Europcar UK Reviews 

I rented a vehicle from Europcar in the UK from 29 May to 1 June 2026. The vehicle was returned exactly as instructed by Europcar staff, by leaving it in the designated drop-off area. No inspection was carried out in my presence, no damage was reported at the time of return, and I did not sign any damage report.

On 2 June, Europcar issued the final rental invoice. This invoice did not contain any reference to tyre damage, repair costs, or any additional charges. I therefore considered the rental to be closed without issue.

After more than two months of complete silence, I was surprised to receive a demand for £211 for alleged tyre damage, together with an attempted charge to my card and warnings that the matter may be referred to solicitors if payment is not made.

I have disputed liability for the claim. My concern is not only the claim itself, but also the lack of transparency and the significant delay between the vehicle return, issuance of the final invoice, and the subsequent damage allegation.

I have rented vehicles for many years, primarily with other major rental companies, and have never experienced a situation where a damage claim was raised so long after the rental had ended and after a final invoice had already been issued.

Based on this experience, I will not be renting from Europcar again. I would encourage customers to carefully review and take screenshots of the insurance products selected and retain all rental documentation and screenshots, photos after vehicle return.

Abysmal company and practices. DON'T rent a car from these shameless thieves. They might seem cheaper but you'll end up paying more and having a horrendous customer experience. USE SIXT OR HERTZ ANYONE BUT EUROPCAR!!

Charged for a small almost invisible tear in a tyre which was already there at the start of the hire. At return the agent went straight to it. There was no way I did it. Cost of replacing tyre GBP180. I went with them because as a large company I thought that they would not do this sort of thing. Never again Europcar!

The car was in good nick when I picked it up little did I know they’d polished a turd on second day we noticed a scratch appearing on the door the car hadn’t moved from its private off road garage ,when we took the car back the lady inspected it like she was looking for somthing she went straight to the scratch when I refused to sign for the damage we hadn’t caused a mystery signature appeared on the paper work which is in any country Fraud ,Euro car are fraudulent company who rip customers off do not bother there are plenty of honest company’s out there unfortunately we went with our tour operators advice

The advisors at this branch acted unethically by fraudulently modifying my rental contract. They added unauthorized insurance options and misled me into signing an agreement I did not request. Although I was instructed to use my credit card solely for a security deposit, I discovered a charge of over £600 after returning the vehicle—far exceeding my prepaid online booking fee of £150. Their operations are unprofessional and deceptive. I strongly advise all impacted customers to submit a formal report to Gatwick Airport Management and join in initiating a class-action lawsuit against them. The staff operate like scammers.

Awful company never received refund of agreed overcharge and spent 5 months trying to sort out this overcharge - no interest no customer service avoid at all costs

Nottingham branch has really excellent staff. I've used europcar here multiple times, always get what I've paid for, they have lots of good vehicles and it is quick and efficient in store.

If people read the terms and conditions and took out necessary insurance they wouldn't be surprised with huge costs. I've had small accidents a couple of times and been charged but that's what you sign up for. I don't think they have ever been unfair or just tried to take my money for no reason.

Highly recommend.

Shocking ! Used once my car was written off. They were late dropping the car to us and have so far taken 2 days to pick the car up whilst we've waited in. Absolutely useless company. Would never use them and will tell our insurance company how useless they are !

Had very good service at europcar at Manchester airport £186 vw caddy for 6 days thought that was quite good value. The assistant asked for a deposit to be charged on to a credit card in case of damages. More than happy to do, he explained if I return the car the way I picked it up with a full tank there would be no more charges and the deposit would be refunded to my bank. All done all good until checked my credit card bill. Europcar have took £265.60 off the card... dirty so and so,s. The assistant said there would be no more money after the £186. Lies lies lies. Currently waiting for them to get back to me about this but not holding my breath. I was gonna use them again but would rather use public transportation now least you know where you stand on the bus 🤣.... would advice anyone wanting to hire a car from here don't do your research.... Robin hood wore a mask I suggest europcar do the same for there employees 💩💩💩

BEWARE OF CHARGES THAT ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AT THE POINT OF BOOKING
My issue with Europcar is not simply that additional charges exist. My issue is how a customer is supposed to know about them before committing to the booking.
I booked a vehicle online, clearly selecting Birmingham Airport as the collection point and Bristol Airport as the return point using Europcar's own drop-down menus. Having supplied those details, I was quoted a rental price and added Premium Insurance.
I subsequently discovered additional charges, including a £55 one-way fee and a £74.47 Premium Station Surcharge.
When I complained, Europcar explained the mechanics of these charges and told me that they were applicable. That entirely missed the point of my complaint.
If I specifically tell your booking system where I am collecting a vehicle and where I am returning it, surely the price presented to me should make the resulting compulsory charges sufficiently clear before I commit to the booking. Had the airport surcharge been made clear to me, I could, for example, have chosen an alternative collection location.
I wrote again on 4 August, carefully explaining this distinction and asking Europcar to address the actual issue of transparency rather than simply explaining why the charges exist.
I HAVE RECEIVED NO RESPONSE.
That, unfortunately, has turned what was originally a pricing dispute into a customer-service complaint as well.
I am now referring the disputed charges to my bank because I have exhausted reasonable attempts to resolve this directly with Europcar.
I would strongly advise anyone booking with Europcar to scrutinise the final price and every possible surcharge extremely carefully before confirming a reservation. My experience has left me with very little confidence in either the transparency of their online pricing or their willingness to properly engage with a legitimate customer complaint.

