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Appalling Customer Relations and Lousy After Sales Experience
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTRALIA, WASHINGTON -- Firstly, it took Europcar more than a month to give me a response on my authorization charge inquiry, despite me calling and emailing on 3 separate occasions. I had to chase Europcar for an answer. Secondly, Europcar's process of placing an authorization charge on customers' credit card is ridiculous. When I picked up the car at Perth Airport on 18 Aug 15, a charge of AUD 1,410.74 was made to my credit card. This was the deposit plus GPS and additional driver charges. But, the very next day on 19 Aug 15, the same amount was debited back into my credit card account!

When I returned the car on 31 Aug 15, a charge of AUD 1,409.74 (-$1 deposit) was made on my credit card. Because of the transactions on 18 and 19 Aug 15, I lost SGD 98.69 due to the exchange rate. Why is there a need to debit back the amount into my account? Why can't Europcar hold the amount until I return the car then debit back the deposit? Renee from Customer Relations Australia was defensive and stubborn by saying this is company policy and that I agreed to the terms & conditions when I signed the rental agreement. This was not what was written in the T&C:

[General Rental Terms, Section 6.2 Terms of Payment]: "When payment is made by means of a credit card, an authorization will be requested prior to the start of the rental... This amount is not debited. It is held on cardholder's bank account until the final rental charge amount is debited." [Prepayment Terms and Conditions]: "An authorization will be obtained at time of rental and only on return of the vehicle will the corresponding charges be posted to the credit card."

Lastly, another charge of AUD 512.38 was made on my credit card on 1 Oct 15. I did not receive any invoices, statement, or document to explain what this charge was for. When I called to get an answer, it turned out that they had keyed in my email address wrongly thus the invoice didn't reach me. And the charge was for a small glass chip on the windscreen!

When I finally received the invoice and damage report, they had spelt my name and email address incorrectly again! I have requested and have yet to receive the updated invoice and damage report as of now. This administrative lapses is outrageous and unacceptable. It is affecting my insurance claim. I've never been more disappointed and upset with a car rental company like this one.

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Atrocious, Exhausting, Disgusting, Extortion, Underhanded and Pathetic!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ENGLAND -- My Wife and I flew from Toronto/Canada to London England summer 2019. I had booked a car through Sell Off Vacations website which uses "Car Trawler" to reserve and supposedly pay for a car with Europcar. I paid for my reservation in full while in Canada prior to our trip and received my confirmation stating paid in full and ZERO dollar balance upon arrival. Upon arrival I was told that was just a deposit and didn't really count. The car I reserved was not available. I was fine with that except I was charged $800 + for an "upgrade" which looked like an equivalent to me.

After stating my case, Europcar and Car Trawler both responded basically with "oh well" leaving me well out of pocket. We are now booking a trip to Germany this August 2020 and while looking to book a car, Europcar came up as an option and I happily moved on! Seems there are some positive reviews and some not in regards to Europcar, mine obviously is not and I shall NEVER rent from them again... ONCE BITTEN... Peter **.

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They Had No Car for Us as Prepaid. Cannot Get Refund Now.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ACAPULCO, MEXICO -- We prepaid for a car that should be ready for us at 8:00am on May 26th 20919, at the airport in Acapulco. They had no cars at that time luring us that some cars would be returned soon. Around 9:00 am they acknowledged that the earliest car they expect back will be around noon. We asked for money back. After talking with the agent on the site and with someone on the phone we were assured that the refund would be made the next business day, what was Monday, May 27, 2019. More than one month later, that refund still has not been done. Our emails have not been returned. None of the phone numbers listed on the Europcar's website allowed us to reach a service representative there. Looks like some of these phone numbers are disconnected.

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Beware of Europcar
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SAMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- I regret not having read all these reviews before I decided to rent from Europcar. I had reserved an full-size SUV four days prior to my arrival into the Samana Airport last April 2018. To make the story short, I ended up stranded on a Good Friday at the Samana Airport and 2.5 hours away from my final destination (Santo Domingo). No Europcar representative was waiting for me at the airport, they were certainly not answering any of their phones. Was lucky enough to find one smaller vehicle available with another car rental company who has offices inside the airport.

Next day, when I finally got a hold of someone from Europcar on the phone, the person was completely belligerent, rude and unapologetic. He basically questioned my decision of renting a car on a Good Friday because who works that day??! BEWARE renters, these people are irresponsible and give customer service a new (very negative) meaning.

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They Nail You on Minor Damages!!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

QUEENSTOWN, NZ, TEXAS -- In all the years I have rented cars, and due to business travel that is hundreds of times, I have never had as bad an experience, or ever asked to pay for damages due to a nick on the windshield. This was a nick that we felt was already there but grew in size during our rental. Regardless, this is not something that I caused, and I have never been billed for this by a car rental company before.

I wish I had checked out the reports on this car rental company. As can be seen by other reviews, and an article in 2017 by The Telegraph in the UK on Europcar's various nefarious practices, one of them being claiming money for minor, and often insignificant damages, you have to be particularly aware for these practices by this specific auto rental company.

