Name: Europcar
Rating: 1.17

“When we booked a car in Melbourne for almost 3 weeks in Sicily, we asked the consultant if we needed an international driver licence. She categorically stated we did not need one, as Australian drivers’ licenses are recognised in Italy! Just in case, we ordered a digital drivers’ permit. The documents we received from Europcar also do NOT state that an international drivers permit is needed. Even in the email,we received 2 days prior to collection there is no mention of an IDP. It sates to bring a passport, current drivers licence and the rHowever the desk clerk in Notarbarolo Palermo office, Maurizio, refused to discuss, or even look at our documents. He was rude and aggressive, ordered us to get out of the office or he would call the police and have as arrested!!! We are two mature travellers who have NEVER been in trouble with the law, and to be treated in this way was degrading, insulting and demoralising. He even refused to suggest how to overcome this situation and told us if we want help to go elsewhere. We are now stuck in Palermo our travel plans in chaos. Due to the fact we are travelling Europe for 10 weeks, we are not in a position at our age to be getting around in public transport! The phone consultant in Australia misinformed us with catastrophic results, and the man in your office in Notarbarolo office at the very least showed no courtesy or compassion for our situation. Our Sicilian travel plans are now in ruins.”

Europcar 1 star review on 9th August 2024

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Posted 7 months ago

“Absolutely awful experience ! Walk away from this company and if you are still motivated to go with them, I would not recommend you to deal with EWAN who has clearly abused of our trust and lied to us without blinking an eye ! He "offered us" an upgrade on our original vehicle, without specifying this will trigger higher "Premium insurance" that we did not need as we booked through our Gold Mastercard which includes rental car insurance as long as everything is paid with it. We took it as he was doing us a gesture. Only realised that we had that extra cost to pay when we were about to return the car (Ewan was really good at pointing out the spaces to sign on the contract but not at going through the details of the price/cost which are written in tiny characters, of course). We discussed this when we turned the car and EWAN went to the back office behind the desk pretending he was phoning one of his managers and came back telling us everything was sorted and that we will get a refund within 4 to 10 days for the extra cost of the Premium insurance. He looked at us in the eyes my wife and myself, said "this is not something we would normally do but we are making an exception for you but you have to take good care of me by giving me the highest score on the satisfactory survey". We were ready to do so but as we never received the refund and after contacting Europcar customer service got told that this will not happen and that they could only rely on physical evidence (signed invoice). Indeed we should have read more carefully the contract, and we accept this but we don't accept the way we have been tricked and also that EWAN lied right in our faces while we had decided to be honest and to trust him ! Walk away from this dishonest practices !”

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Posted 7 months ago

“Fraudulently added premium insurance after I declined at the counter. Customer services have declined to help and I have been charged £365 for something I clearly said no to. Hard to decide whether this is plain thievery or a scam. However, I would never reccommend Europcar again. Conveniently no name of the employee anywhere to be seen, however, he was keen to tell me he'd recently returned from working in Toronto. If you encounter this scammer working behind the counter, decline to be served by him.”

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Posted 7 months ago

“I hired a car paid the initial price,then had to pay extra on a daily basis for insurance. Returned the car exactly in the same way I picked it up,clean and full tank of fuel.They took 250euros deposit from my card and informed me that it would be returned 3-10 days after vehicle has been returned with no issues. car was hired on 15th July 2024 & returned 19th July. I have not received my deposit and it is now 6th August. Be very careful if you deal with this company. Regards Shannon”

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Posted 7 months ago

“Awful service and the worst experience I have ever met! Still struggling to return my money back! Please Do NOT use this service, if I don't sound convincing, please check the comments of official instagram of Europecar and you will understand what this company is all about”

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Posted 7 months ago

“Skopje europcar downtown - worst service ever. Ended up without a car instead of promised prolongation. Gut from europcar is hardly ever in his office and disrespectfull.”

