GoldCar Rental
Reviews and Complaints

When I arrived at Pisa airport and went to the Gold Car customer desk the guy there would not let me take the car until I paid for insurance. I showed him the insurance policy I had bought specially for the Italy holiday online off the Gold Car website.

He said it was invalid and illegal to use the insurance in Italy. We argued for about 15 mins I was hot as were family. In the end I bought a new policy and was charged 192.45 (euros) (£169 in pounds sterling) in addition to the fee (over £120+) I had paid previously for use of the hire car.

I see another charge of £48.78 has just appeared on my credit card bill (7.7.2018) which is over month since I returned? I do not know why as I was told I had paid everything so why another hidden feel over a month later? This addition fee makes me worry that it could be a scam or potential fraud or an honest mistake?

When I filled out a Gold Car survey on customer satisfaction when I got back and explained what happened in detail and guess what? Nothing happened it was ignored. It tells a lot about a company doesn't it

My reference: FP773EP - another code given on the receipt is: FAU 210

voucher ref: IT [protected]

Desirable solution: to refund me the money which I have had to pay in addition to the agreed fee when I booked the car off the Gold Car website (ie the unauthorised and hidden £48.78 (7.7.2018) and the cost of the insurance I did not want which I had to pay at the airport: 192 euros (£169).

David

On Monday 3/07/18 I returned my Goldcar hired vehicle to Malaga airport. I parked and three young men, one with an ipad of some sort, came over to check the car. The man with the electronic device took my keys from me and sat in the drivers seat to check the fuel level (which was full). The other two looked over the car completely, driving it out and reversing the car, looking under the body to check it out fully.

The man with the electronic device said all was good and I asked him to sign my sheet, he replied he would send me an email. I asked him again would he sign and he, again, assured me all was well and he would send me an email. I have a witness to this, who will sign a statement to that effect. I did not receive any email from them!

Today I looked at my credit card statement and see that Goldcar have taken an unauthorised payment of £167.94 from my account.

I consider this fraud and theft.

Yours sincerely Alison North

Avoid GOLDCAR!

This is a warning message to all readers to avoid Goldcar at Malta (and other destinations)!

If I could back in time, I wish to had read reviews before booking with them.

I was victim of fraud, in my opinion.

Last month (June), we hired a car for 3 days with Goldcar (contract [protected]), at Malta's Airport.

It started in a very strange situation, that now I understand, because they almost like forcing us to take their expensive top-up insurance for cover all risks, which we not accepted. So they blocked off the standard €1100 from our credit card and said this would not be touched if there was no 'incident', explaining it could be charged for some particular reasons. Now I understand why they focus on this so much.

At the rental park, they bring to us a Peugeot 108 and we shot some pictures to the car, for prevent some bad surprises in the end.

The car had already many scratches and damages, that even we mark them in the document of the reports, it's almost impossible to point out them all.

For our surprise, after we delivered the car, we were informed that the vehicle had 2 damages: front bumper and under door panel (but we not had a single occurrence).

Despite we showed the photos of the car before we rented it, where it shows EXPLICITLY the damages were already there, it was impossible to convince the assistant that we did not those damages. Note those damages were not mentioned in the document of the reports, as we not signed all the small scratches.

They were acting in bad faith and not having ethics, since we should not pay for the damages that we did not made.

After some emails exchanged with "Mr Tyron Grech", the supposed "Damage Claim Manager" of Goldcar Malta, their justification was always:

"As per the vehicle inspection form which was also signed by yourself upon collection of the vehicle, it states:

ANY DAMAGES AROUND THE WHOLE BODY OF THE VEHICLE NOT REPORTED IN THIS SECTION WILL BE CONSIDERED AS NEW DAMAGES AND WILL BE CHARGED TO THE HIRER ON RETURN OF THE VEHICLE. IT IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HIRER TO CHECK THE CONDITIONS OF THE VEHICLE"

So, if you don't sign every 100% of the scratches, even if they are not visible, we have the risk of be charged later with over exaggerated prices.

They charged us 864, 94€.

It's easier to verify that we not damaged the car (by watching the before/after pics) and I suspect they have already charged other clients that really damaged the car other time before we rent. So, they will charge over and over and not repair the car, keeping this fraud or scam repeatedly.

And they reply they will not refund us, replying always with same explanation.

So, we have to stop this scam of the unscrupulous company.

