Europcar International
Reviews and Complaints

May 30, 2015, Heathrow Airport Europcar Office., Dispute Case # [protected], Invoice # *****71744. Amount 343.40 GBP + VAT.

Overcharge of CDW on car rental because the agent was very clear that no insurance was apparent on this vehicle. The Europcar agent was purposely vague and misleading, even after being presented with a printed copy of the reservation from the broker Priceline.com that clearly showed Collision Damage Waiver purchased. The reservation was registered in the Europcar system upon my arrival, and a copy of the reservation from Priceline was presented to the agent. I stated clearly on several occasions that i wanted a car based on this reservation as printed.. When i questioned the agent about insurance coverage for third party ( Public liability and Property Damage) he was vague and simply stated he saw no insurance for this reservation. Knowing i had purchased CDW from Priceline, but not knowing UK law on PLPD coverage, I scammed into buying insurance that was not necessary, and was, in fact duplicated. The agent purposely evaded my questions in order to cloud the issue of insurance by stating he had no record of insurance coverage. Not understanding UK law, I accepted the contract upon the agents request because i elected caution as opposed to chance in insurance. The agent must have know that i was covered for PLPD virtually through the rental fee, and he refused to acknowledge the printed brokers CDW insurance. This is deceptive business practice.
Upon returning from holiday and finding a $648 insurance charge on my account, I appealed to Europcar UK to return the cost of this redundant CDW insurance that was sold by misrepresenting facts. the appeal has been refused, and i am to pay the full amount.
Europcar brings people to an isolated location after 21 hours of traveling, and takes advantage of a tourists lack of local knowledge. Being in our 70's, we make every effort to avert such situations by making prior arrangements. Europcar found a way to scam us even with these precautions taken. We urge you to aid us in the return of our funds, and to punish and prevent Europcar from these unscrupulous operations. Insurance is an old con game, and Europcar must make more on selling unnecessary insurance than in renting cars.

find attached the Europcar contract, and the Priceline affidavit of reservation with CDW insurance coverage.

I did ask the lady that I will be travelling to euro so she gave me a package which everything is include - £117 for only one day.
I was shocked to receive a bill of extra £50 for extra mileage.
I have been cheated - will not use them any more

1. I had booked a VW Touran (7 seater) and was promised this or an equivalent. The journey was from Barcelona to Milan.
2. I was instead provided with a 9 seater Fiat Professional which was much larger (and most unwieldly) than what I expected which made the journey extremely stressful.
3. I had been charged for re-positioning of the car back in Spain which I find appalling as the vehicle was Italian registered. I believe this is a deliberate attempt to defraud customers. It took Europcar almost 1 hour to arrange the vehicle at the Barcelona Station with several excuses being offered for the delay. I have used other rental companies in the past and have never faced such delays. Cars are available upon arrival. This leads me to believe that the Barcelona team was waiting for this vehicle to arrive and somehow find a “DRIVER” to drive it back to Italy.
4. The reaction of the supervisor at Milan, when she saw that we were being charged for return of the car, was also one of dismay.
After raising a complain, today, i got a letter from Europcar Spain offering a upgrade voucher on my next rental. These people must be crazy to believe that their service standards would cause customers to return to them. Absolute shame that a service based organization is lost in arrogance.

I will never again rent a car with Europcar. I have book a car in Nice on the 9th of July, returning it on the 15th at Marseille Porvence Airport Station. Everything with the car was ok, I receive a receipt saying that the car was ok with no damages. Europcar's clerck said that I could go that everything was ok and that I would be charged directly at my credit card. Perfect. The problem was that 2 days later I received the invoice cherging me 394, 67EUR more than expected. The reason that was stated at the invoice was that the car has damages. It is unbelievable. The car was perfect, the recieve that I have says exactly the same and they decided to charge me more. It is a shame that such a company as it is Europcar has such kind of behaviours, completely unfair with the clients. It doesn't look that I was in an European country. So, my advice is not to choose Europcar because they are not trustable with their clients.

I rented a car from europcar on the [protected] to [protected] 11days total. I paid £ 360. 84 in advance with full insurance. When i got to manchester airport europecar. I asked the man at the counter if the car is run on diesel ? The answer was no. But for £30 extra i could get a diesel car. As we were permanent customers we could get a discount for for £15. 00 extra. I signed the card where it states £15. 00 unit. When i came back to denmark and i got the invoice they had charged me £211. 76 more for a disel car when i tried to contact europcar in manchester they hvave not replied back.

