Europcar Reviews

Then the car size we wanted was not available. We ended up with a SMALL suv after booking an intermediate car with a boot. Contacted customer service to see if they could arrange another car as per the requirements and got absolutely nowhere. At the end we made do with the vehicle and made other arrangements when we were taking family out. Complained to the customer services manager when we returned it to Heathrow and he was just useless - gave us a contact email address to contact. So have been sending emails for the past 4 weeks to various Europcar customer service centres and they have not had the common courtesy to reply. So heading overseas again this weekend and guess what Europcar - you did not get our business and never will again and we were repeat customers. PEOPLE AVOID EUROPCAR!!!

The employee that did this was Ali on 13/08. We hired the car through rentalcars.com for $511.91. When we arrived I was offered the option to upgrade verbally, and I denied the option and told Ali that the original car we had reserved was fine, and I had no interest in upgrading. Then I expected the keys that were brought to me to be for the car I had asked for. He brought back two keys one to a Mercedes and one for an Audi. He treated the Mercedes as the car that was booked under my reservation and even told me that it was going to be cheaper than what I had paid in my reservation because of the VAT refund, and then offered the Audi at a higher price (which was the assumed last chance to upgrade). My understanding was that the Mercedes was the car that had been reserved and it was being sold that I was actually going to get a better deal now with the VAT refund, and the Audi would have been the upgrade.

Ali told me that the Mercedes would only be 390.00 after I received the VAT refund. This was my first time hearing of VAT refunds, so I asked what he meant, and he told me that when you purchase items with a tax on them, that tax would be refunded at the Tax Refund in the airport when I came back home. He, then, told me a story of how his girlfriend does it all the time when she comes to shop in England. So now it is looking like instead of paying the 511.91, I would only being owing 390.00. The total ended up being 538.20, and I assumed the difference didn't matter because I would be getting the refund, so I didn't question the difference. At no point in the conversation after I had refused the upgrade, had it been made known that I was upgrading from my original reservation, so I signed the paperwork believing I was signing for what I had originally agreed to in my reservation.

We would not have realized that the upgrade had taken place until when we were returning the car, my wife asked about the VAT refund. Employee Ashley (Ashleigh) told her that VAT isn't refunded on car hires. Then he asked to see our paperwork, and asked if we were aware that we had been upgraded. We said no, and he told us that this employee (Ali) does this all the time. That he makes it look as if you are getting your regular reservation, and lies about the VAT refund to make it look like you are getting a better deal on your reservation. He actually told me that Ali DOES THIS ALL THE TIME!! Then, he gave us the customer service manager's (Debbie **) card and said to call her and she would straighten it all out.

So, when I get back to the US, I call multiple times to no answer, and when I email I find out she is out of the office for the week for vacation. Her colleague Jo ** does get back to me and says she will investigate it, and will let me know in 7-10 days. I get an email on Sept. 7th stating that it has been investigated and because the paperwork had been signed there is nothing they can do. So I called and talked with Debbie, who didn't seem to know anything about the claim, even though, she insisted that it had been thoroughly been investigated. She told me there was nothing she could because I used the car for the rental, to which I replied "of course I drove the car." I thought I was using the car that I had booked so I no reason not to drive the car. She replied that she can't verify what verbally was said between us, so there's nothing she can do, and that I can take it up with the main customer service department.

So, I called them after spending 5 minutes on hold, and another 30 minutes explaining my situation, I'm told another 7-10 days wait while they investigated the issue. 10 days come and go, no response. So I call up customer service yet again (mind you I live in the US, so it's not cheap) to find out they had emailed me a response. Denied once again, for the same reason. Upon further questioning, I find out they had sent the email to the wrong email. And it wasn't an "oops we put in an extra letter mistake." The email they had was nowhere near what my email address was.

They said the claim was still open for review and investigation, so I asked to be called by the case worker to tell me their decision, which the customer service rep said they would do. Guess what, the phone number they had for me was completely wrong as well. And I still have yet to receive a phone call. I've just gotten the same email from a different customer service rep, not a case worker, that I've been denied yet again.

AND to top it all off. They charged me for an extra day, my rental was for 13 days, and I have been charged for 14, which was brought to their attention over a month ago, yet I have still have not received that refund. SO PLEASE, DO NOT RENT WITH THIS COMPANY. The employees will lie to you, and try to take advantage of you.

I checked with other Pandas at the rental station and they all had the same signs of "breaking the lock/rust" after the summer season. I felt like it was a trick to make more money. Had to sign a form which said that the cost would be 77.94 EUR. Today, I noticed on my credit card invoice, that Europcar charged me for 178 - CHF (the rental cost was 152.35 CHF for the car for 5 days). I have the impression, that this trick is used every single time when Fiat Pandas are returned (since the cost will be billed to the renting person but the locks will not be exchanged when renting the same car to a new renter right after the car has been cleaned).

It was the last time (after renting a car from Europcar in Ibiza at least 1-2 every year in the last 15 years) renting a car for Europcar. I am sorry for that but Europcar should stop this behaviour, since it leaves a very bad customer experience, especially when a customer takes good care to the car (which is not so easy in Ibiza). There have been several people having trouble at the time we have dropped off our rental car. AVOID!

Oh, I forgot to say, I have photos of most of this, I have emailed details and photos to Europcar, and after weeks of back and forth they have offered $50 refund, just doesn't cut it considering the car spoiled our whole holiday. Also, I forgot to mention the rear passenger door was extremely hard to open and the window in the same door needed someone to push it up as the electric motor was unable to do so.

Updated on 12/03/2016: After posting reviews on the dirty unroadworthy car we hired in Nadi on 10 September we were offered a $50 refund which I would not accept. Finally they offered us $200. I agreed to this amount but as to their track record so far it is another lie as was the replacement car we were told we had. We had a parking ticket for the original car so this shot them down. My advice is "do not trust Europcar". Still no refund.

According to the customer service rep there is no recourse, that is their fee. I believe this is totally unethical and told them so. It looks like they will get away with the theft of 36 GBP. All I can do is vow never to use this company again and do my best to discourage all of my friends and business acquaintances to blackball them.

I assumed everything was in order because I didn’t hear from Europcar again. Two months later, however, I got a notification from my credit card company informing me that Europcar has booked 610 GBP off my account. I immediately contacted Europcar to query this and after a week their customer service replied, claiming they found a scratch on the right door of the car after I had returned it and sent me one photo of the scratch. Apparently they had tried to contact me via two letters but they sent it to an address that doesn’t exist. I even wrote my address down for the staff member when I came to pick up the car but he managed to copy the address wrong and even the country. I reside in South Africa but they send it to a non-existing German address.

The issue itself is the following though: After I had a closer look at the photo of the damage they had sent me, I could see that this cannot be the car that I had rented from them. I also had taken pictures of the car during the rental period and could compare their photo with a photo I had taken of the left door. Apart from the fact that their photo is very blurry and just shows a very small area of the car, I could see that the door handle is different and also the shape of the door. I contacted them again, this time including the photos I had taken of the car, which show that the door handle has a different shape (rectangular instead of oval) but even more striking the shape of the door is a different one (straight instead of curved). I pointed all of that out and also told them that their photo looks like it had been taken from a back door but I rented a 2-door car from them.

Their reply took another 13 days and they just told me the door handle looks different because it was taken from a different angle, and that they believe my photo is from the left door (which is true and which I told them, but doors look the same on both sides of the car – I assumed they would know that). No mention was made of the door which has a completely different shape, even taken from a different angle a straight door can’t look curved.

So I have been charged 610 GBP for a scratch that never existed and their photo of proof shows a different car. They deny everything and keep telling me it's the same car. It's such a rip off. It would have been way cheaper if I had just booked a taxi for those two days. Even if there was a 3 cm scratch (which they are making up) how can they charge 600GBP? Disgusting criminals.

The Europcar worker wrote on the form he gave me the address of the closest Europcar location with a drop box for the keys. We got our car back to that requested drop off location well within our time. Would like to have been able to drop in back at Bloomsbury Square but were told we could not. They then had the audacity to charge us for not dropping in back at the same place we picked up the car. We also had many other ridiculous charges added on that were not on the original Voucher. They have ignored my phone calls, my email, even though they said they would get back to me within 7 working days. (That is a lie.) They should not have the right to take whatever they want out of your MasterCard and then ignore your right to dispute the costs. I will NEVER deal with Europcar again. I have told WestJet about the dishonesty of this company.

During our stay in the U.K. I phoned Europcar in Manchester to change our drop off point from Manchester to Birmingham, after a brief argument with the manager about the cost having being told earlier there would be no charge. We dropped the car at Birmingham after having it cleaned inside and out, I received my receipt, I returned to the airport looking at the paperwork checking to see no damage to the car. I then noticed I had been charged 200 pound plus VAT for the upgrade. I went to Europcar's desk in the airport and told what had happened showing them the receipt. The staff there were very good, they gave me a lot of information which I will not say what it was because this is still ongoing. After looking at previous Reviews I do not hold out much luck.

