Europcar

If you don’t have additional insurance DO NOT rent a car from Europcar. They will literally bend you over and royally screw you, as they did me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and contacted customer service upon my return from trip only to have them do the same again. My original booking for a two week rental was $283.00 CDN dollars total. Upon my arrival at Glasgow airport to pick up my rental I was told insurance was extra. I have insurance on my Amex but had neglected to book using that card (my fault). I asked them to reverse the booking and recharge my Amex – no that was not possible as that would mean a new booking was created and I could not pick up my car for a minimum of 2 hours (its sitting outside the window). I was willing to walk away from the first booking and make a new booking but that would be considered a “Walk-in” and was three times the price! I was there in excess of two hours trying to figure a way around this and they would not budge. I needed the car so signed the slip (if I had been arrested and signed a statement under this manner of duress I would have sued for undue duress and coercion). I ended up paying over 500 GBP ($850 CDN dollars) for the insurance for a 2 week period (more than my own personal yearly insurance). Like I said at the start NEVER use Europcar!

This is the absolute worst rental company out there. I highly recommend that you pick another one. We vacationed in London October 2019, it's now almost April 2020 and we just received a 400$ charge to our visa card. No explanation, no invoice, nothing. We had paid off everything prior to leaving once we dropped off the car. The inspector checked the car and everything was perfect. They are scammers! Be aware!

Europcar is a shady company to put it mildly. I rented a vehicle in Morocco at the start of the Covid-19 spread. I returned the vehicle prematurely after a 4 day use due to the virus as Morocco was grounding international flights. I purchased a new airline ticket to fly outbound the next day. I was lucky enough to purchase the ticket. After I got back to the U.S. I contacted Europcar to credit my account the unused days, they jerked me around enough and wasted my time without resolving the issue. they adamantly refused me the refund and I gave up. they have my $1000.00 I will never think of renting from them again.

I wish I read reviews before renting from them. They ranked bad every where. When we were at Queenstown airport we needed a car ASAP and every other companies had a long queue in front of the counters except for eurocar. There was no one there, so to avoid waiting I got a car from them and it was the worse experience ever. I should have got the sign! They are so unfair, dodgy and dishonest. I wish I could rate them negatively. A barely noticeable chip on windscreen we didn’t even know if we caused. They charged us $1000, and if not because I got partial protected insurance I could pay $4500! Such a rip off I hope they close down

Booked a car online, they didn't have any car left when we arrived to pick it up, holiday ruined. We also had to raise our voice to have a receipt for cancellation as they wanted to dismiss us without it simply because the staff couldn't be botehred to produce it. If you care about your plans, stay well away from these cowboys.

I had a terrible experience with Europcar and was left angry and disappointed. They scammed me for £60 and their customer service was useless. Do not use this company even if initially they seem cheaper; they will hit you with an unfair hidden charge: When I booked my car over the phone I double checked the price quoted and was assured by the agent that that was the price with no hidden charges. And that my 5pm return was within office hours. And if I needed to extend the rental I would be charged at the day rate, £20, with no extra charge. This was confirmed by my booking confirmation email, quoting the same agreed price and stating the branch hours were 8:00 to 18:00. However, after the chap delivered the car to my house and I checked the rental agreement there was a £60 charge for “out of hours”. I rang Europcar for an explanation but was told by two agents (the first extremely rude) that there was nothing they could do about it as they couldn't see the contract and that I had to contact the branch. But they couldn’t pass me through and couldn’t give me the branch’s number. I figured there wasn’t much I could do about it anyway as I needed to leave to catch a booked Eurotunnel and it would get sorted upon my return The day of my return I tried to extend the rental by a day, expecting it to be £20 as I was told when I booked, but was now told it was going to be £82 for an extra day! Upon my return at 16:50 and to my surprise I find the branch closed so I am forced to use the key return box. When I made a formal complaint to customer services and asked them to review the booking phone conversation to see that the Europcar agent had assured me that 5pm was inside opening hours and there would be no extra charge and that they had charged me £60 unfairly, their response was pretty much: “we don’t care, you signed the rental agreement, and you put the keys in the return box, we are charging you £60”. So I am taking the matter to the BVRLA, the car hire ombudsman. It is also worth noting that even though I was charged £115 to take the car abroad it came without high vis jacket, without warning triangles, and without a GB sticker, all of which are legal requirements on the continent.

