GoldCar Rental
Reviews and Complaints

We arranged from online suppliers, Cartrawler via Argus care hire, to pick up a rental car at Reus Airport, Spain on September 12, 2015. This turned out to be Goldcar.

Contracte number: 8728887 at 11:29 on September 12 2015.

We waited in a queue for 1.5 hours after landing to get our pre arranged car. The process was very slow. During the course of the wait, three separate people, who had already been given cars, came back to comment on the damage they had found on their vehicle.
We had bought insurance from the website, Cartrawler, to be prepared for driving in Spain. When we reached the desk, we were told this insurance was inadequate and we would have to purchase Goldstar's own insurance. We disputed this, and a man in the adjacent queue spoke to us as he was having the same conversation with his desk clerk. We eventually had to purchase the insurance, as, when driving in a foreign country, you need to know that you are complying with the laws in that country. However, it is a criminal offence in the UK to insure the same vehicle twice, and presumably this holds true in other EU countries. In order to pay for this, we needed to use a payment card which was not the one we booked with. This cost us 44 euro to do, over and above the cost of the insurance. We were unable to cancel the original insurance as we were not in a position to phone or be in email contact - a fact which we are sure Goldcar exploits. This was coercion, as we were made to feel vulnerable at our first point of contact in the country, unable to change course or lose all of the money which had already been paid, as well as being made to feel unsure/ unsafe about the legal requirement of the insurance issue. As we went through the process, we recognised that it was exactly what we had seen happening to the customers who preceded us. The same actions, the same questioning attitude, the same incredulity and finally, the same outcome - using a payment card to give money to Goldcar, which was unexpected outlay. Many of these customers had also come prepared with documentation which we presumed to be insurance.
During this process, the manager who served us was absolutely impassive, running to what was obviously a well rehearsed script. Although she explained the reasons, they made no real sense, but had to be accepted as we had no way of checking. Similarly, as she explained the petrol system, she treated us in a disdainful way as if we were mentally subnormal, taking credit and debit card details which we then felt might be used for spurious charges not really incurred by us. She did not ask for the details of the code which the DVLA said was now required by car rental companies who are renting vehicles to UK licenceholders.
Eventually, we were given the keys to a Ford Fiesta. The car was so badly damaged that we could not even be certain if it was roadworthy. We have video of this if you require to see it. We complained, the manager was supercilious and said she did not know the condition of the car. However, the car was exchanged and the substitute was acceptable.
This whole process took almost 2 hours at the very beginning of our holiday, leaving us to worry about what might happen if we had need to make an insurance claim, if the Goldcar insurance was really adequate, if the vehicle we had rented was really roadworthy, what would happen if we needed to call them for assistance. The whole scenario left us feeling absolutely robbed, in broad daylight, by a company which obviously trains its employees to lie about the legal requirements for driving in order to extract money from the customer, as well as charge extra for using an internationally acceptable payment card.
Leaving aside the insulting way in which we were treated, we are asking for this incident to be investigated, a refund of the insurance to be given to us and a refund of the 44 euro charge for using a separate card to buy the extra insurance. Also, Cartrawler and Argus need to understand how Goldcar is operating (if they don't already know, and it would be impossible for them not to know!) and be persuaded not to trade with them, as it gives a veneer of credibility to Goldcar online.

I booked a car on April, 7 at Atlaschoice Car Rentals site ([protected]) and paid the contract. On picking the car at Lisbon on May, 5 at Gold Car Rentals I was charged 246.61 euros which I took as a deposit (the contract was in Portuguese). However there were no refunds to my bank account after returning the car. I asked the company to give me an explanation on the purpose of this payment.
I emailed the Gold Car and on June, 22 got a message (GAP Comentario : 679013 / Bono Agencia: [protected] tgg, signed Tamara) unveiling some records of my application but omitting explanations for "150e super relax cover".
On June, 23 I emailed to the company asking to clarify the point but got no reply.
On July, 11 I emailed the company again but again got no answer.
I claim compensation of at least that amount.

