Do not use, we went to Italy in September 2025.
On the evening of the 03 09 2025 after our flight, me and my partner arrived at the Europcar desk in Milan airport, I waited in line until a lady who didn't speak much English asked me to approached the desk.
As the car hire was all booked through my holiday company EasyJet, I had already been told what to expect and the price had already been finalised. I gave over all the relevant paperwork and the lady processed it on the computer I was then asked if I wanted to take out the extra insurance which I declined as EasyJet had made it clear that this wasn't necessary and it was just a way of charging me more money. I was then asked to give a holding credit card over just in case of any damage to the car whilst in my possession, I did this and it was authorized and the amount I was asked to pay matched the figure on the EasyJet paperwork. After this I was asked to sign a digital pad which I believed was for the credit card payment and what had already been agreed when hiring the car though EasyJet. I was never made aware or given the opportunity to find out that this may have been for any other contractual agreement or purpose.
After I had signed the digital pad the lady went away to get us the keys, at this point there seemed to be a bit of confusion and her and her colleague seemed to be taking their time and were searching back and forth. After a few minutes they came back saying and asking "you wanted a sat nav", which I replied "yes" as this was pre agreed and paid for through EasyJet. They went away again and came back with a set of keys and implied that this was the only car available at this time without actually confirming what the car was, so I took the keys not knowing what the car would be or even if It was right for our situation. As these keys were freely given to me and the paperwork had already been signed, I was made to believe that the contract and the amount paid would be the same. At no time was I made aware that this would be deemed an upgrade and presumed as it was their fault for not having the correct class of car for us. At no time was I asked about this or required to give further consent or payment to hire the different car. If I knew this was classed as an upgrade then I would have refused.
When we got to the car in the parking lot, we realised that this car was much bigger than the Corsa we had requested as it was a BYD Seal hybrid car. Me and my partner assumed that this was the alternative car they had given us and at no extra cost as the one we had paid for wasn't available, by this time is was very late and we just wanted to get to our hotel in Milan before midnight.
On the day of our return flight, we filled the car up with fuel and give the car back to a very helpful lady and she checked every thing over and informed us that all was fine and we should get our full deposit back in the next 5-10 working days and no more need to be done. Within 5-10 working days the holding charge was fully removed from my card and had disappeared from my transactions so I believed this was the end of the matter and all was square. A week or so later I was going though all my transactions that I made whilst on holiday and to my surprised I found this payment which I never agreed and what was even more concerning was it says it was a chip and pin payment made on the 11 09 2025 where I would have had to physically punch my pin number in to process this. I made no such transaction as we were travelling home throughout this date. I contacted my bank and even the person I spoke to on the phone was confused and concerned how my chip and pin was used without my knowledge and not by myself, so I was instantly refunded the money. After almost 1 month I had an email from Lloyds saying Europcar have disputed your claim and have shown evidence I agreed to pay almost £100 extra on the 11th. They had a digital signature and chip & pin card payment which was from the 3rd not the 11th but somehow they had fraudulently copied it over and dated it the 11th. My bank are now taking back the money and (Lloyds) have ignored all my emails and refused to even communicate with me further. So in my eyes fraud has been committed but as this was in a different country and europcar have showed made up evidence, Lloyds have just accepted this and not tried to help one little bit. I will never use Europcar again and I am also looking at changing the bank I have been with since I was a child, over 30 years. To make things worse (but this isn't exactly europcars fault) last week we received a email from europcar saying we are being fined but Italy highways as we failed to pay one of the toll roads, even though we have evidence we paid and you cannot physically use the toll unless you pay, as the barrier will not open. Apparently in Italy they can take up to 1 year to make people aware of any driving offences. This is laughable.
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