Do not rent from Europcar. I rented a vehicle from Europcar Milan-Malpensa at at the end of August/beginning of September. The vehicle was returned via their express return at the airport. The return was processed and my final bill charged. About a month or so later they sent me an email claiming that I damaged a wheel (I did not). I do not have photographs of the wheel to prove that I didn’t do the damage, so reluctantly opened a claim with via my travel insurance for the car rental. I’m convinced that either the damage was there from a previous rental OR, more likely, someone else damaged the wheel after the return and Europcar decided to pin it on the last renter, betting that they wouldn’t be able to contest it as I can’t. Europcar did not immediately cooperate with my insurance company to provide the necessary details for card services to issue the check, but eventually did. In the process, even though they knew that this was being handled via claim, Europcar attempted to charge my card (thankfully the charge was blocked automatically by Chase as it was international). The check was issued by the insurance company at the end of November. Europcar continued to harass me via email instead of reaching out to the issuing company directly because they say they hadn't received the check yet. They threatened a collection agency, demanded a stop put on the check, and that the insurance company complete a wire transfer. They continued to refuse to reach out to the insurance company (card benefit services through my credit card) about this. The travel insurance does not do wire transfers as a matter of policy. They put a stop payment on the first check and issued a fresh check in December, assuming the first check was lost. Europcar continued to harass me. I publicly posted my experience on their Facebook page. A representative reached out to me directly claiming that the issue would be dealt with. They opened a case for me and said someone would reach out ASAP. I received many emails apologizing it was taking so long for someone to reach out to me, but no one directly did and I would continue to receive emails of harassment. Finally in February I received confirmation from Europcar's Treasury department via e-mail (and I quote exactly, with the original spelling), "We have requested more information from our trasury dpt. and they confirm that the payment has arrived. We apologize for the inconvenience." TODAY, August 28, 2020, I wake up to an e-mail from a collection agency that Europcar has hired claiming I haven't paid for the supposed damages! I've forwarded the original confirmation of payment FROM EUROPCAR and am considering pursuing legal action, even if it just means having a lawyer deal with the collection agency. The upsetting thing is that a lawyer will cost more than this payment—WHICH WAS MADE! Close to a year from the initial rental, this continues to be an issue. Do not rent from Europcar under any circumstance.

We hired a car for 4 hours and attended a meeting in the city of Brisbane and returned the vehicle 20 minutes early. The vehicle was inspected and all seemed fine. Two weeks later, we were advised that their had taken $434.15 from our credit card claiming a professional cleaning fee and providing a photo of the cup holder with dust in it as evidence. we followed the complaint procedure with three emails over a 30 days period and never received a reply. A week after our final email we were advised they had taken a further $197.00 for management fees. In researching this issue, I discovered that they are doing this all over the world. it's now their business model and you should avoid them at all costs. I have contacted a current affair and sincerely hope they take up the story as the public needs to be warned about this criminal operation masquerading as a legitimate enterprise.

They advertise on their website that they will deliver a car to you, but after making an order I was phoned up by Europcar to cancel the order because they didnt want to review the driver credentials at drop off - SO WHY ADVERTISE THE SERVICE THEN!?!?!?!?

Just wasted my time and now I still have to wait for the refund.!!!!

Rented a minivan this past June from Europcar in Spain. We prepaid for the car back in April and the contract gave specific details and requirements which we complied with. At the time of rental, we decided to add insurance so instead of honoring the previously prepaid contract, they drew a new one with double the charges. On top of that, the initial prepay was NEVER refunded so we ended up paying 3 times the amount. When we tried to resolve the overcharge, Europcar ignores all messages and does NOT respond so now we have to try disputing the charges with the CC company. Lost time and effort that does not warrant the service received from this shady rental car company. Stay AWAY from this car rental company and you will incur heavy loses.

The worst experience with renting a car ever. I was sold a car from Rentalcars.com for 35 dollars. When I arrived I was forced to play 185 dollars for insurance regardless I had insurance both on my card and from Rentalcars.com. This site is a shame and a fraud

I have rented cars from Europcar three times over the past year, once with rentalcars.com and twice with AutoEurope.com. Three times I have been the victim of fraudulent charges. First at Mexico City airport; I was forced to pay $900 for insurance when I had already paid $318 to rentalcars.com for insurance! They refused to rent the car unless I paid them this exhorbitant "insurance" coverage. I fought with rentalcars.com and they agreed to pay $300 in addition to refunding the $318 I paid them 6 months prior. Then at Tenerife South airport in the Canary Islands, I declined insurance, as I already had coverage from my Citibank credit card. I told the agent multiple times that I decllined all coverage. The rental agreement was in Spanish, so I did not understand the language. They charged me nearly 300 Euros anyway! Auto Europe did not come to my aid, so I am no longer using their services as an intermediary. I advise you to use US car rental companies in foreign countries if possible, and to avoid Europcar; I believe that they have a deliberate policy of deceit, knowing that most of time people will just pay rather than fighting the overcharges. Oh, and they also tried to bill me for scratches so small that they did not show up on the photos they sent me. Disgusting...

