we stated that we were prepared to pay the bill once he had responded to our complaint and refunded the additional insurance charged in error.

I collected a prebooked car at Fulham Broadway on 7/09/09. The car allocated had a broken key bound up with tape. On expressing my concern I was informed it was the only car available and that the key was in working order. I also noticed some residual glue on the fuel cap and was told, on asking, it was of no concern. As it turned out both the key and a missing sticker said diesel only. Due to these omissions, I filled the car up with petrol and broke down at night in the Yorkshire Dales.

It took considerable time to contact Europcar as I kept getting transferred from here to there and then they could not find out which breakdown organization they should send out. Hours later we were towed to the closest airport,Teeside, and arrived just as the branch was being locked up for the night. Europcar despite their promise had not informed the branch we were on our way. The next morning, I rang customer service to outline the problems I had encountered and asked Shertel(?) to record the conversation. When we returned the car to Bromley, there was no record at all of any incidents! On arriving home, we were billed by Europcar for an extra $1,585.25.

I have written and appealed and finally received a response stating " that it is the customer's responsibility to check the type of fuel the vehicle requires prior to refuelling and, as in this case when this has not been made clear on the key or fuel cap, it would be deemed especially necessary to clarify this". I have never received an itemized bill for the extra charge even though I brought this to the attention of Sue R (Customer Services, Europcar). Neither have I received assurance that the staff have been interviewed as it was obvious we had the sympathy of staff at Teeside and Bromley. This is a great distress being picked up by a breakdown truck and having to then drive very late at night on country roads.

The trick they use is almost always the same: they show you a more obvious damage, like a bump on a wing, or a big scratch on the painting, and they tell you it will be noticed on the rental contract so you wont have to be worried.
Taking it as granted, you usually trust the employee and do not check the rest of the vehicle.
But when you return the car, an inspector scrutinizes the vehicle for any other thing they didnt mention to you, and inevitably they find something, like problems on spoilers or bumpers they were actually already present but you didnt notice.
They usually charge you Euro 200 to 350 for this, and while you can complain, they argue that once the contract is signed, you accepted everything.

I STRONGLY recommend you will choose another rental company. Not only they are not the cheapest one - you might thing they would be since they claim discount when you fly with easyJet - but they really abuse you when they can.

The above is based on my and my fathers - experience with Europcar Malaga, but for sure I will never rent a car from this company anymore.

Fourteen months ago, we rented a car for one week in Italy through their subsidiary in the US. The rental was fine, but the car's locking mechanism was defective. We managed without being able to lock the car for one week. We picked up the car at Rome's railway station and returned it to the same. Everything was paid by credit card. At no time during that week did we incur a violation of the traffic laws.

Now, fourteen months later, our credit card is billed for a traffic violation. We were never notified or was our permission sought to have our credit card billed, i.e. this transaction was never approved. The billing is for $49.48, which happens to be less than the $50.00 minimum that the credit card company will handle a customer dispute with a foreign entity.

We received no details concerning the violation, and the billing would appear to be a scam because of the company retaining our credit card information for fourteen months, the fourteen-month interval from the time that the "violation" occurred, the absence of details concerning the violation, and whether the violation occurred before we took possession of the car or during the week we used the car (or someone used the car when we didn't due to the faulty locking mechanism). Due to this affair, we have changed our credit card number, but unfortunately, it's too late to recover our loss.

We suggest that any person renting from this company change their credit card number immediately after returning their rental vehicle to Europcar to prevent a similar false billing from happening to them as well. Europcar has not responded to our e-mail which was sent to customerserviceitaly@europcar.com, the e-mail address on the billing.

In August last year, i flew into Athens airport (Greece) with my wife and children for a three week holiday. We flew with EasyJet and through EasyJet booked a hire vehicle with Europcar. At the Europcar counter at the airport the gentlemen in question (Kappos Constantinos)refused to give me the vehicle claiming that my drivers license was not valid as it was a South African drivers license.

I have been renting cars for over 15 years in Europe including countries such as the UK, Germany, Spain and almost every year for the last 14 years Greece.

This is the first time that i have been refused a vehicle because i hold a South African drivers license.

After an hour spent arguing with 'Kappos' at the airport, i went across to the next Car rental agency, which in this case was 'Sixt', and in a matter of 10 minuts i had a hire vehicle.

The unfortunate thing is that it was at a substatially higher cost due to it not beeing pre-booked.

I requested to 'Kappos' that he should consult his supervisor as this was the first time that this has ever happened to me, to which he answered to that he did not need to and even had the audacity to tell me that he had cancelled my reservation!

Europcar at the Florence airport recently provided me with a defective vehicle that was in need of maintenance. When I returned the vehicle three hours after renting it, the sales woman became hostile and rude, and told me that I do not know how to drive, and that I damaged their car. They did not provide me with another, or offer any help.

At first they charged my credit card over three thousand euros which effectively ruined my vacation as I was distraught after I called my credit card company to check what they had done to me. They ended up charging me 1000 euros, sending the repair invoice as if it were proof that I was responsible. I have been driving cars with standard shifts for more than 30 years.

I suspect that since they saw that I was American, they thought I was a good target for obtaining money to repair a vehicle with a faulty clutch. By the way, they also claimed that they did not receive confirmation of my internet reservation and then charged me a much higher price. They were determined to steal the money one way or another!

I lost 1057 euros