The other reviews I've read, it seems their standard policy is to scam tourists.

For all these reasons described please avoid them, it's worse than being pickpocketed by a thief.

I rented the car with Goldcar, Portugal, contract [protected], a Ford Focus, withdrawn at Lisbon airport.
When I returned the vehicle the inspectors pointed out an alleged damage to the glass of the vehicle, attached photo. But this damage was not that I provoked. At the first inspection it was not checked.
As you can see, the damage is minimal, imperceptible to anyone, but the Goldcar employee went straight into it. He did not look at anything else from the vehicle. I do not want to accuse anyone in bad faith, but it was impossible for the guy, faced with all the enormity of the details of a car, to have seen minimal damage in seconds, not scrutinized any more of the vehicle. Then he continued the inspection for a few more seconds and closed. In the end, he told me to sign the papers stating that there would be a lockout of 400 euros from my credit card.
I do not recognize the damage as practiced by me. I always rent cars and have always been honest with my contractual relationships, if it were damage I would pay to do, as I have done on another occasion.
I did not have access to the history of the vehicle, with the demonstration of all the previous clients, since I am absolutely certain that it was not I who caused the damage, as well as that damage will be charged to the clients after me, which is why the customer relationship and the provider must be permeated by a minimum of transparency, being sure that I have to have access to the notes made by the surveyors of this vehicle when other customers have delivered

Most horrific holiday experience ever!

I collected a car from Gold car/ Rhodium boot at Malta airport on Tuesday 27 March 2018 at around 21:00.

 I was offered any insurance that was more expensive than the rental itself. I politely refused and for that I was given extra two detailed penalty documents to sign. I never saw anything like this anywhere else in the world! But I wasn't given a choice.

At the street garage, the agent handing over the car did a very fast walk around the car, it was 21:30 and the inspection took place under a semi lit streetlight. He kept on assuring me that the many little scratches and dents are too small to mention in the report. 

He didn't give me any copy of the inspection report therefore I insisted to photograph it.

I then drove directly to the hotel (25mins drive) the car was full of loud mechanical sounds and scary noises and the overall feel was that I drive an unsafe, unmaintained, old car. I am having twelve days holiday in Malta with my partner, my mother age 73 and my 3 years old son and my guts feeling indicated the situation is not safe nor professional. 

 25 mins after collecting the car from Malta airport, while I hand the keys to the concierge to park the car in the Intercontinental Hotel parking hotel I quickly noticed a  little scratch on the front. I remember myself wondering at the back of my mind if we included that in the inspection report that took place only 25 mins ago. I was too busy with checking in to the hotel and dealing with a 3 years old toddler therefore  I could not pay too much attention or thoughts to this.

After putting my little boy to sleep while sitting in the bath I recalled on the scratch and remembered I took a photo of the inspection report. I checked my phone and surprisingly it was not included. The following day I asked the concierge to get my car out of the hotel garage. Under day light I could inspect the scratch more closely. I took a picture on my phone and emailed the branch as soon as I got back to my room. 

At that stage, on Wednesday, I was unconcerned and confident that my quick report will be quickly  resolved assuring me not to worry, or that they forgot to include this in their report or any other explanation but instead I received a generic copy paste reply that did not answer any of my queries.

 It was only when I started to call the car rental office branch the following day (Thursday), when the phone was put down on me during the conversation a few times, and then when my further calls were totally ignored, that I started to get suspicious.  A quick internet search and online review website revealed the hundreds of bad reviews and similar incidents of scratches that appeared from nowhere and the heavy fines. I started to get really concerned  that this rental company was operating a large scale scam.

On Friday morning, before heading further inland, I returned to the airport to have face to face chat with the manager. I first looked for the guy who inspected the car in the inspection garage.  He wasn't there. I  talked to other employees and they all seemed to be briefed with a fixed short reply ‘this is why you should have taken the insurance we offered you'! 

I walked to the airport terminal and after an hour wait I managed to meet the branch manager. Her name is Kaycee Pope. She is the person who replied my email with a standard copy-paste reply that you can see at the bottom of this page (*1)

Her approach/attitude was very strict and unpleasant. Rather then listening to my story she kept on repeating that ‘if not on inspection report then it is my fault' she already came with a price tag of EUR 430 which EUR 150 would be as an admin handling fee. 

