Europcar UK

Super friendly staff. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Nice little car. Used gunstore road hilsea portsmouth. Definitely use again

After posting a review on Trustpilot, I was invited to “give us the chance to solve the issue by providing more details.” I hope this email outlines my concerns clearly and helps you understand the level of disappointment I feel regarding my experience. I booked a van online on 8th January, specifically requesting an early pick-up at 7 am. I paid an additional fee for this time slot as I needed to meet a strict schedule to offload at an exhibition. The payment was processed successfully, However, I never received an email confirmation. Fortunately, I took a screenshot of the transaction, which I have attached for your reference. The day before the pick-up, I contacted customer services to confirm my reservation and was assured that my booking had been processed and the van would be ready at 7 am the next day. On the day of collection, I arrived at the Enfield branch promptly at 7 am, only to find the branch closed. I waited outside until someone eventually arrived at 8 am – an hour later than expected. I explained to the staff member that I had booked a van for 7 am, only to be told that "this never happens." Eventually, I was given two options: continue with the booking and contact customer services later or cancel the reservation and rebook on the spot. Already behind schedule due to the delay, I chose to continue with the booking. The issues didn’t end there. I was provided with a van but had to wait for the windscreen to clear as the branch had run out of de-icer. Adding to my frustration, the van’s dashboard display did not clearly indicate how much fuel was available. This only became a problem during drop-off when I was informed that I needed to refill the tank. I incurred an additional cost of £35 for refuelling, which seemed excessive given the distance I had driven. Throughout the day, I attempted to contact customer services. On my first call, the agent hung up on me. On my second attempt, I was told there was nothing that could be done. In summary, I am deeply disappointed with this entire experience. From the lack of professionalism displayed by your staff to the failure to provide basic services (such as having the van ready at the booked time), every aspect of this booking was poorly handled. Furthermore, the additional £35 refuelling fee and the absence of any apology or meaningful resolution from customer services have left me questioning your commitment to customer satisfaction. I expect a full refund of the additional costs incurred, along with an explanation of how you intend to prevent such issues from happening in the future. This is the response I got from Customer services. Thank you for contacting Europcar customer services in regards to the reservation xxxxxx and for taking the time to share your experience with us. I truly apologise for the frustration and disappointment you encountered during your recent rental. I fully understand the impact that these issues have had on your schedule, and I am genuinely sorry for the inconvenience caused. I deeply regret that the van was not ready at the agreed time, and I recognise the importance of punctuality, especially when you had a tight schedule to meet. I also apologise for the lack of acknowledgment from our staff and the difficulties you faced with the windscreen and fuel gauge. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide. I am pleased to inform you that I have refunded the extra 60 GBP fee you paid for the early 7:00 am pick-up. The refund has been processed and should appear in your account up to 10 working days. Please know that your feedback is important to us, and we are taking it seriously. We are reviewing our processes to ensure this kind of situation does not happen again in the future. Once again, I apologies for the inconvenience and stress this caused, and I truly appreciate your patience throughout this matter. If you need any further assistance or have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. I am here to help. Regards, Europcar UK Group | Customer Services

Do not hire from these they do nothing but lie all the time

My parents booked a car for us via a third party to collect from Manchester airport. From the outset it felt like an elaborate scam. Even though my dad had plaid for excess protection via the third party we were told it wouldn't cover it and we needed to pay again. Nobody showed me around the car at pickup. I was just left to work it all out at 5am after a 27 hour flight. Then there were endless additional changes for this 'premium location', non of which were communicated in advance. Upon return we were charged over $100NZD to vacuum a little bit of dirt off the rear mats (this was a two week hire and my kids had been careful... It was honestly nothing that a regular between-hire clean would need to deal with) Over a month later I'm still trying to get back the remainder of my security deposit. Avoid this business EDIT: The canned response below (the same one added to every negative review here) offers me the chance to contact customer services. I already have done this. I've written multiple emails, lodged a complaint, all to no avail. Charges were upheld and nothing more done except empty 'apologies'. The litany of poor reviews here repeat the same issues and experience that I had. No action seems to be taken to improve things, so I reiterate: Avoid them.