After my rental the company charged me $267 for a windshield replacement due to what they measured as a 10mm chip in the windshield. You should either not rent from Europcar, or at least take detailed pictures of the car before and after, since they do not prompt you to inspect the car, do not provide you any schematic to record any damage, and have it in the contract that you should do that and bring up any issues before you drive away. You should also ensure that your credit card company insures you for any damages while you are driving a rental, so you can be reimbursed for such charges.

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Damage Scam
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LONDON, UK -- We reserved our vehicle online for September 2 of 2014 for our day trip to Stonehenge and Dover from the 12 Semley Pl location in London. When we got there we had been told that the mini cooper we had reserved was not available and were offered a BMW 330 for the same price. So far so good I guess, I suppose a BMW would be just as fun for our trip.

We were then asked if we would be using a full tank and would like to buy the gas in advance for returning it. Since our trip would be roughly 330 miles, we accepted that. Not knowing that they would be giving us a diesel car (the customers in front of us were given a car that required gasoline) and that the car got like 50 miles per gallon. So when we returned it after only using a half of a tank of gas, they basically said tough luck. But that is not the worst of it.

When we were given our car, we were expected to look over the vehicle in a dark parking garage with no assistance. Not seeing any damage to the car we were on our way. After returning from our trip we dropped it off in the same place we picked it up. Only this time the attendant had his flashlight ready to go, and made a b-line directly to one of the tires. "Oh, there is a cut in the tire" he says. Except that I never hit anything, and it was right next to previously documented damage to the wheel rim. So I was sent back to the office to take care of it.

After talking to the manager or whoever he was for a couple min, he said he would go look at it and took some pictures. About 20 minutes later he came back with his camera and showed us the tire -- which, there was no way to even tell it was the tire to the BMW. It looked like someone had taken a knife to it and carved part of the tire away next to the rim. Or even something that would have caused major damage to the rim other than the few scratches that were there from previous users.

He claimed this kind of thing happens all the time when you hit curbs or leave the parking garage. Except in all the vehicles I have ever owned I have never seen anything like this and I don't go driving around hitting curbs either. So he hemmed and hawed for a few seconds and said we would have to pay for a new tire and wondered why I didn't buy some fabled "tire insurance." Tire insurance??? Nobody ever mentioned tire insurance, let alone why the hell would anyone need tire insurance unless you're running some sort of scam.

He just kept saying this happens all the time, and to call and complain to Europcar. But there was nothing he could do because someone would get in trouble. So with our great day of seeing the sights ruined we head back to the hotel awaiting the day we returned home to call customer service. When we looked at our credit card statement it turns out that they not only took our online pre-payment, but also charged us again for the rental at the office!

AVOID EUROPCAR AT ALL COSTS! It may look like you will be saving money on your rental, but this place is running a scam on their customers, and you will end up paying even more money on top of your rental if you are not careful. I am just glad they didn't try and pull the 'old' damaged spare tire trick on me that apparently they have been doing to people in Mexico.

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Car Rental SCAM!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

Our family travel abroad every year. We planned to visit Western Australia in September. My daughter rented a 12 seater from Europcar via Rentalcars.com. She paid the full rent and the excess damage insurance fee to Rentalcars.com one month ahead, in August. We were advised to get our vehicle at Europcar's counter at Perth Airport. We arrived on time as our agreement indicated. First, the lady of Europcar told us the 12 seater was damaged. She could offer an 8 seater or 2 small cars.

Considering the road risks, gas bills, and other problems, we prefer to travel in one vehicle. So we went to the parking lot to check if the luggage capacity was enough for us (we were a group of 8). Then we decided to hold some bags on our laps to take that 8 seater. As to the price difference, the lady said "NO REFUND". That meant, we paid more money for a cheaper vehicle! OK, our family group included three generations -- I and my wife were around 75 and my youngest granddaughter was not 5 yet. We were tired and we just wanted to hit the road ASAP.

We accepted the unfair condition just because we really wanted a vehicle. Then, when we showed our domestic driving license and the international driving permit for the usual procedure of renting a vehicle overseas, we were asked to show the English translation of our domestic driving license. We had traveled so many countries, it was not the first time for us to travel in Western Australia, and we were a returning customer of Europcar. We'd never been challenged with this issue.

The international driving permit has the English translation of our Taiwan driving license in it. The international driving permit was issued according to our Taiwan driving license by our government. It was impossible for us to produce the English translation of the driving license with notarization at Perth Airport! That lady insisted the third document no matter how hard we tried to explain.

As a result, we had to give up our booking and turned to the next counter, Hertz, to rent a vehicle for moving on. Out of our surprise, we got the exactly the same vehicle with 2/3 price of the bill my daughter paid to Rentalcars.com. Besides, we weren't asked for the English translation. Just in a few minutes, we got our vehicle!

My daughter contacted Rentalcars.com for their non-fulfillment. The answer was the cancelation fee was the full payment my daughter paid in August. Think of this: we didn't use the car or the insurance for a second, why we should pay all these? They said, according to their Terms & Conditions, the cancelation is only accepted with refund when you notify them 48 hours before the picking-up time, AND the renter should prepare the valid driving license.

