Europcar

★★★★★

“Stay far away from this scam company(Europcar Alicante). We rented a car from them in March. When we picked up the car, they pushed an extra insurance package on us costing several hundred euros, claiming that we would then be fully covered for everything. Normally, I would never agree to something like that, but because the whole situation already felt suspicious and because of the reviews we had read about this company, we decided to go along with it. It gave us some peace of mind, since we had already seen many reviews from people claiming they had been scammed. When we picked up the car, no employee even came outside with us. They simply handed us the keys. We already found this questionable, but because we had just paid several hundred euros extra for “full coverage,” we assumed it would not be an issue. We made several videos of the car beforehand because there was already visible damage on it. From day one, the car already had multiple issues. There was no windshield washer fluid, the air conditioning barely worked, and to make matters worse, the tire pressure warning light was on because the tires were not properly inflated. We reported all of this, but nothing was done about it. After our holiday, we returned the car neatly to the designated location. When we handed over the keys, we even asked whether the car needed to be inspected. The woman replied: “No, that’s not necessary because you are fully insured.” We found that strange, but after paying several hundred euros for extra insurance, we assumed everything was fine. A month later, we suddenly received a damage notice from Europcar Alicante claiming that a compressor was missing and that we owed €400. We did not agree with this and immediately contacted Europcar. We spoke to an employee who initially seemed friendly and helpful. He completely understood our situation and told us he would add a note stating that we disputed the damage claim and that the €400 should not be charged to our credit card until the matter had been fully investigated. According to him, this would not be a problem. Two days later, they charged the €400 anyway. The employee had also told us to send an email to Europcar, which we did immediately after the phone call. We later received a generic response from Europcar, even trying to blame us by saying it was our responsibility that the car had not been inspected by an employee — despite the fact that we specifically asked for this when returning the keys. After doing some research, we discovered that less than two months ago, another customer had been scammed in exactly the same way by this company. Apparently, many more people have experienced similar situations. The internet is full of complaints about them. We are not letting this go and will continue fighting until we get our €400 back. We have also informed our bank that this company scams customers. Do not do business with this company, because there is a very high chance you will get scammed.”

★★★★★

“Great customer service. Had to trade in one car because of a strong gasoline smell. The second car was older, larger and harder to park, but everyone I dealt with was terrific. I had to end the rental sooner than anticipated to fly home for a personal emergency, and Europcar was very helpful.”

★★★★★

“This is a scam operation. I returned my vehicle during the lunch break. No employee available. I went to booking desk and everyone was very nice and assured me everything was fine. Then they booked my return when they returned from lunch more than 1 hour and 40 minutes from when I returned car and now charged me a complete extra day. Friendly staff but total scam operations. I am now in written disputes with the company customer service. Caveat emptor. Use someone else if you can.”

★★★★★

“Avoid at any cost. My wife and I had the worst rental car experience with their office since travelling together as a couple. This Europcar office managed to single-handedly obliterate the entire trust we had into Europcar as a serious company. When we took over the car it turned out that the actual parking lot is a few walking minutes away from the office, so you do not have a real chance to inspect any recorded damages before signing the contract. The lady told us to "record all damages on video with your phone when you get to the car, just in case…". So did we. I will only mention as a side note that we had to fix a tire being half-deflated on our own cost at the next fuel station to get moving in the first place. So much for the maintenance of their vehicles, which left us with mixed feelings. We returned the car same day after office hours and the return process took its course normally, standard return acknowledgement email, etc. After some days we received a note informing us being charged for damages incl. "non reporting fee" which we rigorously refused, sending the video evidence of the clearly visible already present damage on take-over. What followed was delay tactics and a well-practiced ignoring of facts which leads us to the conclusion that this sort of fraud is probably part of their business model, with the office/parking lot layout perfectly facilitating their "business". In the end they charged us almost 300 euros for a small dent which we did not cause. As people who treat rented equipment during travels with the same good care as their own, we do not only feel ripped-off but also deeply frustrated. Well done, Europcar Alicante - never again with Europcar!”