Europcar UK Reviews 

Had a car on hire provided via AA Insurance. Car arrived with damage on nearly all panels & not a full tank of fuel.
Paperwork stated No Damage. Luckily I telephoned Customer Service to record all the damage I'd noticed & videoed.
After being returned I received invoices for fuel £60, having refueled before collection.
Also an invoice for £300 for damage.
After submitting photos and video taken
of the car, many E mails & calls to CS. both claims were dropped.
Ps. Don't forget to photo wheels.

Booked in advance, fully prepaid, and managed to ‘check in’ online the day before pick-up. On the day we queued for 20 mins, gave my name to the lady at the counter who then disappeared out the back for 10 minutes. She reappeared to tell me they don’t have a car for me! I booked a hire car as my car is in the garage, a car to get me to and from work and my kids to various summer activities/camps. I was told someone would call me later in the day if a car became available, and that’s all they could do. It’s unbelievable that they can take the payment in full and allow you to check in online for a hire car that doesn’t actually exist! 5 stars to Enterprise though, who were so lovely and helpful with my last minute panic trying to hire a car.

Absolutely appalling experience with Europcar Heathrow, if I could give zero stars I would.

My family arrived from the US after a 24-hour journey, having pre-booked a Kia Sportage or similar SUV. They were then told they couldn't have the vehicle they had booked because they didn't have charging facilities at their accommodation which was not on any paperwork and was not advised on booking. They ended up paying £1,187.53 in additional charges that were imposed unnecessarily. Despite numerous attempts to explain what happened, Europcar has repeatedly hidden behind a script and 'copy and paste' emails rather than addressing the very serious concerns about how these charges were presented and whether they were properly understood.

They have now refused to refund anything and closed the complaint so the matter has now been escalated for dispute resolution.

The way this has been handled has been disgusting and completely unacceptable. We have lost all confidence in Europcar and would strongly recommend avoiding them.

Tried to call on hold for 10mins before giving up very poor service.

Absolute shambles of a service from start to finish. I needed a hire car with home delivery, and they're the only company locally that delivers/collects. I went through the booking process, which is frustrating on a site that only half works. I tried to set up an account, but the "continue" button is greyed out when trying to agree to the terms, so I couldn't continue. I tried creating an account on two different browsers on my phone, as well as on my PC, and again on my PC with all browser extensions off. Still not working. I email customer service with a clear description and screenshot of the issue, and I get an email back telling me how to reset my password if I've forgotten it. How can I reset my password if I can't even create an account??

I finally got an account made through the app, but the option for home delivery isn't available on the app. So back upstairs I went to make the booking. All seemed good, I had a slot for 11am delivery of a Vauxhall Corsa type car.

The day of delivery, I get an email saying that the original delivery time is unavailable, and am I okay for delivery between 3pm and 5pm instead. That was fine. Come 12:00, I get a text saying that the driver is en route with a Volkswagen C20. I Googled it, and it's a bloody people carrier/minivan thing, not a small car. I specifically ordered a small car because I'm not good at manoeuvring large cars at the best of times, and I needed it for a trip through rural roads whilst my car is in for repairs.

I sent them an email back asking why the driver is coming three hours early without warning, and why I'm being delivered a van. I made it clear I don't want it and to take it back. The email I got was very condescending in nature, saying simply "it's a bit bigger than what you ordered, but it drives very nice, you'll love it". No I bloody well won't love it, the only thing I'll do is crash the thing.

The poor driver arrived with the car and got caught in the crossfire trying to mediate between myself and the incompetent office staff. Apparently they could leave the car with me for a couple of days and bring me a smaller car in two days time. I told them this was unacceptable, and their alternative option instead of taking the car back to the rental office is, for some reason, to just leave a vehicle the size of a small bus just on the roadside in a random part of the estate I live on. I have no idea why they can't just drive it back today, or why they're leaving it in such a stupid position.

I've had absolutely no apology from Europcar for their idiotic and incompetent service, and I will be expecting a full refund, else I'll be initiating a credit card chargeback through my bank.

Completely and utterly shambolic process, it would have been quicker and less stress to just buy a new car and sell it again in a few days when my car is repaired.

I can't stress the word "avoid" enough. Avoid like the plague.

Update:

I sent an email telling them that their service isn't acceptable, and kindly requested a refund. Their response, the entire thing, without even a salutation or signature: "No problem, thank you for letting me know."

So, am I getting a refund or not??

Update two:

I have received no response from Europcar, however I've gone to my banking app and seen that they've charged me another £201.84 WITHOUT CONSULTING ME for the van that THEY decided to give me in place of the car I actually ordered. Total fraud.

