Europcar Nightmare Stories

I will never use this company ever again and will warn all friends not to. I will be complaining and pursuing as far as I possibly can --Angie

Europcar Belfast are total scammers. I was charged £443 for 1 weeks car hire….the extra costs were £170 for accidentally crossing the Irish border, £70 for airport pick up (!) and £18 extra revenue ! DO NOT USE --Amanda

They charged us with 1200 Euros at the end and they took it from my bank account. --Zyad

They quoted us a price at the airport front desk and then once captive at their rental facility upcharged us with 40% in insurance - we were first told would be uneeded. Now they just sent me an email stating they will need us to pay an extra 25% for using the car the second week???!!! Never communicated to us! --Derrick

They tend to have added fees once you show up or don't have the class of car you reserved but, of course, have a much more expensive car available. --Joan

When I arrived at the desk with my printed Europcar reservation page I was told that the rental was actually with one of their "other" companies " Active Rental" and that if I wanted the car I would either have to pay an extra $1,000 insurance (for 4 weeks) or have them put a hold in my credit card for $13,000 .00, the total value of the car. I chose the $1,000 option, but I will never rent from this company again and advise all readers to choose an option! -- Geza

They charged me $6322 for 1week van AFTER I had already prepaid for it. They asked for my credit card and indicated they were putting a hold on my card for deposit and had me sign on the dotted line on a little electronic screen while salesperson covered up any portion with his finger that he did not wish for me to see showing me where to sign. This is after waiting in their offices for 2.5 hours while my family of 7 had to wait in the heat outside with luggage and "no car was available" though I could see plenty in their lot It was a brilliant, sneaky and sinister criminal scam. --Anonymous

Beware! This company is known for scamming customers. Unfortunately I fell victim to this on a recent trip abroad. I received a bill for damages that I was absolutely not responsible for after returning the vehicle. After further research I found pages of stories similar to mine. Do not trust this company!!! Do yourself a favor and rent with a different company!!!

Don't bother going with Europacar. Rent with a different company. --Martin

Horrendous company DO NOT USE. Worst experience of any car hire company in my life. --Victoria

– They changed the contract price of the prepaid reservation after signing the contract (from all-in price, to excluding VAT). And charged the card with VAT 2 hours later.

– The car assigned in the contract, was not the car we actually received.

– We received an e-mail stating ’new damages’ were discovered. It encluded a photo with a small scratch (1 cm) and a 3 weeks old photo without damage. We only rented for 48 hours, so the ‘old’ photo has no value.

– Europcar did not respond to the e-mail at all, but sent out another e-mail saying they would get an estimate of the repair costs and will charge me for that.

This company fraudulent removes money and makes it difficult to claim it back so people give up on claiming. I am currently applying for a court date with small claims and have reported this company to trading standards. -- Ben

Never will rent again and will tell anyone not to rent from them. We returned the car they did not say a word and then sent the huge bill. --Angelica

The worst car rental EVER. They wouldn't accept my 3 forms of identification at the pick up location due to their "dark ages fine print" I had Passport, International license and my digital State license not good enough based on the fine print, Nor would they accept my wife ID either, we paid/lost 3,000 euros and then had to go another agency to then pay 4,000 euros to start our holiday. --Peter

They are thieves. I rented a car in Spain. They charged my credit card $227 dollars for a scratch that I didn't do around 3 inches long under the bumper that you couldn't see with the naked eye. The woman went over the car with a flashlight. Never rent from them they either force you to buy expensive insurance or take your deposit. Horrible business practice. --Brad

Incredibly backwards and indifferent customer service. The car pick up process is awful: their systems don’t talk to each other and reservation numbers are not recognized at the counter. --Cesar

This is the absolute worst car rental company I've ever dealt with. BEWARE. --Air

Europcar’s handling of this has been not only disappointing but actively stressful and unjust.

What choice did I have - I had just arrived on an overnight flight, had a long drive to get to the hotel and a very busy schedule for the next day. So instead of paying $650 for ten days it cost me $1,900 in total. -- Norman

A week after dropping our car off in Calis france (was paid in full) They charged our CC over $1000 dollars for a chipped windshield (it was not chipped , we took pics and the car was left perfect) and for milage when it was an unlimited milage rental. Now a month later they're trying to charge my card again for random garbage. Look at their reviews and look at the comments on FB. I wish I would have beforehand.