The cost of this cover was not named on the bill and was referred to as just "other surcharges". They charged me for damage for a very tiny chip on the windscreen even that their policy says that windscreen chips under 5mm is acceptable. I believe this was there when I received the car. It was dark when I received the car and the wind screen was dirty. This surely does not satisfy condition of sale. It is worth investigating, if Europcar record damage on their system against cars or they try to charge customers repeatedly for the same damage. They said that it's my responsibility to spot and report the damage. There are a lot of complains against Europcar which can be found in ** section and other website such as consumeraffairs.com. I believe their selling practice is worth investigating.

I'm aware that I should have made sure that those damage to the car, which I haven't caused, were known for Europcar and they had record of them. But I didn't my fault. The reason for my complaint is that when I returned the car, which I haven't caused it any harm, they said me that there was a scratch and I must pay the amount of repair. What surprises me, or rather annoys me, is that they charge me a repair of €743.97 for a very lighter scratch that is barely visible. I reiterate that touch which I have not produced I- could be repaired with polish, product that has more than €30 value. Do you really think that repair this small scratch cost €743.97?

When I got settled at my destination later in the day, I spent about 30 minutes on a Skype call with Travelocity, making sure I would get a refund from them for my cancelled reservation. I then went online and found several other rental car options, all of which were more reasonable than Europcar. I booked online with Hertz and decided to get up early the next morning, drive back to the Edinburgh airport and swap cars, making sure to get the Europcar rental turned in before I got charged for another second day's rental.

The next morning, I made the hour-long drive back to the Edinburgh airport and was back at the Europcar counter at 7:25am, after dropping off the Europcar rental and picking up my car from Hertz (which ended up costing £195 less, including insurance cover: they also gave me a much nice vehicle). The Europcar lot agent inspected my return and I signed a paper acknowledging the return and I was done with the rental at no later than 7:30am. I was back at my digs at 8:40am (the return trip took longer because I had to deal with Edinburgh's early-morning rush hour traffic and a wrong turn that cost me several minutes).

This morning I received an email from Europcar with my adjusted invoice. I could see that I was charged two days' rental rather than just one. They noted the return time of my vehicle as 8:45am, over an hour after the actual return. This of course pushed the rental time past 24 hours and into a second day. I immediately got on the phone to the UK Europcar office and after spending 10 minutes on hold, talked with an agent who took my information and logged a file that she said would be responded to within 5 days. She didn't say the overcharge would be credited; just that it would be reviewed. Fortunately, I have a timestamped receipt from Hertz showing that I picked up a car from them at 7:17am, at the exact same location as Europcar (the two offices share a building and their counters are 10 meter apart).

Regardless of the outcome of my overcharge refund, I will remain totally dissatisfied with Europcar and never consider them for my future rental car needs. Judging from the several hundred other complaints logged on this website by other people who feel ripped-off or mistreated by Europcar, I can tell that my case is not unusual.

When I returned the car, I spoke with several Europcar representatives (and the local supervisor), and they explained to me very clearly that I was already fully covered with zero excess with the original voucher, thus there was no need to extend ("RSA-Assistance Plus" and "WWI: Glass & Types"). Again, I want to make it very clear that I didn't want those additions. Europcar representative completely lied to me in order to force me to pay extra 204.55 euro for something I didn't want! When I sent a complaint mail to Europcar customer service, they didn't refund me of course, since I signed the contract. Be warned! Don't rent a car from Europcar!

So, I contacted the toll enforcing company and settled the fine as instructed by Europcar. (After doing some research online there do seem to be some signposts informing you about some charges, but they are hugely vague, unclear and unhelpful. Any newbie would fall for this. For one you'd make little notice of any signpost that you figure is irrelevant to you or your journey, and secondly, all the signposts say is "remember to pay", but then you find nowhere to do so, like a tollbooth or something, so you figure it wasn't relevant to you...annoying.)

Anyhow, these people expect online payment within 24 hrs, if this doesn't happen they issue a warning, if it is ignored they process a penalty charge notice. All this goes to EUROPCAR which ignores the warning and sends you the penalty charge plus their own admin fee, which is higher than the fine you are supposed to pay! This is the unfair bit. They claim 36 GBP is a fair amount for administration charges yet the company issuing the penalty charge has a lot more work to do than pass on a letter and charges less! I WILL NEVER USE EUROPCAR AGAIN

I will also add that I worked for EUROPCAR when I was a teenager, cleaning cars, sometimes really early in the mornings and others 'til really late at night, and I thought it was outrageous how much water was wasted in the process. The spiny tunnel-type washer machines were on full blast 24/7 (literally all day and all night) whether there was a car in them or not. And in that warehouse alone there were 3 or 4 of them, so just imagine how many of these warehouses wasting water there must be all over Europe at least...VERY environmentally unfriendly, and plain old wasteful and BAD.

Now two months later they have reversed the charges saying that Europcar showed them I had signed their agreement and I had not objected. Both my wife and adult daughter heard me object. I would never use this company again and am disgusted with the way Mastercard has failed to live up to their word that I had worldwide coverage. Both companies are to blame. Advice: Do your homework! NEVER USE EUROPCAR. THEY WILL SCAM YOU!

Not only that, one month later, Europcar tried charging my Amex an extra $900 euros on extra charges... Lucky I had called my American Express, that said they don't cover any incidents in Italy and other 5 countries because this is very common on these countries... so they denied this other charge that Europcar tried to charge us. This company should be ashamed of doing business like this. We had our van completely insured, including accidents, robbery, etc... We will never use this company again and DO NOT RECOMMEND IT!

I like to pinpoint the behavior of the Europcar personnel behaved toward us; they were extremely unfriendly mentioning to us that nothing will help us as they do not have cars in their site and needless to say that the previous low price on our reservation cannot be matched. Eventually due to our agent pressure who did for us the reservation we got a car about 2 hours after we arrived the front desk. We left Vienna frustrated mainly because of the aggressive and impolite behavior of the Europcar Vienna team. This was not the end of our poor experience with Europcar Vienna. When we arrived back to return the car the inspector of the car in the parking lot indicated that we have a few minor scratches on the back car bumper. He highlighted them with a marker and mentioned that this is Europcar policy (See the photo).

I must say that this never happened to me, I was renting cars all over the world for over 30 years and such a minor scratch was never ever an issue. The scratches are shallow minor paint scratches not a deep indention and I am not sure if we have not gotten the car as is with the minor scratches. Going to the front Europcar desk with this minor remark we face the same group of impolite people who advised us that the expert will check the damage and we will be advised. Well, after about a week we got by mail with their invoice stating that they charged us 964 Euro (804 + Value added tax of 20%). Even if the minor scratches were caused by our bags the charge of 964 Euro, are way way too high charge and not a realistic acceptable charge.

It looks like Europcar in Vienna are making efforts to overcharge people who are renting cars in their office. I wonder if there are more people with similar cases? Bottom line: What a terrible and frustrating experience we had. The Europcar Vienna airport office is a place to skip. Never ever consider to rent a car with Europcar Vienna airport.

When we reached our destination we got ahold of Europcar office in Puebla Mexico and they said they will change the tire at our hotel for free since we had the insurance. Then they called an hour later saying it was not covered. After many calls finally they said it would be free of charge. Now that we are back in the US, we see they overcharged our credit card for $123 dollars for the damage. It is incredible that a company like this keeps doing business. They put the safety of the customers at risk. Whatever you do, do not rent a car from Europcar in Puebla Mexico. It is unsafe and they are not to be trusted.

In Australia, there is an understanding of what appropriate customer service involves and this involves that knowing the customer is always right. This also entails that the service provider appraises the custom of all matters the may be incumbent on them. I am not going to bleet at you any further and I will make it know to all and sundry, that if they intend on traveling to the UK, not to use Europcar as they will not receive the appropriate customer service as is expected.

I had two conversations with your customer service staff on the 22 Aug 2016 and I was less than satisfied with their approach. These agents were Eleni and Munira. I informed them that as a result, I was willing to pay the 65 pound charge, but it did not sit well with me to pay the admin charge, due to the lack of customer service. As a customer, I wanted to speak to someone above them to discuss my situation and they stated that there was one person to be referred to and that the decision stood. i.e. "lack of customer service".

