PANEK RENT A CAR
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Kaunas airport car hire - Don’t get scammed!
Kaunas Airport Car Hire - Don’t Get Scammed! As tempting as it may be to go with the cheapest option offered by Panek or Greenmotion - Stop! Don’t let them steal your money! Take a few minutes to read customer reviews on these two firms first and then make an informed decision. I’m surprised that they have not been investigated and shut down for what can only be described as a scam. Greenmotion and Panek are both advertised on Skyscanner as Kaunas Airport car hire firms, but both are located just outside the airport perimeter, a 10-minute walk from the terminal. If you have booked your car using one of these firms and your flight is delayed, be warned - Panek and Greenmotion will only hold your reservation for 59 minutes. Regardless of providing your flight details at the time of booking, if you’re lucky, you will be given the following options: 1. Pay €100 to re-reserve the same car (this option is only sometimes available if the car you reserved is still available). 2. Pay for a new reservation at a much higher price, in addition to losing the originally paid fee. (A 7-day hire in December 2024 came to €360 when the original Skyscanner brokered price was €80). 3. Hire a car from a different firm. Having advised Panek that my flight details were provided at the time of booking, Panek claimed that due to data protection regulations, they are not passed the customer’s flight details by the broker. However, after discussing this matter with the broker, I have been assured that this information is not true. Brokers will always pass on the main driver’s details and flight information. Having checked, I advised Panek that I could make a new reservation for the same period with them for less than €100 using Skyscanner. Panek’s representative advised me that due to my holding a UK driver’s license, unless I also have an “International Driving Permit” (issued by the UK Post Office), I would be unable to collect the car if I book through a Skyscanner broker. However, if I purchased the car hire with them directly (at €360), the permit would not be required. The rep from Greenmotion interrupted, stating that they could provide a car for €450. Please be aware, if you hold a UK driver’s license, an international driving permit is not required to drive in the EU or EEA. This is confirmed in the small print on Panek’s terms and conditions and your car rental voucher. I’ve had similar experiences with Greenmotion, who happen to share the same customer service counter with Panek. The representatives of both firms at Kaunas Airport behave in the same way, and it comes across as if they are competing to see how much they can rip off customers with additional charges. In the 45 minutes it took me to try and resolve this matter, by my calculation, Panek and Greenmotion collectively charged clients an additional £600 in unexpected charges - all of which clients disputed but ended up paying. Having flown to Vilnius Airport and hired a car from Greenmotion, the same appears to apply there. These two firms are clearly badly managed from top down. In the end, I refused to pay Panek the additional charges. Instead, I asked a friend to give me a lift to my hotel, contacted my broker for a full refund, and asked them to rebook my car with Enterprise car rental. Enterprise was almost double the price (at €160 for 7 days), but their service was great, no hidden fees and located 2 minutes outside the airport terminal. If you’ve been scammed by Greenmotion or Panek, contact your broker to have them removed from their comparison site and get your money back. Write a review so others don’t make the same mistake and, most importantly, don’t fund their fraudulent activity - just use someone else.