I rented a car in my last visit to Italy. I paid all amount of bill. after 3 month later. I see extra 40 euro money transfer to my credit cart. I sent three mail to the [protected]@goldcar.com. but nobody answer yet. Where can I complain this company.

thanks
serhat yanikoglu

( [protected]@izomar.com.tr)
Kontrat number : 7940952
Datı del veicolo : EY148EJ

This is the complaint and answer to my complaint from gold car: 3hours wait to pick up vehicle!
Sent on our return from holiday:
Hi there. I would like to make you aware of the nightmare we went through with goldcar at lisbon airport: when we showed up to collect the car there was at least 30 people queuing, we placed ourselves in the queue. (Out of 5 desks only 2 were staffed). My wife after 30minutes went to speak with a lady from goldcar as our little 2 year old was getting relentless. The lady had a terrible attitude and barely could lift a corner of her mouth to pretend to at least smile and said that she has no clue why the queue is so long and said that she just started her shift, when my wife mentioned about our child, the attendant responded: I know it is not easy but you just have to queue and wait like everybody else. We waited for 3hours! Finally when I got to the desk and started the paperwork, the attendant (A different one called fatima, the other lady who was beside fatima was listening our conversation as glared at me a few times whilst she was talking to abnother customer) when I mentioned about my child, said: why you did not say so! We would have given you priority! I explained about the fact that 2 and a half hour ago we told her colleague but she abruptly told us to wait. It is the worst experience I ever had renting a car as we were appalled by the length it took to get the car and the attitude staff had was unbelievable, all other unfortunate customers had reservations therefore it is not something goldcar did not know about and in fact at least on 3 occasions more staff showed up at moments but not to speed up the queue but to relive their colleagues for breaks. This definitely spoiled our first day of holiday as I was upset, my wife knackered not to mention our 2 year old daughter.

On 26 may 2015 at 13:47, customer services wrote:
Dear customer.

Thank you for your observations about your car hire experience with us.
Your opinion is important to us and is the key to our commitment to fulfill our customer’s expectations.
Goldcar with its network of over 30 offices in five countries and a fleet of over 30, 000 cars, has more than 700, 000 customers like you. Goldcar has always been committed to innovation and new technologies to meet optimally to its customers and reduce the time of collection of the car so that our customers can maximize their stay.
Regardless of these efforts can occur outside goldcar circumstances such as limited space and parking at the airport for all companies in the sector, or the arrival of several flights at the same time generating an accumulation of customers arriving at once our counter.
We would like to thank you again for your time and your evaluation of our service.
We hope to see you again soon and remember, for any further information about your car hire, please visit our website www.goldcar.es
Kind regards
Customer services. Vicente
My answer to their probably template response:
Sorry but this is just not a good enough answer but just a pre typed template which I guess you use quite frequently and anyway did not cover all the points raised in my previous correspondance as poor customer service and bad staff attitude was not covred or at least aknowledged, it is not about sopace at the airport or too many flights arriving together... It is about being able to correctly staff your desks. 95% of people queueing had reservations therefore it could not have been a surprise for goldcar to have these customers turning up at the time they did and you failed in correctly filling your desks at peak times. During our ordeal we only saw x2 (Then 3 after 1.5hours we were waiting) staff working at the same time but you should have had double that ammount of staff covering as do most of the other (More serious and professional) car rental companies but this is where the difference stand isn't it? I have rented cars for the past 15 years and never had to queue 3 hours to collect the vehicle. I will never again use your company and will make sure to feedback via all the sites I generally use to either find a car rental or to give feedbacks on social media, to highlight my reccomendation not to use golden car by informing possible future users of the appalling waiting time and poor customer service received.

I booked a car via rentalcars.com on Palma de Mallorca on 9th April -16th April 2015. At our arrival at the car hire in Palma, the vehicle was already damaged which I informed the clerk at the car rental, before renting it.We documented the damages thru photos and a damage report. I have 7 witnesses to what was the status of the car both before and after renting the car. To my surprise I discovered that Goldcar has charged me with additional 843, 00 EUR on May 4:th. Have not yet received any explanation for the charges, have not receved any answer to my mail from Goldcar.