1. I rented a car from Europcar in Jerusalem... next to the King David Hote. 2.The Car was great... the service lousy, 3. I was not told that the Car was not insured in the West Bank, 4.The guy running the pick up garage has a petrol scam going... You can't take the Car till you sign that you have a full tank. Then when we were on the road we discovered it only had a half tank... when reported the admin did not give a hoot, 5.The return was another hassle which took 2 hours, 6.The guy at the garage couldn't be bothered and was aggressive, barked rather than talked and then it took an hour at the office to get the transaction finished, 7. After return to Australia we noted a further unauthorised removal from our credit card, 8.We paid upfront with a deposit but cannot work out what we were and were not charged and sought clarification from Europcar, 9.At the office when returning the car we were confronted that we damaged the vehicle and a considerable amount was due... after 20-30 minutes of endeavouring to fathom what the delays were about and denying the accusation of extensive damage it was clear that what they were talking about was ademage to a Ford Laexis... we had rented a FIAT, 10. They gave us a Rental contract in English. Upon return they provided documents in Hebrew.We requested the documents in English. They were not available... 11. Endeavouring to resolve the issues seeking clarification we contacted Eupropcar customer Support by Email. Assured of a 5 days reply... its now nearly 2 months after and 31 emails I still have not managed to obtain the information as to money received, dates, and clarification of the issues requested, nor a reconciliation...

Booking Reservation 1120274641

I rented a car from Europcar El Calafate, Argentina. I planned on driving over to Chile for a few days and returning to Argentina. But due to the pandemic break out, Argentina closed their borders and shortly after so did Chile. We had no option but to return the vehicle to the nearest Europcar in Chile, Punta Arenas. Europcar Chile said we should not worry as it is out of everybody's control what is happening, and so it is.

We returned the car earlier than what we would have needed to and flew to Balamaceda, Chile where we rented another car from Europcar for more than a month. We had great service from Europcar Balmaceda with no issues. I have spent a lot of money on renting cars from Europcar and specifically decided to use Europcar due to being an international company. I would have considered smaller companies if I knew that Europcar had the same way of scamming their customers.

Upon my return to the UAE and being able to see my Credit Card Statement I saw a huge amount deducted from my credit card. I queried this with Europcar El Calafate and indeed it was them who deducted
US$1 665 from my Credit Card without authorisation.

This is totally unacceptable.

Nobody can be held responsible for what a government decides to do in these situations. Airlines, Cruise Ships, Hotels all had to refund their customers. How can Europcar just decide on this deduction with no consideration for the situation?

I trust you will consider this situation unpresidented and refund the unauthorised deduction.
I will go to great lengths to make everybody aware of unfair dealings at Europcar if this is not resolved. I work in a big multi national company and will make it known on all our platforms to be aware when dealing with Europcar. All social media outlets will be used to maximise exposure to this as well.

AVOID !
I would strongly advise anyone not to use this company. They took over £120 off me above the rental cost for no reason and I’m having a terrible job getting it back.

Here are my 'Top 10 – Frustrating Europcar Experiences' from a recent six-month rental and they should give you a sense of the reason I definitely wouldn't recommend Europcar...

10.
Waiting to be served (at Heathrow branch) in what seemed like a never-ending queue – as Europcar privilege members jump ahead of ordinary customers (like me) waiting in the queue. I’d be showing on the screen as next to be served and then watch my name drop to 2nd or 3rd place, as privilege members arrived. Nice touch!

9
Entering my local Europcar branch to find nobody at the service desk. Then asking a member of staff outside if anyone was serving, to be told: ‘The girl’s on a cigarette break, she’ll be back soon.’ This one was actually more disbelief than frustration.

8
Calling Europcar to extend my rental over the phone, several times, and each time being told the payment on my debit card had failed. Bear in mind, this is a card I’m using all the time with no problem – it even works fine in Europcar local stations. In most of these instances they extended the rental and told me they’ll take the balance next time I visit the branch, but on the latest occasion I was advised that I couldn’t renew the rental. It was only when I pointed out that there must a problem with their payment system and explained previous agents had allowed me to pay at the branch that they agreed to do the same.

7
Having a Europcar customer service adviser (in Bulgaria) argumentatively insisting I’m not entitled to a five-door car – while I’m looking at my rental confirmation, which clearly states the rental is for a five-door vehicle.

