Centauro Reviews 188

I rented a five passenger Midsize Van (Citroen C4 Space Tourer or similar) for one week in April 2023 from Centauro in Lisbon, Portugal using the Hopper app. We needed a van as we had five adults and five large pieces of luggage. The description of this vehicle indicated it would fit our needs. When I arrived at Centauro, I was told I would be given a five passenger Peugeot 3008 midsize SUV and NOT a van like I had reserved. The Centauro employees tried to convince me this was a similar vehicle, but it was significantly smaller, with not enough room for luggage. It was an SUV, not a van like I had reserved. I contacted Hopper through the app and had to pay the $9.00 fee for VIP support as I needed immediate assistance. Hopper told me to ask the counter for a MidSizeVan that had a capacity of 5 passengers. I told Hopper that Hopper needed to ask them. After an hour of wasted time trying to resolve the situation, it was determined that Centauro had no midsize vans available, which left us with no alternative but to take the smaller SUV. As a result, my four passengers had to ride 3 hours each way with large heavy luggage on their laps. At the conclusion of my trip, I resumed my chat conversation with Hopper. They reached out to Centauro who indicated there could be no partial refund as I agreed to take the smaller SUV. I pointed out that there were no vans available, so I had no choice but to take the smaller SUV. Hopper refused to do anything else for me. Centauro represented that it would be a larger vehicle, but did not have one available. Hopper assisted Centauro, and did nothing for me.

Avoid this company at least in Faro, Portugal..
this Company is disgusting and steal the costumers in the first place..
-5 stars

Booked through Rentalcars.com. Paid for additional full cover for excesses and damage. When picking up car, Centauro staff said my additional cover was worthless and insisted that I buy their cover. I eventually paid more than double the booking price. Dishonest. I will not be using them again.

Upon arrival they said that they didn’t have the car I’ve booked and gave me a very old fiat ( +82000 kms) with warning lights on the dash with no brakes, damage steering and I was carrying a baby . They don’t care . Terrible service not recommended at all . Avoid this car rental , so many good ones this is absolutely dangerous for you and others .

After complaining 10 times and because my money , 251 euros, I am
Having a meeting with my lawyers and take this company to court
They keep our bank card details and they take all the money they want

SOMEONE HAS TO STOP THIS THIEVES

Cars with life threatening risks and bad, ignorant and completely silent customer support.

As we have never gotten an answer to our email, we have issued a full chargeback against them.

Adding an excerpt of our email here:

"
Unfortunately the car we got has either a very weak engine, or serious issues with its engine.

Booking Number:
XXX

Driver's Name:
XXX

Car:
Citroen C3 - AH33SE

Please find the detalis below:

1.
The car is unable to go beyond 2nd gear on uphill roads.

2.
The car has stopped and broke down multiple times on uphill roads.

3.
When the car breaks down uphill, starting it up again will not work as even with pushing the gas pedal fully in 1st gear, it starts to roll backwards.
However it has "Hill Start Assist", it does not help any.

4.
If needed to reverse uphill, it keeps rolling forward downhill, even with full throttle in reverse gear.

5.
We needed to stop uphill because of a traffic jam and just barely preventing the car from breaking down or rolling backwards, (knowing that it will not start if stopped and will roll back into the cars behind us) my partner kept it in 1st gear while we were waiting.
The engine almost burnt down with dense and smelly white smoke coming out from under the hood.

6.
I needed to help to push the car in reverse uphill after it stopped when we needed to let another car pass on a narrow road.
We needed to reverse/push uphill otherwise the car would have rolled/crashed forwards into a building (not having enough space to steer sideways), as the car freely rolls downhill even when trying to go up.

7.
The car stopped uphill and started rolling backwards downhill.
After many attempts of starting it up again, I needed to assist from outside and she slowly reversed back to the nearest flat road to give the car a kickstart.

We had a number of close calls and dangerous stituations due to this.

My partner is an experienced and careful driver who can drive in different styles and she tried to figure it out, maybe it is her fault.
This is why we were hesitant on calling the assisstance.
It was not her fault, as we figured out in the end.

We needed to cancel one of our accommodations due to this as the car was not able to make it up there.

This car poses a life threatening danger to the driver and all passengers, as with an inexperienced driver it can easily roll off the road on a hill due to these serious faults.

We have lost a lot of time due to this and we had a lot of stressful moments during our holiday.

