EconomyCarRentals has a rating of 1.6 stars from 305 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about EconomyCarRentals most frequently mention credit card, customer service, and full insurance problems. EconomyCarRentals ranks 223rd among Car Rental sites.
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I have rented cars from EconomyCarRentals on many locations over many years. Everything has always worked very fine indeed - also the rare time og maybe two, when something unexpected happened. I can very much recommend this company both regarding very good prices and overall service:-)
Don't forget that EconomyCarRentals is a broker who finds available car rental companies among the rental companies. Their policy when a rental is changed in one way or another (e.g. Arriving late) is very broad and allows them to practically let you down and run off with your deposit regardless of the reason. If your flight or your ferry arrived late that's your problem. This is what happened to me. As I arrived more than 30 minutes late, the company treated this as a "no show", therefore when I arrived, my car was no longer available (for a 4 days rental!) and I was left to my own devices and without a car with all my luggage. I contacted EconomyCarRentals and was lectured that I should have notified them of my delay and that my deposit was lost. So please don't do business with them! Instead, deal directly with the rental company rather than a broker!
I recently booked a car through this company online for 4 days at Knock Airport.
The cost was a reasonable €105. For peace of mind I took out the insurance at about €10 per day. On arriving at the airport to pick up the car and realising at that point that economy car rentals is only an agent the company who actually gave me a car told me that the insurance was utterly useless and so I had to pay for insurance again. Advice - stay clear.
Poor poor service and communication. After the booking you will get nothing more from them. Especially if there is any issues. The Comprehensive full insurance is a scam and you have to wait weeks for feedback where they just pass the buck and look for a way out.
The Rental Company says deal with insurance company and economy car rentals says deal with the rental company. It's pathetic to say the least. Never using them again
Tip for consumers:
Don't use them at all
Stick to reputable companies and not middlemen agents
Products used:
Car rental
Dear Tahir J.,
Thank you for your comments.
Please advise your voucher number in order to check this issue raised further. Alternatively, please send an e-mail to customerservice@economycarrentals.com
Thank you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
Watch out, this is a distribution agency to clickrent.es one of the worse rated car rental companies in Ibiza. I had a really bad experience with them, took me 2 hours to get the car keys from them: huge queues, horrible customer service and even worse, it's not an airport service as advertised
I had a really negative experience with…
I had a really negative experience with this company.
Firstly, they failed to provide clear information about their card requirements. I was not informed that only a Credit Card would be accepted, and as I was traveling in Poland, I did not have a credit card with me. Despite having another type of card, their partners refused to assist me in getting a car. Consequently, I wasted several hours in negotiations and had to search for an alternative car rental service.
Furthermore, this company deducted money even though they did not provide the service I had paid for.
After all they even do not care regarding my report and have not answered yet ( 2 weeks passed)
Dear Dmitriy H.,
Thank you for your comments.
A valid credit card in the name of the main driver is required as guarantee for the rental as stated under the terms and conditions available during the booking procedure, in the confirmation voucher and also in the confirmation e-mail.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
They pose themselves as a car rental company but they are not. When you contact them they charge you a deposit which you think is going to go towards your car rental. After you pay they connect you with one of the major car rental companies which you could book with directly anyway. They give you the impression that your deposit goes towards your car rental. But it doesn't. When you go to pick up your car from the real rental company they take the full whack. You say but I have already paid a deposit of £78 equivalent to US$95. And they say no that was a fee you paid to EconomyCarRentals. This is not part of the rental fee. But this also means that the real car rental companies are just as crooked because they know it is a scam but a scam that is useful to them and they deal with clients through it.
Received a very low cost rental but was forced to pay more than 2 times the rental rate for car insurance despite having my own proof of insurance. When I got there, they wanted to charge me $38/day for insurance when the car rental was only $17/day. Proof of insurance (insurance card) wasn't enough, they wanted to see a specific page of your actual 30-page insurance contract. Who carries these things with them? Cancelling your rental comes with a whole new set of problems like not being able to take their shuttle back to the terminal. "The shuttle is for paying customers only." Cars are also very worn and damaged. Be prepared to see not just scratches but broken lights and hear strange sounds when turning wheel. Worse car rental experience ever.
Rented a 7 seater for trip, arrived late evening to pick up to be told car was not available due to being involved in an accident earlier that day - they claimed to have texted me about this/never received text.
They had made no effort to get a replacement and when confronted, could not answer why. I pushed them to try other agencies around them, eventually got a larger vehicle/all we could find with 7 seats, had to pay £200 more and when discussed with ECR rep on phone, was told difference would be sorted when got back to UK. Vehicle we got was 9 seater and like driving a bus, and for the windy roads in the Nice mountains, totally inappropriate and ruined the holiday. When got back to UK, argued to get money back, despite numerous emails, was never sorted and told they couldn't offer difference, despite what was told. Absolute shower of idiots with no customer service. Do not use these clowns, they are not interested in looking after customers.