6
Being told by many customer service agents that to call my local branch directly I should ring the branch number and press 3 followed by 2. That's incorrect information. The last time this happened I made clear it has never worked and they checked this and came back to advise me it’s actually 4 that I need to press. I find it hard to believe that so many of the Europcar customer service team are unaware of such basic information. Not being able to call my branch directly wasted large amounts of my time.

5
Getting a Citroen C3 with an infotainment system in French – apparently due to the unit being recently replaced and nobody thinking to change the language. On request, they did change this for me but on my way home I realised both the digital odometer and tripmeter were set to kilometres, rather than miles. I know Europcar is a French company – MAIS OUI – this is England!

4
Discovering the above Citroen had no parcel shelf and so anything I put in the boot was on display to passers-by. I didn’t spot that it was missing until a couple of weeks into the rental and had twice left valuable luggage in the boot – not realising it could be seen. I consider myself very lucky that the car wasn’t broken into.

3
Returning the car with no parcel shelf to my local branch and asking nicely if they could either fit a shelf or give me a replacement vehicle and getting the reply that they had no spare shelf and no other cars in stock to offer me. But then, moments after asking to speak to the site manager (to raise my concerns), being told a car had just been returned and they would get it ready for me right away. An incredible coincidence? Maybe!

2
Having the message COMPOSITE PROTECTION ACTIVATED appear on the car infotainment screen – rendering the unit inoperable. This is apparently a security feature designed to lock the system if someone steals it. Not sure why this one suddenly decided it had been stolen, after several days of working fine, but I messaged the Europcar support team to ask how I address the COMPOSITE PROTECTION ACTIVATED issue. I also explained in my message that I was unable to use any of the screen operations, including the radio. Their reply: ‘Please be advised that according to your rental there is no protection package included.’ I may possibly of considered this quite funny if I wasn't already at my wits' end dealing with Europcar.

1.
On getting a flat tyre, ringing Europcar and being told I was covered for the cost of their breakdown service to come and change the tyre but receiving a bill of over £100 for this service. Then writing to them to contest the charge, due to the incorrect advice I’d been given, and being told they would look into it and get back to me. They didn’t respond and some two months later I discover they’ve put me on a watchlist (a kind of blacklist) for non-payment. I was very concerned about this and rang them to see what was going on. In true Europcar style, they passed me from department to department and then advised me it was now in the hands of an external law firm and I had to take it up with them before I could be removed from the watchlist. So, it jumped from them 'looking into the matter for me' to 'being handled by an external law firm'. I consider that preposterous!

Part 2
Fast forward to Monday, I went to give the car back at 08:20 (please note that all timings are taken from my GPS tracker). Same colleague I spoke to on Wednesday was dealing with another customer. Patiently waiting for 10 min, when he was still with another customer I have asked what is the procedure of returning the car and whether I can just leave the key. He pointed at the hole in the counter where I could put the key through. Again, the lack of customer service skill or simply just thinking amazes me. If there are two customers waiting to give the car back (there was a gentelman behind me) and someone was within the process of renting the car, simple ''I see you're waiting, if its for the return do XYZ.'' I was not given any information what the process was, whether he was supposed to inspect the car or not. From my past experience with car rentals that was always the case. I have taken a few pictures myself. Going back home I didn't know whether I will soon be surprised with an email with a new quote for any scratches or lack of petrol in the car.
On top of that, only this Monday I discovered that not one but TWO payments of £228.64 have been taken from my credit card and another £179 was in my pending transactions (later explained over the phone as assurance/ deposit) taking me over my credit limit that caused overlimit fees on my credit card. I have called customer service around 3 o'clock explaining the situation regarding the double charge and the underage fee. Despite previous experience with your advisor's promises on Wednesday, your representative assured me that another complaint ticket will be raised and someone will get back to me. He did also mention that a lot of people complain and are not happy with the underage charge situation. Working in customer service myself I only assume that such information is not to be sharred with a client.
So from then on it turned out that the £70.02 that was meant to be processed to be refunded, speaking on Wednesday with the customer service representative over the phone as well as the agent over the counter, that was never raised! There had to be a new query put forward for that!

The above reply I received regarding the £70.02 refund answers one of my query but not the rest that I mentioned within this email as well as to the agent on Monday. The issue regarding double payment had not been looked into and recorded as a complaint. Noone informed me what's happening with that money.
I then made 6 further phonecalls today, 06/08/2020, 5 of them disconnected/ hung up in the middle of me explaining my frustration that grew with each call and me repeating the same thing to a different person.
Noone attempted a call back, if the line actually disconnected that is. I have spent most of my afternoon dealing with this issue. I am now typing this email with one hand, as mentioned before, the other one is broken.

