Goldcar Portugal Reviews 2,230

"Disappointing Experience with Unfair Damage Claim"

I recently rented a car from GoldCar and had a generally smooth experience until the return process. Upon returning the vehicle, I was surprised to hear that the company was claiming there was damage to one of the wheels. The issue is that I was told by the manager at pickup that the minor existing damages didn’t need to be documented, as they weren’t significant enough to note. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos of the car at pickup because of this reassurance.

Now, I’m being held responsible(EUR 134.83) for damage I didn't cause, and it feels unfair. There was no indication of any major issues with the car when I returned it, and the damage in question is extremely minor. I understand that things happen, but it’s very frustrating when the company doesn’t follow through with proper documentation, leaving renters like myself in a difficult position.

I’d advise future renters to be extra cautious and take photos of the car at pickup, even if they are assured that minor damages don’t need to be noted. Unfortunately, I won’t be renting from again based on this experience.

I am a loyal Goldcar customer since 2013 and I cannot get better support and customer service in Lisbon Airport when it comes to rent a car. At the past with lovely Fatima Fernandes and just recently with Simão and José, super professional, humbles and doing everything at their best to support on my local enquires and on my online reservation!

It's always delightful to have Goldcar amazing service and I fully recommend this company for the last 12 years! Brilliant!!

Terrible company! They gave me a car full of dents so it was very hard to see if everything was on their form. We asked about some but they said don’t worry. When we came to give the car back they pointed out a big scratch which wasn’t on the form and said we had to pay. Because we didn’t trust them we had made pictures and films of the car. So we could prove it was already there! For sure the next costumer will have to pay for the same scratch. This is how they can offer the cars cheap and earn their money from insurances. Never again will I rent from them!!!

I rented from Goldcar once before and it was a disaster, but it was years ago, so I decided to give it another chance.
But NO, nothing has changed. Still very rude staff trying to cheat you with every trick in the book. I had booked and payed online (and had a voucher), despite this they wanted me to pay three times more for the car then it was online. RUDE SCAMMERS!! I wrote in the complaintbook and left the building without picking up my rental car. Never again!!

Charged three times for one booking. Deposits returned but with unwarranted deductions. Sadly not responding to complaints despite providing evidence. Was a loyal customer - but no more!

Terrible company stay away from Goldcar !! Be extremely careful when renting from this company I arrived at Malaga airport and when I didn’t take their insurance they requested a my credit must have embossed numbers as in their terms and conditions I pointed out that these cards are no longer issued and why would they require outdated cards (clearly a ploy to refuse renting at the price agreed when not taking their insurance)I was left with my family at 11pm having to get a taxi to my apartment and now claiming my credit card payment back !! Don’t use this company as a complete scam !

DONOT GIVE THIS COMPANY YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS. THEY TOOK MONEY FROM US WITHOUT DISCUSSION, REPORT OR REASONING. 150 Euros taken from our account.
I came online to write this review, and was horrified to see what happened to us is frequently occuring. I have rented cars from Lisbon airport multiple times a year for 20 years, and I've never experienced anything like it.

Having read all the reviews how is Goldcar being allowed to continue trading at Lisbon Airport?
Heres my review in the hope it prevents someone else having the same happen to them.

We returned our car for the GoldCar agent to do their review. From the start, her demenour was off. She had her torch out and seemed determined to find something wrong with the car. Very different approach to when you receive the car on your own in the dark surroundings!

Thankfully for us, her attempt to charge us for scuffed wheels was futile as we had taken photos. She checked the photo time stamps against our contract, huffed and continued her long winded search.

Patricia was on her hands and knees in the back of the car, found a 'mark'. She started writing a report , but would not discuss what she was doing or what she deemed the issue.

What should have happened next is a reasonable conversation about what she wanted to discuss. Instead shes in the car snapping away photos and I repeatedly asked her to show me where and what she was doing and reporting. She pointed out two, so i cleaned them easily with a small amount of water and a towel one of the Goldcar cleaning staff gave me. I thanked the lady with the towel and she rolled her eyes at the woman writing the report. It looked maybe a tiny bit of dirt, even though it wasnt ours, I cleaned it and it took a matter of seconds. It was fine. I took photos of it clean. Cleaner now than when they hired it to us.

