Europcar

I an posting this review after having written to Europcar a few days ago and gotten no reply. We rented out a car from Europcar in Italy in the morning. At night we realized that the headlamp on the driver's side did not work, as we were basically driving in very little light. This means that we could have easily bern involved in an accident due to poor lighting. We contacted Europcar and were told to take our car back to the airport (2hrs away) to have it towed and replaced. This was ridiculous, since we would have wasted a whole day. In the end we just had it replaced, obviously incurring expenses and wasting time. Another health and safety hazard was that the fuel gauge dis not work. This meant that when we paid money to refill a tank which was supposedly almost empty, we wasted a substantial amount of money because the tank was indeed almost full. The owner of the petrol station was not there, so we could not get refunded.
Apart from the waste of time money, Europcar, you should be ashamed of yourselves for not checking cars before you rent them out.

We rented a nice car at Fiumicino airport, and had used Expedia to pre-pay and book. On arrival to pick up the car at the Europcar counter the clerk asked if I'd like to add my wife to the reservation. I said no, I will be the only one driving. He said there is no charge, it is free, you should add her in case she needs to drive. I asked him to make sure that the additional drive was free, which he again confirmed in plain English and my wife heard him say so twice. We gave him the documents he requested and went on our way. On returning the car they didn't give me a receipt. I found that odd so I asked the clerk for a receipt and waited in line for one. A rude and nasty attendant there then said 80 Euros. We looked at her confused and asked her to clarify. She said we owed her that because of the additional driver we requested. We attempted to explain what had transpired and she kept raising her voice and smirking and laughing about our situation to the other members of the staff. We have never been so disrespected in our lives. We will never be doing business with these people again, and that woman at the Rome airport is just the definition of evil. We hope she is able to sleep ok at night with the way she treats others.

I rented a car from Europcar Italy through Expedia in June 2023 for eight days. When I went to pick up the car at Milan Linate Airport, the lady at the Europcar counter asked how many people were travelling and I said four. She talked me into upgrading to a larger car saying it would only be an extra 10 euro per day. After I returned the car, I received a bill for €464. This was for extra taxes and fee for the upgrade. I was not impressed.
Two months later I am told I am being charged €98 for damage to a wheel rim that I didn't do. I handed the keys to an agent and had bought the full coverage from them so I told Europcar Customer Service that It was two months since I rented the car and the damage could have been done by anybody that rented the car in Summer 2023 from June through mid-August. I told Europcar Customer Service that even if I did do the damage, I bought full coverage from them. Their reply was that the €98 was for administrative fees due to the damage. Do not rent a car from Europcar Italy as they will charge your credit card for anything they can think of after your rental.

Was presented a car with 3/4 tank asking me to sign for a full tank, claiming the tank was full but as it was a Renault, the gauge was faulty.!? Stupidly I fell for this nonsense and went straight to a petrol station and guess what? The tank was nowhere near full. Took the car back after the r. Ental and gave it back with way more. Fuel in than when I got it only to be verbally abused by an aggressive and surly agent calling me a liar and insisting I should have put even more fuel in it. So. They wanted me to pay for the fuel not put in by the previous client and threatened to charge me. So... claims the car they gave me was faulty and I should be able to see inside a fuel tank to work out how much fuel is in the wretched car. Said if they did charge that there would be consiequences and after a very aggressive conversation whilst I'm trying to board a flight eventually accepted their conduct was a long way short of ok... First and last time I will use this awful company. Please go elsewhere. I have rented around forty times in Ljubljana and every time car hire companies have been absolutely charming and helpful... but not Europcar. Simply dreadful... There should be a zero star rating..

If you did not get mugged on the back roads of the Dominican Republic, don't worry, Europcar will do that very well upon your return to the airport.
These are trained hustlers: from refusing to accept CDI sold by Expedia to sell their own at stratospheric prices (much more than the actual daily rental) or threaten to tag your credit card for the replacement cost of the car, just in case. Then when you get to the car, the tank is empty and they say: just bring it back empty. I always considered that to be a hustle because you never know how empty is empty with a car you have never seen before. So first thing you have to do, leaving the airport, is locate a gas station, QUICK.
So we brought the car back empty but that was TOO EMPTY for them and they charged us $37 to raise the needle one line, no matter how much we argued. We were running out of time to catch our plane and to be resigned that these guys were going to get us.
Please, don't just look at the daily rental rate with these guys, because they are well trained to SCREW people and they know how to have it their way. I've been traveling all over the world for over 40 years, this is the worst car rental experience yet.
PLEASE STAY AWAY from them!

