europcar.co.uk

Unexplained charges, overpriced car seats, rip off upgrade costs.

I Booked a car using booking.com for 9 Days while in the UK. It was with Europcar and managed to get the car for a reasonable price. I was happy as I have not had issues with Europcar before. Travelling with my 5yo Daughter I decided that I would just pick up a car seat at the airport THIS WAS MY FIRST MISTAKE. To hire a child seat for the day is a ridiculous price the guy at the counter told me something like 16 pounds per day almost the same price as the car. Hiring for over a week this was a huge extra cost (cheaper to buy one). However I was told that for an extra £30 per day I could get an upgraded car and forget about cost of car seat. Reluctantly I agreed, and with a quick swoshing of paperwork I signed the paperwork. As I booked the car in one currency and the documents are in a different currency I did not do the maths I just kept in mind the 30£ extra per day. When I got the bill there was an extra charge of 100 from the 30£ per day quoted. Having spoken to 2 different people at europcar one said it was Vat one said it was a location charge. In either case it does not seem clear to Europcar what the charge is for.I have tried clarifying this with Europcar on two occasions and have just been fobbed off. The last person I spoke to said they would raise a case. Recommendation to anyone using Europcar. Be careful of the extortionate cost of hiring car seats, Read the paperwork you sign very carefully, I actually feel they purposely deceive weary travellers into signing things and paying uneccesary upgrades. Also don't expect customer service to help afterwards.If you book through an alternative supplier probably best not to upgrade at all as you just get tied up in paperwork.

Date of experience: Oct 15, 2024