I hired a car from Trieste Ronchi Airport on 22 June 2025, and returned it in Bologna on Thur. 26 June.
The pick up process went OK, but the car's conditions were worse than those described on the contract.
This forced me to take something like 18 pictures of various damages and return to the office to report one of them in particular. This was particularly unpleasant as I had to do this under the scorching sun at about 37 degrees; it would be greatly appreciated if Europcar could rent some parking slots in the shade.
But the worst was still to come. The documentation I had been emailed when I booked contained 2 different addresses where to return the car in Bologna. When I asked about this on the pick-up day, the person behind the desk (Sig.ra Ileana) said that, actually, both of these addresses were wrong, and gave me a third address ("V. Matteotti, 5 - Bologna"). She mentioned that, when I reached the car park, I should go to level -1. That was it.
On the last day, car return time was 15:00. Google map said it would take me 15 minutes to drive to the alleged return address (Via Matteotti, 5); I left at 1:45pm (1h 15min early).
Indeed, after less than 20 mins, I reached "via Matteotti"; however, when I started looking for no. 5, there was no “no. 5” anywhere. The numbering jumped from no. 1 to no. 7; in between, there was a huge bridge over the railway, and, after the bridge, Bologna's main Railway Station's car park.
The car park entrance had no indication suggesting that this might *also* be the place where rental cars had to be returned. There was NO Europcar sign to be seen anywhere, nor were there any other rental companies' signs, which would have hinted this could have been the correct location.
I stopped and called Europcar office in Bologna for some indications. It was about 2:10-15pm. Nobody answered. I tried several times, for about 5 minutes, but nobody picked up.
The clock was ticking. Given that I had 3 (three) different addresses where to return the car, and that, amongst those, one was Europcar's main offices', I decided to drive there, as the address placed it nearby.
After another 10 minutes, I managed to locate Europcar's office entrance, parked, and walked there.
It was 14:30, under a scorching sun (37 degrees C).
When I got there, the office was closed. The sign on the door said "14:30" as the afternoon opening times. I waited for a few minutes, while occasionally ringing the bell, and insistently knocking on the office door.
No answer. Nobody was visible through the glass windows.
It was now past 14:35, the return time was approaching, and the door remained closed. I tried to call Europcar's office number again: no answer.
At that point I noticed a small sign (written in Italian) next to the office's door, stating that, should the office be closed, the car key should be dropped off at Europcar's car park located in the ** main train station's car park ***. It was now clear that Bologna's rail station car park was where Europcar also had its own car park.
But the calvary wasn't over. I drove the car to the train station car park, went to level -1 (where, finally, a "Europcar" sign showed up) and parked.
I had a look around, but there were no signs as to where to find the key drop box; there were no Europcar's desks anywhere. I walked to the top / ground floor, found a railways office, where a staff member of the national railways very kindly told me he believed the key box was on floor -1. He was not a Europcar staff, so he wasn't supposed to know this. I assume he knew as he had already come across tens of people who, like me, were looking for the same piece of information.
I then went back to level -1, where I found two other people equally lost and looking for the drop box: someone else had told them that it was at level -2, not -1. I decided to believe the railways staff member (for the reasons above) and we started walking around on level -1. Finally, in a very remote, dark corner of the car park, partly hidden by other cars, there it was, Europcar's key drop box.
It was now 2:55pm; I was drenched in sweat, and had spent 45' of my time doing this.
To sum up:
1. Europcar's office *never* answered any of my calls; I tried also later in the afternoon, repeatedly. This is simply a disgrace;
2. The documents I was sent contained 2 different addresses where to return the car, both incorrect;
3. Car conditions: some of the issues were not noted on the report I was given at car pick up;
4. When I picked up the car, Europcar staff (Sig.ra Ileana) did not clarify that the return car park happen to coincide with Bologna's main train station car park;
5. Europcar's sign posting is abhorrent. A small sign next to the train station car park's entrance would have made this so much easier, as would some sign posting to the key drop box.
Overall, I will never hire a car with Europcar again.
