Europcar Reviews 43

Terrible. Company are a con. Hired a car booked it. When I got there they demanded more money I was there with my family. Never got the car I was supposed to get and they bundleds of pounds otherwise we were stuck. Con men. Hired loads or cars and vans in the past. Never had any hidden charges.

Disappointing service with Europcar Iceland . We booked a Tesla Model Y, but upon pickup we were given a BYD instead, which was not what we reserved.

I'm writing this review because i noticed the massive amount of negative reviews.

Everything was great. I was helped quickly at the counter in Keflavik Airport and received a relatively new car with only 45,000 on the odometer. Returning it was also quick and hassle-free, and I understand they refunded the deposit within 5 business days.

I didn't bother filling it up with gas because it seems impossible to hand in the car with a full tank as there wasn't a gas station within a few meters of the delivery point. And yes, you do get extra costs if you give the car back without a full tank of gas.

If I unexpectedly receive an incorrect invoice, I'll update my review, but I believe everything is fine.

Europcar Ireland West / Knock

We booked for a specific car and was casually down graded at the desk to a different car . The lady on the desk was rude and abrupt and frankly apathetic ! We were barked at to sign all the paperwork which basically put all the responsibility and financial cost on the renter if any problems ? We had taken out our own insurance, but the lady tried to convince us this still wasn’t ideal, she suggested taking another cover as well , but we stayed with what we had. The deposit money was held from our credit card.

The car paper work identified a few scratches on the paint work already. , but we ware assured this was already accounted for.

We were handed the key fob to the vehicle and directed in a sharp , abrupt manner to where the car was waiting .

We went to the car to find the vehicle covered in large dents and scratches .

We went back in to the place and informed the lady at the desk that we were not happy with the condition of the car and asked why the paper work had no mention of the damage ?

The lady on the desk said this is the only car they had left and we could take photos of the damage . Her attitude was unhelpful and uninterested in our concerns.

We sent the date stamps photos of the damaged to their email address for proof, but we still felt worried that they seeped to have no knowledge of the car damage before we set off on our journey.

When we returned the car after our holiday , we posted the keys through the letter box, as it was before their opening times.

When we arrived home in the UK we received a very abrupt telephone call accusing us of damaging to the car?

We stated we had taken photos of the pre- existing damage on the day we collected the car ! The man on the phone asked us to send the photos again as they have no record of the damage and as far as they were concerned, we must of coursed the damage?

We sent the date stamped photos again and then we had to called back an hour later and they then confirmed that we had not coursed the damage. There was no apology or reassurance of their error! We then waited a whole day until they took the deposit of the credit card.

The whole experience was dreadful and their customer service and manor is appalling and unprofessional .

One thing that still sticks in my mind is
Why do they claim they had no knowledge of the damage of the car , if standardly they are so quick to accuse the next person who rents the same car of the damage?

This made me feel very suspicious that they are not being totally honest ? Are they trying to financially penalise each car renter for the same dents and scratches multiple times? It’s a fair question?

I would never rent with them again !

I’m not sure where to begin. I could write a novel but I will stick to the most disappointing and parts. Customer service is non existent. They give you a number to call in case of issues but you are sent to voice mail every time. Impossible to get a person on the phone. I rented a car from them in Toulouse. Drive or for a week and returned it full of gas. They charged me for a premium petrol fee saying I reworked the car empty. They also claimed I damaged the windshield when I did not. It must have been the person before me and they charged me for it. Do not rent from them.

Do not use this company they’re an absolute shambles terrible customer service terrible service in general let us down massively last minute when we booked a car to take away for 4 days and you ring us to cancel with 20 minutes to go are you actually for real so people Nottingham company I’m stating I would never use them again and I wouldn’t waste your time go to Arnold Clarke they’re far better and nicer

Europcar - robbed by them at Malaga. Let my guard down and was miss sold - was not aware I was being sold an upgrade thought it was the car I had booked. Told the car had a full tank, 100km in needed to re fuel. Told them after dropping car off, car was given back with over half a tank, whilst I received empty. Europcar charged me for this plus a penalty. Booked car for 180 euro - final invoice was 500 euro to drive 420km over 3 days - 1 journey to Seville and 1 return journey to Malaga. Bloke selling to me knew what he was doing - I was completely fooled. Wrote several complaints eventually received fuel money back. Will never spend a penny with this company again. Wished I had looked at trustpilot before hand as scores are terrible and they deserve it. Team are trained to con customers into extras they do not need.