We booked a car via AutoEurope, which in turn booked through GoldCar (Goldcar, cheap car hire, Spain car hire, car hire, Alicante car hire, Majorca car hire, Malaga car hire, gold car, airport car hire, Goldcar Rental)

Why GoldCar ? I sincerely don't know, but this agency was the cheapest (here might be the beginning of trouble…) : €38 for 3 days insurance included.

We took the car upon plane arrival without any trouble, though the clerk at the counter insisted several times on our responsibility if we don't take an extra insurance (one was already provided through the autoeurope contract). We didn't take the GoldCar insurance, knowing we already took one.

When we brought the car back this monday 20 april 2015, the clerk who came to inspect the car (the same one that made the papers on our arrival) litterally jumped on a little defect from several meters away. The defect is so little (size of a dime) she couldn't see it from that far without knowing it, and indicated we did cause damage to the car and we will have to pay (nice way of treating customers).

Knowing we had a plane in less than one hour, it's quite hard to have your rights respected bu such an insultant behavior...especially knowing GoldCar (cheap car hire…) « secured » 1035€ on our credit card…

The clerk was not only dishonest, but refused to give us an invoic stating the invoices are generated every 3 hours in spain...what a s.h.i.t !
There is for now, no real way of knowing of how much we'll be ripped off (will it just be the « minimum » of €180 announced by this girl…?). Yes, this is a SCAM. Please check for yourself on google by typing « goldcar scam ».

Cheers,

Car suddelly stopped working, hdget and so omad to wit 45 min for dervice (wish became 3 hrs in the middle of the hifghway, car past in like 120 km an hr minimum. SOSservice was rude and hang up, finaly police came and help me out of the problem. I Talked to both Police an Taxi driver, both saiid Godlcar was the woest company to rent a car from. My bank adviced my to do a chegeback, and even close my credit card, cause Goldgar.com / Goldcar.es is a fraud. I called and said it wa an emergency, but the cleckrs just hang up 5-6 times. NEVER RENT A CAR FROM GOLDCAR. tHEY HAVE LOW PRICS, BUT IT IS LIKE FLYING WITH RYANAIR. If yoy do a mistake i ciost you 1000 of euros! Stay away, and the worker are rely rude when you pick up the car. Rent from a seious company like Avis, Budget and so on, cost som more but whenthere is a problem its wotht every penny :)

Dear Sir/Madam,
In January I hired a car from GoldCar Company in Bologna. For just 5 days I was charged almost 300 Euros, although I was given 50 Euros back for the fuel. The advert on the internet said that a car costs only about 20 Euors a day. I complained and was refunded just 28.75 Euros. Now, on 13th April, after almost two and a half months, I was debited from my Visa Account another 120 Euros, I don't know why! I consider this as an illegal action, and I am considering to take legal actions for I presume that your company has no legal rights to debit my Visa Account without my permission. Please, I want an explanation before I take the matters to justice.

Yours Sincerely,
Mario Said

Copy of my complaint to GoldCar, Malaga to which I have had no response:

RE: [protected]
August 12th to August 26th

I recently hired a car from you at Malaga airport on the above reservation. The service we received was so poor I felt compelled to contact you.

With a young family we queued for well over 3 hours which is totally unacceptable. During our wait, we learned from other car hire companies that your queue on previous days was just as long which leads me to believe you were aware of this and had done absolutely nothing to rectify the problem, whether that be to increase your staff or to warn your 'customers' prior to arrival!

On finally reaching the counter we were not given our keys, but rather another piece of paper and directions to another office in your car park. There was yet another queue here! It wasn't until we asked several people that it became clear this was the returns queue! We became very frustrated and bypassed the queue and finally collected our keys.

On reaching the car we noticed the tank was almost empty. Having already paid for a full talk at the counter, which I should add is almost double the cost of filling this vehicle, we then went back to the office in your underground car park to complain. Your representative came over to the car to check and confirmed it was almost empty. We then had to go back to the counter to receive a part-refund which again did not compensate nearly enough for the fuel we had already paid for! My wife, close to tears by now expressed her frustrations to one of your staff and was told to "Get out" of the office!