It sounds and felt a very professional scam and fraud at that stage but there was nothing I could do about. I felt frustrated and helpless. I kept on wandering it could have been worst when you are in a rush to get to your flight and have no other choice. 

Although I do have an annual insurance with ICarHire.com I knew it wasn't my fault so I decided to keep on with my argument on and on and on and  see what happens. Eventually, all of a sudden, she came with a surprising suggestion. She suggested that I would quickly register online for car insurance and that she would amend the dates of the car reservation to start after I start my new insurance (30/3) and that she would issue a new rental agreement. She also offered to change the date of the scratch/incident to the last day of the rental (8/4) so I could claim it back from this new insurance.

I was overwhelmed by her upfront and direct suggestion to me committing fraud /insurance crime and immediately refused. I decided to go to the nearby police station but she was not intimidated at all ‘ it is your word against us she said'.

She was right, at the airport police station they briefly explained to me that this is a civil case and that it is my word against them.

I then called you at MasterCard where you confirmed that EUR 1, 400 were provisionally blocked on my card but that you cannot do much before they actually confirm how much money they will charge my MasterCard card account. 

I returned to the terminal to see again the branch manager, Kaycee Pope, giving it one last chance to see if I can talk senses to her. This time I decided to secretly record my conversation with her. She kept on suggesting me to do fraud while handing over a printed bill of EUR 430. It was only the beginning of my 3rd morning into my car rental period and I already got a bill double than my twelve days rental fees. She kept on ignoring my request to check if the scratch was already recorded by previous rentals. I refused to pay and left the airport keeping the same old car.

I have nine more days left on my rental, in a car I don't feel safe to drive and I have no way to change it unless I pay hefty fine and claim responsibility on a tiny scratch at the front.


To summarise:

1. The scratch seemed to be ‘peeling off'/revealing itself during the drive to the hotel. Another option is that we might have noticed the scratch during inspection but it was deliberately omitted/not written down. 

2. The scratch that seemed to be deliberately caused by a sharp metal/key got bigger and longer with each passing day.

3. I was given an old car that felt unsafe to drive in.

4. I was offered to take part in an insurance fraud.

5. I am anxiously await to see what else they might blame me for after returning the car.


Update 8.4.2018 | Upon returning the car, the scratch was dismissed by Maz saying all is OK and no extra charge. He even signed my form as all OK. The following day a charge of euros487 appeared on my card which included euros40 for loss of use due to repair of the scratch (seriously?!).


Update 1.7.2018 | After returning to the UK, I emailed jcazcona at goldcar.com and pedrobonet at goldcar.com. I then got reply from Rachel escalationheadcs at goldcar.com which promised to investigate my claim. It has been 3 months now and no one answers my emails.

J'ai louer un véhicule du 26 au 28 juin 2018 (réservation ES833804770). Outre la lenteur et le caractère antipathique du personnel, le véhicule mis à disposition, une Golf, était dans un état déplorable : coups et de nombreuses griffes. Par ailleurs, dès lors que pour réaliser l'état des lieux de la voiture, les clés ne sont remises et qu'il fait sombre, ce n'est que tardivement que j'ai constaté un trou de cigarette et une tache de graisse sur le siège passager. Il n'est pas acceptable de recevoir un véhicule dans cet état. Merci de m'indiquer la suite réservée à la présente réclamation.

Hi,

There is an extra cover prize charged from my master card even though it was not asked when renting the car. I already had a full cover from Rentalcar, so I wouldn't have taken another coverage for the car. The contract is only in Spanish.

Additionally, I don't find it appropriate to charge 294e when renting a car of 45e that was already payed in advance. The fuel tank is almost full - I expect to get money back from the gazoline and the extra cover.

Best regards,

Tuomas Valovirta

This company are complete fraudsters.
They had our reservation paid from February in full.
They refused to release the car as we wanted to collect it more than 5 hours after the collection time even though we had rented the car for a week!
Then they tried to rent us the same car for 2.5x times the price paid.

We had to rent from another company in the airport at rack rates.
So far, neither Goldcar nor the broker (Cartrawler) want to return our fully paid rental fee for the car they did not give us.