Update three:

It has been almost three weeks since this debacle, the Perth store are still ignoring my chase emails, I haven't had a single response from them. I assume they're either deleting them or have blocked my email address. I submitted a formal complaint to head office on 17th August, but as of 4th September I still have had no response despite chasing.

The £201.84 mystery charge was, thankfully, not taken from my account in the end, but the £380-odd that I paid for the rental I never received is still in limbo. I've had to approach my bank to put a stop on the payment, and is still an ongoing process.

Absolute cowboy firm, stay away if you have the slightest modicum of self-respect and value your money, time and sanity.

Compliant below. Let’s see how they respond. Basically my rental voucher was ignored, I was forced to pay their price and their insurance. Victoria branch rep told me I had not choice but to pay all there fees and to hurry up and decide as he finished in 15 minutes.

Hello,

I am writing about my reservation collected from your Victoria branch at 12 Semley Place on Saturday 15 August 2026 and due back on 20 August.

I had booked and confirmed this car weeks in advance, for a 15:00 pick-up, at a total of £132.66 for five days — £14.21 prepaid and £118.45 payable on collection, for a Kia Sportage or similar.

I arrived at around 14:30. What followed was this:
I was told there was no vehicle available in the class I had booked.
I was told my voucher was worthless and the price on it did not apply.
I was told I could not take any vehicle unless I paid your rate of £160.00 and bought your damage cover at £115.00 on top.
Your colleague repeatedly told me to hurry because the branch closes at 15:00.
The only vehicle available was an eight-seat minivan, which was presented to me as an upgrade. I did not want or need a vehicle that size.
It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday. My family and I were driving to Cornwall the following morning. Nowhere else was open to source a car that afternoon or on the Sunday. I had a confirmed booking, no alternative supplier, and a member of your staff telling me to decide immediately or leave without a vehicle. In those circumstances I was not a customer choosing between options. I was put under pressure to pay and sign because there was no other outcome available to me.

I am claiming £156.55.

1. £41.55 — the difference between the £118.45 my reservation showed as payable on collection and the £160.00 I was charged. Please confirm at what rate my reservation was transmitted to you, and what the £160.00 consists of.

2. £115.00 — the damage cover. This was not optional in any meaningful sense. I was told plainly that I could not take a vehicle without it, at a counter that was closing, with no time to consider it and no possibility of returning. A charge a customer cannot decline forms part of the price of the rental and should be disclosed before booking, not produced at the point where refusing means losing the booking and the trip. I hold an annual independent excess policy and decline counter cover as a matter of routine.

I would also like an explanation of one further discrepancy. I was told at the desk that my reservation had been voided. Your own booking portal still shows the reservation as ongoing.

I rent cars regularly and have never experienced anything like this. I hold the Carla confirmation, the signed rental agreement and a screenshot of your booking portal, and will provide all three on request.

My experience at the time of collecting the vehicle was extremely negative, mainly due to the attitude and conduct of the employee who handed over the vehicle at your Stansted location (London Airport).

I had booked and paid through the official Europcar website for a vehicle in the CDMR category (Cupra Leon or similar). However, when I collected the vehicle, I was given a Seat Ibiza, category ECMR, which is therefore a lower category than the one I had booked and paid for. When I pointed out this discrepancy to the employee, instead of receiving a clear explanation or an appropriate solution, I was simply told that it was the same “compact” category. As a further alternative, I was offered a Fiat 500, i.e. an even smaller vehicle and clearly not equivalent to the one I had originally booked.

I find it particularly serious that a customer who books and pays in advance for a specific vehicle category through the Europcar website cannot then be certain of receiving a vehicle that is actually equivalent to the one purchased. If the categories displayed on the website do not correspond to those actually applied at the time of collection, then the booking system is, at the very least, lacking in transparency. The difference in price was eventually refunded to me, but only after I submitted a written complaint to Customer Service once I had returned to Italy. If a customer does not take this additional step, they are effectively left paying significantly more than they should for the service they requested.

A second issue that contributed significantly to my dissatisfaction was the continuous attempt to sell additional insurance coverage and extras at the time of collection. I question the purpose of purchasing a vehicle and specific services in advance through the Europcar website if, once at the counter, the customer is then subjected to a series of additional commercial offers, presented using terminology that does not necessarily correspond to the terminology used on the website.

