Europcar UK

My less that 2yr old Nissan car was taken by RAC Saturday 26th due to a motor and electrical breakdown, I fully understand the office was closed the weekend so I patiently waited for a call. Monday morning 28th at 8.45am I received a call from Europcar to say someone will be in touch within 24hr hours regarding getting me back ok the road, Tuesday 29th lunchtime arrived no call, I spent ages on hold for upto 20minutes before being disconnected and had to call back, I was finally told at 2pm a car would be delivered 6pm that day, 5.30pm (30minutes before my allocation delivery time) I missed a call as was at work, a voicemail was left to say this has been pushed back to Wednesday 30th and someone would call me, I have spent all morning trying to contact the team whilst trying to enjoy a planned day out with my children to be told again someone will call me back but after again waiting, I called them myself at 6.40pm, after being passed from person to person to be told surprise surprise this has again been pushed back to Thursday 31st and I will receive yet another call even though I am the one who has been chasing them. I am now approaching day 4 without a car. I am unsure why when my loan car is being dealt with and coming from Liverpool branch they have no car available yet if I go on their website there is around 6/8 that would be suitable for collection. I have 3 children one of which registered disabled and told I will not be left without a vehicle well unfortunately this was false information and I have been left with no car!

Onze fout: Een dag te laat bij Europcar in Edinburg. En dan begint het: bijna 1,5 uur wachten in een rij met 15 mensen voor je, niet meer de juiste categorie auto beschikbaar (maar wel een veel duurdere natuurlijk). Waarom krijg je bij autohuur vaak het gevoel dat er geld uit je zak wordt geklopt? Hier dus ook. Onder de druk van de doorreis en een in het hotel wachtende vrouw met onze bagage, toch maar de duurdere auto afgerekend. In de parkeergarage aangekomen staat daar recht tegenover de duurdere auto, precies die auto die we wel hadden gewild en gehuurd voor 5 dagen... Zo jammer dit, een rotgevoel terwijl je lekker met vakantie bent

I hired a car through easyjet at the cost of £244 and thus included premium insurance. When I went to pick car up from Glasgow Airport branch I was scammed from the minute I walked through the door. The young chap with a beard didn't even want to see my car hire voucher as he said he had it on his computer. Asked what car I drove normally I said an automatic as I have rhymathoid arthritis but for a week I would only need a manual which I had booked. Told me he would give me an automatic at no extra cost as I had a disability also said my daughter could be an additional driver in case I wasn't able to drive while I was visiting family. I did sign a form after he said it was a holding deposit which would all be returned after I dropped car off( they took £903 out my account). He folded up paper and put into envelope I made a point in say you haven't charged me any extra have you as my reading eyesight isn't good. Reply not at all madam. Enjoy your stay, dropped car off flowing Monday 14th Oct . Next day I found out they had taken out £653 out of my account for upgrade, young driver addition my daughter is 25. I have complained and told that because I signed it's my fault. They have scammed me out of this money by playing on my disability and poor reading eyesight. So I have just paid £900 for a hire car for a week which is absolutely terrifying. I could have got taxis everywhere cheaper than this. It is shocking what people are prepared to do to vulnerable people who are honest and hardworking. Glasgow branch seems to be good at doing this. I will never use or recommend them ever again. If I don't get my money back I will contact watchdog and the ombudsman. Playing on someone's disability is shocking. If I could I would give them zero stars

Hired a car from Europcar London Victoria office. The office were very busy but the prompt service we received from Lacen was 10 out of 10. The car we hired was great as well, cannot fault anything and will use Europcar again for our hires.

BOLTON EUROPCAR BRANCH IS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. DO NOT GO HERE TO HIRE YOUR VEHICLE THEY DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONES - IM STILL 4 DAYS AND IVE HAD NO VEHICLE ALLOCATED! STAY AWAY FROM THIS POOR BRANCH AS THEY ALSO LIE TO YOU AT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TELLING YOU FALSE INFORMATION.

Awful experience. Incorrect size van. Painful time consuming process to get a van anywhere close to the size I booked. Charged for excess miles after inaccurate pick up miles recorded. Needed to move furniture 2.45m in length. Booked a medium size van internal length 2.93m on website. Went on live chat to confirm that if it was a “similar van” it would still be the same internal length. Was told the length on the website was an error, but all their medium vans are 2.862m so it would be that. I was emailed less than 2 days before pick up, after free cancellation period advising the van was 1.75m. This was below the amount I needed so called customer services. They said this is an error and I would get the van I needed. Contacted the Norwich office to double check, they said it was extremely unlikely they’d have a van I needed, but would “upgrade” me to a larger van. The larger van was no use, as in excess of the maximum weight limit for my licence. This was initially dismissed, then accepted that this was correct, I was told I would get a smaller van. I asked to confirm that this would be a minimum of 2.5m in internal length, they said they couldn’t guarantee this. I explained that it has to be 2.5m or it’s not use to me. I was told they’d call me back. Six hours later following receiving no call back I chased. Was told they had managed to get a van and it would be 2.5m in length. A total of 7 calls and 45 minutes on the phone. Picked up the van fine, no issue with the van, it was 2.5m in length, although not the 2.862m I had initially booked. This meant due to the angle the seats came out at I needed to do an extra trip as the furniture needed to be on its back rather than on its side, so only 1 could fit at a time rather than 2. This added 2 hours and 45 miles to my day. I could have ignored all this, but to top it off. Returned the van and was emailed a statement of return. The pick up miles were incorrect. I contacted to explain and sent a photo as evidence. I was told that it didn’t matter as they hadn’t been charged. The following day I received an invoice confirming the charge for the miles which I didn’t drive.

