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Rentalcars.com

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Overview

Rentalcars.com has a rating of 1.1 stars from 1,140 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Rentalcars.com most frequently mention customer service, credit card, and cancellation fee problems. Rentalcars.com ranks 240th among Car Rental sites.

  • Service
    378
  • Value
    354
  • Shipping
    193
  • Returns
    263
  • Quality
    308
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 3.3%
Positive
1
Neutral
0
Negative
29
View ratings trends
128
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How would you rate Rentalcars.com?
Top Positive Review

“Very good”

James M.
12/25/19

Used rentalcars.com on my vacation to the UK. They were great and went above and beyond to make sure I was a happy customer Will use them again

Date of experience: 12/24/19
See positive reviews
Top Critical Review

“Deposit hasn't paid back on time”

Deren I.
10/25/23

We haven't received any payback yet. It has been 17 days that we returned the car. I have never have such problem with other companies. I will certainly not recommend this company to anyone. Their explanation was not enough and didn't satisfy. I have all rights to write about this awful experience to online comments in every car hire platform..

Date of experience: 10/25/23
See critical reviews

Reviews (1,140)

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

credit card (199) customer service (228) car company (90) debit card (43)
Thumbnail of user cherishh6
Germany
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 25th, 2021
Verified purchase

After a problem with the first rental I made, that was made out to be my fault when they gave the car away to someone else, I made another reservation that was very expensive at the airport where I waited for over two hours for the other car. I go inside to check for the desk inside the airport that the reservation says is there and there is no desk for this car rental service in the airport. After talking to the other car rental agencies (that had no cars available) I find out that the company that I booked through rental cars is no longer in service after COVID. I did not receive any car, had to find a way from a tiny airport in the middle of nowhere into a city to book a third rental (not through rental cars). I made an enquirer and requested a refund and was told that it would be processed in 28 days. After 38 days and I was still not refunded so I called their customer service AGAIN and they said it will be another 2-3 weeks until I will see a refund. 54 days since the booking and still no refund! So all together I paid rental cars almost 700 euro and never got a car from them and haven't seen a refund! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Tip for consumers:
DO NOT USE THIS SITE.

Products used:
NONE! I attempted to rent a car but never received one.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: August 25, 2021

Thumbnail of user alessandroo14
GB
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 3rd, 2021

I had a booking through rentalcars.com for a car in Cagliari airport.
Unfortunately the original flight that I booked had been cancelled, so I had to book a flight with another company, which will have arrived to the airport later. I tried to call europcar in Sardinia to let them know, but all operators were busy so couldn't get through, and left a voice message, as automatic reply was suggesting to do, to let them know.
Well I have arrived at the rentalcar, and the office was closed, at 7:15pm, in an airport. I asked informations at another rental car office, and they advise they closed at 6:30pm. Considering all other rental offices were open, I was a bit in shock. I called than the rentalcars.com number, but for a technical issue I couldn't get through.
I called rentalcars.com the morning after, and they told me is my fault I didn't show up for my reservation ( please note as well, they ask your details when booking, including the flight number, which was correct, so they knew I was going to be late), and I need to pay £400. The most ridiculuous situation I have ever found myself in, they ruined my holidays.

Date of experience: September 3, 2021

Thumbnail of user matana
Israel
1 review
2 helpful votes
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September 1st, 2016

I order a rental car on site at a local agency called caldera in corfu, I paid 800$ and i never received the car saying my driver license is not accepted in greece. After checking with the local police i found that this was not true but still they refused to give me my rental car and had to rent a new car at a budget agency (which had no issue with accepting the israeli driver license) i never saw my 800$ back nor the car. I called rentalcars.com three times waited over 3 hours total for a customer service but they never answered the phone i am not sure that they even really have customer service representative. I only got a short reply to my email saying that i was refused the car due to missing documents and thats it they never replied to my other emails since and never got my money i also had to pay extra for 3 long distance calls to their customer service which as i said never reached a live person. DONT USE THIS SERVICE JUST RENT A CAR WHEN YOU GET TO YOUR DESTINATION IT IS SAFER AND MUCH CHEAPER!