Europcar 1 star review on 31st July 2024

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Posted 8 months ago

“Total scam. Paid for full coverage insurance, got into an accident, filed all paperwork, confirmed with agents paperwork was sufficient and still got a 500 euro charge. Grand total for 10 day rental- 1600 euro. Should have taken the advice of other reviewers”

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Posted 8 months ago

“The rented me an MG only to find that the alarm on the MG never stops going off. All night. All day. When we rang they pretended they had no idea what the issue was and that we needed to take it to a garage. Two days later when the garage opened they said to take it back to Europcar. At this point I found several people online complaining about the alarm on MGs from Europcar. At Europcar they pretended to not have any knowledge of this issue until is showed the other people online with the same complaint. They then admitted it’s an issue when their geo tracker on the MG. They disabled it and I had no more issues. When it returned the car (to a different office) they said people complain all the time and that the company doesn’t do anything about it. They know the MG will set off an alarm 24 hours a day and still rent them out and each time pretend to have no idea why!!!”

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Posted 8 months ago

“I arrived at europcar late because my flight got delayed, and they told me that they had given away our car, then we had to get a downgrade car for the same car, and it doesn’t even fit all my stuff, then when we were leaving we saw them giving our car to someone else who hadn’t booked the car, I wanted to leave a zero star rating but it wouldn’t let me. Don’t recommend it at all, not a good car rental. Don’t ever rent a car from them.”

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Posted 8 months ago

“Disgraceful treatment - made to feel like a criminalEuropcar accused me of causing damage to a car I rented in Brisbane. Their only justification was that I didnt do a pre-check before I took the car therefore its my fault. I can assure you the damage was not caused by me. I suggested that it might have occured after I dropped it off at the airport, they werent interested in that explanation. I have been driving for 40 years and consider myslef a very honest person, if I caused the damage I would have let them know. They would not listen to me. In addition to this issue, they charged me a "drop off" fee of more than 5.5k. The problem is that I rented the car in Fortitiude valley and dropped it off at the Brisbane airport (approx 20 k's). Their explanation, " a system issue. I am so disappointed with they way they treated me and with absolutely no contrition or apology - nothing. The only positiive was the customer service person at the Fortitude Vallet office was great...! I will never use Europcar again and will let all my networks know of my experience”

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Posted 8 months ago

“Recently booked a car in the UK with Kayak and was redirected to QEEQ, who ultimately the booking was with. The original booking I paid for included a car from Europcar, unlimited mileage and a different drop off to pick up location. When we arrived to collect the car it was an absolute conundrum. The agent at the desk ended up charging us DOUBLE what we had already paid in AUS. He also wanted to charge us an extra $400 for the different drop off, even though we had included this in the original booking, he said it wasn't! It was an appalling experience and I feel like we were completely ripped off.”

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Posted 8 months ago

“The reason this Europecar prices are a bit lower is because they are charging 800 Euro after the rental for a small scuff on a dirty tire on the driver side. Rented last month and took a video of the car before taking the rental, the tires were very dirty in the video and covered in brake dust, so I never noticed a small scuff on the vehicles driver front tire. I looked carefully at the passenger side for scuffs because that's typically where you'd find it. However, upon return they ran around the car quickly to the front driver side tire and wiped off all the brake dust on the tire and found a small scuff. I know I never parked the vehicle on the driver side of the vehicle and never caused the damage. So for a 250 Euro week rental be ready for the 800 Euro scam bill afterwards. It's likely the tire is never repaired, just kept dirty and is billed over and over and over again.”

Europcar 1 star review on 11th July 2024

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Posted 8 months ago

“Avoid! Sneaky lying sales people ripping off tired families after long haul flights. Even when presented with evidence of maximum charges as quoted they still insist on keeping your money. Very deceptive company, plenty of similar reviews to show how awful they are. Unsurprisingly the CEO’s don’t last long and were investigated previously by trading standards and The Serious Fraud Office. The worst customer service I have ever experienced.”

