Europcar International
Reviews and Complaints

I rented a car from Europcar on from the 29-30 of Sept. I paid it immediatly with my credit card and I was told that everything was alright, when I brought the car back.
Now I found out that on the 20 of Oct. EC Vehicle Rental charged from my credit card 11, 05 Pounds.

My wife with her aunt and cousin as well as our 2 daughters had to fly to perth for emergancy family issues. 2 Days before the flight we booked an Audi A6 with Europcar via thier website. There was 3 full adults and 2 children along with the laugage and we felt the A6 was the largest car around, plus had the GPS built in.

When they tried to collect the car at Perth airport they were told that WE (not europcar) had canceled the booking and that there was no car avaiable. My wife insisted that we definatly had not canceled and that we had recieved no notice at all of the cancelation. To the service desk ladies credit she tried to arrange something, but all she had was a Hyndi Getz, which would be lucky to get 2 poeple and bags into. Fortunatly another rental company was able to supply a large sedan, but only after an hour of hastle at the airport in what is already a stressful time.

Be sure to phone and confirm your booking, make sure you take the name of the person. Do not trust thier website bookings as it managed to cancel our booking without warning !

We had a 3 day rental and left Visa for deposit only as the actual rental was a freebie from another company.

We returned car and there was no attendant to check fuel level after I just filled it.

Returned to Canada and got a Visa charge for $215.00 Canadian for refuelling. Note above, I refilled it at the airport.

I wrote to Europcar and no response after 10 weeks.

2 weeks later a $35.00 Cdn. unauthorized charge appeared on our Visa.

We are fighting both charges but the second item is scary it is clearly "fraud". the other refuelling charge is outrageous and borders on fraud as if it was missing fuel it would have been less thatn $14.00 or 10 Euros.

Beware of this company and be careful, the Web has a lot of Italian Europcar complainst, more than any other company. Maybe the employees get the money, who knows.

We rented a car from Travel Jigsaw Limited this Aug 10. We arrived in Alicante airport and collected our car from Europcar. We received a damage report on the car which we checked but nobody was there to check it with us. We returned the car after having a great holiday and handed over the keys to Europcar. They asked if everything was ok and we said yes.

2 weeks later we noticed that a fee of 340 euro was taken from our visa card from Europcar. We queried this through Travel Jigsaw who said that it would take 28 days for them to get a response from Europcar.

There was absolutley NO damage at all to the car when we left it back and we are horrified that they took money from our account for no reason.

We got an email back to day saying that it was for damage. No explanation just for damage!

We replied asking what damage but it will probably take another 28 days for them to get back to us again!

I honestly feel that this is some sort of scam. They had no body at the airport to check the car when we picked it up or dropped it off. Can you please advise us on what to do next,

Promised 13 rounds of golf, Ford Mondeo wagon for rental car and refund based on lower exchange rate. Have not received proper amount. Our itinerary was mailed to us and it looked complete. Then the car rental company Coolabar used ran out of cars so they booked with Discount Car Hire. The email they sent to Discount Car Hire said we were arriving at 0700 (I think they would have preferred 7:00 am). After two long flights we were at the airport with no car service. Upon calling DCH we were told to find another rental company, which we did and drove to St. Andrews, Scotland. Upon Coolabar finding out they had DCH send a car out to St. Andrews from Glasgow, despite my telling them it was not necessary as we'd rented a car for our two week trip and asked that they just refund that part of the itinerary. My request was ignored and DCH showed up with a car with over 70k miles and not near what we were promised in our contract. We were charged for a days rental by Europcar, who we'd rented from when DCH did not produce a car. I was told by Coolabar that DCH would return the car for us and the billing would be taken care of, however that turned out to be not the case. In addition to not being reimbursed for the one day car rental we were charged by Europcar we were charged the same amount for a lesser car than was promised by Coolabar. In addition to this our contract/itinerary stipulated that our trip included 13 rounds of golf. I was told by Coolabar that we would be reimbursed for the green fees at St. Andrews if we happened to play the three courses we'd preferred. We did play those courses and paid out of pocket despite payting for them through Coolabar as well. All other courses and all hotels checked us in with no issue and seemed to be paid by Coolabar, however: When we got home I contacted Coolabar to resolve the issues. After about two months of trying to resolve the issue we were offered a check of $348 against what we expected, roughly $750 per person. We were told the following: Royal Dornoch golf course and Holiday Inn airport didn't charge them, so we apparently were responsible for that. We were undercharged by Coolabar due to their miscalculations, so were responsible for that. The exchange rate wasn't ever fully returned despite being directly told by Kelly (owner of Coolabar) that we would be. The three green fees from St. Andrews were not returned. And to top it off we were not given the approximate $300 for the one day of rental by Europcar. From being owed $750 each were offered the $348 total based on some ridiculous calculations that Coolabar construed to keep from paying us what was rightfully owed. Upon returning our calculations we were told that their figures were final and we haven't heard from them since. I have the itinerary with all pricing and had we known we had to pay for St. Andrews out of pocket without being reimbursed we would not have booked with them as it would not have been a savings. That with the car issue made for a trying experience and I believe we are being wronged by a company that does not want to pay back what is rightfully due. You are forewarned. DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM.

