Movida Reviews 232

Rented SUV highest tier and when I arrived to get the car, they had only a HUYNDAI which I accepted. Once I got into the car, it was the most basic possible version of the car. Not even an original computer board, bluetooth or a beep for reverse. They refunded me 5% of part of the payment in the end which was ridiculous.

STAY AWAY

FRAUD ALERT !!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY..They are completely unprofessional, they didn’t give me the car I rented because there were unexpected charges which was 2,500 on-top of 87 pounds insurance I didn’t receive my refund of 570 pounds which I paid and didn’t even get the car.

DO NOT EVER RENT A CAR FROM MOVIDA!
We rented a small van from Movida. When we received the keys the agent specifically and explicitly told us twice to, "make sure you fill the vehicle with diesel. This is a diesel vehicle"
When it came to fill the vehicle with diesel we noticed on the side fuel door that it said gasoline but it was too late. We put a small amount of diesel fuel in the tank. Which we stopped immediately. We are in Portugal and are English speaking. We went in to ask the gas attendant if the vehicle was in fact gasoline and she confirmed it. We immediately called customer service to explain the situation. They said they would send someone to the service center immediately. They came 3 hours later. They then sent a taxi to shuttle us back to the rental location which was an hour and a half away. Once we arrived and we explained the situation they informed us that this was our negligence and handed us a bill for $2200 euros for the repair. We tried to argue or case to no avail. We asked to speak to a manager who was apparently not available. We also took out the additional insurance- that does not cover these situations. I have never wrote a review nor am I one to complain but I am incensed over this situation. The agent I spoke to on the phone never informed me of all these charges or any charges for that matter. Had I had know I may have tried to deal with the situation myself as we have some local friends that are from Portugal. I spoke to some locals and they told they had a similar situation in which they called their local mechanic to drain the fuel and check the lines for a cost of approximately $170 euros. I far cry from $2200 I was forced to pay. In my opinion this a horrible company that takes advantage of people. They should be ashamed of themselves!

Extremely unhelpful. Cheaper than other rental card in booking.com , but at the end much more expensive. Suggest using typical European rental car. Reason: charged us another 230 pounds in Lisbon airport because they did not accept my credit card as second driver. My husband credit card is AMEX. 230 was to eliminate need of paying a hefty full insurance. We already got full insurance for the car from another company.

We got scammed of €70 euro for using a slight amount of fuel. This was a joke because they claimed the tank was empty and were just finding a justifying excuse to rob us of money

I have returned the car on July 6 & as of July 20th, they continued to keep my deposit, Fraudulent company.

Scammers and 3x as expensive as conpetitors
Advice: Avoid

FRAUDE ALERT! I rented a car via @Booking.com and I paid a full coverage insurance, when I picked up the car in MOVIDA PONTA DELGADA/ AZORES, the assistant didn't accept my credit card to pay the deposit and instead asked me to pay 175,50 Eur as an insurance that would work as a deposit and it will be reimbursed whit the car return. This is unacceptable because Booking already charged me an insurance and they knew. These company is a scammer. The assistant (Diana Arruda) has a shameful behaviour and the management is all aware of these scam strategies them use. "Obviously", they never refund me.

DO NOT RENT. We rented a car in Lisbon. We had to call the help line twice because the car wouldn’t start. In addition we paid 70 Euros for the transponder. The second time the car wouldn’t start, the mechanic said to drive straight back and get another car because the battery is bad. Furthermore, the two days that we drove the car we had to pay for the tolls, with one toll person saying the transponder was definitely not activated. When we returned to change the car, the punk at the office said we just don’t know how to drive manual, started laughing at us and said there was nothing wrong with the transponder and the car. Even though I asked for a manager, we were ignored. The customer service was THE WORST! They refuse to check with the tech team to see the car was really broken. AND they charged us for the gas even though I told them the mechanic told us not to stop the car. The whole thing was a nightmare which ende up costing us more than if we rented at Sixt.

Extremelly bad service. We rented a car in Lisbon for 10 days. The experience started bad at their front desk making us wait for more than an hour to get the car because it "was being washed". The attention was not smooth, but with a negative vibe (I have rented in many different companies and politeness and good vibe is paramount). We paid for a child seat that was not delivered (we realized when we arrived to pick our party in the city) nor the 75.00 Euros refunded. We were "offered" an extra insurance "or" deposit of 2000 euros in such a way that we paid the extra insurance (although later we realized the broker in Germany fully insured it), we had a puncture in one tire, there was not spare tire or jack, we had to call a taw truck to bring the car to a tire dealership and have new tires bought the next day because of Easter holidays (not covered by the insurance) At delivery all our complains were responded with: "you signed the contract, so it is your responsibility!" NEVER AGAIN I will get near this awful company. Ricardo R. Mexico City

Beware of fraud!!! Don't do it! We had ordered and paid for a rental car for our vacation in Brazil through a booking agency. We received a voucher. When we picked up the vehicle, we handed over the voucher. Although the costs were paid via the voucher, movida charged the full rental amount again via my credit card. We have now been trying for a long time to get our money back with the support and repeated personal visits of a friend in Rio de Janeiro. So far, unfortunately, without success! Josef Huter