Booked a hire car which was cancelled within the hour.. no explanation given so I called the helpline. Now find that call was charged to my phone at £22 as the 087 prefix is not on the standard free call plan!!! So.. an hour of wasted time and £22 for NOT getting a car.. apalling!! Booked with Alamo who were great.

Europcar forwarded me a copy of parking fine, issued by a third party. What they did was to send out a payment link to pay for the charges, making me believe that I would pay the fine using the link they provided. I paid the very day I received the notification. All along I was under the impression I have paid the fine, but not the case. Not until I got the letter from the Parking gestapo, still owing a hundred £ worth of fine. I emailed Europcar 6 times over; did not get any respond at all! No aftercare support, they did not respond at all to all my emails asking for clarification.

Now, it came to a point the penalty had gone up to £170 and called them (Europcar). I was told the £50 paid to them was admin fee! What the hell they charge admin fee for? They are useless, they did nothing. This company rips you off! I will never recommend renting car from them.

Good costumer service: I was late collecting a car from Europcar in St Pancras Station London and was hit with a late collection fee of £70. I arrived just before they closed and actually the staff member Shiraz behind the desk was very helpful and amenable and was able to move the lte fee over to added insurance. I wanted to extend the booking and found it very hard to do online but again Shiraz was very helpful and only charged for an additional day rather than apply the late drop off fee. I have collected the car from this garage a few times and have always found Shiraz very helpful and professional.

If there was a zero rating I would have gone for that. I bought a rental agreement 7 months in advance. My flight was cancelled by BA and I was rebooked for the next day. I had bought a "no amenments" package BUT I thought given the amount of notice AND that I was not asking for any money back, just simply to pick up the car a day later (nothing else had changed) they would be willing to accommodate me. BUT NO! Simple intransigence and a complete lack of customer service. Won't be using them again.

I am deeply disappointed with my experience at Europcar in Manchester. If I could I would put 0 stars. I booked a car through Auto Europe with an additional insurance and I was charged with costs that were not disclosed to me and which resulted from misconduct on the part of your staff.

When signing the contract, I made it clear that I did not require any additional insurance, but a staff member added a premium insurance policy for which I paid more than double the cost of the hire.

I signed the contract and so everything is in order, but I am not very familiar with the language, I was running late and in a great hurry, and I had understood that the credit card payment was simply a deposit (as I was not charged in the days that followed). I am sure I could not take any legal action, but I am equally sure that EUROPCAR has definitely lost a customer, and I hope to help them to lose as many as possible, though that probably won’t be necessary as they’re already doing a brilliant job of that all by themselves..

Many other reviews state that this sort of behaviour has happened several times before. My biggest mistake was not finding out enough about you and naively assuming that EUROPCAR staff would behave properly. I certainly won’t make such serious mistakes again.

Do not use this company. We were left on the side of the road with a flat and no answer to our repeated calls for assistance. We purchased the full coverage insurance but are still waiting for the 299 pounds we paid out of pocket for fixing the tire. It has been months. Avoid this company at all costs.

I hired a car from the 7th of Aug to the 9th. When I say excellent service, I’m talking about Europcar. At no point did they charge me extra fees and unexpected fees. Everything was thoroughly discussed. I asked all necessary questions and they were all answered to my satisfaction. I’m a happy client.

Europcar Inverness - They said I had damaged the car which I absolutely had not done. The images showing this apparent damage fail to actually show any damage too. Utter lying sharks.

DO NOT BOOK WITH EUROPCAR. They serve people at the counter based on when they arrive to the counter, regardless of a reservation so there’s no point in making one. We were to pick up the car at 8am, and it will probably be 10am before we get it. We have plans that were booked and paid for, that are now ruined. I don’t know how this place is still in business.

I had a car arranged for me through Ford and hired from Europcar. Whilst the car itself was fine and did the job, unfortunately the cleanliness and the experience around returning the vehicle left a lot to be desired.

When I collected the car, I noticed that the back seats appeared to have sticky residue on them and the carpets clearly hadn’t been hoovered. I took plenty of photos at collection, including detailed photos of the fuel level, just to make sure I had evidence of the car’s condition.

I filled the car up with fuel before returning it and drove less than one mile from the petrol station to the drop-off location. Despite this, I subsequently received an invoice from Europcar for a £13 fuel charge.

Thankfully, because I had photographic evidence showing that I had filled the car up, I was able to contact Europcar and query the charge. They have now responded confirming that an “error” had been made and the £13 charge has been cancelled.

Whilst I’m pleased the charge has been resolved, it does make me wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t taken photos and kept the evidence. The mileage on the car when I filled it up was actually higher than the mileage recorded when I collected the vehicle, which also raised concerns for me.

My advice to anyone hiring from Europcar: take plenty of photos and videos when you collect the car and again when you return it, especially of the fuel level, mileage and condition of the vehicle. Keep your fuel receipt too. Having that evidence made all the difference in getting this incorrect charge removed.

The car itself was fine, but based on my experience, I’d definitely recommend protecting yourself by documenting everything.