Review Time
I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding my recent experience with Europcar.Booking and Payment DetailsI booked my rental car at the same time as my easyJet flights. The total rental amount was £91.00, and an additional £50.00 was paid for waiver protection. (Supporting details attached.)Initial Interaction at Rental CounterUpon arrival to collect the car, the representative at the counter inquired whether I had rented with Europcar previously. I informed them that I had, but had a negative experience regarding fuel charges, despite refueling the car minutes before returning it. I was forced to raise a complaint and provide proof of my fuel purchase in order to receive a refund. The representative apologized and offered me a free upgrade for my current rental.Rental Agreement and Holding DepositI was presented with the rental agreement, which clearly indicated the prepaid amount of £91.00, as well as an additional charge of £86.90, which was explained to me as a holding deposit. I questioned this charge, and it was reaffirmed as a holding deposit, which would be refunded to my card upon the return of the vehicle. This conversation was witnessed by my colleague, who was traveling with me at the time.Fuel Refill and Return of VehiclePrior to returning the vehicle, I refueled the car with 6.91 liters of petrol, totalling £9.66, at the nearest garage to the airport (PA3 2TH), as per the attached receipt. Upon returning the vehicle, I handed the keys to a Europcar representative named Jack, who inspected the vehicle, including its mileage and fuel levels. He confirmed that everything was in order and that no issues were present.Unjust ChargesOn March 21, 2025, I received an invoice for additional charges, including a Premium Station Surcharge and a charge for 6 liters of fuel. Furthermore, my credit card has been charged an additional £98.85 on top of the original rental charge of £91.00.These charges are clearly erroneous, unjustified, and appear to be fraudulent.I hereby request that the excess charge of £98.85 be refunded immediately to my credit card.Additionally, I wish to file a formal complaint against both the employee who processed my rental and the representative to whom I returned the vehicle. Their actions were misleading and resulted in fraudulent charges being placed against me.I expect prompt resolution of this matter. Should this issue remain unresolved, I will be forced to take further action to protect my interests.
Recently booked a van for the weekend to move house, then received a call today saying they have no available vans and the woman should not of booked you in. Now I'm stuck without a van. Terrible service. Won't be using these no more. You lost a customer and now I have to wait 5 days for my deposit to go back into my bank.
Gave me a curtesy car for 6 days huge scratch down the side. Car handed over very quickly. After 6 days car was collected. I signed the relevant section that the car was being returned in same condition. After 6 weeks they emailed me to tell me there was a <10mm chip on the front screen and the paperwork they sent me they had forged my signature in the New Damage Section Excess £750- £1000 I am now taking legal action and I am in direct contact with the CEO Alain Favey
After changing a faulty electric vehicle, and a downgrade, they decided to charge me again for the rental ! I complained to Mr Carlos at customer service, who either can't understand or is trained to not be fair. I have tried to email on the website, but it's faulty! I am still hoping a decent person at the company can look at this and resolve to my satisfaction, otherwise I will be putting my legal hat on I'm afraid! Terrible customer service experience.
13th March 15.35 received email confirmation of car hire from 17th-21st March pick up/drop off Kinston upon Thames.14th March 13.05 received call from mobile 07815 464792 to inform me that the Kingston branch would not be operational w/c 17th March therefore pickup and drop off needed to change to another depot. It was agreed reluctantly on my part that new pickup/drop off station would be Gatwick South Terminal which is 30 miles from where i live. I was assured by the female caller that this modification would not alter the t&c's of the hire contract including the cost.14th March 13.12 , the modification email came through which still stayed pickup and drop off Kingston upon Thames.17th March 08.04, i rang europcar customer services to again ask for reassurance that this booking had indeed been modified correctly. I was assured that despite the modified booking stating Kingston upon Thames, the team at Gatwick would see this change on their system.17th March 11.30 ,i embark on 2 and half hour journey on public transport at my own time and cost to travel to Gatwick.17th March approx 14 00, approach service desk, i am.told there is no booking. Customer service agent calls over manager who also looked perplexed and repeated no such booking. I insist and relay the information provided by Kingston. After 5 mins of phone calls and deliberation Customer service agent, tells me that i have 3 different options of car, each costing £30+ per day additional to what i had already paid. I declined having been completely misinformed by Europcar and was told only alternative was a refund. I went outside and immediately called Europcar customer services who passed me back and forth and eventually to complaints. They refused to acknowledge their error and when i asked them to resolve the matter as they were at fault i was told that i would have to make a new reservation at a new cost £200+, but that i would have to wait at gatwick another 3 hours as their system did not allow immediate booking and vehicle retrieval. I have now travelled 30 miles from home on buses and trains to be told a) booking not valid b) i would have to pay another £120+ c) if i want new reservation i would have to wait 3 hours.UNACCEPTABLEWhile this has been now registered as a complaint and assures an investigation, i insist on satisfactory answers to the following:Why was Kingston upon Thames showing as open and operational on Gatwick system which initially impeded the gatwick staff from seeing the booking?Why, when a customer has already been subjected to a 30 mile trip instead of a 20 min bus ride to their chosen and confirmed place of pick up and drop off, at their own inconvenience, time and money, does Europcar not accept their own internal failures and endeavour to resolve the problem?I will also be submitting a claim for compensation to cover travel expenses to the airport and the additional cost of hiring a vehicle with another provider who were extremely helpful in overcoming the ridiculous bureaucracy around 2/3 hour wait times for a vehicle when they had one available and ready to go. Needless to say i will not be using Europcar ever again.I would appreciate a swift and satisfactory response addressing the abysmal customer service illustrated above Blanket response from Europcar which failed to address the specific failings of the booking."Thank you for contacting Europcar Customer Services regarding the vehicle not provided for your reservation 1187068944.Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologise for the lack of provision of the confirmed vehicle. On occasion, unforeseen changes to our fleet utilisation, resulting from extensions or breakdown can result in the Rental station responsible for your hire being unable to fulfil the booking. I would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused, and would like to assure you we constantly review ways to improve our services and minimise any disruption to our customers. I trust this information assists with your query. Regards, David"Europcar UK Group | Customer Services
I hired a car from Inverness Airport on 18/3/25. I returned it a few hours later having done 42 miles and having filled the tank up to the very brim with £8 of fuel just before drop off. I couldn’t get any more fuel in the tank. They hold £250 from your account to cover any additional costs. Just got my money back but with £10 deducted for fuel! If true this car used £18 of fuel to cover 42 miles. This is a SCAM. I made the guy at the Europcar check the car over with me which was a bit of a walk. The guy was very unhappy, wanting me just to leave the car for him to check later, but came with me. He checked the car inside and out (checking mileage and fuel) and told me everything was OK and that I’d get my full deposit back ‘soon’. When you leave a hire car you are at the mercy of the integrity of these hire companies. Europcar clearly has little of that. I made a complaint and will include the result of that later. However it might be something like:“Hello John,We appreciate your feedback and we are sorry to learn you were dissatisfied with our service.Give us the chance to solve the issue by providing more details using (link removed) where our customer service team will be in touch.We hope to see you again.The Europcar Team”…or something like that…..
I bought a full tank and returned it as a full tank. As written on the return invoice, 8/8: 8/8The next day's invoice showed a Fuel charge of £12.53 for 1.74 plus VAT for 6 litres.However, I filled up the vehicle with BP 5 minutes before returning it, as I had driven 57 miles.(I have Bp invoice) I received 8/8 and returned 8/8 as approved and written by the person who received the vehicle. So they found a way to make easy money. A complete DISGRACEPlease be careful when renting a car
I had an accident with my car (not my fault) and received a replacement car similar to mine, from Europcar. It took about 40 days to fix my car so during this time I did about 2,000 miles. When finally my car was ready, I was told that I can leave the rental at the repair garage, as this was apparently, the usual practice. It took Europcar 3 days to collect their car and I received the collection report with all the images, which looked okay. I've been driving for more than 40 years, dozens of different rental cars around the world, never had a damage. I did not suspect any problems with the rental car, as usual.What was my surprise when a month later I got a message from Europcar stating there was damage to the rental car worth nearly a £1,000! There was no visible damage to the car while in my possession and I am not aware of anything like that! The images presented were magnified x20, making minor scuffs and scratches look massive. The car was not at the place where I left it, and was also cleaned. There was no mention in the contract that 2mm scuffs will be considered a damage worth £1,000! I feel so sorry I accepted their service as they are clearly after ripping off their customers. The car was not even repaired, it was rented again to other people, and the damage claimed is barely noticeable. They took advantage of me as I was so stressed by the accident I had. Europcar made me sign documents I was not in a proper state to thoroughly read, made me agree to a huge excess (£1,000, no coincidence?), they even claimed a damage described in their paperwork upon vehicle delivery.I would strongly recommend - DO NOT use Europcar! They would only try to rip you off as much as they can! I wish I never had to use their lousy service and will, most definitely, avoid Europcar from now on. Europcar is an absolute disgrace!
I hired a car and put my son as the main driver on the online booking form.When I got to the desk in Geneva airport to collect the car, I was told the main driver had to be the same as the person making the booking, as stated in their terms and conditions page 123 (even though the online form allows this), and they had to cancel the booking. I could rebook with another car ( at over twice the price).No compromise was available.Thanks Europecar for all the stress, time wasting and expense. Oh, and funny you haven’t fixed your online form.Europecar’s reply to my review, suggested I contacted customer services which I duly did. After 5 days they responded saying they were unable to find my booking.How convenient for them.
I never write bad reviews but this company honestly deserve it. They are scammers and for an easy life get the bus! Upon return they tried to charge me £16 50 for fuel luckily I kept my receipts and took a pic of the dashboard with a full tank which had the date and time and they refunded me . The car STANK of smoke to the point where I drove it twice for the whole week as my kids were complaining of the smell and I had to keep windows open as a result I did call and complain about this. Then to make the 4 day experience even worse they then tried to tell me I damaged the wheel ! Again luckily using my iniative i took pictures before and after hire . These people must be seriously hard up for money as they will try to take anything they can. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE save yourself the stress
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