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

I was forced to hire a car for 12 hours as I had made an error with my booking by selecting 12pm instead of 12am. I paid over 80 euros to hire the care to take us to Our accommodation and return to the airport the following day to pick up the car I had originally booked. I also paid for a full tank of fuel and I was assured by both colleagues on the desk that i would be refunded for unused fuel and the refund would be processed within 24hrs. This was unexpected and cut in to Our holiday spends.
Goldcar issued a refund initially and then removed that plus a little more the following day from my account.
I have made countless phone calls to my expense and reported a problem on the website countless times. I have received 2 emails stating that I have incurred a 50 euro penalty for not returning the tank full! This was not the fuel option we selected so somebody has either made an error or is lying. There is no way to reply to the emails i am being presented with brick walls. Not only is my money being stolen by goldcar they are not even mentioning the rest of the money that they should be talking about - 50 euro penalty would leave me with 30 still owed from my 101 euro payment minus the 12 euro fuel used.
I have a copy of an email sent to me by goldcar detailing the breakdown of my fuel refund and advice that the money would clear in 2 days.
What is this company? I have never ever encountered anything as appalling as this in my life.

Contract [protected].
Car hire Almeria Airport 22/05/2018 to 07/06/2018.
Paid €76.37 for full tank of fuel under FlexFuel contract.
I returned the car with fuel gauge showing 3/8 full and fuel for 270km.
Odometer at start 38208
Odometer at end 39113.

I should have received a refund for the fuel in the tank. Instead my credit card has been charged an additional €47.52, with no explanation.

I want a refund of this amount, plus the cont of the fuel in the tank. In addition I am asking for an extra payment to cover my credit card interest plus my time and inconvenience.

Regards,
Bruce Moore.

Horror car rental experience! Let me explain: Thursday, 7.06, Malaga airport. I went with my husband and my baby to take the car booked online almost 2 months ago. The Goldcar lady quickly tells us the final price and we pay by credit card. After I check the receipt, I realize that noboby mentioned anything about a full coverage insurance. Still, it's there, on the receipt. I didn't want it, as I already had one from the broker I made the booking with and, the most important, the lady DID NOT MENTION IT. She didn't ask me if I want it or I am willing to pay the 1100€ deposit (for which I already had the credit card prepared).
So I go back and tell her. She tries selling it to me now and explain the advantages (after it was already paid) and she tells me 2 times that I have to pay 1400 € (!) if I don't keep the insurance. I correct her: it's 1100€. And I request a refund of the insurance cost, as I want to pay the deposit. She processes it and asks me to pay the deposit. But my CC says "insuficient funds". Because the refund was not processed instantly and it seems there aren't 1100€ left on the card anymore, besides what was already paid.
So I have 2 choices: either wait for a few hours in the airport, with an already tired, hungry and crying 8 months old baby, until the refund is processed, or buy again that full coverage insurance (170€) again, even though I already have one, in order to get the car.
This is how Goldcar stole from me 170€. And the lady couldn't say more than "I told you about the insurance". No, she did NOT! And I want my money back. This is unacceptable!

Mi número de reserva es [protected] en aeropuerto de Malta. Alquilamos un vehículo durante el periodo de 01/06/18 hasta el 07/06/18. Al recoger el vehículo este tenía multitud de golpes y rayones, era de noche y la revisión no se podía realizar muy bien. Durante los días que tuvimos el vehículo no tuvimos ningún problema ni accidente. Al entregar el vehículo el personal del aeropuerto se sacó de la manga un golpe en la parte baja del vehículo próxima a la rueda trasera. Entre unas cosas y otras amenazaban que no devolvían la fianza si no firmaba el parte, eso mas las prisas el problema del idioma, el personal mediante engaño comentan que van a realizar un cargo pero que lo devolverían, cual es la sorpresa que lo que me decían que era una devolución de parte de la fianza de 1100 euros, se trataba de un cargo de 947 Euros, por un roce que hasta oxido tenía de lo viejo que era.

Contact Number - [protected].

Vehicle Registration - 2058KBK. Fiat Panda.

Date rented - 28th May - 8th June 2018.

Airport - Manises, Valencia, Spain.

Agent booked through - Cartroller Promotions.

We collect and returned the car with no problems. The car was returned full with petrol.

However, a charge of $1, 450.89 was charged to my credit card. They told me this would be returned if everything was ok. When we returned the car everything was ok. However, we only received @1.364.81 back on our credit card.

This is a difference of $86.08. I can understand there might be a slight difference but definitely not this much. I have used many other car hire companies and never had this problem.