Europcar Iceland - friendly, helpful, and painless. Did not try to add extra charges, phony damage or fuel claims like many rental car companies I've experienced. That alone is worth 5 stars. Several other positive experiences with Europcar in other countries make this the one I tend to look for.

We rented a car from Europcar/Holdur for 17 days in august 2025. We were aware the rentals are very expensive in Iceland and rented an "upgrade" 4x4 nevertheless. It is kind of misleading because you don't acually get a 4x4 "jeep" vehicle, but a very basic compact SUV (Suzuki S-cross), not at all suitable for the F-roads, even when they are allowed on them. I specifically asked for a vehicle for the F-roads.
Then the pick up.. It was not parked on the parking spot from Holdur, so we had to search for an hour to eventually find it, in heavy rain and wind. The directions to pickup the car could be better.
Then the shape of the tires and car. These tires were not at all suitable for gravel roads. Also a service light was indicating the car should have gone into service a long time ago. It seems Europcar/Holdur does not maintain their cars properly so customers are the victims.
We did not try out F-roads because the car was not suited for it, but a few gravel roads which is unavoidable in Iceland and.. we had a flat tire. This is never insured, so we managed to use the emergency repair kit to get to the nearest garage and let it replaced. If the company would service their cars better, we wouldn't be in that situation.
The reason for this bad review is not because we had a flat tire, but because the cars are not maintained and customers have to accept the risk something will happen to the car as a result.
Rental cars are expensive in Iceland, and I understand why: the conditions to drive the roads are very bad. But at least we can expect the rental companies to anticipate and as customer we can expect to rent cars who are at least technically in top shape to face those conditions. I would go for another rental firm (those Dacia Dusters from other companies seemed way better maintained).
2 stars for the friendly staff and the drop-off went very smoothly, but the car isn't worth the rental price.

A year ago we rented from Europcar in Scotland. We stopped briefly in a hotel parking lot to pick up a guest with mobility problems. We did not know part of it was pay and display. After trip, we got demand for 40 pound penalty for not paying and displaying. Later upped to 80 pounds. After many emails and phone calls, penalties were rescinded. I’ve emails showing that. Came back to UK this week, rented Europcar online for pickup in Plymouth (expedia). But when we arrived they refused to rent to me because of Scotland pay and display issue, despite email evidence in my favor. Finally rented to my wife, but she’s nervous left-lane driver. Big, unnecessary hulabaloo. Won’t go back there

Absolute madness! This company (in this case Europcar UK) is dodgy and robbing its customers, we’ll never book with them again! They are sending Dart Charge invoices after returning the car and charge 9x (!) the amount we needed to pay to Dart Charge. We just talked to a customer rep from Dart Charge and he told us that they did not receive any payments from Europcar even though we already transferred it. On top of that, it would only have to be £5 in total instead of £45, which we’ve been charged by Europcar, which they must have kept! This company is absolutely not trustworthy, we have not even been informed about any additional charges that should be expected! Choose any other car rental provider, but stay away from Europcar!

I booked a car on Eurocar.com and within hours my credit card was cloned and used for fraudulent transactions at restaurants and entertainment venues. It might be connected it might not, just makes me worry. I want this investigated. I tried calling various numbers but no answer. I have had to stop my card

When my Hyundai IONIQ 6 had a ICCU system failure. I took it to Hyundai garage it was in for 5.5 days. So mobility phone me to get a courtesy car from Europcar Carlisle. So when I got the hired car I noticed a dent on the back left bumper when I cleaned the car because it was filthy when it arrived. So I had a look a the paper work it had a dent on the front bumper but when I looked at the front bumper there was no dent on the front bumper just the back bumper. So I thought that they got mixed up between the two. And now they are trying to blame me for the dent in the back bumper I told them I didn’t even drive the car because it was unsuitable for me. I just used it to pick up my car when it was fixed. I went to the police station and told them everything the agreed with me that they got mixed up. But unfortunately they can’t help because they’re been no criminal crime committed. This has put me off from getting another courtesy car ever this is making me ill and can’t even sleep through this. I’m not paying for anything I didn’t even do. it’s all wrong all this it’s not right. But why give me a damaged car in the first place & the windscreen washer didn’t even work. After reading other reviews this has happened to other people. So I won’t be coming back to hire a car from you lot ever.

Huge Ripoff.. they take an extra $70/day if you keep the car past scheduled drop off.. even if you call to extend the rental. AVOID !