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Posted 8 months ago

“Nooit meer Europcar. Auto gehuurd in costa rica- vliegveld via ECC totaalprijs 1045 euro - full insurance. De geboekte auto werd ons op zeer brutale wijze geweigerd door de plaatselijke bediende Lepiz Zamora Alexander tenzij wij een plaatselijke verzekering betaalden prijs auto incl.1726 dollar. Dus ipv 1045 euro betaalden wij 1726 dollar plus 269 euro non refundable. Ettelijke klachten bij Europcar - ook bij de CEO mr. Favey blijven gewoon onbeantwoord. Op hun website is de klachtenpagina constant onbeschikbaar 'wegens technische problemen' (al maanden). Onbeschoft, klantonvriendelijk. Europcar: absoluut te mijden - service onbestaand”

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Posted 8 months ago

“I was a loyal Europcar customer of approx 15 years but that meant absolutely nothing on the 29th June when I tried to pick up my pre-booked and paid for car. Europcar was quite happy to take £3000 for a 6 week hire and shortly after booking the car I received an email from Europcar asking me to complete a soft credit check which I failed. Instead of cancelling my booking immediately and issuing me a refund the Europcar online Chat rep instructed me to present myself for the hire and "not to worry" as I had a clean license and history with Europcar. I presented myself to the Manchester Airport check-in desk (after travelling for 24 hours) and once again failed the soft check. I tried to explain to the manager the instructions I had been given online and it simply went in one ear and out the other. Europcar would have been quite happy to see me and my family stranded at Manchester Airport with no means of onward transport to our final destination. Luckily, Avis came to the rescue and I was able to book a vehicle; however, it did cost me an additional £1000. I contacted Europcar Customer Care (lol) only to receive the standard generic copy-and-paste reply.”

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Posted 8 months ago

“SWINDLED I rented a car on 5/4/2024 for eight days. The initial reservation was made with arguscarhire.com for which I paid $565.44 When I got to Edinburgh to pick up the car the agent there said that the car I had ordered was too small for my 4 bags and he said he had another car, a hybrid, that was a “little” more money but would save on gas. When he showed me the cost (873.32GBP which converted to 1110.18 US dollars), I thought it was out of my budget as it was twice the cost we had planned for, but I trusted the agent’s guidance that it would be best for our luggage and it would save on gas). I agreed to pay 873.32GBP for the hybrid vehicle. After returning home, I checked my credit card statement and saw that the cost of the original car ($575.44), was still being charged to me in addition to the cost of the second vehicle. Altogether this would be triple ($1675.86), the original quote).”

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Posted 9 months ago

“There was a 3 hour wait to get to the front and there was only one employee. The one employee was rude and tried to fee us about 30 euros for being late when she was slow and we had wait for 3 HOUR. When we finally went to get the car the rear right tire was deflated and there was no place to help us add more air to the tire so we had to drive a car with a flat tire which made annoying ding sounds because of the flat tire. The worst place to rent a car and their motto is “ moving YOUR way but it is the exact opposite”