Date of experience: September 1, 2016

Thumbnail of user emtwix
GB
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 20th, 2023
Verified purchase

Boy, where do I start. We where having a father/son trip around Europe on motorbikes as I had not seen my dad for over 3 years when we had one of our motorbikes stolen on Naples. Because of this we had to quickly sort out a one way rental car to get back home asap, sadly this booking was through rentalcars.com. When we arrived at Avis they did not accept the form of ID given (our bad) and informed us that we had to contact rentalcar.com to sort out putting another driver name on the policy. We got onto them and asked to put our second diver on the policy - to which they said that we would have to cancel the current booking and then create a new booking under the new driver name, then wait over 2 hours for that booking to go through to then pick up the car - which we had to agree to. Finally when going through this process the lady on the line then informs us that they DO NOT have a single car available for our allotted time period (even though we were lead to believe they did. And through talking to Avis they did have several of our exact cars available) and that we would have to wait for even longer or hang up and book another car online? As what she can see versus what's on line is different? Like what? Anyway as we were quickly running out of time and rentalcars.com were being no help we had to cancel. Now due to the fact we did not even step foot in a rental car and we had to cancel as they could not provide a car for us it was a bit of a rude shock when we were informed that they would only be refunding 1 out of the 4 days even though they could not provide us a car. Taking 900 euro for effectively doing nothing (must be the most profitable business model I've ever heard of), especially in a time of need. We have called them several times trying to reason with them to get a greater refund to no avail (they basically tell you to sod off). We will never be using rentalcars.com again.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: June 20, 2023

Thumbnail of user lauras641
New Jersey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 4th, 2019

Rented a car through Booking.com and the time was incorrect. The agreement stated 12AM which I thought covered if my flight arrived late and they cancelled my reservation at EASIRENT and when contacted they hung up on me and said I was going to be charged anyway. The car rental company stated they needed to charge me $150.00 dollars more and I had no choice! The car was disgustingly dirty and then when I drove away the "MAINTENCE REQUIRED" light came on and when I called I would have to return the car to original site in Orlando!
COMPLETE RIP-OFF DO NOT USE BOOKING.COM OR EASIRENT CAR RENTAL IN ORLANDO. CUSTOMER SEERVICE RUDE AT RENTAL CAR AGENCY AND BOOKING.COM

Date of experience: April 4, 2019

Thumbnail of user maried281
Ireland
1 review
1 helpful vote
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May 3rd, 2019

They send me 2 receipts.
They stole our money, never wanted to refund us.
Really, they are dishonnest, never had a bad experience like this to rent a car.

DON'T BOOK WITH THEM!

Date of experience: May 3, 2019

Thumbnail of user matiasm2
Spain
1 review
1 helpful vote
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November 19th, 2016

A car that was supposed to cost around100 euros for 4 days ended up costing 300. Nothing more to say. Very misleading.

Date of experience: November 19, 2016

Thumbnail of user grigorym
Illinois
1 review
2 helpful votes
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May 28th, 2016

Booked the car for 1329USD, nowhere I selected or was warned that it is prepaid. Got charged right away in British pounds, which came up to 1586USD on my card. Scam, don't use them!

Date of experience: May 28, 2016

Thumbnail of user emsk
Australia
1 review
5 helpful votes
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February 25th, 2016

I booked a car through the website for my boss to pick up in Melbourne from the Thrifty car rental desk at the airport. First of all, the website charged $79 for full protection, not mentioning that the same full protection option could be purchased at the rental desk for $30! Once there, my boss calls to say the website had never emailed him the confirmation - thankfully I had kept the booking tab on my browser open so I was able to give him the reference (and I read on that page that a confirmation email would be sent to the given address, bu t it never was!). My boss then tells me that the full protection from Thrifty is much cheaper and asks me to call rentalcars.com to cancel the $79 protection purchase. I call and I'm kept on hold for so long that he was forced to leave - the Thrifty desk says that he can get the protection from them and ask for a refund from the website after, as long as he has the receipt from Thrifty saying detailing his purchase.
Today I try to get in touch with Rentalcars.com, using the after sales phone option - I was on hold for OVER AN HOUR! I finally give up and call the sales phone option (because of course they'll pick that one up) - and I got some mouthy kid telling me there's nothing they can do about the full protection purchase because as far as they are concerned, it's been used. He proceeds to tell me I should have called on the day at the time this was happening to get it cancelled and it doesn't seem to matter that I had tried that but was on hold for so long that my boss could no longer wait!
Horrible service, overpriced and just plain unreliable! I'll never be using their services again and recommend no one else does either!

Date of experience: February 25, 2016

Thumbnail of user qtec
North Carolina
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 9th, 2020

NEVER EVER BOOK A RENTAL CAR THROUGH THESE LYING PEOPLE.