This is why we would kindly, but formally ask for a partial refund of 150 EUR of our rental price for our troubles and lost time.
"

I’ve been renting cars every year for the last 20 years in faro airport. Centauro, never ever again. It’s far from the airport. The transfer service is unacceptable. It took us an hour waiting at the airport and the way back we had to wait again. Never have I had to pay a deposit for the petrol in the car - 95 euros to pay for what was already in the car PLUS 100 euros just in case I would deliver it empty? I had bought an extra insurance online and they were not happy about that. Told me how horribly difficult it would be if something happened. Tried several times to sell me theirs even though I kept telling that I had one.
I couldn’t just park the car at delivery, no, no. You have to drive it to our car wash! On a little phone he wanted me to sign something but he couldn’t tell me what it was. “Just you delivering”. Ok, what about the 100euros there? It doesn’t say I’m getting my money back for the petrol…I don’t know ma’m you’re the one delivering the car!
And he refused to give me a receipt that there were no damages.
Now I’m just curious if I’m getting my money back, and the +1000 euros that they were holding on my credit card (that’s though normal for all companies).

The rental cost seems to be a little higher than others, but if you buy their own insurance and via verde device, the price seems much fairer.

They gave us a better car than what we booked, and it was really appreciated. Keep in mind that they ask 100 euros in advance for the via verde tolls and 89 euro for the petrol. They will deduct from those amounts the Via verde tolls, and give the change back within a couple of weeks.

I found pleasant and professional people at the desk and also the return was easy and quick.

I think we will use again their service.

I hope this can be useful both for them and for future customers.
:-)

Centauro was to be 130GBP for five days with Ryanair but turned out to be 450GBP. ( still waiting for a refundable deposit ) Although I bought full insurance with Ryanair, Centauro did not honor it and made me to buy another one for 120GBP which took completely my liability for the car. You will pay an extra deposit for:
- fuel (refundable if car returned full) 100
- ViaVerde motorway tools fees ( refundable what you don't use ) 100
- Centauro insurance 19/day
- Centauro is not at the airport but at the depot and there is a shuttle service
It is either Ryanair or Centauro that scams its customers (or both) and for me when the service charge goes from 120GBP to 450GBP it is absolutely horrible customer experience and I call it robbery.

Centauro are not based at Lisbon Airport, but at a location about 5 minutes drive from there. There is a free shuttle from outside arrivals that will take you on the short journey.
Friendly enough staff on check-in, however...
Be aware the company will make a €1000 credit card charge prior to collecting the vehicle to cover ANY damages caused, whatever the cost, unless you take out their insurance. In my case it was almost double the rental fee. They will also make a charge for a full tank of petrol and another €100 for something I do not recall at the moment.
Having been told the car had no damage, I was cautious enough to take photos of the vehicle before accepting it, to show the variety of scuffs and dents which were not of my doing. The paperwork was changed to show the pre-rental damage.
Be aware this company is NOT 24 hours, and offers NO means of returning a vehicle before their 0700 opening time. You will find it next to impossible to return the car and make an 0800 departure from Lisbon Airport.

THEY COULD EASILY DO BETTER!

As I see, this company already has a low rating - but in my opinion; it deserves a lot lower!

When I came to collect the vehicle, my first surprise was they gave me a totally different car from the one I had reserved. Secondly, when viewing the vehicle - I could see wheel and tire damage to the front right tire plus bodywork damage: to which I notified staff and photographed, but they still refused to give me an alternative vehicle.

Day 1 of my journey, to my shock and horror; the car broke down with a flat tire. And yes, it was the same tire that I had photographed with prior damage!

Not only were the staff on the phone very unhelpful, they told me I have no insurance for roadside assistance (which I did) and refused to assist me in any other way other than telling me I had to change the car tire myself and take the vehicle to the mechanic (which was not open on a Sunday).

To cut a long story short, they refused to take my calls thereafter (only the mechanic was able to get hold of them), they refused to compensate me in any way (for my time, my inconvenience, my journey delay, and my overnight stay in a random village where I had to wait for the workweek to find a mechanic).

When returning the vehicle, they accused me of vehicular damage (which I believe to be untrue) - and charged me an additional €250 (which thankfully my external insurance is willing to pay).

Overall, I think they are appalling!

I personally think they are unacceptable as a company. I hope they either change soon or they go under!

Well, so much to say.

We booked the car through VipCar website. We reserved a small car (similar to 500 fiat) and we purchased the insurance (70€).
When we arrived at the rental place they told us that if we wouldn’t purchase THEIR insurance we would have to leave 1050 euros of deposit. Sounded like a scam.. so we called centauro costumer service, cause the the man at the desk was visibly irritated with any questions we were asking. And the costumer service confirmed everything. That was our fault not checking all the policies correctly, but also never heard about something like that. I still call it a scam.. cause 1050 of deposit is crazy.

So, BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU PURCHASE AN INSURANCE CAUSE IF IS NOT CENTAURO INSURANCE YOU HAVE TO PAY A HUGE DEPOSIT.

We didn’t have 1050€ for the deposit so it ended up buying also the centauro insurance (133€), and leaving 100€ deposit, getting a bigger car that we absolutely didn’t ask for (Alfa Romeo), that of course need a higher insurance.

