Europcar

Take my advice. DO NOT USE EUROPCAR. There was ZERO damage to my car and they are claiming a 2cm mark on the bumper is there. They took a picture and it is literally just dirt, if anything at all. I also took a picture and have uploaded it here.
See anything? Yeah neither do I. I have read that there is a kickback for reporting damage to their employees, of course there is no way I can confirm this. But it makes sense, bc when I dropped the car off the guy was downplaying it like, "yeah i see a little something there and we have to document it, but it'll be no big deal." That is so that you feel comfortable signing and agreeing to it of course, as I was in a rush to get to my next destination. It has been two weeks now and they have just been giving me the runaround that they are investigating. Investigating what? Read the published stories about their scams on the guardian and other outlets, in which they claim damage and then try to charge you over 500 bucks.

Biggest, lying thieves. I signed what I thought included a damage deposit( since amt was higher than actual price quoted. I was exhausted from jet lag and being robbed couple days before so I blame myself partly for blindly trusting these unscrupulous people. But when I got my cr card bill and realized that they charged me an upgrade and they had the audacity to fabricate some B.S. Lie story I was livid! Absolute lying theives! The fact that we pay almost 50 cents exchange makes it hurt more. We paid more for a 2 day leisure( basic car) rental the equivalent of almost $1000. About what one air fare costs. Now as seniors who took a vacation after 8 yrs and took a few hrs drive 2 afternoons in Chianti region, we fell victims to these scammers. We had a lot of sleepless nights as we could not reason with them. They are there and we are here so they don't give a damn. Ripping off is bad enough but fabricating a total lie makes it 100 times worse. Their story is: we arrived with excess luggage( lie) and requested a larger car( lie) and we got an upgrade( the car we rec'd was pretty well the same as shown/guaranteed on the reservation except fir the brand ( which is covered with the words@ similar or comparable) Stay aware from thus company OR bring yr lawyer with you at pick up.
Disgusting doesn't even cut it!

In 2018 my son and I hired a car from Europcar Rome for a few days. Upon returning the car Europcar Rome noted a few pre-existing scuffs and demanded additional payment. We explained that the damage was pre-existing, refused to pay extra for this scam and approached the manager. Upon explaining the situation to him in detail he personally noted that no further payment was required in his own handwriting on the invoice.
Six months later a debt collection agency is demanding payment of $AUD 600+.
Do not deal with this company they will 100% rip you off.

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.

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.

This company is a joke i hired a mid range car and at the desk upgraded to a Skoda Octavia with full protection cover as I had heard good things about them.
Well let me just say that the upgrade was not what i expected and during the hire i managed to get a puncture and when i wen to get the spare wheel there wasnt one in the car.
It was 5.45pm and i tried to call the Europe car to say I needed assistance as I had a 4.00 am flight to catch the next morning.
After numerous attempts to get through I was finally told to call the breakdown number, I did as I was informed only to be told that punctures were not part of the breakdown cover and i should call Kwik Fit.
Again I did as I was informed only to be told that they close at 18.00pm and they could not help me.
I was told that I would have to wait until 08.00 am for them to reopen and then arrange for the tyre to be fixed even though I had told them i had a 04.00 am flight.
In a desperate move I called an emergency tyre company and they came out to fix it at a cost of 280 GBP which I was told I would be able to claim back by their Gatwick airport branch.
After submitting the claim and numerous emails i was told that the car was sent out "to the standards" (whatever that (means) and I the claim was rejected. So i am wondering what the fully comp cover is actually covering.

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.

This company is scamming tourists. We were given a new car and couldn't see any damage in our inspection. To be fair the woman at the desk recommended taking photos of the car before leaving but the car was so close to the other vehicles that it wasn't very easy to do. Also I didn't realize that the photos were to protect us from the sleazy tactics of their own company. We had an uneventful trip and there was no damage to the car. We didn't hear any rocks hit the windows and we are certain nothing happened on the trip. When we returned, the woman inspecting the cars pointed out a pin prick sized "rock chip" in the wind shield that we couldn't see until she pointed it out with the tip of her pen. We wouldn't have seen it unless we were looking at it from 6 inches away. It was so small it wouldn't have shown up in any photos we took before our trip. Refer to photo of the "rock chip". There is no way this "rock chip" needs repairing yet they charged us 35 Euros to fix it and then an additional 76 Euros for admin fees. I complained enough about it that they sent me the paperwork to fill out and dropped the admin fee, but this whole experience has not only been frustrating and infuriating for me but it left a bad taste in our mouths for Seville, Spain in general. To charge customers 110 Euros for a what is essentially a pin prick on the windshield is so obviously a scam. I looked at reviews for Europcar after the fact and saw that they average 1-2 stars out of 5 which explains a lot. It looks like I am not the only customer that has been scammed by their business. It is obvious that they don't care about their customers and will stop at nothing to earn the extra buck. I hope that Europcar eventually goes out of business for screwing over their customers.

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.

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..

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.

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.

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...

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.