I normally hire with Hertz. This time I hired a compact car (Vauxhall Meriva) with Europcar. A very big mistake.

The car was used to make short local trips for 3 days. It was not involved in any accident or any other incident, and had no damage of any kind - not even the slightest scratch - when I left it at Glasgow Airport. Although Europcar was supposed to be open until 7pm, there was nobody to check the car when I returned it at 7.01pm.

Today I received an email with an invoice detailing the rental charge and a 'damage surcharge' of 65.00. But there was absolutely no damage to the car. I will instruct my credit card company not to pay this totally unwarranted charge and will warn all my friends and colleagues not to rent with this company. Don't rent with them!

I Hired a car from Europcar at the Toulouse airport in July for 21 days.

I specifically stated that I DID NOT require to pay for CDW.

I gave them my credit card details so that they could charge me for any damage to the car.

When I returned the car, in perfect order, yes, they inspected it very closely. I was in formed that there was 346.60 Euros to pay!

The car had been pre paid for so I asked what the chatges were for.

Apparently, according to Europcar, I had opted to take their SERENITY PACK!

As I had no idea what a Serenity Pack is, and still don't, how the hell could I have opted to pay for this?

I asked to see the manager at the depot, to be informed that he was away for the next 3 days. I was given a telephone number, that aws no use as we were flying back to the UK.

I demanded an email address and was given n.[protected]@europcar.fr

ALL MY EMAILS TO THIS PERSON HAVE COME BACK AS UNDELIVERED!.

It appears that this person does not exist, no one at Europcar or the agency I booked the car through have ever heard of him!

Does anyone have an email address for Europcar in France where I can seek redress? I have been on to their French website, and it is all in French. Very difficult to lodge a complaint when you cannot find you way around the website!

The way we have been treated by Europcar in France is appaling, I intend to continue pursuing this until I get some satisfaction.

The motto is Europcar, forget it, go to someone you can trust!

I am 65 years old from bahrain and a regular visitor to uk since 1974, this is the first time I get fooled

When the company (Europcar) man told me that they will hold a deposit which I did not bother to ask him the amount, just know I realise why he was very kind with smiling face,

You can believe it or not he did not told me any thing about the charges
• £174.75 - super personal accident insurance
• £170.00 - fully inc. Cover
Even I don't understand what is the coverage

I agree with
• £85.00 - basic rental-upgrade
• £51.02 - fuel charge
As he explained to me these items
Can you explain to me why they did not ask me to sign an itemize invoice
I was naive to trust verbal deal.
Don’t believe verbal deal and don’t give card imprint as they will charge you
Without your authority

We had booked a car in the ‘fun’ category for a trip to Italy. As the category listed mini convertible as the option, I emailed the centre in Italy to request we get a mini as our car choice as our booking was dependent on this. I received a direct response confirming this and guaranteeing that a mini cooper convertible would indeed be waiting for us when we arrived.

Happy this was the case we proceeded with our booking and arrived, at the time was stated for our incoming flight to collect our car. After much debate it was confirmed the last of such car had been handed to another customer and there were no more remaining. The sales representative went back and forward to several departments many times and confirmed despite our written guarantee we wouldn’t have a mini or actually indeed- any car in the category we had booked. Every car in this category had already been taken that day, despite us arriving shortly after mid day as we had said . My girlfriend was in tears and this ruined several trips and parts of our holiday we had planned specifically around having this car.

Instead we were assigned a standard ford estate car as opposite a make model/category of car you could get to the actual category we had booked and also taken the time to request a specific car in that category and received written confirmed we would definitely get this assigned.