Also the car wasn’t great, no water for the windshield, the via verde pass attached with tape that kept falling all the trip and not paying the tolls correctly, the driver window not working properly.

There are many rental places in Lisbon, we won’t use centauro ever again.

Last month I was denied a confirmed booking via DiscoverCars when I arrived at the Centauro counter.

Called the Centauro corporate office in Spain for an explantion and it turns out it was because I had my credit card company dispute an expensive flat tire bill on a previous rental. In that instance, I had a flat tire on my way to Faro airport and had to have the car towed because there was no spare tire or fix-it repair kit in the car. Upon arrival, Centauro charged me for the tow and a new tire. Hence why upon my return home, I had the credit card company dispute "only" the flat tire related charges. Thought the matter was settled, and gave them another try. Only to have my confirmed reservation denied even though their corporate office noted that I owed them no money.

I travel to Portugal at least 4 times per year and often rent cars from discount rental agencies. So many like DriveOnHolidays, OKmobility, Turisprisme are much better with stronger ratings and just as affordable. Why take a chance with a rental from an unprofessional company?

Went to Portugal on holiday with a friend and decided to rent a car since we were going to Lagos region, had the misfortune to chose Centauro as the company to rent the car from. When booking the car online we paid for full coverage insurance and when we were at the stall to collect the car we were told that it was another insurance and wouldn't cover us, I was like??? what do you mean ma'am how is that even possible? Long story short she ended up saying that if we were to return the car with a tiny little scratch or whatever it was we would have to pay for a full repair, and I was like but this is not fair, if the car has a scratch and I/we caused its ok and we will pay for that but don't be abusive and demand us to pay a "full repair" she was basically forcing us to pay an extra 100eu +- to take another insurance, which after all those threats, because to me they were threats, we decided to pay for the extra insurance, but it doesn't stop there, we had to pay the deposit (which is normal of course), plus a deposit for the fuel/tank (87eu), plus a deposit for road tolls (100eu) which is absurd and I've never heard of it before and they said that it would all be reimbursed in 12 working days after returning the car and the fair deductions were made. Well, we returned the car more than one month ago and haven't seen any sight of the money back in our accounts, when I tried to call their number on the website I got redirected to an automated voicemail that said I should send an email to them which I also did and got another automated reply saying i had to wait another 12 businesses days to hear back from them, I mean? Is this a joke or what? Treat your customers with more respect and be transparent in all the fees you charge them and keep your word on the deadlines you give to them, don't fool them.

My best advice for anyone thinking about renting with Centauro is, DON'T. Think twice, do not let yourself fall in the same trap we did just because you are saving a few quids, in the end it becomes more expensive than other companies and give you an extra headache to get your money back.

We had a problem with a breakage on the front shield that was not caused by us or anything like a stone or other material hitting the windshield but probably due to a manufacturing issue and we were still asked to pay to replace the windshield!

They didn’t return 100€ deposit. Car was returned without any damage. We even had full insurance coverage. Costumers service 0 points.

We hired a car in Portugal for our long-awaited summer holiday. We had been looking forward to relaxing and visiting friends.

Unfortunately our Centauro car broke down after a few days. We assumed that a simple call would result in some sort of remediation - maybe a fix or replacement car.

Sadly Centauro had other ideas, blaming us for the breakdown and wanting to charge for a tow and taxi for > 100km, at huge cost.

Furthermore, without any explanation or trace of an invoice they have charged more, including one unauthorised card transaction.

We had no car for half our holiday, and huge costs to try to recover.

Please avoid, save yourself the trauma and use a reputable company.

Didn't get the car size similar to what I have booked. Service and understanding of issue was completely lacking from the staff.
Customer service don't reply on your inquiry and forgotten items in the car is stolen, with absolutely no followup. There were 3-4 staff member on duty at time of delivery and one of them is a thief and the company is OK about it.

We hired a car for a week which broke down after 4 days. Centauro refused to help, other than insisting that the car needed to be towed back to Porto and that I should get a taxi, both at my expense.

We were left without a car and with a hefty bill. Pretty much a scam company - the headline figure may be cheap but it could cost you an awful lot more.

Avoid at all costs.

Pick up office in a bit removed from the airport and difficult to find - have not used the shuttle service (which I understand is regular). By not being based at the airport results in more competitive prices. Good selection of cars available and prices were competitive. Staff was polite and knowledgable. The car was in ok conditions and clean inside but had some dents which in majority were duly recorded in the paperworks prior collection. Any additional damage was promptly recorded and no questions asked. Also, no pressure in taking additional insurances. At pick up the car was requiring the 'add blue' top-up which should not have passed quality control. The return service was very quick and efficient with not question asked. Will recommend Centauro but as always is recommended do a good check before accepting the car.