I was trying to explain that to your staff but the guy was not cooperative but that was not the problem. The real problem is when the person named Steve ** which I was not dealing with him in the first place start to shout at me, swearing using the F word several time and treating me - he was vulgar, very violent in his speaking. I was scared, I asked to see the manager, Steve told me that there is no manager and there will be nobody in charge here. Asked for his name, he want give it to me and kept treated me. Also just to let you know that during my whole flight, 8 hours, felt dizzy and my heart weak because at how badly I was treated by a one staff from Europa, Samuel. I have never been treated as that before.

I hope I did explain what really happen and this behavior will never happen again. Again I assure you with all my honesty and integrity that the luggage cover was never there. I thank you for giving me a time to explain to you the situation. Hope you are going to take action that this behavior will never happen again. Let me know if you need further explanation.

They filled out the contract by hand... with no detail of the charges... and were ready to run my card. So glad I stopped them. I would have spent $90 US a day. I rented a driver full-time for less than half. Stick with the big American franchises here if you can afford them. They are expensive but have level of accountability. Travelers Beware! I don't know why the big travel booking services include this company. They are not a viable option.

When we went to return the car we were told the front license plate was missing. I noted that there were several cars in their lot missing front plate and that one customer who was picking a car without a front license. I also argued that since we had paid for their insurance, any replacement cost should be covered. The agent told us this was not covered, that we had somehow received a police citation, and the missing license was "proof" of this [at no time was I ever pulled over, given a citation, or had any citation placed on the car] and that we would have to pay an additional amount of 8,000 pesos MX or about $420 USD, or that we could go back to Cabo San Lucas to clear this supposed citation [which they knew we could not do as we had a flight to catch].

Note: they could not tell us what the citation was supposedly for, when it was issued, or even where it was issued. They were not going to let us leave until this amount was paid. I put it on a credit card knowing that I can, and will, contest this charge. I would not recommend anyone to ever use this company.

Therefore, I found it right to take some pictures of the car and the damages so when I was going to bring it back to have some proof that the damages were there the day I rented the car. Then a guy from your office, named Michalis, comes up to my face with a hostile attitude shouting that taking pictures of the car is illegal and that I am committing a crime!!! I told him in the same attitude that I have every right to take the pictures.

I went upstairs to the office to fill out the documents and I asked another employee if it is illegal to take pictures of the car showing whereas the damages are. He said no, and that it was OK. Then the rude guy comes upstairs and he continued shouting and pointing his finger in my face and saying that I should never again talk to him in a bad way. I think he was ready to start hitting me if one of his colleagues hasn't intervened to calm him down. Of course I was shouting back to him and he picked up the phone to call, as I understood, some of his friends to come there and take care of me. However, we decided not to proceed with the car rental and told them that the 75 euro that I spend as a deposit am willing to lose them in addition to save ourselves from bigger problems.

I am writing this to you because Europcar is a big company and this guy in Parikia is giving your company a bad reputation. During my staying in Paros I discussed this matter with local guys that I have met and every single guy told me that your company is the worst and lots of people suffered by their mafia techniques they are using. I think you should take some action over there since the guys there are destroying your name. As for me I am going to advise any friends or relatives that are visiting Paros not to go close to your office. I am also sending the letter to Ryanair, since I have booked the car through their site, and I am going to post a review in Tripadvisor.com as well.

A very kind young lady manager in her 20's asked me "what's this Toyota Avensis for" as I was young additional driver and my very kind uncle always helped get a car on Eid, who always helped for keeping up with family union such getting to family weddings, birthdays and that sort of stuff, just to keep up with family visiting or getting around local. Never driven more than 450 miles as (I only earn £250 a week fuel) since I turned 27 because I've independently rented ever since.

Bentley model? Their normal cars. Asked in their London prestigious location, prestigious company gave me a little treat - £200 for 2 weeks of a car. Should I say "I rented a Bentley Model"? Zero excess and invoice to prove that. I proposed to sort of cars at decent prices including zero excess on cars like X5, M4, i8 from Thrifty car London. Location? Umm should I mention because for companies like Enterprise rent a car, Hertz, National car rental and other respected which I can prove. Quote from less 5 miles of E1 postcode, offered me BMW i8 at 1200 plus £350 which is always given back when car returned. That includes zero excess plus addition driver. Because I only have £1000 and my uncle will use his credit card to comply for a 100% secure car rental success. As additional driver or self drive but promise ask for proof through here as let UK car renters see your competition's deals (invoice/rental agreement/quotes).

But I have proposed for S-class Merc 1000 for 2-week treat yet promised by "Shaf", a rental sales agent at London city airport location - used to be I know he would keep to his words for my further rental. But he's moved to other location, otherwise I wouldn't be stressing because I took his words, not pics invoice or such thing to prove it. That when my sister gets married 1 and only he will give me the best supercar at £500 a week, 2 weeks, zero excess for being loyal. That's 2 years of £4000 a year for use of family tradition.

I hardly drove even if it was up to three weeks with Guy Salmon Bayswater location Range Rover. Supercharged £600 back in 2006 (can't find them sadly anymore, lost contact, £500 excess treat). Wow! 3 weeks on 4 past occasion I just use for personal rentals as I can't maintain a car and my 9-7 shifts Mon to Sat job. Now when it's my one and only sister's wedding, Shaf is not the and £2000 for 2 weeks when I got charged £1500 for a Nissan Qashqai just for 8 days in slang at Kings Cross that he will give me the best if give him my loyalty.

Let me not mention M3 should be M3 £400 for week, just walking into a rental company location in Hutton near Heathrow Airport. Shaf got me hooked to Europcar London City location. Bro where are you when I need you. Thrifty offered me at lowest to make me feel within my budget, BMW 430d convertible from 19th to 1st Aug for BMW £1000. Surely you can do something compatible as many location close before I leave my job. That's why I choose airport location.

To my horror Europcar charged for the full Quarter Tank and charged for a second driver, the only driver is me... So after many emails and no response from Europcar we still not had any redress on this matter. So it looks like Europcar has lost all our business as we always Europcar maybe three or four times a year here UK and Europe. Yes Europcar you are PITS of a company and l go out of my way telling everybody of my experience and will now use other Car/Van Hire companies.

Last month, I unknowingly travelled on a tolled section of highway near London. Europcar received a violation notice, which they sat on for 8 days before mailing it to me. They then charged 36 euros as an administration fee. They could have easily emailed me the notice. This rip off has been mentioned by dozens of others on this website. Their response to my complaint was a form letter telling me to pay up. I have just booked a vehicle for an upcoming trip to Germany later this month with Sixt, a company that is new to me. It is highly unlikely that I will ever use Europcar again. Judging from the hundreds of negative reviews, I doubt Europcar cares about repeat business anyway.

Subsequently on return to Australia I received a Traffic Violation notice to the effect that the £3.50 had not been paid and we then owed £100 parking charge via the ParkingEye car park management company. This was plus an administration fee of £36 to Europcar. We subsequently contacted the hotel who confirmed we did not owe any money and had paid the parking fee. This was relayed to Europcar, who advised that we had 14 days to query these charges. With difficulty we managed to email Europcar, who advised the £100 parking fee would be settled but we still owed the administration fee.

We find this to be a scurrilous way of doing business. It appears Europcar has a reputation for this sort of behaviour. Travel in Australia have mentioned this 'scam' previously. I would appreciate this matter being investigated to prevent other tourists being treated in such a manner. We have never had any problems with car hire companies and have hired cars from various countries.

A couple of weeks later I received an email from Europcar informing me that there was damage to the car and that when the damage had been assessed and repaired I would be charged for said repair. I replied to the effect that I had been informed by a Europcar employee that I would not be charged. Europcar then wanted to know if I had "correspondence" to that effect. At that point I handed it off to American Express. Sixty days later American Express are still waiting for Europcar to contact them with evidence of damage and a repair bill. I may still use Europcar as I like the cars and prices and have had no problems in the past, but I won't be rushed, I will inspect the car and I will take pictures of the car at the drop off point. If anybody tells you "you won't be charged for that" get it in writing.

Updated 01/14/2017: 4 months after a completed rental I was refunded and recharged the same amount for ACCOUNTING purposes!! This has cost me more international exchange fees... both these companies are fraudsters.

Two weeks later, I learned however, that on the day I tried to pick up the mini-van one HAD been available. Why they said none was available, I don't know but I feel that I was clearly ripped off. I travel a lot, and this is the first time I've ever had problems with renting a car. I had even rented from Europcar before, but will never do so again after this experience. They were rude, and showed poor customer service and had an attitude of "We don't care because we don't have to." Rent from Europcar at your own risk.

What I don't understand is they knew we were coming, we had it booked 15 weeks previous. We never got an apology, just got the keys and they walked away. We will NEVER book or deal with this company again. Disgraceful and then they add the extra charges on. A very badly managed and run outfit in Lisbon Airport and I have heard it in other countries as well. Will be telling people NOT to rent with Europcar.