Good evening

Been trying for more than a fortnight to contact europcar with the below complaint. No response from them or acknowlegment.

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am writing with reference to car hire booking reference [protected]. My partner Michael Harkess and I rented a Nissan Micra from your Corfu branch between 01/04/15-06/05/14. Upon picking the car up, there were a number of unfixed scratches. During our trip to Corfu, the car sustained some minor scratches to the right hand side due to overhanging and unavoidable gorse bushes.

 

We accepted that we would probably lose some of our deposit to this, but when we returned to the depot, we were informed that the charges would total 492 euros, our full deposit and the same charge we would have received if we had been in a major accident and written the car off. We then asked staff for clarification of why the costs were so high as the scratches could easily be buffed out by hand as they weren’t through the  full layer of paint. We were told that Europcar charge per affected body part of the car – 100 euros per part. This charge is extortionate.

 

We asked for receipts to prove the cost of repair, but were then told that the car wouldn’t be repaired for some time due to other bookings. We also asked where the car would be repaired and were told it would be done at Nissan on Corfu. However, having researched this, there is no Nissan garage on Corfu. Considering the amount of damage already on our car, and on the others on the forecourt, I’m not even convinced that Europcar will actually even send the car for repair rather than just pocketing the damage charges.

 

If Europcar expect to charge such high amounts for minor damage, there should be a list provided for customers beforehand. I have taken photographs of the damage and of the car registration plate as evidence.

 

I expect a partial refund, with proof of actual repair costs and photographs of the car once the repairs have been carried out. I will also be reporting these excessive charges to the BVRLA and the European Consumer Centre so they can investigate further. Please contact me within 14 days to confirm what you plan to do about this issue.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Lucy King

Thief's and tricksters at all costs do not rent from Europcar. ! I arranged a rental car on-line with Europcar for 12 days from 8th-19th April. I paid in full in advance the sum of $378.00. When I arrived at LHR to pick up the car I was asked to initial and sign some paperwork. I asked the agent what this was for as I had already paid and was advised that it was just for Europcar records. I duly signed (without reading the small print!) When I returned the car I had a bill of GBP 1334.98. I was absolutely astonished but on closer inspection I realised that the initials and signature for which I was told were only for Europcar records, was in fact authorising an upgrade. I do understand I don't have a leg to stand on as far as any refund may be concerned BUT my complaint is the way in which the upgrade was manipulated. Clearly anyone who was paying less than GBP200 for a rental would not under normal circumstances agree to an upgrade costing more than 5 times the original rental cost had that been explained.
I believe I was tricked and the upgrade was obtained in a very deceitful manner. Particularly as I had directly questioned the agent what my initials were for. I have spoken to their Customer Services and the manager at LHR who where obviously not very sympathetic. (I'm sure they are all bonus orientated)
Having researched on-line I note that Europcar is very poorly rated. I think they should be exposed in terms of their terrible business practices.

Having decided to go with Europcar in Dublin Airport because of their cheap prices was an obvious - but in hindsight a naive - choice. I rented a car for a period of two weeks to transport my sick parents to the hospital on a routine basis. To my shock, when returning the car I noticed a small dent in the door. I had not seen it before as the rental car had already a scratch in the same door, which was detailed in the original rental agreement document. I put it down to someone hitting to the car whilst it was parked. At the time, I asked the staff at Europcar how much it would cost and they said around 300€. it could be worse i thought! I was then asked to sign a document stating that I was aware of the small dent. However, in the document they also included the scratches that were there previously. I asked them to show that the scratches were from another customer, which they did somewhat reluctantly and somehwta vaguely.
To my further shock, two weeks later, I received a credit card deduction of 1000€. I asked to see the damage report and again to my surprise the assessor had marked several points including the existing damage for repair. Obviously, I complained and after weeks of standard responses and denials the Compound Assistant Manager Linda Vilerte, claimed that "The amount of product used (ie paint) will be exactly the same as if the scratches were there or not and the amount of labour charged to us will be the same whether the scratch is there or not." Therefore, I am not only paying exorbitantly for the damage incurred during my rental period but for existing car damage! Please avoid this company and choose a company that offers full coverage as they appear to get commission on scamming customers.