In my case, despite having already purchased the “Comfort” package, I found myself signing a package referred to by the employee as “Premium Full Protection”, whereas on the Europcar website this appears to be referred to as “Comfort +”. This difference in terminology caused considerable confusion and leads me to consider the way the offer was presented to be, at the very least, insufficiently transparent.

The situation was made even more problematic by the fact that these explanations were provided in English to a foreign tourist who, although able to understand the language, does not have a sufficient level of fluency to confidently assess, within a few minutes and in a context of commercial pressure, the differences between products and insurance coverages that are given different names from those displayed at the time of booking.

I do not dispute Europcar’s right to offer additional services or insurance coverage. What I do dispute is the way these products are presented, particularly when the customer has already made a reservation and payment and should simply be able to collect the vehicle they purchased. Using different names from those displayed on the website and persistently offering additional products can easily cause confusion for the customer and, in my case, gave the impression of a sales practice aimed more at increasing the customer’s expenditure than at providing clear and transparent information.

Overall, I consider this experience extremely disappointing and well below the standards of transparency and professionalism I would have expected from Europcar. The combination of being provided with a vehicle that I consider to be in a lower category than the one I had booked, the lack of a satisfactory solution from the employee, and the manner in which additional services were proposed and ultimately signed for significantly undermined my trust in the service.

I therefore expect Europcar to take this matter seriously and to provide clarification both regarding the correspondence between the vehicle category I booked and the one actually provided, and regarding the sales practices and terminology used when offering additional insurance coverage at the time of vehicle collection.

Took 2000 pound out of our accout for insurance that had already been paid and after a week we still don't have it back very bad service we returned the car in good condition and still wont give the over charge of 2000 back and said if we did get it back which is unlikely it will be up to 2 weeks I would avoid this company like the plage

Took 2000 pound out of our accout for insurance that had already been paid and after a week we still don't have it back very bad service we returned the car in good condition and still wont give the over charge of 2000 back and said if we did get it back which is unlikely it will be up to 2 weeks I would avoid this company like the plage

They are fraudsters who overcharge at any possible point. DO NOT RENT.
They claim damages, that were clearly there before I got the car.

Verbally, they say one price, and then you see all these subcharges on your invoice, that were NEVER communicated, plus 20% VAT. Entire Scotland includes tax in the prices, so does Europcar on their website, but apparently this is the only exception.
Yeah, sure.

Again, DO NOT RENT from them.

I recently returned a long-term hire car to Europcar at Aberdeen Airport. Due to a senior moment I replied to the usual questionnaire with a highly negative response and cannot recall, delete or amend as I would like to do. Having been in touch with the customer helpline I am now in full understanding of our rental agreement with regard to DV25EXB.
I have to say that henceforth Europcar will be my preferred car rental organisation at Aberdeen Airport. Their service was excellent and, on this occasion, I managed to return a car with no further damage. The car suited our needs perfectly although the technology on board took a lot of getting used to. One habit of the Corsa is that the engine shuts off as one comes to a stop and will start up again when a passenger door is opened. This caught me out on more than one occasion. However, that is the march of SMART technology being used by an old man, the same technology that has left this old man behind long ago.
So, I would like to offer my apologies to Europcar for my poor answers on the customer survey and replace it with an expression of gratitude and thanks for six weeks of blissful and uneventful driving in the glorious Scottish Highlands.
I look forward to our next holiday and will call upon Europcar to provide the transport once again.
Many thanks.

I had a much better experience than I post I have been seeing in the reviews.. there was nothing charge in extra. And the staff at chester was absolutely welcoming and supporting.

Key points:

Handed over car well within time
Handed over car back same as received, i.e clean, spotless, fully fueled.
Booked extra day priorhand and contacted customer service, they charged even lessor than the communicate price.

Subject: Urgent complaint and demand for immediate treatment – ​​severe delay in roadside service | Order No. 1203860288

To all concerned / Europcar customer service management,

I am writing to you in this post/letter following a very serious service and safety failure that is currently occurring.

​Today I rented a car from you (order number: 1203860288). During the trip, a flat tire occurred. I arrived at the hotel, and with the help of the local staff, I contacted your customer service/roadside service. I was explicitly promised that a service vehicle would arrive to handle the problem within 2–3 hours.

​Actual situation:

​Almost 6 hours have passed since the first call.

​We are in the middle of the late night, and I am left without a solution, without a serious response, and under a disdainful attitude on the phone.

​After dozens of phone calls, each representative either passes on the treatment or provides evasive answers ("calm down", "it's being handled"), without any actual assistance.

​This behavior is not only shockingly poor service - it is a safety hazard and neglect of a customer at night.