To make matters even worse- upon being shown our car, it was in an appalling state. It had obviously not been cleaned inside or out after the previous owner and was filthy. The car was covered in dust and scratched, and inside were still moist stains all over the seats, and mud and muddy footprints on the floor. Luckily my girlfriend noticed just before she sat down or would have actually had her clothing stained such was the disgusting state the seats were in. We had to spend around an hour scrubbing the interior of the car later that day to actually make it into a state for regular use, again a complete inconvenience to our holiday and just should not have happened

To my email sent last year regarding this, I couldn’t have receive a less concerned response from them, simply stating the employee who promised us our car shouldn’t have, and that was that! I cant believe they actually expect customer to expect as an excuse stating an employee going against procedures resulting in customers being several inconvenience, being given false promises and not receiving goods they had booked an paid for. I don’t care that this wasn’t your usual procedure! The fact was, we received written confirmation, from one of their employees and under the company name, guaranteeing us the make of car in the category of cars we had booked. Had this not been the case we would have cancelled with our booking and gone with a firm in Italy who specialise in convertible cars of this nature. We were given misleading information, the promise was not honoured and we not only didn’t receive the car we had been assured we would- but also not any other similar model in the specific category we had requested and booked. The car we received was totally different to the model we had booked for, and also in a filthy state. I’m sure I don’t need to highlight the immense disappointment, frustration and inconvenience this series of mistakes caused us and the negative impact it had on our holiday.

Clearly, we did not receive the service we had booked, or paid for... they couldn't care less!

100% shoddy.

Hi,

I have been overcharged by Europcar and I am having issues getting them to refund the money.

Please find a breakdown of all cost below:

Rental (14 days) : R3531.72
Damage waiver : R1708.00 (Was not informed of and did not agree to this charge)
Theft waiver : R1260.00 (Was not informed of and did not agree to this charge)
Fuel : R317.25
Additional driver : R220.00
Contract fee : R45.00
Tourism Levy : R35.32
Airport Surcharge : R353.17

Total : R7470.46

When we arrived at the Europcar office Europcar did not have the car that we reserved. The agent offered us a cheaper car at our inconvenience as it was a smaller car and it had a manual transmission. The agent quoted a new price for us which was cheaper than the car we originally booked, she informed us of the additional charges and gave us the final price which we agreed to (Approx R3, 500 + Tourist Tax + Airport Tax + additional driver), it did not include the charges that I want Europcar to refund (Damage waiver and theft waiver).

A few days after the booking off the car I got a phone call from the Europcar agent saying that they needed me to sign another agreement as my credit card did not come out correctly on the original rental agreement. She was quite pushy and did not give me many details as to why I had to sign another rental agreement I tried to arrange that I sign the new rental agreement on my return with the car but she said this was not possible. I waited in the apartment for the agent to arrive (she arrived late) when she arrived I just signed the new rental agreement as I had already waited too long for this person and had made plans for the day.

I feel this just looks like a big scam to me and also I am not happy with the customer service Europcar have provided me with to date, this matter has gone on too long (89 days since collecting the car at the Europcar office).

I travel regularly for business and for pleasure I have used Europcar before in UK, Spain and France but nothing like this has happened to me before. The price which they have charged me is more than I would pay in any other European country it is scandalous.

Can you please help me with this matter? Once I noticed this inflated charge on my credit card I complained straight away. Since then I have been bounced from person to person in Europcar. I have not had any constructive response to date and I am becoming more and more frustrated usually it will take at least 1 week minimum for Europcar to respond to my mails.

Thank you,
Cathal

Expedia and Europcar have teamed up in a foolproof scheme to defraud car renters at the St Maartin airport. It is a very effective scheme since the coompany making the fraudulent representations (Expedia) does not make the credit card charge and the companyi making the charge (Europcar) which has made no fraudulent misrepresentation.

It works like this> When you get the price quote from Expedia they do not disclose that Europcar has a $8.00 per day (plus taxes) "mandatory insurance" charge. The price quote from Expedia includes the basic car rental charge and taxes and fees (no mention of the fee for the "mandatory insurance" Rxpedia also states that the rental facility desk and cars is at the airport proper. (The cleverness and impact ot this falsehood will be expllained below.)

When you get to the SXM airport and go to the Europcar desk you cannot sign in. You are directed to a van which takes you to the OFF AIRPORT lot where you first learn about the mandatory insurance fee. Upon protesting they tell you that you are free to leave (of course you would have to find transportation back to the airport and try to find another rental) and they insist that if you want the car you sign the contract and take it up with Expedia.

This happened to me in January 2010. I signed under duress ("duress" since I had been lured to the off airport rental facility by Expedia's misrepresentation) convinced that either Expedia or my credit card company would protect me.