I booked my rental car in Jan. For Sep. To Dublin, IE. Due to COVID-19, I had to change my booking from Sep. To Mar. However, I was told to call back closer to the date three times. The second time, I was told that I would be reimbursed for my $65 dollars if I call back Sep. 8th., and wait to see if they had a car to accommodate my same price so I wouldn't have to pay triple my original price. WELL, THEY LIED because I just called them, they didn't have a car to accommodate me, and they said that they couldn't reimburse me for my $65. WAIT A MINUTE, it's not my fault that there's a pandemic and thank you, rental.com for lying and misleading a customer.

You'll be a fool to rent from this rip off company. I looked at other websites and their prices are no where near as high as this company.

Beware of this company's lies and manipulation and go with a different company FAST!

Date of experience: September 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user nicholasb42
GB
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 16th, 2016

I think my response to there £40 refund explains it best:

Dear Customer Services,

Your response falls woefully short of acceptable.

What you have completely failed to note is that my disabled mother was with me when Europcar tried to cancel my booking! That kind of distress was entirely uncalled for and despicable. For me, the money paid is far smaller an issue than the the attempt to strand a disabled woman and her son outside the outskirts of Thessaloniki airport!

What you also did not address is the engine warning light I had on the first day of the rental of the Nissan Note. The fact that the next day I had to drive it to a remote garage that was hard to find and waste a day of much needed holiday.

As for communication, please furnish me with the timeline from me notifying you through the app and you responding to my first request please. You have failed to provide this at any stage because you know it is in the region of 5 days! You have also not addressed the issue that it is impossible to change pick up times with the app... without changing the vehicle! Hence I had to email you. My mobile had no coverage while I was away and the phones at the airport seemed unusable, even when I purchased a phone card!

If the voucher says a flight number is mandatory how come I could make the booking in the first place? Surely I would have been locked out from the voucher until I provided it.

I will make sure that I post an appropriate review of my experience, I think others have the right to know of the risks they take when renting vehicles from your organisation.

Thank you for responding, but not for the content.

In a nutshell, use someone else.

Tip for consumers:
The app is useless for changing details of the booking prior to hire.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: September 16, 2016

Thumbnail of user rafals8
Spain
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
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January 5th, 2018

VERY CAREFUL with #GOLDCAR. December 25th 2017 I have rented a car at the Malaga airport. Contract *******. I paid the "super coverage" when I picked up the car, they charged me 115.15 euros as a deposit for the gasoline.! I have been informed that if I return the car with a full deposit, they will return the whole deposit. I have returned the car with full deposit day December 28. I have asked to review it with worker of GOLDCAR.he marked on the reservation sheet that I have returned full deposit. Goldcar has returned only 68 euros of over 115! What happened with my 47 euros. How to call it!?! You will say. IT IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I HAVE BEEN CHEETED BY THIS COMPANY. The same happened to us in fuerteventura, but then it was his word against ours, so this time I asked the gentleman of the GOLDCAR office to review it with me. Never again GOLDCAR! BE REALLY CAREFULL WITH GOLDCAR!

Date of experience: January 5, 2018

Thumbnail of user narenk
Italy
1 review
2 helpful votes
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September 12th, 2017

I had a recent experience with Rentalcars.com. I had booked a car for 4 days in Venice (Marco Polo Airport) to be picked up at 12 noon. My flight got delayed a few hours and I arrived at 4pm for my pre-paid car. The rental car company had given away my car and was told they had no cars left. They told me to contact Rentalcars.com for my refund as they did not receive any payment. I contacted Rentalcars.com and was told that since I arrived after 2 hours of my scheduled time, I forfeit my payment of $200 AND they cannot help me get another car. They said that the 2 hour deal was part of they 'terms and conditions' - the long agreements they expect me to read. I did read the confirmation email and rental fees/excess information they provided which doesn't mention any 2 hour rule.

I was stranded in Venice airport, without a car for my road trip. Most other car rentals were also sold out. The ones that remained where charging me 550 Euro ($800 CAD) since it was their last full-size car, for 4 days. Not to mention, I'm out $200 from Rentalcars.com.

I called Rentalcars.com, who said that they were sorry to hear my flight got delayed for a few hours but they cannot refund my money. I forfeit my entire rental amount as I arrived 4 hours late for my PRE-PAID car, which I expected to be there - I already paid for it! They don't have a right to rent it to somebody else and charge me and them (double). Not to mention now I have another $800+ amount I have to pay out of pocket to rent a car for my euro trip.

