Goldcar Portugal Reviews 2,230

There’s always a bit of risk when you’re promised a Renault Megane “or similar.” Unfortunately, we got the “similar.” And by “similar,” they apparently meant a DR5.0, which sounds more like a printer than a car.

We’d never heard of it, but it’s from China and rebadged in Italy.

To be fair, it looked okay and was surprisingly spacious. That’s where the compliments end and the comedy begins.

Despite only having 35k miles on the clock, it looked like it had been in a few scrapes, most probably previous holiday renters desperately reversing into walls in the hope of swapping it for literally anything else!

The rear door seals were flapping in the wind like party streamers.

Every time you approached it, it let out this ridiculous “futuristic” whooshing noise like a spaceship was landing—that kind of thing might impress you on a Tesla. On this Chinese box of bolts? Absolutely hysterical.

The engine performance was… well, I’ve seen electric scooters with more get-up-and-go. We had to drop to first gear just to climb mild inclines. At one point, a pensioner on a moped glared at us like we were holding him up.

Then we’d hit a power spot and it would let out a faint wheel screech followed by a strange noise coming from the engine area- kids bursting into to laughter and shouting ‘DAD THE BEAST FROM BEIJING IS FARTING AGAIN!’

On the motorway, we found ourselves in third gear just to avoid being swallowed whole by passing lorries - genuinely frightening given I could only see 2 airbags in the front, god knows about the rear?

But wait—it gets better! When going downhill, we somehow crept above 120 km/h and the car completely lost its mind. Alarms started blaring like we were about to launch into orbit. The car was basically saying, “STOP. TOO FAST. YOU’RE IN A DR5.0, NOT A DAMN JET.”

And the air conditioning? Let’s just say we were boiling in Spain in May. The AC had the strength of an asthmatic hamster blowing through a straw. I’ve had more refreshing gusts of wind from opening the fridge.

All in all, driving the DR5.0 was like being in a parody of a car rental commercial—except it wasn’t a joke, it was our actual holiday transport.

Goldcar you truly outdid it this time. 10/10 comedy value, -2/10 driving experience.

AVOID. Unhelpful and they will find anything to take your money. They forced their insurance on us and we said no as we had another one. They proceeded to treat us badly and charged us for a "damage windshield" upon return, the size of a tip of a pen. DO NOT USE.

I am a regular user of Goldcar rental at Majorca airport, service is always quick efficient and friendly. Christian and Manuela are wonderful people.

Refused my AMEX and Mastercard credit so actually forced a debit of E3,000.

'You should be happy, as I am accepting contactless, which I dont usually'.

'If you dont want the money actually debited, just pay E150 in insurance fees, and we only debit E150'

Horrible service from a lazy man biting his nails and sounding both bored and offensive in Marseille, racketeering.

Receptionist wanted to charge me different amount from what I reserved at the end of rent I forgot my personal belonging portable cigar humidor at the rear left door, I send an email while I realised and I was on my boarding gate . I asked them if they found there said they didn't found my humidor . These is not first time I forgot something in GOLDCAR CAR and they refusing to find my belongings. The shunter also was very rude when I returned the car . The whole company as no commitment to give good customer service

Filled up the car less than a mile from the key return. I got charged €60 avoid these scammers

30 minutes after returning my vehicle, I was emailed by GoldCar stating my hired car had been involved in a road traffic collision & asking me to complete an Accident Information Form. I was advised that I should have reported 'it' to the police within 48hrs or there could be dire consequences. I was told by GoldCar the £1240 excess I paid would NOT be refunded. I was not involved in a road traffic collision hence the reason I did not report it to GoldCar or the police.
I was shocked to receive this email from GoldCar making out that my returned rental vehicle had been involved in a collision. This certainly ruined the end of my holiday.

WHEN BOOKING A RENTAL CAR @ FARO AIRPORT BIG TIP ⛔* DO NOT BOOK WITH GOLDCAR unless you want to ruin your holiday, there're many more car rental companies who are not trying to rip you off, who have better customer services who are not rude and condescending and have better processes . SCAM⛔ as I bet this practice would not exist if I took out their outrageous insurance.
This is a SYSTEMIC approach to holiday makers who just want to hire a car and get a fair service in return.

In short I was charged for a scratch on the hire car, that was identified when collecting car. Silly us trusting that the young man would note the scratch on the system SCAMMER. I was not emailed the diagram of the car when I picked up the car therefore I had no reference , to hand .
*TIPS*
Before booking a suggestion is to pre buy individual independent insurance for each driver before renting a car, they cost around £40 Per yr pp.
Make sure you take photos on the day that you pick up the car.

If picking up the car during the night time or in bad weather ask for the car to be moved where there is light so you can take proper photos and see any damages.

Check your photos and videos within 24hrs of picking up the car or before leaving.

If possible record the conversation that you have with the person checking you out.
Ask for the name of the person checking you out.

