Do not rent from them! They are a complete scam. Here's our story: We rented a car from Europcar at Orly airport in Paris. We intended to return the car a week later to Orly. Unfortunately, we got a screw in the tire the weekend before our Monday flight was due to leave and spent several hours on the phone trying to get in touch with someone at Europcar. We called at least 5 local shops, but were unable to get the car fixed ourselves in time to make our flight. Finally we received a response from the Europcar 24/7 roadside assistance number - they said to take the car to the Grenoble Europcar location the morning before our flight. They said that location would have another car to give us in exchange.

As instructed, we went there Monday morning and they were extremely unhelpful. They said they did not have a similar car for us. We said that was fine, we would take any car. Then they said they did not have any automatic cars. We said that was fine, we can drive a manual car. Then they said they had no manual cars. We reminded them that we were told to come here to exchange the car and that we were told they would have a car for us. Then they said we could have a car at 2 PM. Since we were in Grenoble and our flight was from Orly at 7 PM, we would miss our flight.

So, we left the car with them and managed to get train tickets (for more than 200€) to Orly and thankfully made our flight on time.
Now we are getting charged 600€ more than expected, for leaving the car in Grenoble. This charge was not mentioned by anyone when we returned the car.

We wanted to drive to Orly. We certainly did not want to pay more than 200€ to carry our luggage on 5 different trains to get there. Now they are charging us almost double than the expected cost for their screw up! We have tried their customer service number, and we were told we had to call the French number, which is not toll free. The last time we called that number, when we had the issue with the car, we were on hold for hours and never talked to anyone. We were told to email their customer service email, and we did so, and no one ever responded.

When we needed help with the tire, no one at Europcar would answer the phone. After hours of calling, we finally got a hold of someone who told us we would get a replacement car, but then the location they directed us to would not help us. And now that we have a billing issue, they won't respond to any inquiry! Do not rent from them!

Europcar Guatemala City 'La Aurora' Airport location

We have been given a car that was dented on every single corner and side, scratches everywhere and very dated. Not a problem, considering the money we've paid. HOWEVER, once we got at the counter, we have been asked to pay the car insurance (in lieu of the deposit blocked on the card), which is standard for all car rental companies. The only exception was, that we have been traveling before abroad and rented cars in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Iceland and other cities in Europe. Usually the car insurance fee is somewhere in the region of the rental fee (i. E. £200 for rental = approx. £200 for insurance). On this occasion though, we've been told that the insurance was mandatory (not optional) and the options we had were $45/day for minimum insurance (covers nothing basically), $70/day for average insurance (covers almost everything, including accidental roll-over, scratches, etc.) or $100/day for the full coverage (almost full, as 1 thing from their list was not covered). We have agreed finally to pay the outrageous fee of nearly $600 for insurance although was not very fair and exaggerated. After this, the team needed to mention also (very convenient at the end after we made the payment for insurance), that although we have paid for the insurance, we still need to lock a deposit on the card of nearly $600. That was outrageous! But we had no other option but to pay that too.

The tip of the iceberg though, was when we have returned the car which now had a minor scratch (Guatemala City is crazy to drive in), the Europcar team claimed, that the "medium insurance" covers only 50% of the damages. Although on windshield and windows, the insurance clearly specified 40% coverage only, on all other items (including roll-over of car, rims damages, scratches, dents, etc.) there was no mentioning of percentage cover. THIS WAS CLEARLY A LOW MOVE ON THEIR PART! We obviously made our case and stated, that if this was their position then we will have no other option but to complain even further. One of their employee, had the nerve to even suggest that 'none of this would have happened if we would have purchased the full coverage'. What a t. W. a. T!

We had to argue with one of their managers on the spot and told him that this is outrageous, explained our point of view so we can finish as soon as possible with closing the paperwork so we can catch our flight. When I told them that I prefer to roll over the car and give it back as this is covered by the insurance fully, rather than the scratches, he started smiling, then switched the story, saying that the insurance leaflet we had is not the contract, and THE CONTRACT WE HAVE SIGNED takes precedence, therefore, they are entitled to charge us and that it clearly states that the medium coverage, allows only for 50% cover. When asked to find the clause in contract that states this, he gave up and told their colleagues to release the papers so we can go, with no extra cost.

We have felt abused (financially) by Europcar and their employees and I can reassure them, that even if I have to go elsewhere and pay a higher price, WE WILL NEVER AGAIN USE THEM. It's not just about the money, it is the principle. Just because you can, doesn't mean that you have to abuse you clients. We have been rudely spoken too, cornered to pay the fees, and felt ambushed when 4-5 of them gathered around us to try and "convince" us that we are at fault. This is the worst experience we have encountered this time.

Please bear in mind that we have hired before cars in Guatemala from Enterprise a couple of years back and we are used with the terms and conditions of rental companies in Guatemala. We have also rented cars from Europcar in Europe, so they cannot say that Europcar has different rules and terms in different countries. Usually the terms and conditions and the criteria of rental are quite similar across all rental companies and borders.

Bottom of line, worst experience ever!