Centauro Rent a Car Reviews 16,693

Terrible experience – dishonest upselling and rude staff

I had an absolutely awful experience with Centauro. From the moment I arrived, I was treated in a rude and disrespectful way, as if I was a problem instead of a paying customer.

The worst part is that I had already purchased full insurance through Booking.com, clearly confirmed in my reservation. Despite this, the staff aggressively pushed me to buy an additional “full insurance” directly with them for €91 extra. They made it sound like it was necessary and kept pressuring me, even though I double-checked everything. Later it became clear that this extra insurance was completely unnecessary, meaning they were basically trying to trick me into paying twice.

On top of that, when returning the car, the staff was again unfriendly and dismissive. No professionalism, no respect, and no customer service at all.

This is honestly shocking and unacceptable. The whole experience felt like a scam and left a very bad taste. I will never rent from Centauro again and I strongly recommend others to avoid them.

I strongly advise against renting from Centauro at Barcelona Airport. My experience (Booking.com ID 783714333, Confirmation ER26016468) was a classic example of predatory business practices.
​The issues:
​Deposit Scam: Upon arrival, the staff claimed they "couldn't process the deposit" on my US credit card. However, they had no trouble charging the exact same card for the rental fees and extra services. This is a blatant lie used to force customers into buying their expensive in-house insurance.
​Exorbitant Fees: I was forced to pay for full insurance that cost 30% more than the actual 6-day rental price (April 27 – May 3).
​Car Condition: The Hyundai i30 provided was in terrible condition, covered in scratches and dents all around.
​Summary: Centauro uses deceptive methods to exploit travelers. They offer a low initial price only to extort more money at the counter through fabricated technical issues with international cards.
​Do not use this company. Save yourself the trouble and book with a reputable provider.

Don’t rent cars from Centauro Alicante they are scammers upon arriving at there office I was told I could not have the car unless I took out there insurance I was not allowed to take excess on my credit card Whitch stipulates on there home page that you can DONT use them scammers

I wanted to book a car for 180€ for 3 days, and after waiting a day for some confirmations, I wanted to continue the booking: the price increased to €230 right before checkout. I contacted them, and they say they cannot do anything about the price change: complete nonsense! With this car rental, you just stand there and witness yourself getting scammed by them.

Absolutely useless company,pure scam. Avoid by all means. Hired electric car that would not last more than 100km even though after full charge should last 260km, ruined my holiday after that for returning the car 4 hours later than I meant to ( hired the car for a week, collected the car at 11:00 am and returned the car at 15:00) they decided to charge me €50 euros for late return fee, then €50 for an extra day hire then €12 because was to hot outside, basically inventing fees. The man at the counter absolutely useless, tried to explain that I don't think is fair and try to double check as is not normal he went like " this is the system,argue with system not with me" pure scam

Beware AMEX users, we booked via Discover Cars and paid for the hire and full insurance cover using AMEX. We took the physical AMEX card when collecting the car only to find that Centauro do not accept AMEX. The only way we could take the car was to pay for the insurance again using another card…….

The poor gentleman on the Barcelona desk explained that the company knows it’s an issue that their web site does not make clear but does nothing, obviously because they are making a nice bonus! And, I have checked the contract and it doesn't state AMEX is not accepted!

Please do not be fooled by thinking they are interested in customer service because the link they have shown below in their response is to simply download the invoice and not to try and resolve the issue!

Avoid this company at all costs.

My experience with Centauro has been nothing short of appalling, and I would strongly urge anyone considering hiring a vehicle from them to think very carefully before doing so.

What should have been a straightforward car hire turned into an exhausting and deeply frustrating ordeal involving unexpected charges, poor communication, and what I consider to be wholly inadequate customer service.

After returning the vehicle, oh by the way, they only open at 7am, so if you have an early flight to catch, you can park the car outside their gates, and they will charge you 40 Euros to bring it in for you.
I was also presented with an allegation of damage supported only by a series of close-up photographs that provided little meaningful context. No formal damage report was supplied, no independent repair invoice was provided, and when I requested proper evidence, I was simply told that they “do not provide damage reports or third-party invoices.” That response is unacceptable when a customer is being asked to accept financial liability.

I was also left questioning charges applied to the booking, including fees that were not clearly explained at the point of service, adding further concern about transparency.

Throughout the process, I found the company dismissive, unhelpful, and unwilling to properly address reasonable questions. As a paying customer, I expected professionalism, fairness, and openness. Instead, I was left feeling pressured, frustrated, and extremely disappointed.

In my personal experience, this has been one of the worst customer service experiences I have encountered.