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Posted 9 months ago

“Europcar is an unscrupulous, rip-off company Europcar insists every renter of a vehicle must pay for a clutch that burns out. Then Europcar, historically, charges the renter for the cost of having the car towed and even has charged renters for loss of rental income during the days the vehicle undergoes repairs. How does Europcar justify these practices? The company says its vehicles pass inspection each time before they are rented and therefore if a clutch burns out while they are being rented, the driver must be at fault. In fact, Europcar is a grossly unscrupulous company whose business model partly relies on generating profits by billing customers for damages they did not cause. To be profitable, the company also relies heavily on coercing customers into buying its expensive auto insurance and throwing up roadblocks to prevent customers from accessing car rental auto insurance provided at no cost by the majority of credit cards. From my home in Houston, Texas, I reserved a vehicle from Europcar in April 2024 for a trip that would take place in June 2024. Europcar advertised online that it would rent me, at the Dublin, Ireland, airport, a Hyundai Tucson SUV for 79 Euros for nine days. I added on my wife as an extra driver. The total cost, with taxes, rose to 209 Euros. I declined Europcar’s insurance - a practice I followed during previous trips to Europe - because my credit card provides rental car insurance. I couldn’t understand why the rental car price was so low, but I thought if Europcar wants to rent a car for that price, so be it. When I went to pick up the SUV June 16, everything was proceeding smoothly until Ahmed, the agent, asked me if I wanted to buy Europcar’s insurance. I told him I believed I had indicated online when I reserved the vehicle that I would use my credit card’s car rental insurance. The agent asked me to produce a letter from my credit card company written in the last 21 days saying I had car rental insurance. I replied that Europcar had not indicated I needed such a letter when I reserved the car. He begged to differ and showed in the last paragraph of legal boilerplate of the reservation agreement that I was required to produce such a letter. Hertz and Sixt had not required such a letter on previous excursions to Europe. He said if I wanted to rent the vehicle, I needed to buy Europcar’s insurance costing 540 Euros for nine days - more than double the cost of renting the vehicle. I uttered a few cuss words. The agent stormed off from his post, saying with finality that Europcar would not rent me a vehicle. What the agent hadn’t suggested was that I try calling my credit card company to request that it email me the required letter. That solution occurred to me, and I told the agent’s manager, Sean Donegal, that I would be calling my credit card company. He had been through this drill before, knew that I could obtain the letter through this method and told me to show it to him once it was sent. I showed him the letter once it was emailed. It was then 90 minutes past the time my wife and I should have been heading off to southwest Ireland in a rental car, and we were told we would be getting our rental vehicle shortly. But right before we were to be given keys, a clerk said Europcar was switching us into another vehicle. A new clerk drew up another rental car agreement. The Hyundai Tucson we were given had 121,905 kilometers on it. It was strafed with bird droppings. (When we later raised the engine hood, we found an engine filled with cobwebs. We checked the oil level. The oil was low, but not below the minimum level marker. But it was dirty, murky black.) My wife and I took photos of the vehicle and nicks in it. We thought we better just go with the vehicle. Shortly after we pulled out of Europcar lot, I thought I ccaught a slight smell of burnt rubber. I thought the smell was caused by other vehicles. About 50 miles from Dublin, we pulled into Junction 14 near N9 in Mayfield. When we returned to the vehicle, we couldn’t put it into reverse. I pushed the vehicle out. The car would hardly go into first gear and wouldn’t go into second. A man passing by in the parking lot said the clutch was burned out - he could tell by the smell. At about 1600 hours, we tried calling all Europcar’s numbers on the rental car agreement papers. No one picked up. We finally got through to AA roadside assistance, which Europcar contracts with. The AA dispatcher said Europcar never picks up when customers call seeking roadside assistance. She dispatched an AA mechanic, who arrived an hour later. He confirmed that the clutch was burned out. He repeatedly tried calling various Europcar numbers, but no one picked up. I got through to a Europcar office in Cork. He told me I had to call the Europcar office at Dublin Airport. No one picked up when I called that office. I sent an email to Europcar’s customer service address. About 30 minutes later, Lauren, who refused to give her last name, told me AA would have the vehicle towed to a mechanic designated by Europcar. I would be responsible for paying the cost of repairing the clutch if the mechanic said it burned out due to driver error. She said my wife and I needed to return to Dublin Airport to get another vehicle and that Europcar would not be paying the driver for the cost of a taxi or Uber. I told her I had a reservation for a hotel in Kenmare in southwest