Do not use Europcar. Their service at pick up was rude and their online staff disrespectful. And they have been completely unhelpful to deal with, including with the follow-up fine where they charged 45Euro simply to send off incorrect details to ANTAI, and won't help with fixing their own administrative error.

I have to say I had exceptional service from Laura in terminal 1 when returning my car. It was excellent to see a young girl happy to help instead of just taking the keys and letting me go. Keep up the good work Laura 👍🏼

I am over 75 years old and tried a number of car rental companies to hire a car,Some offered me a vehicle if I got letters from a doctor and also from my insurance company,{Not an option for me at short notice}
I hired a car in Dublin Airport from Europcar,I only had to produce a driving License and DVLA form stating no convictions and no penalty points {easily obtained online from DVLA)
We collected the car from an adjacent car park and had no problems,we received a message from Europcar a couple of days before returning to the airport with an attachment of directions back to the airport car park,(great if no sat nav.)
Arrived back safely,2 minutes handing back vehicle,Great service THANK YOU

I don't usually leave review unles for exceptionally good or exceptionally poor experiences. While my experience in Iceland was amazing, my experience with this rental company was, alas, terrible. They were the cheapest option, but I would have rather paid 10%-20% more for a fully functional vehicle that was available for the time we requested, and had roadside assistance.

Issues, ranked:
1) Fuel gauge sensors inconsistent and incorrect.

We first noticed when stopping to fill the tank. We decided to do this early on in the trip (a few hundred km) in a city where we could google it/ask for help as we knew gas pumps worked differently in Iceland. Thank goodness. At first, we didn't think the machine was accepting our debit cards as the sensors for the gague did not move. So we held the pump back from the car to confirm gas was flowing and relied on looking to ensure the tank was full. This generally is a bad way to fill up a tank as it is annoying, esp when its cold and raining, and increases the chance of a spill. We had to then manually track our usage for the rest of the trip. The gauge began rising slowly over the next 3 hours and began eventually reporting a full tank. Later on in the trip, it seemed to start decreasing plausibly, but we relied on manual checks to fill, and then tracking our mileage. Luckily, we noticed early. This added a lot of anxiety to the trip as we were in some remote areas, but our math was fine and we never got stranded.

We reported this issue when returning the car and were assured we would get a discount in a few days and they would fix it for the next person. That was a lie, there was no discount applied, we were charged the full price. No idea if they decided to fix it or not for the next person. I did not like their response mostly because to me this is a safety issue, and one they should have been very apologetic about. The other experiences to me were just general bad service, but renting out a car with broken fuel sensors seems more like a violation of the contract. Please take this more than anything into account before doing business with this company

2) The car was not available, and no one was at the office at the time of our reservation.

This is just bad customer service, not so much a safety isue. But super annoying as we had to make an expensive international phone call, then wait outside for an hour in the cold. No discount for losing an hour of our resercation and setting back our itinerary either. We also didn't get the car we reserved, but I think is pretty normal for car rental companies.

3) Their 'roadside assistance' number didn't work.

We had a few bars of service, but got a message that the number didn't exist. This was when we were trying to understand if it was just the fuel gague broken or there were perhaps other issues happening to the car. So far as we could tell, it was just the broken sensors, but again, knowing one part of the cars sensors don't work and the company doesn't actually seem to have roadside assistance added significant anxiety to the trip.

4) The car had an automatic lane adjustment that you had to change in the settings every time the car was turned off.

Okay, this is just a feature of the car they gave us (which again, was not the one we reserved) so perhaps not their fault entirely BUT I want to mention. If the lanes disapeared or reappeared on a road, which is common in the remote parts of the wester Fjords, this feature would start to auto-pull the car off the road. Very scary. There was generally no shoulder, and took us a while to figure out how to turn that off, and we often forgot to re-turn it off after stopping. This just seems like a dangerous feature to have automatically enabled. So watch out, you may see that behavior in a lot of newer cars with whatever company you go with

5) And one good thing! Their office in Reykjavik was open when we returned it AND had great complementary coffee.

Anyways, I absolutely do not recommend this company. They rented out a car with broken sensors and did not respect the time of our reservation.

Asked for car suitable for my disabled. Twice delivered an unsuitable car and were abusive when I refused to accept a car I was unable to drive. Told me my deafness made life difficult for them as they had to email me.

Used the service in Lisbon (Rua Rodrigues). This company are fraudulent DO NOT USE. They took hundreds of £GBP in charges off me after the car hire. Several months later they are stealing small amounts of money from my account randomly. Theft at this scale must be stopped. Avoid using this company