Bearing in mind we were 2 people in a car, never ate or drank in the car, and we didn't even enter the back of the car. Luggage went in the boot. So it would have been an existing small mark. Patricia didn't care, she wasn't going to have a reasonable discussion, she had a report to write

She refused to acknowledge it was now clean. Continually rudely walking off and saying the report is closed and we needed to go to the Goldcar office in the terminal.

When we arrived there, we explained and showed my proof of clean seats, and the Goldcar representative told me the file was still open so he couldnt do anything. I returned, but Patricia now is still walking off like a petulant child and is painfully unresponsive. It was a total farce.

I asked but was refused a supervisor and was told she was a contractor and id have to email customer service to challenge her findings. To take photos and forward to them as proof. Annoying but something I guess. Extra admin for us but they would see common sense when we showed them our photos (or so we thought!)

A few days later, WITHOUT any communication or warning Goldcar charged 150 euros, no covering email or explanation as to why the money was taken. Only just by looking on our online bank did we spot it. So, we returned to the airport to investigate , and were told its for a level 2 deep clean on all the seats. I showed them my photos and said which bit required a deep clean, they said email customer services. Not interested.

I did receive one email from Goldcar thanking me for cleaning the car (wtf) but the report still stands due to the 'deep clean' . I have asked repeatedly but have never been shown or sent the report.
They have not confirmed to me what criteria they deem as so dirty a 150 euro 'level2 deep' clean is 'required'. Given a single wipe had removed the marks. My last email still sits with them and I doubt they will reply

Its unreasonable, unfair and totally shouldn't be able to be getting away with making false claims and taking people's money at will
All because they rented us a 'dirty' car

Stay away from Goldcar!

We picked up this old, scratched and dented car and did a walk-through with the agent. There were defects in every single body panel. We went through the over 50 defects on his tablet computer and I signed the contract.

When I returned this car that had over 100,000 km on it, it was not possible to do a walk-through with an agent. We were instructed to just drop the keys in the box.

An hour later I got an Email telling me "....this car has been involved in an accident....." They then sent me a photo of the rear bumper with a tear in it.

This defect was already there when I picked up the car.

I unfortunately did not have a photo of the bumper upon pickup. As mentioned above, the car had so many defects all over, it was not possible to make a note of them all.

As far as I can tell, their business model is as follows:
-they have old, junky, dented cars
-they rent the cars for a low price
-they show you 90% of the dents upon pickup
-they go over the cars with a fine tooth comb on dropoff and then make a note of the 10% of the dents that you didn't see upon pickup
-they charge you for the damage
-they don't fix the cars as they need cars with lots of defects for this scam to continue
-they also charge lots for tolls and try hard to upsell you to their insurance.

Be VERY careful when renting from Goldcar, a company owned by Europcar.

I had a four day rental from Goldcar and
took photos, inside and out before leaving Lisbon airport.

On returning the car, I was told by the Goldcar employee that all was in order, there was no damage, the car was fully refuelled and I signed the iPad.

Three weeks later, I notice a charge on my credit card for €150.

When I contacted the company I was informed this charge was for a 'special cleaning.'

It seems amazing that the car is handed back in, what I was told, was perfect condition, only for a €150 charge to suddenly appear several weeks later.

I was the ONLY person to have been in the car, no person and no materials/goods were placed in the car apart from a suitcase in the boot.

This is quite obviously a rip off fee. I have received no photographs as to what necessitated this 'special cleaning'

This is, very plainly, fraud.

DO NOT RENT FROM GOLDCAR

It took 3 months of complaining and then handed over to my bank to deal with to get my £1300 deposit returned to me. I spoke directly on the phone to customer services on numerous occasions only to get the same robotic reply saying next to nothing except empty promises. I also emailed many times and was even told it had been paid to me on a certain date which it hadn't at all. I then found out I could get my bank to make a refund claim for me. They were very helpful and told me they deal with this type of problem often. My £1300 deposit was then refunded within a couple of weeks. I think if it wasn't for my banks support I may not have got my money back.

I should have checked their reputation first. Just as everyone should. This company works on a criminal level. Read these facts I dug up.

"Goldcar has been suspected across Europe of charging customers for damage that either didn't exist or was already present on the vehicle before hire — exactly the kind of thing you experienced with your deposit. (Connexion France)
So the evidence is clear — this isn't accidental or occasional bad practice. It's a systematic, pan-European pattern that has been proven in court multiple times. The troubling part is that even €3.4 million fines haven't stopped them, which tells you how profitable the model is."