Once we got to the rental desk we were told there were no cars fitting the description we wanted and had paid for and that the only car available, an Audi A42, would be all they could provide us with. The agent, Prabb, said instead of 38 pounds a day it would be 50 pounds a day, initial here and here, and all done. Since we were at that point stuck with no car we signed and were on our way (and note it took almost an hour to do this transaction!).

When we were about an hour away my partner had a thought - where on the paperwork we signed did it show the $257 we had already paid stateside. We pulled the paperwork and couldn't find anywhere where the $257 had been credited to the total rental. We then called back to the Manchester location and the rep we talked to more or less gave us the run around and didn't answer the question. In the course of the conversation he said the rental was an EXTRA 50 pounds a day, on top of the 38 pounds, not 50 pounds total! We almost vomited, we were so sick to our stomachs how we had been scammed into a car that should have cost about $350 for the week suddenly became $1000!!!

We are senior citizens, traveling to see a very ill elderly aunt on a very tight budget. This whole fiasco totally ruined our time in England. When we returned the car we tried to speak with the manager, Matt **, who wasn't in. We then spoke with a Sharon ** who was no help other than to say we needed to email (NOT call) Mr. ** when we returned home. We have emailed him and both RentalCars.com. He has not responded 2 weeks later and RentalCars.com responded that they're not able to help but will give us a deduction on our next rental (which will not be happening after this scam). I would alert everyone hoping to rent a car thru Europcar to beware. The price you think you will pay will NOT be what you actually pay.

When I arrived back in the US I did check the Europcar website and found that the purchase of insurance is entirely optional, and insurance is most likely covered by US credit card companies. I made a complaint to Europcar but they said I had not provided proof of existing insurance and had agreed to purchase the insurance from them. TOTAL SCAM COST ME $500!

Called Europcar in Leicester, UK. Good experience. Put through to William **, my claim manager... picked up the call right away. Gave me his number, put the matter on hold. I shall update this review when he call me back which he promises to do ASAP. So right now a worrying pattern of charges if you read all these reviews but in my case, Europcar responsive so far. SUGGESTION: Have Europcar write on your invoice: "Car received in good condition... date and time," as it left us no further charges to be assessed.

Obviously all this was because they did not have the right van for me.

Asked to see her manager, manager spitted out the same things as his trainee without asking me any further questions and asked me to leave the premises. Now I know why they get 0.6 out of 10 in various consumer reports. While I was standing there I notice the same manager was arguing very rudely with another customer. My recommendation to Europcar car is if they give a good and polite service to their customers, they do not need begging for customers by introducing different discounts.

As far as I am concerned this is a deceptive practice by Europcar because if there was something to let me know of this lack of inclusion and the associated cost in the confirmation or contract I would have cancelled because it made Europcar noncompetitive with other rental companies. I filed a complaint with Europcar and the response I received was that most people use their credit card for underlying insurance, but this is not part of Europcar's website, confirmation, or contract and was never asked by Europcar even at the desk when I picked up the car. The price was just added to my credit card since I prepaid with it. I have again responded to Europcar on June 10 and have not received any other reply from Customer Service. I have used Europcar before, but I will not use Europcar again and strongly recommend others don't either. Europcar's confirmation means nothing.

My friend ended up paying the coverage (for which I reimbursed half), and I paid the deposit, which came to 361.** British pounds, over $500 U.S.! I was told it would be refunded when I turned in the car on April 22. Loved the Volkswagen Polo, no problems, dings or anything, turned the car in & the guy said the deposit would be refunded by that night. Just in time, as I was about at the end of my available funds & needed that money back in my account. That money was not released back to my account until May 16, 2016, about 24 days!!! This became a problem! No telephone number to call, just an e-mail, and no reply for 4 days. I plan to complain to Visit Scotland regarding the deceptive wording on Europcar's website, and them holding the deposit for almost 4 weeks.

After finally getting the car charge credited to my card we received yesterday a letter from Europcar saying it was regarding the accident we had been in with their car. We were not in an accident. The guy checking the car when we returned it asked if we had been in an accident. We told him "no." This letter from them says the Date/Time of the accident was May 25, 2016 at 12:00. Where did they get that from??? I figure when my husband gets his next credit card statement it will show we owe money for the damage from our supposed accident. I will never use them again. We were there for 2 and a half weeks and had the best time so it's too bad that when we get home we have to deal with this. We were scammed, conned and screwed over. We travel all the time and have never had something like this happen.

As I found out later from my credit card statement, what the agent neglected to explain was that the extra 50 euros was per day, not for the whole rental. (Unlike in US, they don't tell you how much the total charge is when returning the car!) I wouldn't have signed the agreement had I known that it was 50 euros per day which would more than double the original rental cost! Who, in his/her sound state of mind, would agree to such an upgrade that would more than double the cost after putting all the effort to get a low cost rental car online? I also found out from the customer service agent when I called later to inquire about the extra charge that the upgrade was by 4 levels, which was never mentioned by the rental agent.

Had I known that it was a 4-level upgrade, it would have raised a red flag and I would have scrutinized the agreement carefully. I have no doubt that the agent slipped in the upgrade hoping that an unsuspecting customer would not catch it, which, I imagine, can happen quite open when customers are tired after an overnight flight and thus are not alert mentally. I am a seasoned traveler and still failed to catch the trap. The way I see it, it is an unethical business practice to prey upon unsuspecting and tired travelers. I protested to the customer service, but they simply replied that I signed the contract. I will never ever rent a car from Europcar again!!!

I returned the car and flew home. I received an email with the charge of 326.70 ($372.89). It turned out that I was charged for 30 per day for the upgrade. I have since filed a claim with Europcar to dispute that charge. I spent numerous amounts of time writing emails and making phone calls, but Europcar refused to give me any credit. I even disputed the charge with the credit card company Chase, but that didn't help because Europcar insists on the charges and Chase was not much helpful on customer's behalf. In the end, they overcharged me for $276.59. I regret that I didn't record the conversation with the agent who offered me the upgrade and I didn't read the agreement more carefully before I signed it. When you search for rental car, Europcar often come up as the best rate, but they will charge you in other ways. I will never rent a car from them again.

On a trip to France we rented a car from Europcar in Paris to be dropped off in Southern France. Had flat tire on trip. So, when you call their emergency access number - all that you get is a recording. When you need them the most - there isn't anyone there!! They are only available for the rental - not for the support. Finally got towed and tire replaced. We wanted to have the tires replace - but the customer service person said that our only option was to take the car to the closest office and exchange it. We would have had the tires repaired at our expense - but Europcar said that this was not an option. Finally got car to nearest office at Tours, France. They didn't have any cars!!! Then they told us the only option was to get the tire repaired at our expense!! Finally, got a car to finish our trip. If you need customer support - in any manner - you won't get any. Avoid this company!!!

I finally found it after almost 3 hours in heavy traffics looking for it. They found a small scratch on front bumper which I did not/could not see it when I picked the car from an indoor garage (not a lot of light). I usually pick up the car from outside under sunlight when I rent a car in the US and we usually check the car together with a representative from the car rental company. For that small scratch, I was charged more than $250.00, although I bought the medium damage and collision insurance. It took me almost 3 hours to find the Europcar Rental parking lot so I was about 3 hours late, and for that I had to pay for 2 days car rental. Total price I had to pay almost $600.00 for about 27 hours of car rental.

DO NOT rent from EUROPCAR RENTAL. A fraud or swindle company. Maybe they already know about that small scratch and most people do not see it. They can make a few hundred dollars more from that small scratch. Stay away from Europcar Rental. I could not even ask anything when I rented the car in Milan. She always said "No" or "I do not know" whenever I asked her anything, never even trying to find out.

They charged us a myriad of obscure additional costs when some German guy drove his camper van into our STATIONARY sardine can (even though he had insurance and admitted fault). They lost the incident claim form and haven't done anything about it and so they haven't been paid and so they haven't returned the overcharge to me. The list goes on! They've charged it all straight to my credit card. I'm happy to pay what's fair but they won't respond to my emails because they've got the money.

I should have looked in the paper if it was right with the cars, which I am 1000% positive was not correct. I feel completely robbed, and will never use this company, both of these company again. The staff there also are very rude and grumpy. There is NO way that I would have driven almost 800 km in the space of 12 days only going to the beach, home, restaurant, home. I would suggest looking for other company! I need write reviews, but I feel robbed!!!

Within 24 hours of returning the vehicle I contacted London Stansted regarding my iPad which I left in the vehicle, and was told that someone will look and get back to me as soon as possible, which they didn't. I rang again the day after and was told the vehicle had now been rented back out and that they will do what they can to find out if my iPad was in there. It was at this time I checked to make sure London Stansted branch was aware that we had reserved the 6+ seater for our return, which they confirmed that they were aware. I was never contacted regarding the iPad again.