The whole experience with Europcar have caused me a lot of stress as well as financial loss for the credit card and phone bill, wasted time when picking up the car, dealing with numerous phone calls and delaying my travel. I am now looking not only for explanation and refund regarding the (double) charges for the car but also a compensation for the aforementioned. If at any point on Wednesday, or even Monday, this was rectified and raised properly, I am sure we would not be in this situation.

I am looking forward to your reply to the above.

We rented a car for 7 days at Krakow airport, Poland, and brought it back after 2 days (we had to return because of the COVID outbreak). We obviously accepted to pay for the full 7 days as we knew our rent was non-refundable. However, the man at the rental office claimed we had made 2 scratches at the front of the car (not noticeable, underneath). When we rented the car, the man wrongly indicated the scratches at the backside. We even allowed Europcar to check the cam recordings made in the office to prove we were right, but alas, they insisted on paying for the "damage". As they had blocked an amount on our credit card, we sadly had no choice. We have been renting cars for over 30 years all through Europe and the US, and never had any complaint. This is our first time that a rental company lied and treated us as criminals. Stay away from Europcar, they are dishonest people.

Booking: With europcar HQ, we settled on a car where I specifically mentioned I need both unlimited mileage as well as super collision damage waiver.

Picking up car (early March): Initially, staff went through the contract (in Dutch) with me. I noticed it did not include both the insurance and the mileage. The staff reprinted the contract and it included the mileage. As for the insurance, when I asked explicitly about it, the staff mentioned that since the booking was handled by the Europcar sales office, it will be in their system. I should mention that this was on a weekend morning with no other customer in the office, so there is no stress / busy circumstances that could have distracted otherwise. Took a 700 euros deposit. At this point, I want to take full responsibility for not ensuring that the insurance was not put on the contract I signed.

Returning car: We returned the car with a scratch (to be specific, it was around 6cm, light scratch with no dent on the left rear panel). We asked for a photo to be taken for documentation purposes and one was taken and logged into their system. At the counter, we were told that we were not covered by any insurance unlike what was mentioned at the start. We were briefed on what would happen that the damage would be repaired and I would be charged off my deposit with the excess returned to me in 4 weeks. I also asked specifically about how much they thought this scratch would cost to repair, they told me they were unsure (acceptable) but said it would be nowhere near the entire 700 euro deposit. I signed a few forms, accepting the "there's nothing we can do. contact Europcar since they are the ones who promised you the insurance" line and left. In the same scenario, I was the only customer so no busy store to blame the entire situation on.

4 weeks after returning the car:
No follow-up action. I called on a weekly basis, always being promised that they would look into it and that I would receive a call back. With the exception of one call back at the final stages, I was always the one calling to check in after no contact was made pass their own deadline (e.g "I will make sure that I call you by the end of this week". )

Car as well as the pick up/drop off process was good.

After 8 weeks, I was then asked to fill in a damage form (that we were not told to fill in when we were physically at the store but apparently was missed out during the process)
I was also then told that the car we rented was SOLD and not with them. So they sold the car away without settling any outstanding damages and returning deposits back to customers?

9 weeks (end of April): I followed up again and was now told that the initial picture was not clear and had to wait for a final repair cost to know how much I would get back from my deposit.

This weekly calling and being promised that someone who look into it or that they were pending some other information continued. In the words of one of the staff that I talked to here: "This is not right, I wouldn't want anything like this to happen to me as well".

May End -> News that repair was going to happen and I would only pay for what I damaged even though this repair was very late. It was also during this period that I raised up my issue with their customer service HQ. The excuse that was given to me was that this long waiting time was due solely to the corona situation and that I would still bear the full cost. I just received my deposit and am hence writing in this review.

This was tiring and honestly the worst car rental experience that I have had. It's one thing to charge exorbitant repair costs (many companies do) but to take a customer who consistently communicates with you and drag out the process: that's something I think is clearly in

The clerk informed me that there would be a charge for a deposit which would later be returned on card#1. The rental amount was supposed to be put onto card#2. Months later I still have a charge on card#1 AND card#2. I filed a dispute on charge#1 and my bank informed me that Europcar sent documents detailing my authorization for the charge so there was nothing that could be done. I did not authorize any amount beyond the $150 deposit to be placed on the card. Europcar falsified documents to withhold over $500 on a $380 rental. I highly suggest you warn any friends or family to avoid using this company at all costs, even if they appear cheaper at first they will cost more with fraudulent charges.