Here's another example.

"Italian Court Ruling — 2024
As recently as June 2024, a court in Bolzano ruled that Goldcar's penalty clauses were unlawful — they had been charging tens of thousands of consumers €55 per traffic fine for over ten years, collecting an estimated €5 million+ in unjustified penalties in just the 2018–2021 period alone. The court ordered Goldcar to notify all affected customers of their right to a full refund."

**Terrible Service and Complete Disregard for Customers**

I strongly advise **against** renting a car from Goldcar. Our experience with this company was absolutely disgraceful. We booked a car from January 1st to 9th at Málaga Airport and confirmed in advance with Goldcar that picking up the car on January 1st at 21:40h would not be a problem. We were assured that the office would be open at that time.

However, when we arrived, the office was closed, and the key collection machines were out of service. No one from Goldcar could be reached. As a result, we were left stranded, forced to book a hotel and pay for taxis—costs that were entirely Goldcar’s fault.

Since then, we have **repeatedly contacted Goldcar, requesting compensation for these extra expenses and a credit for the lost rental day. Instead of taking responsibility, they continue to blame us for their own failure.**

Goldcar is **unreliable, does not honor its commitments, and abandons its customers.** If you want a stress-free rental experience, **avoid Goldcar at all costs!**

Do NOT rent a car with Goldcar via EasyJet Car! As with any reputable car rental company, I was prompted to take out a full insurance when booking, as I always do. Little did I know (as it's not advertised anywhere when booking) that I had to pay a so-called Couverture Super Relax cover when picking up the car in Bordeaux. This mandatory cover (yes, it is mandatory no matter which way you put it) was 233.76 EUR for 6 days. The car itself was 80 EUR. Make it make sense.
Furthermore, we were FORCED and bullied into paying this cover, or the agent would not hand over the keys. Simple and plain. Our options were to be stranded at the pickup counter late evening with two small children, or pay up. When complaining to EasyJet Car, they came back with "that was an optional cover" and "you didn't record the conversation so you can't prove that it was forced". This is an elaborate scam where Goldcar blames EasyJet Car and the other way around. Never in a million years will I use either one of these companies again. It should be noted that I have filed a complaint under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, on the grounds of being mislead and pressured into buying additional insurance at an extortionate rate. I'm currently waiting for EasyJet Car to reply, but let's just say that my hopes are not very high.

Location de 9 jours à Faro Airport, fin janvier 2025.
Insistance extrêmement lourde pour la souscription de l’assurance CDW qui triple le prix de la location (CDW à 6488 € / an !).
Au terme d’une inspection initiale de 2 minutes, la voiture a 31 petits défauts de carrosserie et des essuie vitres en mauvais état.
A la fin de la location, je ramène la voiture avant l’ouverture des bureaux (vol de retour très matinal). A l’ouverture de l’agence, le personnel trouve immédiatement et encore de nuit un 32ème défaut que je ne parviens pas à distinguer sur la photo (je ne sais même pas si c'est la voiture que j'ai louée).
On me demande 98 € pour le 32ème défaut de carrosserie, invisible sur la photo, que je n'ai pas provoqué et qui ne sera pas plus réparé que les 31 premiers, ce qui me prive des services de l’assurance par ma carte bancaire. Je crois que c'est une vengeance pour ne pas avoir souscrit le CDW. S'il y a réellement un nouveau défaut, c'est peut-être une autre voiture ou c’est peut-être eux qui l'ont fait. J'ai l'impression d'avoir eu affaire à une bande d'escrocs. J'étais un client régulier, je ne reviendrai jamais.
Je recommande donc, quelque soit le loueur, de prendre un maximum de photos du véhicule à la livraison pour dissuader ce genre d’arnaque et, en outre, à tous ceux qui veulent éviter ce genre de mésaventure de souscrire une assurance CDW auprès de sociétés spécialisées (par exemple serenitrip) pour une toute petite fraction du prix exorbitant demandé par les loueurs.