I had a small damage on the Seychelles, left side scratched, 150 paid to the local car rentals company when I gave the car back. My interlocutress, Ms Lena. M, at ECR refunded that amount on my bank account yesterday, after having received all the required documents. I had a franchise coverage.
She has been very reactive and efficient. Thank you.
Firstly: I made a reservation three months in advance at about $275 USD. Three weeks before I was to leave, relying on the car for our driving tour of the country, the care rental company associated with Economy Car Rental, went out of business (Imagine that!). I was too that they went bankrupt (Economy Car Rental is in Greece, apparently... so stay away until they figure out their economic situation!). I needed a car, so stupid me asked them to make it. The price went up to over $500USD! Imagine. Need to file suit, for sure.
Secondly and finally: Everything with this company is via the web. No phone calls, no direct contact! Had a minor accident while finishing our tour of the country, and... lo and behold I have to send all of the record, via SNAIL MAIL (!) to Greece. Imagine how long that would take and the extraordinary possibility that (oops) we never received your documents."
The website was misleading, there was no mention of what you will actually need to rent the actual car. They simply turn you away if you don't have what is needed, rather than indicating that online before the purchase. But the whole gimmick is to let you go through the hassle anyway and they will either keep your reservation payment or charge you for cancelling - yet cancelling was not even your option to begin with. All I wanted was an economical way to rent a car, instead you get an economical kick in the in know what. Its utterly disrespectful and corporate should be ashamed of themselves. WHile i was in line i saw 2 other cutomers go through the same difficultities! Poor taste of a company and service!
Tip for consumers:
The way the service is set up they clearly do not value customers.
Products used:
CAR RENTAL
I have been a loyal customer of EconomyCarRental for over 10 years. I have always rented a car with full coverage insurance and this is the first time I had to file an insurance claim for quite minor damages that I have paid in full two months ago. Customer service claim they are still "checking the case" since September, even though I provided all the relevant documentation right away. In the meantime, the money is nowhere to be seen. They also stopped answering my emails for the past week.
Dear Reut A,
Thank you for your comments.
Our claims team is checking this issue raised with the local supplier and you will be informed via e-mail.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
I have been renting from Economy car rentals for many years. I have rented with them in most countries of Europe, the USA and Canada. I never had a problem with my rental. It has always been the least expensive rental and amazingly the insurance fees were always significantly lower than any other offerings. The only thought is that in case of damage/accident they will bill your card up to the excess amount, while the car company insurance will wave that also. This excess amount is refunded by Economy Car Rentals. In my last rental I had a small damage on the car front. I was charged by the rental company for it, but thanks to the excess insurance I had from Economy Car Rentals I got reimbursed to the penny. I am very happy with it and will continue renting from them.
I believe a car rental experience should be quick, smooth and not special in any way... And that's exactly what I got. The pickup was easy (I changed the meeting location without any problem). The representative arrived slightly ahead of time, the whole thing took around 10 minutes and I got the car. Same goes for the return. Thanks
After booking I called the rental agent to see if it was booked and while it IS, it is not at the price I reserved. About 25% more. Illegal BAIT AND SWITCH... I get there, I have to pay more because what are my options at that point. I try to let the company know in advance, see if they will answer to this fraud... the number they provide does not work. I send and email - the email says they will not respond for 10-15 days due to high volume (they must be the busiest company on the internet!) and they provide a live chat link that is also bogus. Complete fraud. There should be some way to hold businesses like this accountable for their illegal activity.
Dear Rental c.
Thank you for your review and for giving us the opportunity to respond to you.
We have contacted you via private message to investigate this case further.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
Rented car from Toronto airport through Expedia and had terrible experience. Directions to phone for shuttle produced recording and had to figure out how to connect and get to their remote location. Then VERY unexpected additional insurance charges of $11.95 per day. Very sleezy outfit. Would never rent from them again.
Dear Lola H.,
Thank you for your comments.
We are an agency cooperating with car rental companies and not Expedia.
Your booking was not created via our website www.economycarrentals.com
Please redirect your review to the correct company profile.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
I made an online booking on this Website.
It was fully confirmed and I had a voucher.
When I arrived to rent my car, the local rental company told me that they didn't have a car available for me at the Airport.
Don't use this company
In Kuala Lumpur, half the money for the rental was deducted from my card the instant I tried to book the car. Then I get an email giving me a reference number. But if I go to their site using their reference number I get the message that the booking hasn't been confirmed yet. Then the email evaporated into thin air. I feel totally stung. Don't touch this company.
Choose another rental company. I paid 54 euros to reserve a car. They gave me a phony number in Plaza de Espana. Actually instead of number 1 it was 3 which happened to be a Sixt rental. They did not consider the money I paid and charged me for the full rental. A real rip off.
Products used:
Car rental
They quote rental prices in sterling. Take an upfront amount in Euros and then you have to pay in Dollars at the car hire rental desk when you go to pick up the car.
The car price quoted started at £175.00 and I ended up paying £224.00 due to the exchange rates that I was not aware of.
I have emailed them for an explanation but to no avail.
Very misleading.