​My immediate demands:

​A service van/replacement vehicle arrives immediately.

​A manager on duty should be contacted by phone now.

​Full compensation for the damage, the heartache, and the cancellation of my daily schedule/plans due to the wait.

​If the issue is not addressed at this time, I will act through all channels at my disposal, including posting the case on all social platforms, contacting consumer protection bodies, and filing an official complaint with the company's international management.

​Awaiting immediate treatment,
Igor Lojkin

The rental centre in Avignon TGV has misled us, despite speaking to Europcar customer service in advance of our holiday. For this holiday I simply requested a car that can take four bags. That was our only requirement.
In advance of the holiday I spoke to Europcar Customer Services on 3 August, noting that the car we had requested had been changed to one with only space for two bags. Europcar then corrected our booking and left a note on the system ensuring we would be given (according to Europcar booking system) the only car at Avignon TGV that could take four suit cases.

We arrived and when the Europcar Rep looked at our bags he said that the car we had requested would not fit our bags, and that there was a “known error” on their webpage for the size of the car. For Europcar’s error, we would be charged 190 Euros.
We argued, but other than having the boys with their suitcases on their lap for 100miles, there was nothing I can do.

My experience with Europcar has been extremely disappointing. Their rental prices are expensive, their insurance and excess protection are also very expensive, and the security deposits can be as high as £4,000 — significantly higher than many competitors, where deposits can be around £2,750 or less.

For the prices Europcar charges, I would also expect a much better-quality fleet. Unfortunately, a large part of the fleet seems to consist of inexpensive Chinese brands, which makes the overall value for money even harder to justify.

Another major frustration is the constant pressure to purchase additional insurance and upgrades at the counter. I’ve also experienced agents telling customers that third-party excess insurance is not valid, which I find misleading. Customers who have purchased legitimate third-party excess insurance should not be made to feel that they must buy Europcar’s own expensive protection simply because they are collecting a vehicle at the branch.

Overall, Europcar feels increasingly focused on upselling expensive extras rather than providing competitive, transparent rental prices. When you combine the high rental costs, expensive insurance, huge deposits and aggressive upselling, there are plenty of competitors that offer better value.

Europcar seriously needs to rethink its pricing, deposit requirements and approach to selling insurance if it wants to remain competitive.

S-C-A-M-M-E-R-S

Declined premium protection online and at the desk but some how magically got charged and told I signed for it. You get talked through your rental and then asked to sign on a digital pad. Deposit came back then two days later these charges were swiped from my account. Customer service said I signed so that’s that. Funny because I’ve got the transaction with employee. I work for RAC mobile mechanics. 4.6 stars review we know how to treat customers. This company is backstreet garage shark territory. Avoid at all costs.

Deletemenow

Avoid using this company! I was given a courtesy car by my insurance company and have been charged for 'damage' to the vehicle. When the car was delivered, the Europcar employee noted extra damage on a form and I signed for the vehicle. When the car was collected a few weeks later I signed a similar form that was blank regarding damage. A week later I received a bill listing damage. I have asked for proof of damage and have now received copies of the forms I signed, both have been altered since I signed them! The damage that was on the form on delivery has been removed and added to the collection form. What a fraudulent tactic from this company, I can see why they have such a poor rating from customers. Obviously I won't be using them again. If you have a choice, don't choose Europcar

Don’t go anywhere near this lot but if you do make sure the operator has ticked the right boxes on your answers and confirm what you have or more more importantly NOT agreed to. I signed the four boxes without reading the forms - trusting I was dealing with honest people. I wasn’t and paid the price. It’s not the money it’s the principle of dealing with those you think are honest but they are actually less than . BEWARE and sit down and read the forms carefully rather than allow yourself to be jostled into it as I was. Steer well clear otherwise. NOT TO BE TRUSTED and a shabby performance.

I have filed a complaint with Europcar which, to date, the have yet to respond.

Europcar Barcelona refused to honor my 3rd party reservation (DiscoverCars). I had an agreement to rent a small car for a week. When I showed up to rent the car, Europcar said I had too much baggage. I had 2 suitcases and 4 carry on pieces. They tried to put me in a larger car for either $300 more or $600 more. They were so dishonest I couldn't tell what they were trying to do.
I went next door to Avis an rented a small car, no hesitation about my luggage. Price was nearly $300 more than I was supposed to pay at Europcar.
I took a picture of the agent, sent it to Europcar with my complaint, thinking maybe he might be fired. Upon rethinking this situation, Europcar may make him their employee of the month.