Was this a petrol amount that was not credited?

Please can you find out an explanation for this?

Geoffrey Luker
[protected]@Lukerpropertiesgroup.com
US phone number [protected].

Over 16 years of overseas car hire, this is the first company not to bother checking car on return. They were just uninterested and pointed to a key box. 48 hours on return to England, low and behold I have a charge of €200 for an apparent damaged bumper. What makes it worse is instead of £190 fee exiting my bank account on approx the current exchange rate, they somehow make €200 euros equal to £280. I emailed Goldcar a week ago asking for a photo of the damage to see if it matches the photos that I took on returning the car which shows no damage. Unsurprisingly, no response from Goldcar. Oh, the paperwork when the car was collected highlighted damage to the bumper!

When we arrived to drop the car off, there was a man directing the cars into the car park, he directed me in to the car park because we were in a traffic jam and told me to go into the office, I parked and did as he asked. I took the baby chair in to the office as well, but the ladies in the office said I had to take the car somewhere else. All our luggage, baby and other child were already waiting to get into the airport. So left it with them. I paid top rate to use your service, never had a problem with gold car before, am not very happy at all.

I just rented a car at Goldcar-porto-airport-office. They charged me more than 180 euro for a little scratch on the door, that was so little that we haven't seen it when I took the car. I just drove to the place where I had to go and the car was parked in a garage where it was the only car. So nothing happened, the scratch was too little to be seen, simply. I want the money back. When you give back the car, there is no time to complain because the flight does not wait. It is difficult to find a way to get customers service. Please answer

I hired a goldcar from nice airport, the car was returned in damaged and with full fuel, there terms and conditions state that the fuel deposit and the £1300 deposit will be returned within max 8 days,
They have not returned my money ! After 14 days do far ! Their customer service will not discuss over phone, you have to log ‘ An Incident ‘ on their web site !
AVOID AVOID AVOID ! This company are crooks !

I'm sick of those people you call staff at the desk in airport Madeira island. Mónica is one rude [censored] and I receive complaint after complaint about your service.
I will be starting a campaign with my blog www.madeiraislandnews.com to get gold car removed from Madeira island, I have already started collecting complaints and will do so all summer.

We collected a car from San Javier airport and noted the damage which was already on the car. On returning the car this damage was pointed out to us and we were told we were liable for it! We disputed this but got nowhere. There was a previous repair to the car for which we have been charged 200 euros, slight marks on back passenger door charged 200 euros again and brush marks which will polish out charged 150 euros. GoldCar have charged us in total just of £495.00! We are therefore disputing the damage and also the amount we are being charged even if we were responsible for this damage. This claim by GoldCar is fraud on their part and we are challenging their claim.

I had a booking from the Alicante Office on the 25th April
We checked the car but did not see how bad the tyres were until after arriving at our destination, the next time we went to use the car, they were bold to the wire on the front and highly dangerous to drive on.
We also had a slight cigarette smell, and found a cigarette butt in the boot.
We contacted the contact center on the 1st of May and were told that as we didn't have super relax cover that we would have to pay for recovery and also get our way back to the airport to get another car. We later realised on return that Breakdown is included in the standard cover so why were we told this.
We spoke to a manager and I was asked to email photo's of the tyres to [protected]@goldcar.com, the manager called back and confirmed that we could get the tyres replaced and would be reimbursed if we returned the invoice in the name of goldcar. So this is what we did. The Alicante office were very apologetic and surprised at the issue. We could not raise the issue on the online system as it did not recognize any of our details despite being logged in with the same details at the time. So the office raised a case for me and emailed me the reference the next day.
I had no response so contacted the customer service number, they advised again to raise it it in writing on the website, I explained the issue there and they told me (Incorrectly) to write to [protected]@goldcar.com, as I didn't get a response, I contacted the number again and was given [protected]@goldcar.com, so wrote a lengthy email to them.
No response, so called again, not helpful, told me to email, so I chased again via [protected]@... No response, called again, this time more helpful, could see the photo's that id sent an the communications and notes, put on hold while spoke to team and was told that I would get a response later that day. Well, I did get a response, saying there was no record of any of my complaint and basically dismissing my claim and complaint. I responded, still now a week later, no response. I call up, no help, told to email the CS team again.
No way of escalating my issue.
I am owed money, and had part of my holiday ruined because I could not use the car.