Car booked through Audi UK as a courtesy. It was dropped at off my house with 520 miles in the tank and I was handed paperwork with the outlined recorded damage to the car. Not sure how but they missed off 2 scratches the full length of the passenger side doors which looked to be made by a key, the rear bumper had multiple scratches and chips and 2 of the alloys were heavily scuffed. I rang to report and emailed the photos but I’m in no doubt they would have tried to charge me for this if I’d not done so. I filled the car up on the day of return and dropped it off at Crewe Audi who made the booking, I took a date/time stamped picture of a full tank with 520 miles. I’ve now received an invoice for £15+ for 7 litres of fuel and when I’ve queried it they told me I’ve been charged for the fuel to get the car back to their Stoke on Trent branch!! Not sure why I’m responsible for this given it was returned with the same fuel level and they’ve also added their inflated petrol fee. Avoid this company and use Enterprise. If a dealership books a car through Europcar be sure to make the dealership take ownership or refuse it.

Excited to pick up a van to use, sadly my checks didn’t go through due to an error with my address (I have used the same address before with this company) this may have been due to an error as they were experiencing technical difficulties, but they should of been able to help me further. I was left without a vehicle for work and to pick up my child. Overhead a few customers complaining about the vehicles being dirty and with bad odour via the AC. Do not use.

Terrible away from this company! I ordered a ford focus online, they rang me saying they haven't got any. So I have to pay extra for the next car up. I paid. When I went to collect they wouldn't let me have the car because they did a credit check??? Even though I already paid and there is no credit involved in the hire. The refund can take upto 28 days so I had no money to hire elsewhere to get to a my brothers wedding where is was best man. If a credit check is done Is should be before any payment is taken! Rude, unhelpful staff. Never again!

I rented a car from Europcar Bath on the weekend of September 7th, 2024. I was talked into taking an electric car, which was not what I had booked. 8 times out of 10 the car would not go into "Drive or Reverse", so I could not go anywhere. I contacted the breakdown service recommended by Europcar but he could not fix the problem either. When I contacted head office on Saturday evening, I was told that they could not provide a replacement till Monday morning, which was when the car was due for return. When I requested a refund I was told that there was nothing wrong with the car!

Beware of the Glasgow airport branch! Be sure to really check your rental agreement before signing it. Nothing you have verbally discussed with the personnel can be trusted. 1. When you enter the office, no one is interested in your reservation or voucher details 2. From the first minute, strong pressure to take a more expensive car and additional services You can say 10 times that you don't want to pay for any additional services – but you can be sure that you will pay for them anyway. You will find out about it later and no matter what you have agreed with staff. WATCH OUT FOR DOCUMENT TRICKS: - bending documents in half - covering a sheet of paper - manual adding content

Read the negative comments of other customers - it is all 100% true. Their business standards - upselling, bundling, threatening, misleading on our example: 1. Refusal to release the vehicle in accordance with the reservation & voucher 2. Trying to sell a more expensive vehicle rental service 3. If you insist on what you ordered, they will start scaring you and add additional costs for insurance, location, service and something else... 4. If you refuse, you won't get a car, if you believe that there are no fees, they will add them to you later and you will be very disappointed For your safety - avoid and run away !!!

Used the Gateshead branch to hire a van on 25/10/24 return it on 26/10/24 van was clean and in good order think the lad who dealt with me was called William great bloke. Made it a easy and pleasant would definitely use them again in the future. (If I got your name wrong my apologies)

Confirmed my booking 6 days in advance then cancelled the day before I had to pick a sofa up, I got refunded from these guys but lost money on the furniture on my new home and now we are watching TV on the carpet with the dog.

Hired car at Stansted. On arrival, was upselled a higher premium at no extra cost. Constant chatter by salesman with documents written under the counter assuring us that this is ALL free. No opportunity to peruse documents which were placed on counter with his hand on it, asking us to sign here and here. Quickly hustled out to car "to get us on our way" where we were told our car had been upgraded at no extra cost. Was told all money to be returned on return of car if undamaged. Upselling at its worse. Rapid conversation on tired people who have flown extensive hours, making connections with customers stating love to go to Australia I have family there, this is all free making him look such a great bloke, I'm going to upgrade your car, taking our original contract stating we/he don't need it. 2 attempts to take money from our account with no contact on why. DO NOT touch this company.