I returned the keys for a Fiat Panda that was supposed to be a like for like for my vauxhall corsa, which was a horrible thing.. when i pointed out various damages to the car not on the delivery note, the delivery man at first would not confirm/sign, But i was having none of that and he signed it.. I then dropt the car keys off for them friday afternoon after i got my car back and they picked the car up sometime while i was out..Come Saturday there was a sheet put through my door stating i had damaged 3 of the alloy wheels..Which i Know for a fact did not do, as i did not manoeuver the car near any kerbs what so ever, so they must have been there when it was delivered? But unfortunately i did not look at the wheels as didnt give them a thought!.. I have told the third party who hired it for me ie i was having my car repaired due to a bump I will not pay this as I did not do it.. They are saying they will send to a Debt collector if i dont..can the debt collector get the money out of you? I am not paying for something i have not done!

Germany, Nuremberg, North europcar office.the car ordered via economycar rentals (cheaper sub-contractor)-now they work with europcar.

Excess protection purchased via economycar. I have stated very clearly to eropcar representative when picking the car up that I DO NOT need excess waiver. She has special pin with Britain flag, implying she understands, at least simple, English words. After all, hurrying up, I did not check the receipt.

When returning the car, nobody to speak with. Blunt europcar representative does not understand straight logical arguments. They took my economycar voucher with all payment details on the 1st day, and when I returned the car they said that the voucher has gone.

yes, after 9 days.Now dealing with company customer service, wasting my time.

1st time such a bad experience with seemingly western company.
Res. N: [protected]
Mietvertag (rental contract)) [protected]

I reserved a car at Heathrow Airport on May 23rd;
my reservation was for a standard car at a base rate of 11.00 GBP per day plus
taxes. My estimate bill on my
reservation was 134.81 GBP.

On arriving at the counter to pick up the vehicle, I was
told that the vehicle reserved was not available; they only had this vehicle
type as an automatic instead of a manual drive. The young lady went on to tell
me that normally charge 2.50 GBP per day for this upgrade, but as I was a
regular customer, she could let me have it for 1.50 GBP per day extra. As the base rate was 11.00 GBP per day, I expected to pay an additional 12.00 GBP plus taxes at the end of the 8 day
rental. I initialed that I have selected to bring the vehicle back full of fuel, and she gave me the key.

On receiving by bill, I saw that she had charged me 150.00
GBP per day, instead of the 1.50 GBP per day extra. Therefore my total bill for this car for 8 days showed a 1, 790.91
GBP on my AMEX statement.
When I complained they responded that they were not there to verify the conversation.
$3070.00 for a 8 day car rental for a Volkswagen! -- I got scammed...

Rented a van from Europcar in Frankfurt Germany (airport pick up) was told there was gas in the car and when we got to the car there was only 1/4 a tank. There is no one to check you out as you leave, we did find a Europcar employee who verified there was not any gas and signed our rental agreement. When we returned the car we told the person checking us in and showed them the rental agreement. I emailed Europcar before and many times after we returned. They charged us $240 for gas (even though we returned the van with more gas then we received it). I have gone through my bank and they will not do anything, and I have contacted Europcar numerous times with NO response on their part.

I have rented a car on the 9th of October and returned it on the 11th of October from Beirut, Lebanon airport.
The Company has deducted USD 550 for any damage of which I have agreed to. After returning the car in a perfect condition with not even a scratch (of which the representative have thoroughly checked and I have signed on the agreement), I was charged without even informing me of USD 110 for damages. Although I have requested the slip to prove that no damages were on the car, the representative has assured me that no deductions will be made unless a car fine or ticket shows up few days later.
After my continuous complaints for Beirut office, the management refused to listen or further investigate about the incident.
To conclude, a reputable company with this unethical staff will tremenduosly damage the reputation.
My contact number is [protected]
M.Chehade

I sent the below message to Europecar by email on 29 July 2014, they have not ever bothered to reply to me.

Hello
I am writing this to complain about your car rental service. My fiance and I have just returned from our trip to the UK and Europe and now have had a chance to review your final invoice for our car hire in the UK between June 21 and July 08.

When we arrived at Heathrow your sales agent persuaded us to change our booking from a "standard" car which was advertised as a "Vauxhall Insignia" or similar to a Mercedes C class.
He told us that it would involve a slight surcharge but never told us exactly how much.
We went along with this after his "hard" sales talk!
At the end of June it was brought to our attention by a traffic warden that the Tax disc had expired. Imagine my dismay at this, how is it possible that Europcar can rent out a car with expired tax? We informed you and were told that a disc would be couriered to us in Wales immediately. It did not arrive and so on July 04 we called in at your depot in Pembroke Dock and asked for a replacement car.
We were given a "VW Passat" which I think is a lower class than the Mercedes.