My daughter is still contacting with Rentalcars.com and Europcar. Because the truth was Europcar didn't fulfill the agreement, how could we predict the issue 48hrs ahead? AND, according to the Transport Department of Western Australia and the T&C of Europcar, there's no regulation says the English translation is mandatory. There's a regulation says the driver needs the domestic driving license and the international driving permit OR the English translation of the driving license.

Both companies ignore my daughter's complaint. My daughter's bank started to contact Rentalcars.com because the bank had paid Rentalcars.com already. Then, Rentalcars.com email my daughter and said they closed the file, so my daughter's bank won't have the solution. What a fraud it is!!! Please avoid using these fraud companies.

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Worst Experience. My Good Travel Memory Was Ruined
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LONDON -- Staff did not attend pre/post inspection with me, and they charge for a damage without my signature on the report. I strongly suspect the damage was done by previous renter. It is unlawful charge. I definitely recommend thinking other hire. I don't want everyone got ruined their good vacation memory by them.

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Europcar - Scam Artists Across Multiple Countries
By -

WESTLINK BUSINESS PARK, CLONDRINAGH, LIMERICK, IRE -- I recently rented a car through carhire3000.com. The booking was meant to be with Thrifty but they were booked out so I was passed over to Europcar. I had already paid the booking in full online. When I finally got to the top of the queue with Europcar I was asked if I wanted additional insurance. I said no, I had paid already and was in a hurry to get away as I'd been queueing so long. The girl insisted that it was €21 a day, and otherwise they'd take a deposit of about €1000 that if you even got a scratch you wouldn't get back. It was a very thinly veiled threat so I took the insurance as I wouldn't trust them not to charge me.

Anyway, got back to London and found I'd a bill for £110. I had already paid £53 in advance so I should only have had to pay an additional €42 (about £36) for the insurance. I emailed Europcar to query the charges and was emailed back a breakdown of charges of tolls, fuel and tax. I was also told I'd be refunded €20 for fuel - I wonder if I would have got this if I hadn't emailed? I doubt it.

Anyway a few days later another £10 went out of my account. I emailed again and asked for the refund and was told these were toll charges, even though this had been given in the first breakdown, and it would not be refunded. The tolls are for passing the eToll on the M50 twice - max cost of €3 if you're not registered (I assume Europcar are register so likely to be €2). I have been charged €20 by Europcar for these tolls when at worst it should only be €10, at best it should only be €4. Complete scam artists.

In a completely unrelated note I've been charged £20 by Europcar in South Africa in July. I rented a car with them last October, but this charge showed up in July. I have emailed twice to say this is a fraud case or a mistake and to please refund, but have had no reply. DO NOT LET EUROPCAR KEEP YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS! I don't know how to get this money back from them.

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Bait and Switch
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DUBLIN -- Rented a car for a vacation in Ireland. I rented the car through Expedia and I thought I was renting with Alamo. At the time I rented the car, Expedia offered full coverage insurance. I have rented in Ireland before and I know that insurance is an issue there, so I bought the extra coverage.

When I got to the Dublin Airport to pick up the car, I found out that Alamo was Europcar and I was concerned since I had reviews of how awful they are and that they use bait and switch tactics, but I was stuck. The line for those of us who reserved a car was very long and people were taking up to an hour to get their cars. Once I got to the counter I understood why. The first thing that happened was the clerk changed our car from gas to diesel adding $5/day to our fees.

That was OK, but I then realized what they had done on Expedia's website by offering a low rate. They hoped to get customers in the door and talk them into something more expensive, so I was on the alert for any other changes. At that point, the clerk said I had to buy insurance. I provided her the voucher Expedia had provided proving I had already purchased insurance. She said it was not insurance, although it clearly stated it was. She insisted I take out a $30/day policy with them or leave a $5000 deposit. I told her I wasn't doing either of those.

After 30 minutes of this, she got her supervisor, **, who continued to insist that I had to leave a deposit. I finally pointed out the website that the voucher mentioned. ** and the clerk read the terms and it was clear they realized they were wrong at that point, however, they refused to honor the terms and insisted that I still had to leave a $5000 deposit. They then said, "Let's start over and just see how much it will cost if you didn't have reservations."

At that point, I called Budget Rent a Car. ** said she would beat whatever price they offered. Once I told her the price, she said, "You should go over there." Obviously, she didn't want to beat the price. She also told me the company would sue me for libel once I told her I was going to tell of my experience with them on review sites. Do not use Alamo in Europe or Europcar as they really are a horrible company with no ethics or standards. They know once you are in their office, you are their prisoner and they will not have mercy on you.

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Europcar Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.0 out of 5, based on 19 ratings and
70 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Europcar
Immeuble Les Quadrants
3 avenue du Centre
78881 St QUENTIN en Yvelines FRANCE
33-1-30-44-90-00 (ph)
(33) 1 30 44 94 45 (fax)
www.europcar.com
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