When contacted, Expedia stated that it could do nothing since it had no control over Europcar, When contacted, Europcar stated that it could do nothing because it had no control over Expedia. When contacted, my bank (whose card is no longer in MY wallet) stated that it could do nothing since I had signed the credit card slip.

Cool!

I booked and paid for a car over the internet for Innsbruck Airport but had no credit card to present at pick-up so they refused me the car even though I had plenty of other means of payment. A bad start to out holiday.

Their booking confirmation email did say to bring to present a credit card at pick-up, which I didn't thinking debit cards were better and having not used a credit card in years.

I asked for a refund and was told to write. First mail ignored. Next mail threatening legal action and bad publicity worked but they still had the cheek to deduct a 10% cancellation fee

I wish to know if anyone else has experienced late Car Hire Charges, over the past year i have regularly hired cars from Europcar, Stavanger Norway.

This i was very happy to do as they provided at the time a very good service to me, but over the festive session i have recieved 3 additional invoices from Europcar relating to additional toll charges, which has come up to 3-4 months after the car hire period.

When hiring a car in Norway, due to the number of tolls on the road i get Europcar automatically to activate the toll sensor on the car so as you pass the tolls the lights turn green thus the charge is automatically sent to the hire company registered against the number plate on the car.

Now all my Europcar final Invoice bills have come normally 10-15days after the car hire period, thus i have been invoicing my customer, but i find it very strange that i should be recieving invoices from Europcar some months after the hire periods.

Europcar's management reply is that they say it takes some months for them to recieve all the toll charges, and that i have no option but to pay.

Anyone have any advice, as its a bit embarrising having to go back to my customer now months after invoicing them asking for these charges to be paid, the 3 invoices only adds up to approx 800 nok but its the principle of the way they treat you isnt very customer friendly.

Being a frequent easyJet customer, I was used to rent my car from Europcar, their preferred partner.

My destination is mostly Malaga, Spain.

Recently I was abused by Europcar, since they charged me for a damage that was already present on the car. It was minor damage on the front spoiler, several small indents any car would encounter during its life, due to some projection particle on the road.

I am not the only one being abused this way, my father, who also frequently fly to Malaga already encountered this kind of problem time to time.

The trick they use is almost always the same: they show you a more obvious damage, like a bump on a wing, or a big scratch on the painting, and they tell you it will be noticed on the rental contract so you won’t have to be worried.

Taking it as granted, you usually trust the employee and do not check the rest of the vehicle.

But when you return the car, an “inspector” scrutinizes the vehicle for any other thing they didn’t mention to you, and inevitably they find something, like problems on spoilers or bumpers they were actually already present but you didn’t notice.

They usually charge you Euro 200 to 350 for this, and while you can complain, they argue that once the contract is signed, you accepted everything.

I STRONGLY recommend you will choose another rental company. Not only they are not the cheapest one - you might thing they would be since they claim discount when you fly with easyJet - but they really abuse you when they can.

The above is based on my – and my father’s - experience with Europcar Malaga, but for sure I will never rent a car from this company anymore.

Being a frequent easyJet customer, I was used to rent my car from Europcar, their preferred partner.
My destination is mostly Malaga, Spain.
Recently I was abused by Europcar, since they charged me for a damage that was already present on the car. It was minor damage on the front spoiler, several small indents any car would encounter during its life, due to some projection particle on the road.
I am not the only one being abused this way, my father, who also frequently fly to Malaga already encountered this kind of problem time to time.

The trick they use is almost always the same: they show you a more obvious damage, like a bump on a wing, or a big scratch on the painting, and they tell you it will be noticed on the rental contract so you won’t have to be worried.
Taking it as granted, you usually trust the employee and do not check the rest of the vehicle.
But when you return the car, an “inspector” scrutinizes the vehicle for any other thing they didn’t mention to you, and inevitably they find something, like problems on spoilers or bumpers they were actually already present but you didn’t notice.
They usually charge you Euro 200 to 350 for this, and while you can complain, they argue that once the contract is signed, you accepted everything.

I STRONGLY recommend you will choose another rental company. Not only they are not the cheapest one - you might thing they would be since they claim discount when you fly with easyJet - but they really abuse you when they can.

The above is based on my – and my father’s - experience with Europcar Malaga, but for sure I will never rent a car from this company anymore.