My advice to others:
Read every line of the small print, photograph every inch of the vehicle on collection and return, challenge every unexplained charge, and seriously consider using another hire company altogether.

There are many car hire providers out there. Based on my experience, I would not use this company again, nor would I recommend them to anyone. I would give them ZERO stars, but it's not on the list.

Proceed with caution.

Palma Airport branch by the Duty Manager on Saturday the 25th April 2026 just after 11.00 in the morning.
The duty manager tried to scam us for more money by lying to us. His manner was very unprofessional; he was rude and very forcing – a bully. Please view the video of latter part of his performance together with the email trail to your customer service attached.

In the video you hear the stressful words spoke by my wife and myself (we are in our mid 70's) and do not want to be treated like this.

In the video your will hear my wife say:
• making me feel unwell.
• this is very unpleasant.
• this is unfair.
• I am going to faint
In the video your will hear me say:
• please be reasonable.
The situation:
Our flight Manchester to Palma was late and it took longer to get through immigration. I knew the Centauro car pickup office via a shuttle bus closes at 11.00pm. I telephoned the number provided to confirm that I would miss the 11.00pm deadline and would pick the car up the next morning.
When I arrived the duty manager informed me that my car hire was cancelled because of a "no show". Stating a 12 hour T&C. I was very close to the 12 hours from the original collection time by a matter of minutes (chronologically) which includes queueing at the office. He Cancelled my car hire and wanted me to pay over 300 euros for a new car hire contract.
The paragraph in the T&C say “Centauro rent a car will only hold the car for a maximum of 12 hours, as long as they correspond to the relevant office opening hours”. Please not they were closed between 11.00pm and 07.00am.
I do believe that I have been treated very unfairly and that I was fully complying to the T&C taking into account the period the office was closed. The person dealing with me was forcibly unyielding in his manner. I have attached a short video of the latter part of our conversation showing the duty manager lied to us.
The evidence relating to the 12 hour rule:
• This T&C statement means that if you are delayed, Centauro Rent a Car will keep your reserved vehicle for up to 12 hours past your scheduled pick-up time, but they will only do so during their active business hours.
• The 12-Hour Window: Your reservation is protected for a maximum of 12 hours from the original pick-up time. If you arrive after this window, they may consider you a "no-show" and rent the car to someone else.
• Office Opening Hours: The 12-hour "hold" does not mean the office will stay open for you. For example, if you were due at 6:00 PM and the office closes at 11:00 PM, they will only hold it until closing that night, then resume holding it when they reopen the next morning—up until the 12-hour limit is reached.

My wife and I are in our mid 70’s and therefore may be considered an easy target for being scammed.
Your duty manager lied to us. He said the computer had automatically cancelled the car hire after the chronological 12 period and he could not undo this action. This was total nonsense – a lie. This set the scene to say you cannot have your car you can only pay for an additional car - All this is very very wrong.
Please imagine 2 elderly people standing at the Centauro office counter, Palma remote office being bullied into paying over 300 euros completely unnecessarily. This is total disgrace and was an unpleasant experience which is still causing us stress.
My wife an I have had a terrible manipulated service from your duty manager at Palma collection office and we believe that we are entitled to compensation for such bullying tactics which caused such stress.

We waited an hour for the transport to pick up the car. No one answered the phone, so we took a taxi .of course, no one will reimburse that! When we arrived, it was just chaos and nothing more. It’s only a waste of nerves, really. We waited like crazy and got zero information.

Do not use this company at Santorini Airport! We booked via Booking.com & We were instructed to meet a shuttle bus outside arrivals but when we arrived there was no shuttle, we waited 15 mins and then started trying to get hold of the company, we eventually got through to the Santorini branch and they sent a shuttle down but by the time we got to the branch it was 40 mins past our booked time and we were told it was too late and we’d missed our booking. Although our car was sat there the booking had lapsed and we also couldn’t pay again to rehire the same vehicle under a new booking as the car wouldn’t be ‘released’ for 12 hours and they had no other cars available. We were left stranded now 10 mins away from the airport with no hire car and no solution offered from the company. Total scammers.

Con men. Do not book with them! First they applied their aggressive high pressure tactics to try and sell an additional insurance, which I declined and paid the Au$800 deposit. The car was the most beaten up car I’ve ever rented, so naturally I took a video of the condition. On returning the car they inspected the vehicle and said it was fine. However after a month my deposit has not been returned. On questioning this, they said it was due to damage to the car. There was no new damage! I have written and said I need photographic evidence of the “damage”and I can supply timed video recordings to prove there was no new damage to the car. I have not heard back! They are total con artists, out to get the tourists with their insurance scam!