9-day rental at Faro Airport, end January 2025.
Extremely heavy insistence on taking out CDW insurance, which triples the price of the rental (CDW at €6,488/year!).
After an initial 2-minute inspection, the car has 31 minor bodywork defects and the windscreen wipers are in poor condition.
At the end of the rental period, I return the car before the office opens (very early return flight). When the office opened, the staff immediately found a 32nd fault that I couldn't make out on the photo (I didn't even know if it was the car I'd hired).
I'm charged €98 for the 32nd bodywork defect, invisible on the photo, which I didn't cause and which won't be repaired any more than the first 31, which deprives me of the services of my credit card insurance. I think this is revenge for not taking out CDW. If there really is a new fault, maybe it's another car or maybe they did it. I feel like I've been dealt with by a bunch of crooks. I was a regular customer and I'll never come back.
I therefore recommend that, whatever the hire company, you take as many photos of the vehicle as possible on delivery to discourage this kind of scam and, in addition, that anyone who wants to avoid this kind of misadventure should take out CDW insurance with specialist companies (e.g. serenitrip) for a tiny fraction of the exorbitant price charged by the hire company

Over an hour wait at Goldcar to pick up the car :(

I hired a car from Goldcar pickup Lisbon Airport, i hire a car in Lisbon more than 6 times a year (with 0 issues with all the other Lisbon companies). I have never had such a damaged car, every panel was damaged with more scratches than i could mention. I took a video walking around the car on pickup as normal, it did not occur to me that i should video underneath the car from floor level. So on return the Goldcar employee immediately crouches down and looks underneath the front bumper on one side only and tells me i scratched it, you cannot see unless literally underneath the car. Goldcar is just simply a scam/fraud. Don’t use ever.

My credit card statement shows various costs for Goldcar yet I have had no invoice or any evidence as to what they are for. I have raised a dispute and have been waiting over a month and have not heard anything back yet. The documents I got back confirm there was no damage etc. So I can only conclude that Goldcar are total scammers. Avoid! Their customer service do not care or respond to important matters such as daylight robbery like this. I am now having to raise the case with my credit card company. Honestly it is not worth the stress. Do not go with this company.

Rented for 11 days from Malaga Airport.
My only gripe was my original booking was for 10 days and they would not let me add the day. The only alternative's was to pay approximately €80 if I returned it a day late. Book the car for the extra day (for a few euro) but I would have to come into the office on the day to sign a new agreement which I couldn’t so my final option was to cancel the booking completely and make a new booking which is what I did. I did not have free cancellation so lost the cost of the original booking but because it was low season (Jan) this was a ridiculously low price of €20 (yes €20 for 10 days) the new booking cost €39 which I did online at the office so it still only cost me €59 for a small Fiat 5 door hatchback for 11 days. This was all booked through Doyouspain not direct with Gold Car which was why I couldn’t just add the extra hire day without a new contract.
I had no problems with returning the car, someone from Goldcar was already in the carpark, did a quick inspection, I signed and was on my way without issue. I think this is the 3rd time I have used Gold Car, and so far no problems.

At first we where thinking that everything was perfect! some days after the end of our rental(4/1/2025), on the 9/1/2025 goldcar charge us 150 for cleaning.
On the 28/1/2025 they made a charge of 40 euro and on 31/1/2025 they made another charge of 99,09 euro. We received no notification of this charges, we have no idea from where that charges are coming. Please note that we had full isurance even though nothing has happened at the car and the fuel was full when was returned. Don't trust this company!!!

DO NOT RENT WITH GOLDCAR. They are basically scammers trying to rip you off. If you rent online, at the counter they will force you to pay other amounts like the automatic toll device (that you don't need it) and airport fees (that is basically a bull**** because the other companies don't charge that) and the worse... they will try to charge you pre-existing damages from previous rentals. The car had a few issues including a noise in the wheels when turning and I felt unsafe. The car was basically a crap piece of metal with 4 wheels. Not clean and making noises everywhere. I took photos of everything and I was lucky that I was able to prove with photos, the damages were pre-existing and even that way they filled a claim of 416 Euros for damages that I had the photos before taking the car. I even recorded on my phone the conversation with the Goldcar agent warning about the damages before leaving but even with that they filled up the claim to charge me. For your own good, run from GOLDCAR... They should change the name for GOLD DIGGERS.

I will do my best, never to rent a car from.Goldcar in Portugal.
I had to believe the reviews about them.
They charged me 150e for general cleaning.
In case I have paid for the fully insured option.
My mistake was, that I didn't make a picture and video of the interior of the car and they made me.paid for it.
I told the staff to come and inspect the car together. But they said don't worry, you are fully insured.
Don't trust Goldcar or if rent one, go with a lawyer, policeman and one of them, otherwise they will "fix" you.
Read the comments before you rent a car.