On driving away we then obviously had to stop and refuel and I noticed that, whilst driving on the motorway, the car's steering wheel was shaking noticeably and there was a constant smell of exhaust fumes, leaving me to believe the car was badly maintained.

In total we will have waited well over 4 hours to hire one of your vehicles, having paid significantly more that it was worth, only to receive a very badly maintained vehicle from unprofessional and rude Goldcar staff. I am very disappointed with your service and am researching the appropriate Spanish trading standards.

Sincerely,
Adrian Firth
[protected]@gmail.com

Took a long time to obtain car due to the staff explaining a protracted pre-written dialogue about the dire consequences of having the slightest problem with the car, such as a "puncture" - 110 euros! This is just to scare you into taking extra insurance. they are not interested that you already have DWI in place. They then took a credit card number for a deposit of 900 euros on the vehicle saying that if the car was in an accident then a further 900 euros would have to be forthcoming for a replacement car. This, and all the other problems they tell you can all be magicked away by a payment of 110 euros, this figure seems to pop up everywhere! They also charge that figure of 110 euros for fuel, and you should return it empty! This amounted to almost two tankfuls for the vehicle we hired a shrug of the shoulders was all I received for my protest.
Have never experienced this in Portugal in the 30 years we have visited and hired cars there. Do not, under any circumstances use Goldcar, they look cheaper but are a bunch of shysters.

My experience of this company is similar to many others. As soon as they have your credit or debit card details, they will find any way possible to debit additional charges, wherever and whenever possible.

The car they gave me at Girona Aiport was actually a nice, clean Seat Ibiza. No complaints at all with the car and I already knew about the "full tank of fuel" and similar scams. All of these seem to be common practice - methods of getting as much money as possible from you.

I returned the car at 8:00pm on the evening of departure and was given the exact location for leaving the car at Girona Airport. However, the car park was completely inaccessible - I was driving round and round Girona Airport, trying to find the entrance and noticed three other three other rental cars, all having the same problem. I spoke with a couple of these holiday makers and, like me, they had no idea what they should do. The entrance to the car park had been deliberately blocked!

Time was becoming very tight, so I eventually pulled up outside the main airport entrance and managed to find a GoldCar employee in the terminal building. He didn't seem at all surprised with my problem, telling me to give him the keys and he would park the car.

Surprise surprise, a few days later, when back in the UK, a further £40 had been debited from my card. After disputing the charge with my bank, I discovered that this was an "additional parking charge at Girona Airport, since the car was not returned properly".

Prior to contacting my bank, I had tried to telephone and contact GoldCar on dozens of occasions. They never answer the phone.

Just be aware that, as soon as this company have your card details, there are probably 1001 different little scams and methods to extract additional money from you. They debit your card freely and, seemingly, for any amount they choose - without any prior contact or warning. Trying to contact them from the UK is completely pointless.

I rented a car on Gran Canaria through Economy Car Rentals and the local provider was Goldcar Rentals. I prepaid part of the rental cost to Economy When I arrived at their airport counter, Goldcar prepared and handed me a contract, which 1) charged over 12 euros more for the car rental than my paperwork said I was to pay, 2) said I had made a choice of currencies for them to convert the rental amount to US$ and be charged in US$, with a really bad rate of exchange, and 3) said I would pay for a full tank of gas and return the car empty. I first complained about the increase in the charge for the rental and the currency conversion, showing them my paperwork from Economy and stating that I absolutely did not agree on a currency conversion at all and certainly not at the awful exchange rate they were giving. I also asked about the price charged on the fuel and the amount of fuel and they were evasive about that. They told me that everything was ''in the computer'' and they could not change any of it. My only option was to cancel the rental, in which case I would not get my prepayment back and would have to pay walkup rates somewhere else. They had me over a barrell. I checked the fuel capacity of the car and the local gas prices and found that the amount they were charging for fuel was over 25% higher than the highest local gas station prices on Gran Canaria. I have not filed a complaint with Economy Car Rentals, and if I do not get satisfaction there, I will follow up with a complaint to my credit card.