We returned this car to Heathrow on July 08. I have now reviewed your invoice and find it to be very excessive and would like you to explain a number of items and issue my fiance Paola Hoffman a refund of a sufficient amount to her credit card!

Please explain why we are charged for 4 extra days rental over and above the 18 days that we had the car?
Also explain what "Go Zen" charge is as it was never explained to us on collection?
Also explain what "Premium Station" surcharge as this was not explained to us either?

I would expect a timely answer from you along with an appropriate refund!

Thanks.
Graham Gough

The rented car (ALAMO, Bristol Airport) was paid in advance, no extras were booked and the car returned without any complaints. The same day 150 GBP had been taken from my credit card account by EC Vehicle Rental, Leicester. I never had any relation with that company and informed the credit card company to get the money back. Regarding the number of complaints in the internet concerning EC Vehicle Rental it is hard to believe that this unauthorized transaction is a 'computer error'. If I don't get the money back I will take legal actions against this company.
JoGe

So i have rented a car from them, did my driving, dropped it of after couple of days, back then everything was fine, no problems. Then couple of weeks had passed and i still haven't got my deposit back, so i wrote to the, about the same time they responded i received a bill in my post box saying that i have damaged the car, some scratches on front bumper and alloy and that now suddenly i owe them 1000 GBP, so i wrote again asking to provide some kind of documents on how was it determined that it was my fault two weeks after the rental, after couple of emails from them without any explanation on why wasnt this damage stated straight away and all, and who knows who was driving the car after me, they just started to withdraw money from my account, in the bank they told me that they cannot stop the transactions because they where entered manualy from Europcar, they got about 500 pounds of me before i could simply block the card, now of course they are ignoring my emails at all. The worst part is that its not the kind of amount you will go to a lawyer for, but its kind of still significant. I cant even imagine how much money they make on a tricks like that. SO PEOPLE NEVER EVER EVER RENT A CAR FROM EUROPCAR!

Europcar norway 2 day rental: quote £150, actaul $300+! bad customer service included ;)
Do not rent with europcar norway car rental.
I picked up the car at night and had to pay a late pick up charge which I knew about so that was ok.
1) the car was not fully fueled.
2) the europcar person closed the office and disappeared within the 5 minutes it took me to check around the car for damage and notice the lack of fuel.
3) I took a picture including the mileage and fuel gauge (including remaining mileage on tank 840km). I was then careful to leave the car back with roughly the same amount of fuel (ended up leaving it back with more).
4) on returning the car and explaining the situation I was told that the car was defintely full (hence I must be lying). the europcar person only reconsidered this once I produced the picture with mileage and the fuel gauge. no apology though!
5) considering the photographic evidence I asked for explicit confirmation that I would be charged no more for fuel and this was confirmed to me. happily enough I left.
6) a week later I received an invoice charging for road tolls (google other peoples complaints about this one, and many more about europcar norway… they are infamous) and an extra fuel charge.
7) I wrote to europcar norway customer services complaining about the service level and the fact I had been charged and extra £16 for refueling having been assured there would be no further charges.
8) received an email back telling me the car had been full and that the fuel gauge had been faulty, hence I was liable for the fuel charge. this was really interesting as I had refueled the car (not fully) during my rental and the fuel gauge had become almost full, mileage going to over 1000km (seemed to clash with the whole fuel gauge broken story, being full at 840km!?!?).
9) having googled "europcar norway complaints" and found lots of complaints online about them I decided to let it go as they appear to be one of those “let the buyer beware” companies.
10) having paid the previous invoices 18 days after the rental I received yet another invoice for more extra charges (almost £70)... this time vaguely titled "administration fee".
This 2 day rental has now cost in excess of £300 and counting! the saga goes on!
Moral of the story: do not rent with europcar norway unless you want one of the most expensive car rental bills you've ever had. hertz, avis etc are a much better bet!

On the end
Of november 2013, a friend who was visiting australia and I rented a car with
Europcar in brisbane for 5 days…
The car we picked up was not available so we got upgraded with something bigger and more
Comfortable which was on the moment a pretty good news.

Surprisingly no one came to check the car with us.

We didn’t get any additional insurance and before leaving the car depot we did a quick
Check on the car, everything was alright.

We brought back the car 5 days after, on the 29th of november, still in brisbane, nothing happened during our
Trip to ballina, where the car stayed in an undercover private space car park…we
Did another check, still by ourselves, everything was still fine.