Upon our return to the UK, after the stress of travelling all day, we arrived at Europcar at approximately 10.55pm. When we approached the desk with our booking reference and identification we were told there was a delay in seeing people due to a backlog of customers and that we would have to wait in line. After over three hours of waiting we were eventually seen. Then to be told that they haven't got a vehicle bigger than a standard 5-seater car.

The member of staff that saw to us (Mark) was a trainee so he sought advice from his manager (Tibbrant). Tibbrant told us that the only way to sort this was to hire two cars. I told him that I am not a competent driver over such distances and that this wasn't a practical option. I also told him that I had been awake since 7am that morning and if I was to drive home then that mean I will have been awake for approximately 24hours, which again is not practical, and made me feel very anxious. I asked him to contact another branch close by to see if they had any suitable vehicles to which he replied that they are too busy to be doing that and I would just have to hire to car or stay in London as it isn't their problem.

Even though there was a Ford Galaxy 6-seater in the grounds which I was told couldn't go out yet as it hadn't been cleaned or checked. I reminded him that we had actually signed a legally binding contract stating that I had already paid to have a suitable vehicle at the branch for when we return and this does make it Europcar problem as this whole ordeal was as a result of the business mistake. After being spoke to very rudely and abruptly we decided to agree to taking two cars as there was no possible way of getting home and the children were very tired and upset, as were the adults.

o my absolute shock I was told that I was going to incur additional charges to take an extra vehicle, as we had already paid £90 previously when we booked the vehicle. This whole situation was getting very embarrassing in front of the queue of irritated customers who were behind us. I begged with the manager to sort out the problem any other way that meant I didn't have to drive or cost us any further charges but I feel his was not willing to try and minimize the impact of what happened in any way. I informed the manager that not only will there be the initial cost that they are charging but also an extra tank of diesel to replace after the drive from London to Manchester.

We came to the agreement that he will put on the system that we could hand the cars back without filling them up, but when I asked for a printout of the agreement we made he told me the company do not give printouts, so I asked for it in writing with his signature on to which he replied "I haven't got time for that. Either take it or leave it", and walked off to deal with another customer. It was after this when the trainee member of staff (Mark) approached us and told us that the additional charges were not explained to us very clearly.

The manager had told us that there was to be an additional cost of £9.60 but did not inform us that they were attempting to take a further £90 + £9.60 from my bank, without my knowledge. I politely asked if they could just use the original £90 and I pay the additional £9.60 (as I have other commitments for the money in my bank account) and I was told that wasn't an option. Therefore, this was starting to cost me financially. After the ordeal was over, we took the two cars and managed to return home by approximately 7am. Almost crashing on the motorway. Leaving us no time to sleep before our personal commitments the following day.

When we returned the cars at the time we were told to (only 13 hours after taking them Stansted) we were informed that a refund for the 6+ seater had not been requested, nor was there a note on the system to let the Manchester branch staff know about the terms agreed with the manager in Stansted, nor had there been any communication regarding my missing iPad. The holiday we went on was a way of destressing, and I can provide a doctor’s recommendation in writing which I received prior to my holiday in relation to taking the children out of school.

The whole situation caused by Europcar botched organization skills, added on top of the way the manager dealt with the situation, having to drive the distance from Stansted to Manchester after being awake for 24 hours and uncomfortable with motorway driving in the first place has caused a great deal of distress including, anxiety, disappointment, loss of expectation, upset and stress and the distress has made my condition worse; on top of that the inconvenience it caused with the extra time and money spent and the efforts we have had to go to, not only to get the refund for the 6+ seater, the diesel and the additional costs we incurred due to a result of a business mistake and now the time spent trying to deal with this complaint is all down to poor management on Europcar's behalf.

I am writing this letter because we tried to log a complaint on the day we returned to collect the previously ordered and paid for vehicle suitable for a party of six however the manager was not very accommodating. We then logged the complaint to Manchester who informed us to contact customer services, but unfortunately they were closed over the bank holiday weekend. This will be emailed to relevant departments within your company and also I will be telephoning to ensure that something is done to prevent a similar situation occurring. Some form of appreciation would be appreciated and possibly the retraining of the Stansted Staff.

If not for this incident, I was quite content with the services, prices, and rewards program for about 3 years (15 hires, 5000+ miles total). The right way to handle this would be to just refund me the £32, but my loyalty apparently costs nothing. That's OK, there are 4 more car rentals in the area (Alamo, Hertz, Enterprise, Thrifty).

I was not told at the point of hire that I could purchase one for over half the cost, nor was I told that it wouldn't work outside of the UK. Although on this point the GPS indicated it had recognition of Ireland, which I thought only Northern Ireland was part of the UK so I'm still unsure whether I would have had the same issue there had I gone. Had I known this I would have hired a car in France saving myself fuel, ferry costs and stress!

When I was hired the car there were several damage points not recorded, but after a rushed handover most were recorded but not all. It took four efforts asking for assistance to finally leave the place, one regarding the lower fuel level, one regarding the handbrake and another clearing a way for me to drive out. I then drove 6-7 kms in a traffic jam and in first gear with the Tom Tom not working arriving in the dark. This can be checked by the fact that the jam up was caused through a broken water main that had flooded the road all day and had prevented me catching a cab there.

It wasn't until the next morning when it was daylight that I noticed a chip down low on the windscreen (and two other things that I didn't raise in fear that I get slammed with them also). By then I was rushed to get from Reading to Newhaven ferry and couldn't return, nor did I have a phone to call them. In the next couple of days this chip became a large crack. I assume either from the sun's warmth or the pressure or vibration of 130 km speed limits, I don't really know.

I was not given back my security deposit and I'm now informed that I'm being hit with a bill. I've also been told that my security deposit was taken up with the cost a useless GPS and insurance, but no costing was provided to me prior to labeling it as this. I have made enquiries with UK auto glass to obtain an independent price... All of this causing me enormous stress. I wouldn't like anyone to hire a car from this company who advertises themselves as the cheapest, that's rubbish by the time they add all the extra hidden costs, but even more so when they have a field day on foreign customers.

I lodged a complaint and got even poorer service from them. I spoke to two layers of managers and the most senior of the two was even worse. She was arrogant, patronising and tried to convince me that when one reserves a vehicle, whether online or by phone, the confirmation one gets means nothing at all because that is no confirmation of a car for you but just confirmation of the intention by them to then look for a car for you. And because one has not paid they have no obligation to find one for you. Bizarre but true. I needed a car desperately for that day and here is a hire company giving me false security that I had one, only to say at last minute that I didn't when actually it appears there were vehicles available. Whatever you do avoid these like the plague.

Then they suggested I take the car to a nearby Renault car dealer to see if it was dangerous. I did that - wasted another 2 hours - only to be told that they couldn't help me unless I made an appointment a few days later. I finally left determined to leave the car on the road if anything further happened. I managed to get home (with periodic stalling) with Europcar totally unconcerned about their lack of service. They did, however, give my credit card number to the Renault garage who then charged my account another $60 (which I eventually recovered through the help of Kemwell and my bank). But stay away from Europcar at all cost; they just don't know what service is when you leave the big city and they don't give a damn!

2) As per Europcar “internal process” and “system error," when my credit card was debited and credited with the total amount of £1379.49, I had a huge currency exchange difference. I’ve received a debit of Canadian Dollars 2965.87, and I’ve was credited for Canadian Dollars 2678.32. So finally, just because Europcar “internal process” and “system error,” I've lost CD 287.55, “internal process” and “ system error” are Europcar responsibility, NOT MINE!!!

3) When I returned the car, I was charged with the £1,000.00 excess for a little scratch at the Left Side Door. I was told by the lady who attended to me, that I was going to be refunded with the balance once the "insurance department" estimate the damage. That never happened!!! There is no way that they charge me with £1,000.00 for a little scratch!!! The last email I've sent was 5 month ago... It was never answered. Was my worst experience renting a car.

I finally got an email denying any wrongdoing re. the parking 'infringement' and demanding more money because they made a mistake, expecting me to incur international toll charges in order to pay them! The parking notice had been received by Europcar on 14/12/15 and it took a month for us to get it via snail mail. If it had have been scanned and emailed to us, we could have sorted it. They turned a pleasant customer experience into a nightmare. We have been accused of breaking the law, ripped off, misinformed and generally treated rather shabbily. One phone call from a senior manager (we continually supplied them with our contact details) could have saved us having to write this negative review. We will be revisiting the UK next year, and without a lot of grovelling from them will not be considering using them again.