Ask for a copy of the diagram of the car before leaving with the car or make sure you check your emails

Utterly disgusting company - DO NOT use. I hired a car at Malaga Airport recently. The pre-sign out paperwork indicated numerous dents and scratches, I checked the car before leaving the airport and assumed a scratch on the bonnet was accounted for, as x3 damaged areas marked on the bumper already.

I had the car for 3-days and upon return was advised to leave the keys in a box without checking back in with staff. I asked for a car check-over, (other companies have always checked back in) but was advised they had limited staff and I should leave the keys.

To my shock, I received an email a few days later advising of a bonnet scratch (pre-existing) and that I was to be charged for this. I had not taken their additional cover; though do have private cover thankfully. I responded highlighting the scratch was pre-existing and that I had seemingly wrongly attributed this area to other bumper and front panel damage on the sheet. I sent three or four emails to the customer service team and they would not acknowledge the error and advised I would be charged without picture evidence. Today I checked my statement to see a near £300 charge. I will never use this company again, I have advised friends and family to avoid and will continue to advise others to avoid. Please heed this advice.

Faro airport. CRIMINALS. took the money and had no car. No refund could only get a car if i paid more in cash. Walked away.

My wife returned the car because I was in bed with the flu. They tried to claim damage on a scratch that was on the car when we rented it. Luckily I made a video of the car with the guy responsible for checkout. So they couldn’t try to blame us. Then received the damage report and the scratch was not noted! They will try to claim this with the next customer that forgets to take a video! Very unprofessional and dishonest

Do NOT use Goldcar when renting a vehicle abroad ! We are seasoned travellors and are used to renting cars abroad. We have an annual "car excess policy", which we take out to cover us.
But unfortunately, we found our ourselves, (tired having just flown into Faro airport) taken in by a very persuasive young lady on the rental desk, who insisted our cover would not cover Goldcar??? She stated it was because we had not rented from Goldcar direct, and that our excess cover was not sufficient, as it was nothing to do with Goldcar???
She continued by offering a special price for the Goldcar cover of only 144E.

We strongly feel, she tricked us, by misleading us, making it sound that our cover would not suffice😒.

We gave into her eventually and paid 144Euros.

We both realised afterwards that we had been conned, and we are furious that Goldcar staff should behave in this manner.

We had a recent similar experience in Alicante Airport, but thankfully we resisted the rather rude and abrupt woman who served us !!!!!!!!
Clearly staff are trained in this way, and are out to con" people, and take money which is not necessary.

We hired a car just after Christmas and paid for the full insurance. Photos taken, a few dents which we knew about when we took the car. The car was dropped back in the morning (when no one was working) due to early flight time, in the exact same condition it had been received.

First of all gold car a week later tried to take hundreds of pounds out our account for non existent damage. All was sorted as luckily our bank disputed this for us. Now four months later Goldcar again have tried to take MORE money out of our account! Horrific company, daylight robbery, zero morals and they do not care about you or your money. Should be out of business.

Take care to make sure you take photos in a well lit part of the pickup lot

When they handed me the car 8 days ago it was in a very dark parking lot, squeezed between two other cars. I did my best going around the car
and taking photos of existing damage. Of course, because it was so dark the photos missed something. I got to the car on 6th of April at 15:49. Seeing how dark the photos were, right after I left the car park, at 16:04, I stopped and took more photos with proper lighting.

Jump to the morning of the 14th of April, I’m returning the car and the attendant marking a little scuff as damage I supposedly made. I am
pulling out my phone and showing him that this already existed. But of course, it was only seen in the well-lit photos. He says it is outside of the car park
and that he doesn’t care. Well it was outside of the car park, 15 minutes after, because this rental company put me in a bad faith situation to begin
with and now they blame me for being a liar as supposedly the damage happened in the 15 minutes in between when I got the car and when I took the photos in the sunlight.

If the car is in a dark place insist that one of their staff move it to a lit area before you ever sign acceptance and before you lay hand on one of their cars.

After more than a month of back and forth the company accepted that the damage their attenendant attributed to me was in fact a prior damage, and accepted my 15 minutes delayed well lit photos as evidence. While I did not pay any damages, I still had to deal with this nonsesne and getting angry and worked up with no good reason. I wanted to re-edit my review to reflect their final decision. But it still doesn't make the whole expeirence good.

Terrible experience with Goldcar. Took a £1000 deposit from my debit card. Then tried to withhold £705 for 'mistaken' excess mileage. Fortunately had photographic evidence. But still withheld about £100.
The stress spoiled what was a great holiday.

Daylight Robbery
I rented a car in Faro and was charged for eToll usage, even though Portugal removed the toll charges on the A22 and the cross-border fee to Spain as of January 1st.
They also told me I had to pay €110 for a “cross-border charge” to go to Spain — another complete lie.
This company is dishonest. They are thieves.
Do not rent a car from them in Portugal

I rented a car from Goldcar in Lisbon (contract no. 27050915) at the end of March 2025. When I picked up the vehicle, I asked if someone would check the car for damage with me. I was told to inspect it myself and take photos if I found anything. The car had multiple visible damages, and I photographed some, but it was impossible to document everything.