Ohhh I totally agree with all of these reviews! Shocking. I have been waiting since Friday 10th for a mobility car to replace mine whilst it's fixed. I was told Sat 11th in the afternoon (no show) I have constantly been calling with no response. Then without my knowledge it was booked for Monday 13th Jan, once again no show and no contact. Then again booked without my knowledge for today 16th Jan and again a no show. I have tried again to contact Stockport branch to no answer again. This is a mobility car for a disabled person. Not good this is it. I do not recommend these at all. I am also recommending that disability remove them from supplying them cars or should I say not supplying cars. There are better hire car agencies out there. I doubt my review with get published thats why I'm going on to trust pilot next. Not happy at all.

EDIT 22nd Jan - As I thought a robot reply. Still no news and still no replies to e-mails. Please do not book a car with this company. 8th Jan 25 Ref - 22168688 - STILL NO REPLY FROM EUROPCAR OVER 18 DAYS ON. Please do not hire a car with Europcar. They are unable to deal direct with people, everything is autogenerated, as you will see from the responses they give to people on here. Despite them giving you a link to send your query - they do not reply. No news still from 30th Dec. Offices are closing down over the UK and they do not give clients notice, so on the day of collecting you arrive to an empty office and they have already taken your money. PLEASE DO NOT HAND OVER MONEY TO EUROPCAR. Wait for the generic response to my review. Look at the responses they send... all the same, sent by robots!!! Frightening this company is allow to trade.

Avoid this company like the plague. I arrived and they told me the only car they had was an Audi, of a higher level than what I already paid for. I found out that they charged me extra for the upgraded car when they supposedly didn't have the car level I pre-purchased. And upgrade should be free when they don't have the car you paid for. They refused to refund me the extra amount and we're very rude. In addition, the windshield fluid pump didn't work and the tires were bald. UPDATE: After the company reached out to me for my review above, I filed my complaint through their processeses... THEY STILL are making me pay the extra fro the upgrade when they did not have the car I reserved. AVOID THEM>

Horrendous experience Took over £200 for a booking online, then the branch called me a few minutes after and said they couldn't honour it as they didn't have the cars. End result: I'm waiting for the refund to be given to me and in the meantime I can't afford another booking as they are sitting on the money. I'm utterly stranded. It's hard to imagine how they could have screwed me over any more spectacularly. Avoid like the plague. UPDATE: like everyone else with a negative experience they try to get you to contact them. I did and have heard nothing back... like everyone else. If you live near Stoke on Trent / Stafford, use Afford. I did and the difference in customer care was astonishing.

Excellent customer service from Europcar’s Kasey at Exeter Airport. Very helpful & went above & beyond to help me out when I needed to hire in an emergency situation. Thanks for getting me on the road.

I rented a car for a week from Europcar. I got a traffic fine for going through a bus lane. I got the email from Europcar and paid the 45£. But few weeks later I got physical mail about the fine under my name this time. It was 35£. Turns out the 45£ I paid to the Europcar is administration fee EXCLUDING the actual fee. It is very frustrating to get charged 45£ for opening a letter.