As I never would have expected that the upgrade from a Vauxhall Insignia [350 for 8 days] to a Hyundai crdi ix35 could double the price. Only a month later, when I got the invoice, I wondered. I first thought about a mistake and not about a cheap seller's trick played on tourists in a rush. I had an e-mail exchange with "Europcar UK customer services" afterwards. to no avail! No apology, no money, and later: no more answers. As I had a similar experience there with Europcar in 2013 with an "inappropriate" insurance - booked online in advance on the homepage of Europcar, I now know: Never again, thanks.

So after almost 2 hours we received the "new" vehicle, dirty inside with stained seats, the exterior was so dented that body panels were rattling as we drove off. In fact the exterior was so marked up with scratches and dents that the representative just gave up noting the number of dents and scrapes that he just marked the vehicle outline with at least 30 indications. The laughable part was that when I returned the vehicle the representative spent 10 minutes checking over the vehicle and then just said "It seems okay", what a joke. Imagine my surprise when I received a bill for 187000 Colonies (exact amount I do not have as it is in my suitcase) for insurance. Again my fault for having rented from Europcar, but never again.

I tried reaching Europcar offices many times with no answer, hoping that I would reverse my experience by replacing the car for a newer version or an equivalent Nissan PatroI. I phoned the following: (none answered), Terminal 1 (00971 4 2245240), Terminal 3 (00971 4 2203933), AL Maktoum (00971 4 48879716), Jumeirah Beach Hotel (00971 4 3481635). Surely this WILL be my last time dealing with Europcar.

I strongly advise not hire from them but in any event refuse their optional additional excess cover and their prepaid fuel option and indeed anything else extra they offer. Do not sign or initial any paperwork with extra items already pre-filled in and ask for a new blank agreement. If they resist walk away – lose your cancellation fee - it will be cheaper in the long run!

For any hire more than 4 days you can be economically insured for a $2000 the excess cover with no excess for as little as $80 for 30 days or more. They may tell you their excess insurance is mandatory. This is untrue if you offer a credit card authorization but if you do so you are at risk of unexpected debits for which you stand little or chance to re-coup. If they persist - walk away. You will find it cheaper and more transparent to hire elsewhere.

Do not sign or initial for any extras and make sure you have their signed documentation for all pre-existing damage but even then it is still too easy to be charged excessive amount for no or very minor damage. Look very very carefully at the hire agreement document as you may find you have unwittingly signed for a “no damage” vehicle before you have actually seen it!!! Remember if you authorize a crook to debit your credit card you may be sure you can whistle Dixie to secure recourse.

They scammed me at Heathrow Airport London for $800 for $2000 of excess insurance on a 29 day hire with $500 excess advising I would get a refund of that $500 if the car was returned undamaged. That was blatant lies and misrepresentation. The same $2000 excess cover for 29 days or longer can be openly purchased for unconditional cover for about $80 from motoring organizations for one tenth of their charge and with no excess!! Also check your credit card statement for additional unauthorized invoices. They duplicated both fuel and extra day’s excess cover cost incorrectly which I had to argue and was lucky to get a refund.

I will never hire from them again. Believe nothing they tell you as it is my experience they will use any tactic, fair or foul, to obtain your signature for what are very expensive and purely optional items. Don't fall for their persuasive sweet-talk. Check all the boxes before you sign no matter what their agent has verbally agreed with you. And - once you have signed their hire document you have little or no chance of recourse. They will hide behind your signature! And - purchase your own excess cover before hiring and refuse theirs or others. Best if take your lawyer with you to view Europcar/Alamo's fine print but even that is no guarantee of fair play! Frankly my advice is DO NOT HIRE FROM EUROPCAR/ALAMO and remove the risks of shabby and unconscionable practices of rental car hire! You can do all the right things to protect yourself but still run foul of shonky practices.

I entered into numerous correspondences with Europcar and Alamo with no success as their stance and only excuse was that the insurance had been signed for. I approached my Credit Card issuer claiming that the debit for $800 was not authorized as the signature had been obtained under duress and false pretenses and without full disclosure thus rendering the contract invalid. I also provided written evidence that insurance from their agent Rental Cars through whom the hire had been arranged had been paid for and that agent was indeed a sister company of the Europcar/Alamo! I received a full credit on my Credit card from the issuing Bank. So don’t walk away – pressurize your credit card issuer if you have any evidence of wrong doing was executed by Europcar/Alamo. Good luck.

After paying and collecting the car I contacted AutoEurope to get a refund. AutoEurope informed me that the matter should be dealt with Europcar and not with them. So I contacted Europcar customer services and they said they could not do anything until the car had been returned. When I returned the car and contacted Europcar again for the refund I was then told that no refund was due as the GBP288 was the cost of upgrade and not the full rental cost. Word of Warning: Never ever believe what the Europcar sales people tell you. They will lie to you to make you get an upgrade so they can get their commission. Do not expect to get any money back.

After showing the clerk my booking, who was aching to go on his siesta in 15 minutes time, he saw that the original booking was made through Expedia. He saw this as Europcar's get-out-of-responsibility-free-card, claiming that since the original booking was made through Expedia I would have to follow up with them. I followed up with Expedia immediately. After spending a couple of hours on the phone with Expedia, who it appeared just wanted to blame me for originally signing the erroneous contract at the airport, they eventually agreed to send an email enquiry to Europcar.

A few days later, the final charge appeared on my credit card for the car hire. It was AUD$1,985.44! This was more than 5 times the original $366 amount booked! Over and over I followed up for 6 weeks with Expedia, Europcar Australia, and Europcar Italy (who would hang up on me as soon as I started asking if anyone spoke English). Everyone was telling me that my original booking quote from Expedia was not a final contract price and may exclude certain taxes and insurances. Per the final invoice that I received at drop-off however, it was blatantly obvious that my base rate had been inflated by approximately 5X the original daily booking quote, making me think that the rental clerk had manually inserted the total 5-day rate as a single day rate. Extra insurance and taxes did not account for an extra $1,619!

Eventually after enlisting the help of a friend in Italy, social media messages, hours of emails (including to the holding company in France) and phone calls, I got a response from Europcar Italy 6 weeks later saying that a technical bug had caused the error and they agreed to refund me EUR946.11. Once I had received this refund in Australian dollars, it had worked out that I had paid a total of AUD$527.56, being $AUD161 more than the original quote. Overall, the final $161 overcharge is not an issue but the attitudes and unwillingness to help from Europcar and Expedia truly shone through during this experience. Never again will I book through either of these agencies. The countless hours and stress wasted on this dispute were enough to make me never want to hire a car ever again.

On the 19th, I had difficulty starting the car. It frequently stalled and the EPC and check engine lights came on. Since we had to attend an important event, it was fortunate that we had visiting family who were able to drive us there. On the 20th, the car started briefly, stalled at an intersection after 200 ft., and would not restart. The EPC and check engine lights were again on and it also showed battery not charging. Called EuropCar breakdown number on windscreen decal and was told that they could not help me, and gave no recommendations on how to proceed. Called second EuropCar number on windscreen decal, and was told that they could not help me, and gave no recommendations on how to proceed. Called EuropCar number listed on website, and was told that they could not help me, and gave no recommendations on how to proceed.

Called number for EuropCar office at Heathrow Airport, and was told that they could not help me, but that I should call RAC for roadside assistance and should have the car towed to the closest office, in Poole. Called RAC as instructed and rescue car arrived about an hour later. RAC agent could not start the car after 1 hour of diagnostics, and agreed to tow the car to Poole. Called EuropCar office in Poole, they confirmed that theyd be waiting for me with a replacement rental.

Arrived at office in Poole. Queued for assistance. I was able to get the last car on their lot only because the customer in front of me declined it. She had booked and prepaid for a vehicle online; the only vehicle on the lot was larger than the one she reserved and would have cost her an additional 5 per day. She didnt have the money, and was left without a car. In addition, she was told by sales rep Bobby that even though she'd made a reservation and prepaid for the rental, EuropCar was under no obligation to provide her with a vehicle. It should be noted that Bobby was also the one who said he'd have a vehicle ready when I arrived with the tow truck!

On 28 November, I returned the replacement car at EuropCars Heathrow location. I confirmed with the agent that my account was all set and that no further action was necessary. He said yes. On 29 November, I received a customer satisfaction survey and inserted my comments exactly as they appear above. On 30 November, I received an email from EuropCar stating that the original car had been returned damaged mechanical incorrect fueling major damage and that I'd be held responsible for the damage. It is important to note that I did not put any fuel in the car and neither the RAC mechanic, the EuropCar staff in Poole, nor the EuropCar staff at Heathrow mentioned this. Nothing was mentioned until I submitted a negative customer satisfaction report. This would appear to be an attempt at retaliation for a negative review.