My family traveled to Argentina on vacation. We reserved a car with Europcar. We were charged over $400 US more than we agreed to for the car. We have tried to contact Europcar repeatedly. They don't answer their e-mails. I have held over two hours waiting to talk to them on the phone. Finally they said they would refund us. They have told us twice by e-mail and once by phone that they would refund us. More than three months later we are still being charged the excess $420.

This is the letter i'm just sending to mark cotterill their md!

Dear mark

Re: complaint – attempted fraud? Data protection? Zero response! (Cs?)

I am writing to you to tell that your company treats its ex –customers in the most appalling and disrespectful way. I believe your company tried to defraud me with an incorrect invoice, breached data protection requirements and then failed to respond when I try and resolve the issue.

You will be pleased to know the initial issue is now resolve – sadly for me this has taken nearly 4 hours of my time – writing emails, waiting on-hold for your ‘customer service’, looking for receipts, etc.

Let me begin - my car was damaged in an accident. I was provided with a replacement car from your company – great service. Delivered on time, collected on time. Brilliant. Then I was given a letter at work addressed to a mr? Fox. As i’m the only fox at work – I opened it. It contained an invoice for fuel – £37.93. My first reaction was why send it to my work address as you have my home address, and my name is richard, but my wife’s name is a?. So the car was delivered to work, but you collected it from home. Your representative confirmed my driving license, and the insurance details are in my wife’s name. I’m not sure what went wrong, but something did with your processes – it can’t be hard to get it wrong – but this scenario must happen for you quite often – so I expect you to get it right. But I didn’t appreciate it. A breach of data protection for sure. Under the fourth principle of the data protection act, information must be accurate and up to date. Clearly not in this case.

Now for the invoice – I had filled up the car before returning it. Of course i’d used it a little bit after filling it up – but not the 26 litres the invoice stated. I could only put 55 litres in the car from near empty. Also the mileage documented that i’d done on the invoice just didn’t make sense to the amount of fuel the invoice said I had used. I don’t like to be treated like a fool - I expected honesty from companies and people. It would be hard for me to prove anything as I wasn’t there when the car was collected – but I have a feeling this just seems to be standard practice. Fleece your customers? Isn’t that fraud?

Now, what made me very resentful was my own duty of care to your vehicle. The key ring said diesel – yes, big capital letters. So when I went to fill up the car and saw that the inside of the petrol flap said 95 ron you’ll be pleased to know I was just a little bit hesitant when I had the diesel pump in my hand. I didn’t fill up the car – drove home – found the number to call from the delivery documentation and rang-up. On hold a little while – they went way – and confirmed it was petrol. I went back and filled it up with petrol. I’ll let you think about the consequences and expense of that. Then to get an invoice – I wasn’t impressed.

So I tried to call to have a chat with your customer service. Tried being the word. On hold for quite a while before resorting to emailing. My email outlined pretty much was I said above – and adding I wasn’t going to pay.

Zero response.

I then got another letter about a week later. Why hadn’t it been paid? I’d be charged £40 if I didn’t pay – rather obnoxious to be honest. Threatening. So wrong name, wrong address again!– I did email and tell you. I saw red this time. I went to ring up – on-hold again. I have better things to do than wait for your ‘customer services’. I sent another email to the email address the on-hold message said send it to.

Zero response.

The next day I rang up some other number and a lady put me through to the ‘team leaders’ line – waited a while but it was answered. Hurray. The man (Martin o’boye) found my email and I explained the situation and that I wasn’t happy. He said the car had a 70 litre capacity (I think not – unless it has some hidden tank). He said it was returned three quarters full. Now, let me take you back to the 26 litres on the invoice. Even at 70 litres – that makes for 37% - much nearer half-full – than 25%. Martin said if I could find the receipt he’d cancel the invoice. How kind of him. Or would you have liked me to pay this ridiculous invoice? The invoice to the wrong name at the wrong address?

I found the receipt at last that evening – took a copy and emailed it back to martin asking to confirm a few items, including that you would not send any more wrongly addressed items to work. It really is quite embarrassing, and my wife’s not a mr, and she doesn’t work there either.

Zero response.

I tried to ring martin up on the number on his email. On-hold for 15 minutes before I gave up – not the first time if you remember. An idea, i’ll ring again and press 1 for amending a booking. Wow – an instant response. Nice man, said he was in spain and customer service was in leicester. And no he couldn’t help or put me through. I’d have to ring again.

Getting even more annoyed, but i’m quite a busy person. Work, family etc. Maybe most people just give up at this point?

