Europcar Reviews 4

I rented a car in Munich and had prepaid for the rental of a Skoda Octavia. At the counter, the agent offered us two options for a vehicle upgrade (VW and Audi) which we verbally declined. He nodded that he understood, never mentioned the price of either upgrade, then at the last minute said he was going to give us the VW. When I initialed the agreement I did not read it line by line, as we had already spent more than a half hour getting the car and we had verbally declined the upgrade. At the end of the rental we dropped the car and walked away as instructed. When the final bill came it included another 355.03 Euros/ $410.27. That was from the unwanted upgrade and a previously undisclosed "premium station surcharge". We were repeatedly denied any recourse for the upgrade or any explanation of the undisclosed fee.

Scammed to pay insurance!
Europcar in Edinburgh Airport and their server Gerry scammed me and my husband into paying an insurance that he said was for the entire 4 days. Ha! The £31,50 was per day and then 20% VAT was added. I specifically asked and he said it was a total. When I paid he said the high amount was for deposit and not to worry. He didn't show me the invoice as he said I would get it electronically. I know it's my responsibility to analyze in detail, but he fricking lied to us both. AND then he had the balls to tell us to give him a top 10 rating when the ratings email would come !!!!! Total scam and I will never use Europcar again nor recommend them.

Writing my review here, as USA customers traveling to Mexico need to be warned of this company.

We initially rented from a company called Fox-Rent-a-Car (owned by Europcar) for our trip to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. They passed us off to their sister company Europcar when we arrived, and had we known, we would have never booked it. Europcar Mexico is infamous for scamming people. We were no exception unfortunately.

In our case, we called before arriving to make sure we had the proper insurance so that we wouldn't get blindsided, and was told by one of their employees that the “full coverage” insurance we had purchased was all that was required. When we arrived, another employee informed us that it was NOT sufficient, and demanded an additional $600 USD for “liability insurance” or they would refuse to rent us the car. We called the same number again to confirm that we had in fact purchased the proper insurance, and the phone rang through to another employee...who was standing right next to our guy. She refused to say why she lied to us and quickly walked away. The scam was planned from the beginning.

When it became clear that these employees were trying to extort us, we requested a business card so we could contact management, and he said he did not have one. I then attempted to take a photograph of his name tag – he immediately became extremely aggressive and began calling the local police. He threatened me with 5 days in jail, telling me I had broken the law by taking his picture (it is not illegal to take photos by the way). He came out from behind the counter and got right in my face while threatening me, demanding that I “delete the photo and respect his country”.
We were told that mandatory liability insurance would be an additional $600 USD. We weren’t allowed to review the contract before signing, and were told that we’d get a copy only when it was signed and completed. No other nearby agencies had cars available, so we had no choice but to sign so that we could get out of the area.
When we got the final contact, the additional charges included liability insurance (LPI), plus several optional coverages that were not required by Mexican law, including: roadside assistance, glass and tire protection, full damage and theft, and a medical expenses policy – a total of 4 added optional packages we never agreed to.
I’ve contacted their Mexico customer service dept many times, and they still refuse to investigate. We contacted the main headquarters in France as well as Europcar Mobility Group of Europe for assistance, and they both have also refused to assist or intervene. Fox Rent-A-Car USA also refused to help,and just passed us back to Mexico.

UPDATE 10/25: After fighting this for nearly a year, Europcar Mexico has offered me compensation.... in the form of : 1 day's free rental, applicable only when when renting a car for two or more days. This company is garbage.

rented from Europcar in Suva, Fiji on Oct 22, 2024. Was to be a Volkswagen Tiguan but sales guy gave us a small red Toyota with 132,000 kilometers. The car hardly made it up hills. It was awful. NO discount. Paid full price. Sales guy lied to our faces. Car was not clean and scratched up. Their voucher was 1574093. Horrible experience. He did not want our business.