We rented a Goldcar car for ten days in November 2010 from Malaga, Spain and paid in advance. No fuss, no problems. When you pick up the car they charge your credit card for the price of a full tank, in my case 81 euro's but you can return the car (almost) empty. When you compare prices you have to correct for this fuel policy, but in our case it still was a good deal.

Here is a copy of the complaint that I made. I also put a complaint in the complaints book. Hopefully I get some satisfaction. Still nothing yet.
1. I was overcharged for 1 full tank of disel fuel at malaga airport. There was no options for filling up outside. It would have only cost 68 euros for a 60 liter tank. I paid 95 euros, which included 15 euro refueling charge and an additional fee of 14 euro. The extra charges are in small print, that no one can read. Gold car is taking advantage of the renter. I am looking for a refund of the overcharges.

2. The gps I rented was useless. It did not work properly. The software was not up to date. It was unable to find the location of the apartment I was staying at. It could not recalculate if I made a wrong turn, sending us in the wrong direction. Getting us lost. The gps systems need to be checked prior to being rented. We were not staying close to the airport to exchange it. I am requesting a refund of the cost of the gps 72 euros.
Does anyone know a way I can get some satisfaction to my horrible ordeal with goldcar. What options do I have
Nancy

We rented a car with Gold Car at the airport of Girona. First we had to pay 60 € for the full petrol tank, that was written really small on the contract. After that we had to pay a supplement of 50 € because we wanted to go to France, I thought it was ok for the assistance abroad. Then I had to pay a complementary insurance of 35 € for a full insurance, because I paid with visa electron card. That’s an authorized theft. So we drove to Montpelier. During the trip, it began to rain. The Windscreen-wiper didn’t work. After 30 minute looking for if there was a trick, we called the road assistance of Goldcar. Nobody answered. Then we let a message. They called us back after 30 minutes. We stood on the motorway because we couldn’t see anything. They gave us two solutions. We could go ourselves to a garage to have the Windscreen-wiper repaired and we had to pay it or they gave us a car of replacement from Montpelier, but we had to give the car back in Montpelier and we had to manage ourselves to go from Montpelier to Girona for the return flight. (WHY DID I PAY A SUPLEMENT OF 50 € TO GO TO FRANCE?) I didn’t want to argue then we accepted the first solution. The rain stopped and we drove on to Montpelier. But we didn’t have repaired the windscreen-wiper; I was on holiday that’s their job. On the way back near to Figueras the same occurred. We called again the road assistance. The same, we were told by a French lady named Laurence, that we had to keep on driving in the rain until we arrived to a rest area. On the area they sent us a tow truck to a Peugeot garage to have the car repaired and we had to pay the costs. We had to wait 2 hours until the garage opened. (WHY DID I PAY A SUPLEMENT FOR A FULL INSURANCE OF 35 €). When we arrived to the garage in Orriols we wanted to go to Girona Airport, because we were just 30 km from there. They told us it was not possible. When I started to argue with the French lady about all the paid supplement, she answered me that we didn’t want to speak with me anymore and that I shouldn’t have to call anymore. She hung the telephone. When I tried to call again she hung another time the telephone. At the end the rain stoped and we could go to the airport of Girona. They gave us a new car without any problem.

In sept we travelled to malaga and hired a vw toran 7 seater from goldcar, there were 6 in the party so needed the extra seats. We were only there for a long weekend and just used the car to travel from and back to the airport. When we dropped the car off we asked for it to be checked but they only checked the fuel. Back in england my friends credit card bill arrived with an additional charge of £1861.66 after several calls and emails it transpired that we were being accused of stealing the 2 rear seats. This was unbelievable as we did not under any circumstances remove any seats from the car. We have asked goldcar to check the cctv as this will show we were all sat on a seat when we drove into the airport, but they refuse to do this. Goldcar have produced a receipt printed on plain paper (no letter heading) for £883.39 so we have had a refund of £978.27. My friends credit card co (Marks and spencer) will not help. Goldcar have said this is the end of the matter and will not issue a refund so I feel the need to let as many people as possible know about this terrible company. Do not use goldcar rentals!