Upon return, Goldcar accused me of causing a scratch on the door — something that was clearly already there. I refused to sign the return declaration because I did not cause any damage. I asked for proof (such as photos of the car before my rental), but I was told there were none. Still, they insist on charging me €156.46.

I have already filed an official complaint through the national consumer complaint platform in Portugal and posted publicly on the Portal da Queixa. This is an abusive and dishonest practice. I do not recommend Goldcar or Europcar as its parent company, to anyone.

Later edit:
Goldcar emailed back admitting that the scratch was already there when I initially rented the car and issued a refund.
From the 1⭐ assigned at the incident inception to the 5⭐ awarded for admitting the initial hiccup and refunding the fee, I'll set the experience halfway through, at 3⭐.
Thanks for the resolution, Goldcar.

Initial post:
I rented a Fiat Panda in the Faro Airport from 22/02/25 to 01/03/25. The fee was excellent, around €50 for the whole period.

Upon car handover I was presented with a check-in doc listing 14 superficial body scratches. All over the place, with 5 tiny ones on the front bumper. The kind of scratches you need to lean in to see them. I also done my own checking and discovered that the fuel hose was missing, both from the car and the check-in list. The clerk added it in and reissued the check-in doc. She apologized for the miss, stating it was her first day on the job.

When returning to the Faro Airport, I had to drop off the car outside opening hours so I just left it in the carpark without interacting with any Goldcar staff member.

Needless to say, their car review discovered a 6th tiny scratch on the front bumper, evidenced by zoomed in photos. So I was slammed with a €100 damage fee.

I have no recollection of any incident with the car while driving it. The only possibility was for someone to scratch while parking. And what a hell of a coincidence to scratch it in such a way that it perfectly completed the pattern of the initial 5 "damages" marked on the check-in doc.

I've emailed Goldcar with all the above, disputing their claim. I have only received an apology for the delay in answering as they are assessing the situation. Then they just charged my credit card.

On one side, I am to blame as I haven't spotted the scratch missing on the check-in doc when picking up the car. Lesson learned.

On the other side, it smells of dubious practices from Goldcar. They were so diligently to mark all the tiny body marks but failed to notice a missing fuel hose.
Secondly, they could identify 5 tiny scratches on the front bumper but couldn't see the 6th.

My advice to you. If you decide to rent a car with Goldcar, be very, extremely diligent when picking the car up. It might be that you're set up for a trap: very low rental fee but compensated with a future damage charge.

From my side, I'm done with Goldcar. It's the second time it happened in less than a year. I will advise the people around me to avoid Goldcar as well.

One last thing. I usually don't take insurance. With this rental, the insurance was €140 euro, compared with the €50 rental charge.

Is it possible that Goldcar punishes customers that don't take insurance?

I rented a car with Goldcar at Faro airport via Autoeurope. I purchased the AE insurance because I hoped it would protect me from the usual practice of being charged for damages not caused by me.
On collecting the car I was told that the AE insurance was inadequate. Various clauses of the small print were highlighted underlined and even crossed out. I was told the only way to ensure there would be no extra charges when I returned the vehicle was to take out the GOLDCAR insurance for an extra 144 euros.
To further reinforce their argument I was told I had been allocated a brand new VW Touran and even the slightest mark on it would become chargeable.
The initial rental from AE including the additional insurance had only cost me 72GBP so this was approx double what I had already paid.
The threatening nature of the conversation left me with no real alternative other than to pay for the insurance. If I didn't I was virtually told that I was going to be hit with a big bill when I brought the car back.
When presented with the credit card terminal there was a figure of 188 euros on the screen. I was told this was just an additional security that would be refunded when I returned the car. It wasn't.
Finally I found the car in the car park and it was not a brand new VW Touran but a very old and heavily damaged KIA Sportage. It was now late at night I was tired I was angry I just wanted to get to my hotel. I took the car. The service alarm and warning displayed every time you got into the car because the service was 1,100+ km and 170+ days overdue.
The on board computer did not work all I got was "loading" and a circle which just went round and round. Nothing therefore worked, not even the radio. I believe the software was in need of an update but the device could not connect with KIA to do this.
Fortunately my phone provided my navigation and music so I was not totally incapacitated.
I've reported these issues to Autoeurope who say they will take them up with contact Goldcar but this process can take as long as 8 weeks.
I want to warn potential customers NOW to avoid anyone else suffering the same issues I faced. Whilst collecting my car there was another gentleman who had the exact same issues with the insurance despite having bought his own.

Very rude staf at Lisabon Airport.

First I had to wait 50 minutes for my car. Employee's did not care at all - found this normal and where 'hanging bored' agains the wall.

After this, when I wanted to pay the +/- 1500 euro caution by debit card (in stead of a credit card lock) the employee was annoyed he could not do a simple credit card lock, and threatend I would not get back my caution. At the moment I kindly pointed him at his rude behavoir he almost refused me to hire me my (allready paid for) car.

Also they force you to take a toll badge for 2 euro per day (these things cost 0,50 cents per MONTH to activate) which I did not need at all!