Ireland. She said Europcar would not be responsible for that cost or paying for a room for us near Dublin Airport. We paid 147 Euros for a Free Taxi to bring us back to the airport. The Europcar agent there told us all the company’s vehicles pass an inspection before they are rented. She said passage of inspection means that the clutch was working fine when we got in the vehicle, and that we burned it out through driver error. As a result, Europcar would be billing my credit card for the cost of fixing the clutch. I pointed out that I smelled rubber burning when we left Europcar. She said a driver can burn out a clutch driving 100 feet. She said clutches are touchy and can be burned out before the vehicle moves. I said I have driven standard shifts most of my life and that clutches are not that touchy. If you release them too quickly, the car may stall, but can be immediately restarted. If you let a clutch out a little slowly, the engine does not seize up, and the clutch does not burn up. The agent strongly disagreed, saying she drives all the vehicles on the lot nearly everyday, and many have finicky clutches. She asked whether we had pressed down or up when trying to put the clutch in reverse. I said we had tried pressing down. Since she had said she drives the vehicles on the lot nearly daily and learns their ways because so many have super-finicky clutches, I asked her whether one should press down on the Tucson’s stick shift or pull up on it when shifting into reverse. She refused to answer. I asked her again, and she said she would have figured that out when she got into the vehicle. She didn’t say whether she would burn out the clutch if she guessed wrong in pressing down or pulling up once on a clutch upon getting in the vehicle. I told her that Europcar should have given us written instructions on shifting if there were so many tricky, verboten moves one could make in the gear-shifting process on certain cars. The agent asked whether it was theoretically possible that driver error caused the clutch to burn out. I said that driver error was a theoretical possibility, but that there was ample evidence that driver error was not the cause - such as the slight smell of burning rubber when we picked up the car. I asked her whether it was theoretically possible that we were issued a vehicle whose clutch needed to be replaced or that Europcar’s agents were angry at me because I had gotten ticked when an agent said I had to pay 540 Euros to rent the vehicle and they decided to send me out in a dog of a vehicle. She said these were not even theoretical possibilities because the inspection found the vehicle was in tip-top shape. I told the agent I would not trust a mechanic who was an employee of Europcar or an outside mechanic to whom Europcar feeds regular business to do anything but inform Europcar that driver error caused the clutch to burn out. We were issued another Tucson, this time an automatic transmission about 2100 hours. We got a room at a costly hotel near the airport. The hotel kitchen had shut down, but the bar was still open. A few premade sandwiches remained unsold in a refrigerated case near the front of the establishment. We bought those and ate them with a couple Smithwicks. I didn’t have a clutch replaced on a Nissan Sentra I owned until I had logged 145,000 miles. I drove it another 97,000 miles before I sold the car at a modest price. I consider Europcar’s handling of this matter fraudulent. A short online search turned up evidence that Europcar has run the burned-out clutch scam on others: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=57&t=403516 The Telegraph looked into the matter in a cursory way in 2012: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/Car-hire-advice-case-of-the-burnt-out-clutch/ The unscrupulous practice appears to be alive and kicking.”

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Posted 9 months ago

“Awful experience! Wrong car given to us despite choosing the smallest one on the website for just the two of us with no luggage. Steer well clear of Europcar.”

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Posted 9 months ago

“We hired the car from edinburgh with all insurance in place.on our way to honister mines,lake district the car had flat Tyre.we were in middle of nowhere and there was no network.we tried contacting eurocar but due to no network we cudnt.so we spoke to sos service from the car and they arranged for help.we had to change the Tyre as it was irreparable.we had to pay 228 pounds in cash ,as the card machine didnt work again due to no network.now when we spoke to eurocar later about it they are saying that they will not reimburse the money spent as we didn't contact and got the work done by eurocar agents.we have been sending them the mails ,spoke to them on the phone but they refuse to understand that due to no network,we were unable to contact them and we cudnt go anywhere where we could hv got network leaving our young daughter in the middle of the road.. Can someone pls tell us whether or not we are liable to get paid our 228 pounds? So ppl pls be aware of such things....”

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Posted 9 months ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
On-time Delivery	Greater than 54%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 62%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

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