I arrived at 4.50 and was shown both cars to pick one. Paperwork done again only to find I had to pay ANOTHER security deposit as they had canceled the first one in the morning but those funds do not get given back to me for 3-4 working days which means I am now 500 out of pocket!!! Then by the time he had printed the paperwork it was 2 minutes past 5pm so I got charged another 50 for out of hour services!!! When I was there before the end of hours and the guy never told me that there was a charge if I was late. WHICH I WASN'T!! This is absolutely atrocious and I will NEVER use Europcar again. Completely ripped me off!! Absolutely appalling!

He then printed off three tickets, which he examined, said, "No that's wrong," then printed three more. He put the tickets in front of me and said, "Sign these please, just like the usual ones." I made a remark about needing to find my glasses and he said, "You won't need them. I will point to where I need your signature or initials." I signed the tickets and took the car keys.

On returning the car some days later, the Europcar employee who examined the vehicle told me there were additional charges of in excess of GBP1,000. I was horrified and told him I was certainly not paying the charges as I was quoted GBP150 for the upgrade. He told me that he was not surprised and that this kind of thing happened a lot. I reported the matter to his supervisor, at his suggestion and the supervisor said he would treat it as a disputed bill. I offered to pay the GBP150 as quoted, but he told me not to pay anything until the dispute was investigated. The next thing I heard was from a junior functionary telling me that they had investigated my complaint and that the employee remembered my wife and I and stated that he had made it clear to us both, that the upgrade was costing GBP150 per day and that I definitely asked for the additional insurance. Total lies.

I sent an e-mail to the CEO in Paris, whose PA replied saying that the CEO was very concerned and had ordered a full investigation. I have heard no more from these thieves, but have now received a threatening demand from a debt collecting agency in the UK. I am perfectly happy to pay Europcar the GBP150 I was quoted, but will go to court if necessary to defend myself against this. Fortunately, my wife was with me at the time and witnessed the entire transaction. EUROPCAR ARE THIEVES AND LIARS, STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS.

I got home and I tried to reason with Europcar Customer Service over the fee. They had no sympathy for me, telling me that I should have noticed the signs posted on the road, as you enter the congestion zone. It may be true, even though it is hard to read everything on the sign when you drive through heavy traffic, on the opposite side of the road and have to pay attention to the instructions of the navigation system. It would have been much nicer if they showed a little concern for our satisfaction and would have advised us on the congestion zone charge.

Transport for London issued the Penalty Charge Notice on November 2nd. Two weeks later and Europcar still did not get to process it and put it in their system. Currently, the penalty has swollen from 11.50 GBP to 65 GBP and because Europcar delayed to process the PCN so long, it will go to 130 GBP. It could have costed me 11.50 GBP if Europcar would have done a simple courtesy gesture and make me aware of the charge. Now, thanks to them, it will end up costing me a fortune. Stay away from Europcar at all cost. They may seem like a cheap alternative, but in the long run, due to their very poor services and lack of training of their personnel, you will end up paying more.

Please also let tourists know of the Dartford tunnel system when they rent a car from you at Gatwick. You had a rating of 10/10 when I returned the car, but that has now dropped to 5/10. Never mind Europcar, if any of your guys come to Canada you can be sure we will treat you fairer than this and make sure you are not ripped off by large admin fees. We value tourists visiting our country.

I asked politely if I could use one of their unoccupied computers in the office, and he was redundant to tell me to go back to the airport to use an Internet cyber to fill and print the form. I told him that my wife was pregnant and exhausted from the trip, but he insisted that I go back to the airport or I purchase the CDW from him. I couldn't believe that I was going through this. I rented from more than 15 companies in the past abroad and I never saw poor quality customer service and work ethics. Then I spoke with Lino ** who I thought will be of more help, but instead he refused to accept the letter from Amex because 1- It does not specifically state Coverage of CDW in Mexico. 2- It doesn't have the email address of the person who issued the letter. So now, I am missing 2 requirements to waive the CDW instead of 1.

I literally spent 3 hours between going back to the airport trying to fill the CNSF form that I never found, and incurring roaming charges on my phone while trying to get help from Amex car rental services because the guys would not let me use their office phone to dial an 1800 free number. The Amex representative willingly stated that she could change the letter with her name, number and email address and agreed to type "coverage of CDW in Mexico". She asked me to talk to Mr. ** so that she can explain, but when he spoke to her, he bluntly refused to accept this letter and told her that I must buy the CDW insurance although he could not supplement her with information on how she could obtain the CNSF form.

This experience was dramatic and disappointing for me and my wife. We went through all this aggravation and inconvenience for nothing. And now I am reaching out Europcar corporate office. They said that my feedback is invaluable.

We are not writing to you as a result of the broken car, as this can happen to anyone but it was what took place afterwards. We were told to call your Super Assistance number. We called on 9 separate calls and were told with each call that no one spoke English but they would call us back. NO ONE EVER called us back!!! We were sitting on the side of the road at the exit Autostrada Scandicci for 2.5 hours. This was a terrible experience. We were left stranded. We had spoken to many persons at the Super Assistance line including Anna, Alice, Luca etc. We then called Marco the mgr in the Venice location, he was very rude and told us that if we abandon the vehicle we could go to jail.

I was horrified as we were sitting on the edge of the highway for over 2.5 hours now with no help sent to us and NO ONE returning our phone calls. I also had to incur massive phone bill expense charges as I did not have a phone plan. I decided to call the Police and spoke to a Francesca, she sent out a car to check on us but he did not speak English. He tried to communicate with my husband using his phone app translator and managed to get a person from his department to contact Europcar.

After 2 hours and 45 minutes sitting stranded on the highway, a tow truck finally showed up. We then had to go back to Florence via taxi (which was another expense) and get another rental car. This entire process delayed our visit to our vacation spot (Verona) by 6 hours and was a horrible way to begin our vacation. If we hadn't have called the police it could have been disastrous! What horrible customer care you people provide through your Super Assistance line!

The car was good, economical & reliable. When we returned the person checking us back in found a crack in the wing mirror that we hadn't noticed (whether it was there when we picked it up is uncertain) but fortunately we had opted for the full coverage so we're not liable for 320GBP that they anticipated would be the cost of a replacement bit of plastic. I do not recommend them & will never use them again.

I used the car for business reasons and everything went very well. At October 10th, I drove 300 KM from West-Sicilia to Catania to bring the car back and take my flight to Holland. Because there were many accidents happened on the road, the journey from West-Sicilia to Catania took a little bit longer than expected. Also, I had some problems with finding the exact location of the airport. Also, I couldn't find the exact location of the drop off of my car (there are no clear signs at the airport of InterRent). I arrived finally 7:30 PM at the airport and it took me 30 minutes to find the exact parking place for Rental Car. 30 KM before I arrived at Catania I fully loaded my car with gas, but because the extra KM's to find the airport and the parking place, the first stripe of the gas switched off when I arrived at the airport.

I arrived 8:10 PM at the service desk, but it was very busy at the desk. There was only 1 employee working and there were almost 6 customers waiting. So the employee (a man) was very stressed. At 8:40 PM the employee was finally able to help me. He directly start to shout at me that I have to pay extra money and that I'm too late etc. I'm your customer and your employees shouting at me, without any reason. Can you believe it? It is the first time this happened in my life. I was totally confused. Your employee had totally no respect for me. I stayed calm and told him that I had a lot of problems on the road and that your drop off place for the parking was very difficult to find and that I had to wait a very long time at the helpdesk. I apologise for my delay but the employee keep on shouting against me.

Also, he was very angry at me because the car was not fully loaded. But the car wasn't totally fully loaded either at the beginning. So I think I had to pay for 1-2 liters extra. But your employee told me that I had to pay 92 Euro. 92 euro for 1-2 liters and for a very small delay? Can you believe this? 92 Euros? So I have to pay 92 Euro extra and your employee was shouting against me and treated me without respect. It is the first time this happened in my life. Of course, I didn't signed the bill.

car) was very kind, I think the employee who was shouting at me (the man who helped me at the drop-off) is a bad incident of your company.

I rent cars very often. Normally I'm always too early at the drop-off. I never asked money at car rentals because I dropped off the car too early. Now I'm a little bit too late and I have to pay a whole day? Your employee told me that I had to pay 1 extra day for the car rental. I said to him, "Please give me back the keys of the car then I will fully load the car." But he didn't gave me back the keys. So I have to pay extra money for 1 extra day but you don't give me the keys? I'm looking forward to your answer. I hope we can solve this incident in a reasonable way and we can keep on cooperating in the future. (After 15 days they still didn't respond my email).

The date on the letter is 06 August 2015. The letter came with Europcar violation invoice together. So I believe the letter was sent to Europcar first then Europcar sent to me. However, Europcar didn't call me or send me email to notify about the payment. They took £36 from my credit card as the administration fee without doing nothing but delayed my ticket which let me to pay the fine late. And they didn't tell me they would take the money from my credit card.