While driving in Sicily we had a small accident. Dropping the car off we had to pay for damages. But when we filed for insurance, ECR was terrific. And there was no delays, piles of paperwork or long wait. In fact, they were very specific about the documents to be filed. Friendly. Business-like. Approved and re-imbursed. Thank you for leaving every memory of our trip a good one! Choosing ECR was the best!
I waited 45 minutes go get my car even though they had 3 agents at the counter. They forced me to purchase liability insurance at $15 per day even though I carry insurance but did not have my card on me. I offered to have them call my agent and even try the web site for my insurer, but they refused. I've never had that problem at any other car rental agency.
Even if you opt for the variant without insurance, their website will automatically select the variant with full insurance and a deposit of 600 eur.
When you try to cancel the reservation, you are asked for 50 euros.
Obviously, the company cannot be contacted by phone.
It's just a fraud system
When I plan my vacation, I shouldn't need a lawyer to protect me from implicit options that defraud me,
Nor should I beware of unethical practices of the operators I use.
All I want to say is that you are a company that I do not recommend under any circumstances because of the misleading practices.
Dear Calin R.,
Thank you for your comments.
During the booking procedure there is the option to proceed with the inclusion of our service or with its exclusion.
At the final step of the booking procedure the price breakdown is stated.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
Booked a car with economy car rental from UK. Pick up location was sofia bulgaria.
Car was booked for T1 but we were told to come to T2 by shuttle bus service.
After getting to the counter at T2 of easy car rental company I was told they do not accept my extra insurance and wanted to charge my €33 per day.
I refunded to pay that amount and told them I will take the car as I have my proof of the extra insurance which I paid to economy car, they told me all the big cost which are not covered in my extra insurance as well they WILL FIND something from the car when I will return to them.
I was alerted after this comment and didn't go ahead the the rental.
It took me almost 2 month to get my money back.
Our holidays plans needed to change as I didn't get any other car rented.
Dear Atif H.,
Thank you for your comments.
Could you please advise your voucher number in order to check this issue raised further?
Thank you for your kind response.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
This October, I rented a car in Malaga through ECR and purchased the insurance from them. Unfortunately, someone had made two scratches on the vehicle during the renting period.
I filed a claim to ECR and eclosed all the documents I had. After a week or so, I got an answer that they will refund only half of the request due to two incidents. Their insurance policy covers only one episode.
We had three weeks of emails back and forth, where I have included emails from their employees before renting the car, and they didn't mention about only one incident. I asked them to connect me with their supervisor, but it looks like they just ignored these messages again and again.
Finally, they made a payment of only half of my claim. So be aware when purchasing the insurance from EconomyCarRentals - it may work, not the way it is supposed to.
Dear Radik Adiulin,
Thank you for your review and for giving us the opportunity to respond to you.
At EconomyCarRentals, our primary aim is to provide friendly, efficient service. We provide for this reason the terms and conditions of each offer and service online before and after the booking is made.
In this case, the terms and conditions requested are available online at the link below:
https://www.economycarrentals.com/en-us/information/terms
The information requested is mentioned in the paragraph "*Typical Exclusions for CDW (Collision Damage Waiver)" where is mentioned:
EconomyCarRentals will only compensate the customer up to the excess amount. In case a customer has multiple (two or more) damage incidents during the hire period, only one excess coverage/compensation will be provided by EconomyCarRentals (up to maximum excess amount).
In this case, there were two separate scratches, on the right side and on the rear side, signifying that two incidents occurred.
Kind regards,
EconomyCarRentals.com
Economy car rentals advertise themselves as finding the best deal for car rental, but this is absolutely not the case. They take a commission so it's cheaper to rent directly with the car rental company. The commission Economy car rentals charges the customer, is not clear at all when you do the booking. You will see the charge later on in your visa and when you asked them, they send you an invoice post booking. It was not mentioned either that they charge you in euros and not in $ to your visa.
It's impossible to contact them by phone. The communication is all done by email and they take several day to over a week to answer.
I had a very bad experience and it costs us 200$ more than if we would have directly rented the car from Alamo car rental... Economy car rentals charged a fee but no special service was received that justified the fee.
Dear Brendan S.
Thank you for the review and for giving us the opportunity to respond to you.
We would like to thank you for using our services and we wish if you had contacted us to assist you as our call center operates 24/7 for your convenience.
Further to your case, we would like to state that the reservation included our refundable protection. The Theft and Damage Excess Refundable package/service is a service to refund/cover the excess amount in case of an accident or theft. In the unhappy event of an accident, the station would charge you the excess and we would refund it. According to the Conditions, the driver had to present his/ her credit card for the rest of the payment and a guarantee of the car. The deposit would be reserved at the time of collection and it would be released at the end of the rental period if there was no issue. The amount of excess in reference to your request was 2000 EUR.
The station may offer insurances to waive the excess that you could decline since our service was taken and there was no need to purchase additional insurances unless other arrangements were made or the driver didn't provide a valid credit card with enough funds for the payment and the deposit.
Once again we would like to thank you for the review and should you require further information, don't hesitate to contact us.
Kind Regards
EconomyCarRentals.com