During the check-in process with a prepaid voucher I was asked if I could drive an automatic. Saying yes was considered a "Customer Requested Upgrade" and was charged extra.

I have been treated horribly by europcar at Glasgow Airport. Everyone person in the line was treated badly by this older lady. On approaching the desk I was greeted by a grumpy and unfriendly member of staff who clearly didn't enjoy her job at all. She claimed she couldn't find my address on her system and then asked to see proof of address. I showed 4 different pieces of paperwork via the phone and she wouldn't accept any of them. I had my passport, driving licence and credit card in my name. She was so unhelpful and clearly didn't actively want any of her customers to drive away in a hire car yet I was charged for the car. I am now fighting for a refund but unlikely to get it. Horrid service, unfriendly lady and not keen to actually help people. I think this is a scam that they have as no other car hire company do this address check anymore! Only europcar it seems. Be careful! They will ask you for bank bills etc. She then went on to say she wasn't going to give me a car because I was "shouting at her". I absolutely was not, I am shocked. Avoid this car hire folks unless they change their polices. I am shocked. I drove off 3 hours later in an enterprise car and the staff were so useful and supportive. I thank them for their compassion and easy service.

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...

They do not honor quoted prices and hit you with shady claims for damage. Do not use them! When you complain, they just ignore you.

I have rented from them 2 times in London UK and the cars were clean and serviceable, the staff were very friendly and accommodating and the transaction was painless.

I rented a car from Europcar Sicily in june through their online website. I wanted C3 diesel, but was given C3 gas version which has higher consumption. Their first scamming atempt was in their office in Palermo, where their employee said that I have basic insurance, even though I took full insurance online. After returning car, other employee signed a document with me wich stated that the car was without a scratch and initiated deposit return (so she claimed at the time). But even after 2 months, I still didn't get my deposit. I have reached their customer support several times asking for a deposit refund. One of their responses claimed that refund was issued, but the card issuer probably still didn't released funds to me. Then I asked for payment confirmation, so I could raise a issue with card issuer, but they never send me one and stopped responding to my inquiries. Probably because they still, after two months, didn't refunded me. One of the reasons why I chose Europacar is because they are big company, well established and I thought that we wouldn't have that kind of problems. I actually paid more (they are not the cheapest rentacar on the market) for that security, but was left disappointed nevertheless.

My Wife and I flew from Toronto/Canada to London England summer 2019. I had booked a car through sell off vacations website which uses "car trawler" to reserve and supposedly pay for a car with Eurocar. I paid for my reservation in full while in Canada prior to our trip and received my confirmation stating paid in full and ZERO dollar balance upon arrival. Upon arrival I was told that was just a deposit and didn't really count. The car I reserved was not available. I was fine with that except I was charged $800 + for an "upgrade" which looked like an equivalent to me. After stating my case, Europcar and Car Trawler both responded basically with "oh well" leaving me well out of pocket. We are now booking a trip to Germany this August 2020 and while looking to book a car, Europcar came up as an option and I happily moved on!
Seems there are some positive reviews and some not in regards to Europcar, mine obviously is not and I shall NEVER rent from them again... ONCE BITTEN...

Peter Neuschild.

This is a brief write up of my experience of hiring a Europcar at Gatwick Airport. On arriving at the rental office I informed the agent I was there to pick up my hire car and that I did not require any extra insurance other than what my credit card covered. Agent informed me that I must get a written confirmation from TD Bank in Canada to avoid a premium insurance charge being added. This I did but then I was charged $700 at the end of my rental for extra insurance that I did not require. Reading other reviews it seems that other people have fallen for this SCAM. I strongly advise to use other mainstream Hire companies and give these crooks a miss. They take the money from your credit card and there is little you can do about it. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS THERE ARE BETTER CHOICES OUT THERE. I am a Canadian Citizen and on all my visits to the UK from arriving at the airport it seems that everybody is trying to Rip you off! But Europcar with their French staff have no integrity and no regard for customer service. On the plus side their cars are clean and spotless but make no mistake they are CROOKS and SCAMMERS

This branch went over and above the customer service levels expected. The staff were extremely helpful and I will definitely use them again. Thankyou

Hi,

I just returned from Pisa last month and wanted to relay a bad experience I had with Europcar. Everything was fine until I returned the car on the 25th of September and the attendant noticed a tiny dent on the side of the slit where the key goes into the passenger side door, not enough to impair the use of the key mind you. In fact the dent was so small he had to point it out with his little finger! In any case I was using the key fob button all week to lock and unlock the door so it was not damage that I caused (who uses the key anymore these days?). Regardless you could say I was responsible, fine. It's just that I got the sense they were 'nit-picking' and trying to find any way possible to charge me extra (and they did, in the end what started off as a €218 rental ended up being a €540 rental!).