The worst site and service I have ever come across.

ADVICE - Always book directly through the rental car sites as they will hold your prepaid car for at least 24 hours. Do not try and save $20 and loose your rental when you arrive and forfeit the entire amount prepaid for the rental itself.

Date of experience: September 12, 2017

Thumbnail of user matthewp58
GB
1 review
4 helpful votes
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March 30th, 2017

Hello

I wanted to write a word of warning about Rentalcars.com. I booked a car with them in Luxembourg. On the reservation I stated that I'd arrive at 7pm and I added my flight number. My flight actually arrived at 9.30pm so I was a bit later than what I'd stated.

On arrival at the rental company counter - InterRent in this case - I found that it was already closed. Apparently they close at 8pm. For all the other customers, they leave a key with the parking garage attendants and it works just fine. But there was no key for me. Apparently they either thought I was a no show (even though they had my flight number and arrival time) or they did not have enough information about me when they closed (e.g. They didn't have a copy of my voucher from Rentalcars.com).

In any case the result was that I had to rent a car from the friendly chaps at Avis that cost about 3x as much as (Eur 100 vs Eur 30).

When I explained all this very politely to both InterRent and to Rentalcars.com, each one pointed at the other and told me that because of the mismatch between my stated arrival time and the flight number, it was my fault. No refund. No apology. Nothing.

Needless to say I think it's frankly a bit ridiculous to take my money when I haven't even seen let alone driven the rental car and given that they had all the information required to leave me a key. But if they want to lose a customer for life so be it...

I'm writing this review so you can be forewarned. Think twice before choosing the cheapest option...

Date of experience: March 30, 2017

Thumbnail of user stanevicius.mindaugas
Lithuania
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 18th, 2023

I made a reservation for SUV, pre-paid for the car and on arrival to another country airport, they gave me MULTIVAN. So, I paid additional money, that they could give me SUV (despite the fact that I made a order for SUV a month ago). After all, the company do not care that I specifically chose the SUV, so they didn't bother to solve the problem and told me that SUV is the same as MULTIVAN and they do not have SUV I ordered. Moreover, when I came to the parking lot there was even two SUV's of the type which was ordered. To be precise, the SUV I made order for was Skoda Kodiaq and a MINIVAN was NISSAN SERENA. Am I stupid or what? I tried to understand the company and to agree on compensation with them.
But after all, I do not trust this company anymore, they are cheating with the orders and cannot arrange cars which was ordered a month before pickup.

Date of experience: April 18, 2023

Thumbnail of user christopherf613
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 12th, 2021
Verified purchase

We rented a car from RentalCars while in Iceland and purchased insurance for said car through RentalCars for the duration of our trip. When we picked up the car from EuroCars, it was heavily snowing and windy making it difficult to see, as well as there being about 4 inches of snow accumulation on the ground and car. These factors made it difficult to properly assess the car but EuroCars assured us there would be no issue.
We were EXTREMELY careful while driving the car and parking the car in any locations. We did not hit, bump or damage the car in any way.

Upon returning the car to EuroCars, they stated there was a very small, approximately 1 inch scuff mark on the front bumper. This was very minor and I know that we did not put that scuff mark there however it was not noted during the original assessment of the car due to the tumultuous weather. That scuff could have been easily overlooked due to the blizzard that was occurring during that time.
EuroCars stated we needed to pay $600 for that 1 inch scuff mark because it was considered damage. We purchased insurance through RentalCars as I mentioned. So we immediately called them once we were being charged a large amount of money for damage we did not cause.
The representative at RentalCars stated we needed to pay the $600 but once we submitted the claim to RentalCars, we would be fully reimbursed. With that said, we trusted RentalCars, paid the $600 and left.
Upon returning home and submitting the claim, RentalCars has now stated they will not reimburse us anything. They stated we need to go through EuroCars (the company who we physically rented the car from, even though everything was set up via RentalCars, rental and insurance).
We were lied to and misled by RentalCars who gave us false information. We purchased insurance through RentalCars to cover things like this. We did not cause any damage but are being blamed for it anyway. And this is what the insurance should be covering.
RentalCars has not been helpful, they are merely pushing the blame to an outside company. RentalCars was misleading and blatantly lied to us to get their money.
I do not recommend RentalCars to anyone and suggest everyone beware of this money hungry company. Book through someone else.