Europcar have billed me 15 000 pounds for damages - I only had the van for about half an hour --------- I first realised something was seriously wrong when waiting at traffic lights on Park Road in Portsmouth and I could see smoke coming from the van. This was about half an hour after picking up the van in Southampton. Almost immediately after picking the van up, the accelerator started whirring (as a result of a radio program, when I heard someone mention that this sound can result from a broken turbocharger, I questioned whether the van was turbocharged but received no reply). The van had stalled about 10 times on the way (but obviously not on the motorway which makes up the bulk of the distance) It was my intention to turn off Park Road at the bottom (which you used to be able to do - I had done this in the opposiute direction only recently) but I soon found out that that was no longer possible. It is hard to say because I no longer live in Portsmouth but presumably there were signs indicating that after crossing the traffic lights the only option was to enter Gunwharf Quays (several hundreds of metres away), but I was distracted by the smoke (which I only slowly realised was coming from my van) You would not expect such a thing to happen to a rental vehicle only half an hour after you had picked it up Inexorably I was drawn into Gunwharf Quays, into the underground car park. There appeared to be no obvious 'escape routes' and when I hit the height restriction sign there was no obvious way out (all this was happening while I was being distracted by a van that could, for all I knew, burst into flames at any moment'). By this time I was half underground, with a queue of traffic behind me - it would have seemed likely to me that was still an 'escape route' moving forward (which is the only way I could go), until I hit something. I am still not 100% certain what I hit - it was not a low roof or anything like that which would have been obvious to see coming. It seems strange to me to be only told about height restrictions when it is too late to do anything about it. I had no option but to go backwards, under guidance from staff, and then parked up about 50 metres away, after being sent down an unmarked 'escape route' leading to the shops. That was when I called the AA because of the smoke The AA man just made some claims that I must have been riding the clutch and then let me go. I then left to go to Western Parade After loading up, the van limped about 30 metres before coming to a stop and refusing to re-start. I then called the AA for a second time After coming to the conclusion that the clutch was burnt out, this second AA man was with me for about 3 hours and arranged the consequences. The van was taken away by Boarhunt. Europcar paid for a hotel room for the night Problems Right from the beginning, Europcar have claimed that the AA only attended once. But this is illogical. The van was not taken away after this first AA visit at between 11 and 12 in the morning and it was not taken away from Gunwharf Quays. It was taken away about 11 hours later from Duisburg Way which is about 2 km away. The clutch had gone and this was unlikely to have resulted from the actions of any driver within half an hour. They seem to imply that I picked up the van from Southampton and then within half an hour I had not only reached Portsmouth but had loaded the back of the van completely with my worldly goods. It is not good service to have problems within half an hour of taking possession Personal Consequences Extra expenditure to me was around 800 pounds. But after they announced on Friday that they were not going to supply a replacement van, I decided to travel up to Liverpool and arrange things at my new flat. Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere to stay on the Saturday so I had to spend the night in a local park, an experience I hope to never repeat (this was a night when I should have been spending my second night in my flat). This experience almost trumps the loss of money

Abbiamo affittato 2 volte la macchina con Europcar: la prima all'aeroporto di Olbia (Italia), la seconda a Londra Stansted. Il ritiro è stato veloce e l'impiegata di Londra si è mostrata disponibile alla mia richiesta di ripetere quello che non avevo capito e di parlare più lentamente (trattandosi di soldi e condizioni contrattuali, in una lingua straniera, meglio fare una domanda in più e passare per scemi che avere fregature in seguito). Ha cercato di offrirci altri servizi rispetto a quanto avevo prenotato (upgrade della macchina + altre vari coperture su passeggeri, assistenza stradale ecc., che ho rifiutato in quanto avevamo già la protezione totale sul veicolo che era quello che più ci premeva). Anche la restituzione dell'auto è andata bene ed è stata rapida. Quello che posso consigliare per evitare ogni tipo di problema è sottoscrivere fin da subito, al momento della prenotazione online, la polizza assicurativa completa, direttamente sul sito della compagnia e non di terzi (es. Booking). E' l'unico modo per non vedersi addebitare in seguito costi anche per piccoli danni (un graffietto ve lo troverebbero di sicuro). Può sembrarvi un costo eccessivo all'inizio, rispetto ad altre offerte più vantaggiose sui siti terzi, ma quei soldi ve li riprenderebbero in seguito e anche di più quindi tanto vale. Il deposito per la cauzione (185 sterline) bloccato sulla carta di credito ci è stato sbloccato la sera stessa (importo totale, in quanto abbiamo riportato la macchina con il pieno già fatto. In caso l'avessimo riportata non con il pieno, avrebbero trattenuto 48 sterline, cioè ovviamente un costo superiore a quanto ci è costato farci il rifornimento da soli)