Our initial car broke down after 2days due to mechanical (gearbox or clutch) failure. It took us several attempts to get connected to support service. First lady said someone would call us back - nobody did, so had to call again. The tow truck and taxi arrived on time so that was OK.
The car had 3/4 fuel left when it broke down and so it was not our choice to not return the car full of fuel, but outrageously we were charged the fuel levy fee to fill it up again Also there is no way someone went to fill it up as the car was totally undrivable!!! There was no good reason from the staff why we had to pay the levy, other than “we dont make the rules, this is just the way it is”.
Pickup is also really not great - it should also be alot clearer that when you get picked up from the airport that only one person can go to the Centauro depot (10-15min drive) to collect the car, and that the other person needs to wait alone at the airport for 30+minutes for the hirer to return to collect them.
Both cars we had also beaten up somewhat, maybe understandable given the small narrow roads - but still…
Definitely do not recommend this company and wont be using again.

I made a reservation on booking.com with full insurance also taken from booking. It's not the first time I've traveled and rented cars, but I've never experienced anything like this. Even though I had full insurance purchased in advance from booking, when I got to pick up the car they told me that I had to pay an insurance from them of 160 euros and that the one on booking is not valid. They didn't even give me the full amount refunded for the gas even though I returned with full tank, instead of 100 euros I received 90.5. Scammers!! I WILL NEVER RENT FROM THEM AGAIN.

I had a very disappointing experience with this car rental company.

When I placed my reservation, the total price shown was 459.00 €, which I already paid. However, after completing the booking, the reservation suddenly showed an additional payment of 368.53 €, bringing the total to 827.53 €.

This is not what was shown at the time of booking, and it feels misleading. I contacted their support to get this corrected, but I have not received any response for 8 days.

I would not recommend booking with this company unless you are prepared for unexpected extra charges and very poor customer support.

I rented a car in April 2024, paid deposit for fuel, for tolls and for damage. All went fine, i received deposits back in about a month or so. However, in January 2026, I received a letter from Portuguese authorities saying that I have to pay a fine for the car I rented. I am Portuguese resident, hence I received the fine on AT platform. Documents said that there's been 2 unpaid tolls, all about 3-4 euros. Since it hasn't been paid in time, each of tolls got penalties. In total I had to pay ~40 EUR. A day after I received another fine on AT platform for the same unpaid tolls. This time it was ~60 EUR for each unpaid toll, which is some sort of fine on top of penalty. In total I had to pay over 160 EUR in fines. When I contacted Centauro indicating that I had paid the deposit for tolls and they had all my contacts but never reached out to me, they first responded that they're looking into it and afterwards they simply ignored me. 90% of time your rent goes well, however people should know what to expect in other 10% cases.

I hired a hybrid car. On the morning of the flight the car would not start. I had to take a taxi costing €150. Centauro have been unhelpful and would not refund the taxi even though their car was faulty. I am forced to consider legal action. I will never use Centauro again. They do not reply in a timely fashion to my requests for information. A very bad experience.

What would you do if someone stole your wallet and ran? Would you shout "Stop! Thief!"? That is Centauro, Porto airport. My credit card covers extra insurance charges, but they charged me for their insurance anyway, without my permission! €140! I didn't realise it until afterwards, but they also charged my a surcharge on fuel of €71. I returned the car full after receiving it three quarters full! I have asked my credit card to deal with them. They are scammers! Go somewhere reputable if you don't want to be ripped off. Centauro, don't bother giving me a link and telling me you will respond. The only response I need I will get from my credit card company who deals with the likes of you regularly.

We use credit card insurance instead of expensive car rental insurance. This requires a deposit of EUR 1500. Our rental charge went through, but the deposit charge was repeatedly declined. Agent said this has been a problem all week with credit cards from the US. They wouldn't allow us to use a different card for the deposit. After phone calls to our credit card company (no problem at their end, no fraud attempts) we had to buy Centauro insurance (more than 50% of the rental price, additionally) in order to be able to rent the car. I think this is a scam, or at best, tech services are not fixing a serious issue. The €320 EUR charge for their insurance was approved no problem, so it's not a credit card issue - it's Centauro. Don't book with them unless you are prepared to pay an additional 50% on your rental for their insurance.

How can I trust a company that doesn't even bother to answer an email question?
I booked a car on their website, wanted to check the info about their policy with credit cards if you don't have to pay the deposit and it's been already more then a month and 4 requests from my side with no effect.
Thenk you for the hard work you make there, dear staff.