I don't think it is fair to the customer. I made a complaint on 15th Sep to ask return the administration fee but no feedback until I called them back today on 25th September but they refused to do it. The complaint number is **. After that I still didn't receive any feedback from them. I agree they can charge me for the administration fee but if you noticed me by email or phone about this payment, then I would like to pay you £36. However, you did nothing and took the money without telling me. It is totally unacceptable.

Our rental started as a normal, happy weekend - we checked the car around at delivery, spent the time with some peaceful driving, discovered all the places that we wanted and then we finally parked the car at the airport - in a proper condition, without any damage. Keys were dropped, we thought everything is fine. Then few weeks later Europcar decided to claim and charge us on a false damage that we didn't even cause. They sent few 640x480 poor quality photos, which were taken somewhere else from an impossible angle showing scratches on the bottom of the car, which we honestly didn't cause or couldn't even cause. Of course we didn't really have anything to prove as we didn't take photos (especially not from underneath the car), so legally they can claim whatever they want.

Of course we tried to get some more detailed photos/explanation from them about the damage, but the only thing what we got is some dry and repetitive legal statements, rude attitude and comments that they don't need to photo-document properly the cars as it is not an industry standard - because they can do it. I think this was a good lesson for us to take photos - even of the bottom - of the car before dropping-off the keys at any rental, but we will certainly avoid Europcar New Zealand in the future. Apparently we weren't the first ones as the Europcar franchise was fined already few times. These spineless thieves running under the name of BVJV Ltd and Europcar NZ Ltd just make me sick.

Since July I have been trying to get Europcar to provide the information requested by my insurance company. I have sent over 10 emails to customerservicesuk@europcar.com and 2 letters by regular mail to Europcar Group UK Limited. Customer Services, 55 Welford Rd, Leiceister LE2 7AR England. In that time I have received only one e-mail response from Europcar claiming that they had already provided the documentation to my insurance company. They inform me that they are still awaiting the requested documentation. I have followed up with to another letter by mail and additional E-mails to Europcar and they are completely non-responsive to my communications. I am absolutely disgusted with the Customer Service from Europcar and given my experience I recommend others not to deal with this firm.

However when I got to our hotel and looked at the paperwork, the price had gone from 120 for 2.5 days to nearly 700. The salesperson had put on every extra including Europcar insurance even though we already had insurance. Needless to say I took the car back at the very first opportunity. I managed to get some of the money back, but not all and was told Europcar would not accept any other insurance but their own, at their inflated prices. EXTREMELY UNHAPPY. WILL NEVER USE AGAIN. To top it off the vehicle was extremely uncomfortable for my poor I'll partner.

The clerk, dishonestly and acting in bad faith, said yes and provided everything without informing me that there would be additional fees for attending me ten minutes before the opening time. It should be noted that he spoke perfect English. However, this clerk included surreptitiously in the contract some additional costs that were charged on my credit card later on. That was included in Italian among everything else in the contract, so that I couldn't notice it. I didnt even realize that, since the rent had been paid in advance and I showed them my credit card just as collateral. I only noticed the charges after I returned to Brazil and had the big surprise when checked the invoice.

In short, they offer you a better price to beat the competition but make up for it later on by means of hidden fees charged on your credit card, which you thought would be taken only as guarantee. That's when cheap becomes really expensive. Auto Europe also washed their hands of that and said they couldn't do anything, since they were not the rental company. Beware of Europcar. It's true that problems can happen with any rental company, but dishonest attitude with the intent to deceive the customer, that's unacceptable.

Upon returning the car, the people were rude, barely willing to help unload luggage from the shuttle back to the airport. I contacted Europcar and have so far got zero response after nearly 2 weeks. The 1 star rating they have all over the place speaks loudly of their service. They need to respond to customers and at least bring their rating up for having good customer service. I rented from the Shannon Ireland location, will not use them again and based on their lack of response, will tell everyone to avoid them. I will be shocked if they contact me back or fix their overcharges. The rental car was good, but I don't like be ripped off because they think they can pass on some ridiculous fees like they are mandatory to only find out later they are scammers.

When I got home to Australia I was shattered to find they had taken over $600Au extra from my bank account for extra insurance. I am a full aged pensioner; saved hard for this trip; was a "Privilege Customer" but Europcar will not listen to my appeals for a refund. I doubt I will ever be able to return to Europe but if I did guess which car hire company I will not consider.

According to Europcar's policy we are to pay $45 euros for every ticket we get. Now (4 months later) I am being charged $317 euros in my credit card for these 7 tickets with no proof of it. And there will be 4 more tickets to come from our stay in Verona. I have sent emails to Europcar asking for an explanation and they have not wrote me a word back. I absolutely loved the experience of driving a car while traveling and I will definitely do it again, however I will never use Europcar's services again, no matter if they are the cheapest option out there. Horrible.

I didn't fill tank the car because I paid for the fuel so why bring back full. So I left the keys in the office through the windows. In the afternoon when I came home in my country Belgium, I got a call from this owner saying I didn't fill the fuel tank and I have to pay for the fines... So I knew clearly he was trying to scam me, trying to get the more money out of my pocket. But I told him, "I'm not buying that," so I clacked the phone... He keeps calling me but I keep ignoring him. What a shameless **! I would recommend you not to hire a car from Europcar in Samsun in Turkey, that man is a clearly a scammer. I don't know how the other Europcars are in Turkey but avoid Europcar in Samsun-Carsamba Airport!

When I returned the car in Rome I filled up the tank and took it to Europcar. The attendant said everything was fine and I told him I was inconvenience by not having a radio. He told me to sign a statement that there was no antennae when I picked up the car and that it was no problem. I arrived home and found an invoice on my email for 175 euro for damage and 50 euro to fill the car since it was 7/8th full. This company is a fraud and no one will answer my complaints. Go with a reputable company like Hertz or Avis and pay a little more and not rent from a band of thieves. BEWARE OF EUROPCAR.

When I returned the car on 31 Aug 15, a charge of AUD 1,409.74 (-$1 deposit) was made on my credit card. Because of the transactions on 18 and 19 Aug 15, I lost SGD 98.69 due to the exchange rate. Why is there a need to debit back the amount into my account? Why can't Europcar hold the amount until I return the car then debit back the deposit? Renee from Customer Relations Australia was defensive and stubborn by saying this is company policy. This is not what was written in the terms & conditions:

[General Rental Terms, Section 6.2 Terms of Payment]: "When payment is made by means of a credit card, an authorisation will be requested prior to the start of the rental... This amount is not debited. It is held on cardholder's bank account until the final rental charge amount is debited." [Prepayment Terms and Conditions]: "An authorisation will be obtained at time of rental and only on return of the vehicle will the corresponding charges be posted to the credit card."

Lastly, another charge of AUD 512.38 was made on my credit card on 1 Oct 15. I did not receive any invoices, statement, or document to explain what this charge was for. When I called to get an answer, it turned out that they had keyed in my email address wrongly thus the invoice didn't reach me. And the charge was for a small glass chip on the windscreen! When I finally received the invoice and damage report, they had spelt my name and email address incorrectly again! I have requested and have yet to receive the updated invoice and damage report as of now. This administrative lapses is outrageous and unacceptable. It is affecting my insurance claim. I've never been more disappointed and upset with a car rental company like this one.

Assuming that navigational unit is operational and checked by Europcar before sending it to customers I had surprise waiting for me upon arriving to my destination. The GPS won't work, it is not able to acquire satellites. In other words it is useless. I got stock in Europe without any navigation. Thanks god, it was not weekend and I was able to buy new GPS, since it was my only option. Huge inconvenience when you want to relax and enjoy your vacation and not to look for another navigation unit around. Not mentioning extra money I had to spend. When we came back home and contacted Europcar, we received no refund or even apologies.

When we collected the car, it was in a semi dark carpark wedged between two other cars, no Europcar employee came with us to collect it and there were none around when I moved the car out. Once I had moved the car they would have blamed me for the mark anyway, given their aggressive customer service. The mark will be easily polished out, there is no way they will pay to repair it, it is pure profiteering. I am pursuing this, but their attitude does not fill me with confidence. Anyone hiring from these people, please do not move your car without one of their employees being present.

When I returned to the States a month later, I had received a letter stating that there were scuff marks on both doors and on a side mirror, with the damages totaling almost $1200. I wrote to the company questioning the damage and have asked for photos. Of course, I received nothing. I have asked a friend to go take pictures, but Europcar said that she hadn't been "authorized" by me. I am filling out a form for the credit card insurance company, but I am instructing them not to pay. I realize that this company thrives on scams, especially on people who live in a different country from the car rental site.