At last on day two a response saying the invoice would be credited. But what about confirming nothing would be sent to work again? Nothing. Zero.
I sent another email – saying I was going to take this issue further with the police over potential attempted fraud and data protection. I actually think this is also trading standards too. The point is – you treated me like an idiot – and you still are.

Zero response.

So on monday I got another letter. From a debt collection agency. Threatening! Are you crazy?

That same day I got a phone call on my mobile from the same agency (Congratulations you got that be correct, but they asked for a mr a fox) why hadn’t I paid. I was very polite with them as I know that it’s not them but you! Your fault! You stupid procedures! Your stupid greedy company! You treat people like idiots – you threaten – you make up invoices that aren’t correct and you pretend to have customer service team to sort out problems – and you send all of that to wrong address.

Anyway, the good news is that today, at my work mr a fox received a credit note.

So in summary, I don’t know what shower of [censored] operation you run as managing director of europcar – but if I was you i’d be very embarrassed by your company’s procedures and lack of performance. I do hope the police investigate, and the data protection people pokes their nose into your business – maybe they will inconvenience you as much as your company has unconvinced me? I’ve also contacted my insurance company in the hope they don’t put any more business your way – again I can only hope they follow my advice.

Finally, if you feel it is in your power to consider any form of compensation for my unfortunate dealings with your company then please don’t hesitate. Maybe I should be satisfied that the recount of my dismal tale to you might improve just one of your customer future experiences.

Yours sincerely,

Richard
Ps – when I go to spain for my holidays I normally use a europcar rental. I know it’s only a few hundred euro’s but your group won’t be getting my business in 2010 – or ever again.

The car I rented last weekend (Oct 30, 2009) from Europcar at Cork Airport Ireland, had 2 bald front tyres and the rear tyres were'nt great either.

They deny this saying that they were 'low but road legal'...whatever that means. They did however agree to change the tyres but only 'approved their swapping out so as you would feel more confident with the tyres. Had the tyres not been changed they would still have been perfectly acceptable to drive'.

A second Kia Piccanto in the driving lot also had a front bald tyre, but Europcar 'failed to see the relevance'

Please inspect all your tyres from any Europcar rental car from Cork Airport, as Europcar refuse to. You can bet your bottom dollar that any accident damage incurred to their cars whilst driving on their 'low but legal tyres' will most certainly be charged to you!

We were told we had paid for the hire of a car, on line, in full from Travel Jigsaw (Carhire3000). When we arrived at Kerry Airport (Eire) we were asked to hand over a credit card for 'security' reasons only. We recieved two pieces of paper; one white A4 and one yellow NCR A5 stapled stategically over the details on the former.
When we returned to the UK, we discoverd that Irish Car Rentals Ltd had helped themselves to a further £306.83!
Is it lawful for anyone to be able to request credit card details under false pretenses, then withdraw money without your permission?

For part of our family vacation to France in August 2009, I prepaid for a car for four days through Europcar's website. On arrival in Pau, France, I walked over a mile from the train station to the agency where I was informed my car had been given to someone else because I was late. When I expressed my shock at the deception and asked whether a car would be available the next day, the agent then proceeded to berate me for my tardiness and informed me that as an American I needed to accept that I was in France and must adjust my expectations and attitude. When I asked whether he could help me find a car through a different agency, he stated there were no rental cars available anywhere in the south of France. Finally, the truth! He obviously was offerered more money by someone else and took it.

All of this is in direct violation of Europcar's printed Online Terms and Conditions which state,

8.2 Credit Card Details Provided - Guaranteed Reservation Hold:
If you specified at time of booking your debit, credit or charge card details and Driver ID (or your Driver ID only in which card details are stored) the Europcar pick up station is required to provide the requested vehicle category until the station closure or up to 12:00 (noon) the day following the due pick up time for 24/7 stations.

Their agreement also stated the agent should have offered some minimal level of assistance in dealing with the problem of now being stranded in a foreign city. Instead he rudely left the counter turning his back to me and left me to walk back to the train station where my family was waiting. He wouldn't even offer to call a cab for me or try to find a nearby hotel.

When we finally got into a hotel that evening, I lodged my complaint on Europcar's website. They responded with an automated email and a supposedly real email address. I have sent several requests for a refund to this email address only to receive another automated response indicating receipt of my complaint, an assigned "file number", and a statement that I would have an answer in a few days. Two months later there is still no reply nor an attempt to rectify their misdeed.

This is not a reputable company. They have no concept of customer service and they refuse to honor the terms of their agreements. Plus they use misdirection to shield themselves from dialog with their customers.