4 days
Later I received an email from europcar stating that some damages occurred during
Our rental period…I straight called europcar customer service and tried to get
Some explanations and said that I was strongly contesting that anything
Happened and that I did checked the car)…this call occurred on the 3rd
Of december and at the time no one was able to explain what it was and what
Happened (When the report I received later is supposedly dated on the 29th
Of november). The person I spoke with told me that she will enquire and get
Back to me before anything happen.

A bit more
Than a month after, I received the invoice for my rental, the normal price but straight
After when I checked my bank account on the 6th of january 2014,
What a surprise when I discovered that 410 euros have been taken out from my
Account.

I called
Back and they told me that before doing anything I had to make a complaint to
Their customer service by email…a couple of days after I received an email with
The report stating that some damage occurred on the car (Which are just in the
Front of the driver door so i’m still wondering how bad was my sight not to
Have spotted it when I did the check) and some pictures of the location of the
Damage on which you can see anything really except the reflect of the light and
The plate of the car but of course no picture of the damage and the plate of
The car…so i’m just wondering : is this really our car?

Why 4 days
After, when I called (On the 3rd of dec) no one knew what it was
About when the report is from the 29th?

If damage
There is, it could be someone parking by the car side on europcar car park after
We left the car, so how can we check that?

Where is
The quote from the car smash repair shop?

How blind
Are we?

Do europcar
Think we are stupid because we have accent and pay with european credit card?

Would it
Have ever happened if we had chosen additional insurances?

Weirdly i
Did some internet research I found plenty of similar cases…so I just want to
Say, “hey eurpocar, what’s happening? Is it a normal way to make some extra
Money?”

I’m an
Honest and ethic person, as I told them I did check the car and I would have
Told them if anything happened.

So I did send
Them an email, explaining them why I was absolutely disagreeing and contesting
All of their procedure and that any damages happened during our rental period

Now they’re
Just answering me that everything is normal regarding their procedures and
Rental agreement and because I signed the little paper at the beginning, i’m
Just screwed and just have to say thanks, give my other cheek and bend over?

Just briefly: I hired a car for a week. I told them where I was going.. I was given an option to buy extra insurance to lower my excess. I was told if there was an accident I would be held liable for the $990 excess. If I was at fault I would pay, end of story. If SOMEONE ELSE was at fault, I would still pay the $990 and then I would be refunded the amount. This is all I was told. I was given my contract. I took the keys, signed it, paid my hire fees and left. Whilst on holidays I was stuck driving in a category 2 cyclone and it started to hail. I immediately rang the car company and told them what was happening. I was advised that they aren't sure what would happen. The next chance I got out and had a look and the vehicle did have slight hail damage. I was so worried about this I ended our holiday early and took the car back. The gentlemen at the counter advised me that they didn't know what to do so he rang the store manager (who wasn't there at the time) and the worker was told to deduct $990 from my account. Seeing as this was an 'Act of god' and really no-one but Mother Nature was held responsible I was not to have my money's refunded (at the time)... There was no way I could've prevented this.. I did everything stated in the contract to keep the car safe... Was I supposed to do, ? get out of the car in the hail and 'spread out my arms to stop it?'! I left the office quite upset and contacted Solicitor who advised me that it's not fair, they have company insurance and I should demand a refund. Since then I have written to them but have not yet had a response. Hopefully to avoid me taking further action they will refund my money's. Iv also rang other car rental company's and got some advice off them and apparently they've had huge problems with hail damage also. If it would've stated that I would be liable for an act of god then ok.. I would've been aware of this... Done. But soooooo many people agree with me that this isn't fair... Should I now invoice the church? Who is responsible? I must add.. I paid until 4.40pm... I returned the car about 12.. I was also told that I was not to take the car away until 4.40pm even tho I had paid for it... Unfair! Unhappy! I know it'll cost me more but believe me, I'm not giving up in this one until I get my money's returned! Please people.. Check your contracts and if hiring a car (not with this company) then ask about hail and/or storm damage!

On holiday from South Africa to United Kingdom, I hired a car from Europcar (picked up in Bournemouth and returned Manchester Airport) from 9 September to 25 September 2013. I paid GBP374.87 via my credit card on pick up.
On returning to South Africa, I was horrified to see that Europcar had deducted from my credit card a further amount of GBP238.75 despite the fact that I returned the car with a full tank of petrol.
My credit card number is VISA [protected]. I have not reported this to VISA.
Please respond to my e-mail address: [protected]@mweb.co.za.
Thank you...MR JOHN RICH