Volkswagen organised a hire car while mine was in repair. Took two days to respond to the booking. Received a text at 825 telling me that the car was on the way to the dealership for me to collect. I arrived at 840 and at 1020 still waiting. Dreadful service

After renting a car in Tenerife, I had over 200 Euros taken off my credit card in two separate transactions without explanation. I am currently waiting on a response from Europcar and will be filing a dispute with my bank. It is about time VISA/Mastercard start to clamp down on this industry where such unscrupulous practices are far too prevalent. Edit: Europcar has now offered to refund the charges, as a gesture of goodwill.👏

Do not rent from this company, they lie, blame you for their faults even when proved. And the rip you off, please hire from other companies before renting from this disgrace of a company. There are many companies near by that are excellent before you hire from Europe car! You will be disappointed!!!!

Booked a car at local Europcar location at Coventry, Hearsall lane, UK. Got a call that they 'don't have any cars available at all' and cancelled it. If you dont have any cars available, why do you make them available on your website and take money. I'll now have to wait to get my money back and it can take upto two weeks.

I booked a van for the day and arranged 5 separate collections from people from various locations across the area. I arrived at the collection point and there was no van. The tracker showed it to be stationary 20 miles away. I rang customer services and was fobbed off by the agent. He told me that GPS isn't accurate and it might be around the corner, if I wait. I waited, it didn't arrive. GPS showed it hadn't moved. I rang again and this time a helpful agent actually told me it had been taken off the road the previous day. She then spend another 20 minutes or do trying to locally locate a replacement van but none were available but at least she tried. I then gave up and did the collections individually in my own car. It took longer but it was less stressful. I later provided them with every single detail of this encounter to them via https:/ www europcar co uk/contact-us/email but got nothing back. If the reply to this review asking me to do it again, then we all can assume that it is a non caring, company policy following media representative replying. Or an AI bot. Disappointing, very disappointing. Update... So they did answer with their standard fob off reply. I'm guessing that they really don't care about short rentals so I wouldn't bother if I were you.

I am absolutely disgusted by the way I have been treated.I returned a Seat Ibiza to Carcassone Airport ,when it was checked a tiny scratch was found aroend the door handle area which was barely noticeable. I was told not to worry about it.Anyhow it could be easily polished out. Today I received a bill for over 300 euros ,I have been completely conned ,I will never use this company again I am a frequent visitor to France and am furious. These companies should not be allowed to treat us like this !

What a terrible experience from start to finish. And even after numerous attempts to contact the customer support, there has been NOTHING. Would definitely not be recommending them to anyone. Much better to use Avis or Enterprise if you are in the UK. Please do not ask me to contact you because I HAVE DONE ON MANY OCCASIONS and NOTHING!

AVOID THIS COMPANY I hired a car for 2 days from Alicante aiport. On the morning I was meant to return the veichle and catch my flight back to the UK, there was a problem with my fob key. It was completley dead, I couldn't start the car. It was 3.30 in the morning. I was now panicking as I had a flight to catch. Eventually myself and family managed to get a taxi. I dropped the key back to the office but with no time to call the 24 hr breakdown line. The office still closed. I nearly missed my flight, it was very stressful. As soon as I landed back in UK, I called europcar to explain the situation. Worst Customer service they were so unorganised and unhelpful. I had no apology for the inconvenience. To my horror I then get a email invoice to say that they were charging me another €180 for breakdown recovery and a surcharge. This is utterly unacceptable. This was through no fault of my own. They should be compensating me! I only hired the veichle for 2 day. Costing my a whopping €200 euro with fully comprehensive insurance, which I assumed would cover you for any breakdown during your rental. I would advise anyone to never use this company utterly apporling treatment.