Massive charges for the slightest damage, extortionate. Really poor communication when trying to resolve it and lots of hidden extra charges. The worst of big corporate company behaviour taking advantage of the average customer. Avoid at all costs. To be precise a 3cm superficial, barely visible scratch which they alleged I had caused was charged at approximately 1300 Euros, showed a UK specialist who's stated it should cost maximum £500 . I very much doubt it will be repaired they just take the money. It really feels like I've been scammed. After over a month of emails in which all of their responses were callous and didn't answer my very polite questions, after already extorting 1500 euros, they are still taking more money from my credit card and I'm having to go to the ombudsman just to stop them after trying with the company for over a month. The ombudsman, the ECRCS, found they had mistakenly charged me VAT on the damage - Europcar then took another £1100 from my credit card without refunding me the first charge of £1382. Honestly I didn't find the ombudsman helpful, it felt like they were sponsored by the care hire company. Just don't use Europcar whatever you do they essentially are using any excuse to extort money and you are powerless to stop them. Unbelievable

Stay away from them. Similar to other comments here, they might try to scam you. Don’t be fooled by the competitive prices and brand name - this branch is the worst Europcar I’ve personally experienced. I picked up a car a few minutes before the agreed time which they accommodated. We returned the car 20mins after our contracted drop off time and at the time we were told there’s no issue. However a few days later I got an unrecognised charge from them which they didn’t communicate upfront. Only when I queried it I found out they’ve charged me for an extra day which was surprising considering I’ve stayed within the contractual agreement. In essence they’ll go against what’s stated in the contract to get more money out of you.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - I had a van booked for Friday morning pickup at 0830 Swansea branch. I’d paid online, completed online check in, submitting all my documents for verification to allow speedier collection. I then get a phone call at 0800 as I’m about to leave the house to collect the van to say they haven’t got one available! After I’d booked a day off work to move the contents of my shed out. DO NOT RELY ON THIS POORLY RAN COMPANY.

We rented a car from Keddy Rent a Car which turned out to be Europcar through Car Jet. The original cost of the vehicle was £375 all in which I paid in full. On arrival at the Europcar office at Gatwick I was informed that I would have to pay a £552.16 refundable deposit before I could take the car. My partner handed over his credit card which the lady said it would be blocked on, we told her immediately it had been taken off the credit card but she said it never mind it will be refunded on return of the vehicle. 8 weeks later and still no refund. Going through our paperwork recently we only now have noticed that she didn't take a deposit but rather sold us the most expensive insurance without telling us. It's charged as Premium Protection. Possibly our fault for not noticing it at the time but after travelling for for 19 hours from Cape Town via Dubai to the UK, you are eager to get on the road, so that's the reason we didn't notice that we had been blatantly lied to. We would still like this matter to be resolved and the lady in question to be charged instead as this is fraud.

One of the Most Stressful Car Hire Experiences I've Ever Had - I am all for the change over to electric cars, per say, but by choice and not on this occassion...! I recently hired a car from Europcar, and it turned out to be one of the most stressful experiences I've ever had. I originally booked a Vauxhall but, to my surprise, was given a fully electric Jeep instead. No one informed me of this change beforehand—there was no notice in my email or on the order. To make matters worse, I was charged an extra £35. When I arrived to collect the car, I was told there were no other vehicles available, and one of the staff rudely suggested I should just cancel my order. I had an important meeting over 220 miles away and had no choice but to take the car. I had no idea how it worked, and the staff didn’t have a clue either. They didn’t know how many miles I could drive or how to charge it, but they incorrectly assured me that 200 miles would be enough to get me to my destination. After just 30 miles of driving, and when I figured a couple of things out, I realized the mileage was dropping much faster than expected, and I found myself in a panic, with only 43 miles left and 35 miles to go to the nearest charging station. I called Europcar twice for help and was left on hold for 20 and then 35 minutes! I ended up having to call a local dealership to get information about charging the car, who were so helpful and supportive. Despite calling Europcar multiple times to ask for a different vehicle, I was told they couldn’t get through to other branches, and I didn’t have time to go hours out of my way to try Plymouth or Exeter locations. I was late to my meeting and to my hotel in Cirencester, which left me stressed and anxious. The next day, the nightmare continued. The car was at 15% charge in the morning, but I had to drive slowly and risk running out of charge just to make it to my next meeting. Afterward, I drove to two charging stations that were both not working (Shell). I had to go to a third location, which took 20 mins to get to and an hour to charge, and I ended up driving in the dark—a situation that made me even more anxious. I didn’t get home until 9:45 PM, completely exhausted. I wouldn’t have rented this car if I had been told about the change in advance. The potential breach of contract, misrepresentation, lack of communication, rude staff, and complete lack of knowledge about the vehicle made this an awful experience. I felt unsafe throughout the journey, constantly worried about the mileage and being stranded with no charge. This hire wasted my time, energy, and money. Absolutely terrible service, and I feel upset by how badly this was handled and hope this can be redressed. Europcar needs to seriously improve their obligation to customer service and communication. If you're thinking of hiring from them, I would advise you to double-check your booking and be prepared for a lot of hassle. Would not recommend.