Service
Value
Returns

Date of experience: December 12, 2021

Thumbnail of user mufaddala
Saudi Arabia
1 review
2 helpful votes
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September 22nd, 2016

I paid in full never got the car nor a full refund! The worst customer service ever! Save your money book somewhere else.

Date of experience: September 22, 2016

Thumbnail of user sebs3
Sweden
1 review
2 helpful votes
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April 20th, 2017

Terrible rental with Noleggiare in Italy through RentalCars.com. We booked the car from Pisa Airport and our information said we collect car at Pisa Airport. Then we travalled with family and babies to the rental car area but there was no Noleggaire. So we asked around and finally someones helped to get the phone number. Then no answer on the phone. So we went pack to the airport to try find someone. Then we finally made contact with phone and you came to meet us at airport. 3 hours later! What a waste of our valuable holiday time! Then we still had to drive to the industrial area to get the car. And finally we got a smaller car then we paid for. We paid for Renault Cleo but we got a tiny, cheap, plastic Citroen.
When we dropped off car they wanted to charge us to clean the car because I left a plastic bottle and packet in the car. I refused and removed the bottle and packet myself. Never again with Noleggiare! They are lying when they say you get the car from the airport. Other people we met also had the same problem through Ryan Air. The phone number on their car order was incorrect so they had no way of getting hold of you until we luckily met each other at airport. Wont make this mistake again and wont use RentalCars.com ever again.

Date of experience: April 20, 2017

Thumbnail of user jeromec52
New Jersey
1 review
1 helpful vote
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August 2nd, 2018

I am not sure how Sixt and rentalcars.com collaborate but it was a terrible experience and I dont recommend it to anyone. I have now overpaid, rentalcars.com put loads of money in its pocket for absolutely nothing (Sixt confirmed when picking up the car that no insurance was included in the package) and have a terrible/obnoxious customer services team. Never again.

Huge scam and do not get me started about this Philip guy from customer services whom I had to endure over the phone when trying to understand what amounts they charged me extra for.

In May 2018 I go online to reserve a car with Sixt via rentalcars.com and was debited immediately 570 from my account. I picked up the car at train station on 14th July at Sixt counter and first i cannot even take the car because the reservation name does not match the card name my wife and I want to use for the guarantee. We are there with 2 kids and my wife is pregnant but nothing can be done until we have to give a corporate card as only solution we ourselves came up with.

A few weeks later I get the invoice from Sixt telling me that we have to pay an extra 74 for the car seats on top of voucher of 470 - the question is where did the 100 go from the upfront payment? I call Sixt to clarify but they do not care and tell me to go to rentalcars.com. I call them and Philip answers telling me that the IT system is down. I ask about pricing policy but he says each customer is different (so they can scam them i start thinking) and after waiting 30 minutes the IT system is back up and he tells me that the difference is for an insurance I paid straight to them and not Sixt. In his answer he tells me that my quoted 25% overpayment from earlier was wrong - the nerve of this guy!

Date of experience: August 2, 2018

Thumbnail of user philipb811
New Zealand
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 20th, 2023

Booked a car. CC charged. No booking confirmation sent. Help does nothing. Always promises, no action

Tip for consumers:
Site normally works well. Have used it again since this problem

Products used:
Rental Car

Service
Value

Date of experience: July 20, 2023

Thumbnail of user jillc228
Massachusetts
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 6th, 2020

Still waiting for a refund on my $66 deposit 1 year after the car was rented. NEVER rent a car from this company. EVER.

Date of experience: January 6, 2020

Thumbnail of user manfreda6
Greece
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 26th, 2022
Verified purchase

I was 1 hour late, got no car, no refund of 650 euro and no answer. Be aware and never pay in advance

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: June 26, 2022

Thumbnail of user larryb1954
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 13th, 2023

I prepaid for a rental car to pick up at Dulles Artport and there was no sign of a car they stole my $292.00 dollars

Products used:
none then didnt have it ready

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: July 13, 2023

Thumbnail of user marcelom30
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
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March 7th, 2019

I reserve a car with them in Portugal, but I needed to cance my reservationl and no costumer service to answer my calls, and they keep over U$500 from me.

Date of experience: March 7, 2019

Thumbnail of user paolog32
Italy
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 14th, 2022

The worst car rental company: not very serious and professional, without attention to the customer. I'm very disappointed.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: November 14, 2022

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