Unfortunately my bad experience didn't end there. After being asked to sign 'something' (which turned out to be an admission of fault which was not explained to me in any way before signing), I asked for a final receipt and the attendant told me that was 'not possible' and that one would be emailed to me. Basically it felt like they were hiding the fact that they were going to charge me extra and hoping that I would only find out after I got home. Eventually after asking several times he told me that I could get a copy if I go to the main building. Luckily I still had time before my flight (probably another planned tactic). Only when I went to the main building (and waited in line once again) did I find out what my final bill would be.

When I wrote a complaint to Europcar,... no response. To be honest I've rented with Europcar before and had no problems,... I suspect that it's only the Pisa branch that's pulling these aggressive tactics,...

Terry

Beware, if you need to make any adjustments to your reservation, better not do it online. I learned the hard way. Had convertible reserved for 2 months to be picked up at Avignon train station, went online to update pick up and drop off times because it says in the contract if you don't pick up/drop off on time you will be charged 95 euros or full booking price. Once i adjusted the times, the system subsequently canceled my original reservation and created new one, which all seemed ok since all the information was the same (car, dates, pick up/drop off location). That is until i received an email saying that my reservation cannot be confirmed because the car is not available. WTH? I had that car reserved for 2 months! Spend next two days calling all the customer service numbers i could find, spending money on international calls. London customer service seemed to be the most helpful one, but even they couldn't get through to the agency in France to try and fix the situation. No one answers the phone there ever and there is no direct email to try and get in touch with the train station branch. BTW, sent 2 email inquiries online as well through the website, no response to either one. London customer service told me that this is not the first time they see it. Train station branch most likely didn't have the car in their possession and would've had to source it from somewhere else (makes me wonder if i would've had the car on arrival at all if i didn't make any adjustments to the reservation), so when i updated the reservation and the original one got canceled, they took it as an opportunity to get out of the arrangement. There was zero warning online that that could happen and didn't really cross my mind because it seems so ludicrous. After all that i had to reserve a car elsewhere and since it is now so close to my travel date finding the convertible was impossible. Conclusion: would not recommend.

We had a vehicle rented in France through our Travel Agency. The rental paperwork indicated we would be getting a Toyota Corella or similar vehicle. When we arrived for our pick up at the Lyon train station we were advised that we would get a Volkswagen small SUV. We were never informed there would be an additional charge. The agent showed us a document and advised us to initial it in two places and sign it at the bottom. We assumed it was normal paperwork and since we were never advised of an addional charge we signed it. When we returned the car in Paris we again were never advised of an additional charge. The following day, conveniently when we were on our way back to the states we received an email indicating an additional charge for "Service Equipment" in the amount of $120.19. When I contacted Europcar customer service they advised us it was because we requested an upgrade from our original vehicle and that was the additional charge. After several useless emails advising we NEVER requested an upgrade or a different vehicle we were basically told we were lying as the agent that checked us in for our rental advised we DID request a larger car. Their agents will trick you into signing documents to scam you out of more money. PLEASE DO NOT RENT FROM EUROPCAR. After reading more detail on the company they are owned by Volkswagon, who has been scamming and lying to their customers for years.

Don't rent from these scammers! Europcar cheated us badly, and there seems no easy way to recover the $355 additional charges they forced on us!

At 8:30am on Jan 17 2023 we wanted to pickup our Europcar rental CTW*******, in Huatulco, Mexico. I spent over an hour arguing with a Europcar employee and finally the station manager, as they insisted that I have to buy their own CDW insurance if I want the car. I showed them a letter from my Chase credit card company that I already have CDW/LDW, they didn't care. They gave me the choice to leave without the rental (cancellation charges would occur), or pay over $693 for their own CDW. After arguing with the highest manager in the office, I had to pay for their CDW, which he discounted to $355.08. This still more than doubled our cost of the small and pretty dirty rental car!

It's not the fault of their employees, but a corrupt company that forces their people to sell add-ons. They ignore their own T&Cs, which I had printed out and read out loud to them. They force unnecessary insurance on you at pick-up. At rental return, they try to charge for pre-existing damages to the car. So, if you really must rent from this absolutely dishonest company, make sure you take excellent pictures of the inside and outside of the car. I saw other renters going through the same ordeal, so this seems their standard practice. My recommendation is to stay away from these scammers, you'll pay dearly if you don't. Cheaters!

Tip for consumers:
Go look elsewhere for a reputable car rental company.

BTW, I contacted them under mx_customersupport at europcar, but they didn't bother to respond.

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...