Ok....wanted to share this......so, I had a recent trip to Ireland. I would have liked to fly into Derry which is just across the border from Letterkenny, where I was staying, but there were no cheap flights so I flew into Belfast and had a hire car booked with Europcar. I did make the booking over the phone because I figured there might be an issue crossing the border so wanted to clarify. The booking came to about £150 with unlimited mileage and no extra fees for crossing the border. But, on arrival, I was told that there would be a £30, per day, charge for being across the border. I was really not happy about that AT ALL and cancelled the booking. I was first told that it couldn't be cancelled but it was and I have since received the full credit for that booking. So, I got the bus to Derry and from Derry to Letterkenny. On the way I booked the car hire, online, for collection in Letterkenny. So, I arrived there expecting no issues as I wasn't going to be crossing the border - car hire was prepaid, £106 this time for the 5 days. On arrival, I was told that there would be a £30, per day, charge for full insurance. This was starting to get REALLY stressful. The gentleman told me the charge in Belfast Europcar would have been for the insurance and not for crossing the border. Well, that's not how I understood it. Maybe there was a misunderstanding. But maybe NOT! Anyway, I wasn't going to pay more than double for the car hire - that should be made clear at time of booking, so I opted for the 13 odd hundred pound authorisation on my card in case, which I was not happy about at all. So I drove off. I have to say it really was a very nice car - a VW Golf with only 21000 on the clock. And that's kms not miles. But I was somewhat freaked and later checked Europcar reviews which freaked me out even more. 69% of their reviews are only 1 star and a lot of them are similar stories to mine and when the car is returned some little scratch etc is found that was there before and hundreds of pounds are debited from the customer's card. It has to be said that Enterprise has similar feedback ratings. So, for the whole 5 days I'm stressing about what happens when I return the car. In the end, everything was sweet. I stressed for nothing. The authorised, but not processed, £1300 deposit disappeared from my statement the following day after returning the vehicle although the office was closed and I had to leave the keys through the letterbox which concerned me as well as no one gave me the ok. So, in the end, I am very happy. I would have to say that £106 for that car was way too little for the 5 days. Should have been more but not £350 or whatever it was for the extras. It has been a very long time since I hired a car. I do vaguely remember having to leave a deposit before of about maybe £500. But that was years ago so £1300 today is probably the equivalent. I will be more careful next time. In fact, not sure I want to go through that again even though it worked out great in the end. Hope this review is of use. I did select 3 stars at the start but have upgraded it to 5 now. Europcar does need to address its feedback ratings. I suppose most people will leave a review if they are unhappy but not bother when everything is ok. Maybe they could offer customers a tiny refund for leaving a review, positive or negative. Thank you.
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