One Star is in my opinion a gift from heaven. They rented me a vehicle which had the worst performance ever. Which by the time we realised this we were too far away to do anything about it. They were unclear when it came to the explaining their procedures and could not provide someone who spoke English. I’m fairly sure that they also charged me for services I did not receive and also charged me more when I returned the vehicle in a good clean working order. They charged me money upon its return with explaining what it was for or even telling me they were going so. They simply pointed at a tablet for me to sign. The vehicle was not in complete working order but they said they had no alternative when I pointed it out to them and as I had already paid I would loose money if I didn’t take the vehicle. They did this by pointing at the contract which I had to translate with my phone. They were also unclear about their deposit procedure and I’m still not sure they haven’t used this to rip me off. All in all I think I’m out about £200 to £300. However it would seem that because of the way do business I can’t prove it either way. I’ve even had my account checked by both a lawyer and my bank. The only thing either can say with any certainty is the that I booked it through Booking.com, which by the way is an excellent app to use. I think it would have been a better option for me to have purchased a car rather than rent one from these cowboys. This is by the way the second time I’ve used the company, the first time wasn’t great either but I was willing to give them a second chance. I will not be giving them a third chance that’s for sure.

TAKE CARE. In my case the rental in febr 2024 was oke, but now they charge my creditcard after a year with unclear costs, without any explanation. I saw on internet that I’m not the only one last week. It looks like a planned operation after Movida bought Drive on holidays.

Infelizmente minha experiência de aluguel de carro na movida tem sido muito decepcionante. O carro que aluguei foi rebocado da frente do hotel. Entrei em contato com a movida onde fui informada sobre uma taxa de retirada do carro. No valor dessa taxa estaria incluído o pagamento da multa do reboque, assim me foi informado visto o valor elevado da multa e o meu questionamento da razão do alto valor exigido. Há pouco, recebi correspondência da movida me cobrando a multa de 195,23. A informação que me foi dada estava incorreta e a taxa exorbitante que foi cobrada não incluia a multa como me foi dito. Me deixou a triste impressão que tudo é feito com o sentido de extorquir do cliente até o último centavo, utilizando de subterfúgios através de informações incorretas e sem transparência.

Unfortunately, my experience renting a car from Movida has been very disappointing. The car I rented was towed from in front of the hotel. I contacted Movida and was informed about a fee for picking up the car. The fee would include the payment of the towing fine, which I was informed of given the high fee and my questioning of the reason for the high amount charged from movida. I recently received a email from Movida charging me a fine of 195.23. The information I was given that they would pay for the towing fine was incorrect and the exorbitant fee that was charged did not include the fine as I was told. It left me with the sad impression that everything is done with the intention of extorting every last cent from the customer, using subterfuge through incorrect information and without transparency.

On 14th November 2024, we booked a rental car for our holiday in Brazil through Vip Cars, paying a deposit of £183. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Guarulhos Airport on 10th December 2024, the experience quickly turned into a nightmare.

At the rental desk (Movida), they refused to accept our Vip Cars voucher, citing a discrepancy between the booking made through Vip Cars and their records.

We immediately opened a ticket with Vip Cars on 11th December (Ref: #330098), providing details of the following issues:

The amount Movida demanded was significantly higher than the agreed booking price, and they had no record of the deposit we had already paid.
The rental conditions were completely different from what Vip Cars promised:
The mileage allowance was 1,000 km instead of the 3,000 km stated in our booking.
The insurance coverage was basic rather than the full coverage we selected.
Despite discussing these discrepancies with Movida’s manager, they confirmed that the details in their system didn’t match our booking. This left us stranded with no choice but to make a new booking and pay the full amount again.

We provided Vip Cars with all the necessary documentation to resolve the issue, including:

The original booking confirmation from Vip Cars.
Movida’s booking details for the same reservation.
Screenshots and records of our attempts to contact Vip Cars.
Proof of our deposit payment.
Vip Cars initially responded, promising to resolve the issue and process a refund within 48 hours. However, as of today – 35 days later – we have received no updates, no refund, and only vague excuses. Their only communication has been that they are "waiting to hear back from Movida." Movida, on the other hand, has stated they were never contacted by Vip Cars to clarify the situation.

This company’s complete lack of accountability and professionalism has been deeply frustrating. In my opinion, Vip Cars is a scam and also Movida. Their service is unreliable, and they fail to take responsibility for their customers.
When we returned the car, we spoke with the manager, who promised us to refund the £183, but as you can imagine never happened

Save yourself the headache – don’t use any of this company- Movida rent car or VIP Car

I rented the car and, just because I tried to pick it up the day after payment, I was not allowed to pick it up EVEN THOUGH THE CAR WAS THERE IN FRONT OF ME. In short, I paid and could not pick up the car! Terrible! Never again!

We rented a car in Sao Paulo, Brazil in December 2024. We have rented with Movida a few times. They were careless in issuing the car’s document and printed a document with the wrong plate number.
We paid for the automatic toll payment that never worked.
This was when our nightmare started. Phones do not work, WhatsApp is the only way to reach out. No one will help you
When we were finally able to use the 0800 number, the employee was was rude and impolite. Everyone is poorly trained. They make mistakes and don’t have the decency to apologize and the integrity to help
All they do is imply that you are the stupidest person who does not understand what they say. By way, we speak Portuguese!. Run away from this company! It will spoil your vacation

DO NOT RENT HERE! It was not expensive to rent the car, but when we arrived to pick up the car they asked a warranty of 3300 EUR!!! Or credit card was less than this amount so had to pay 200 EUR more!! For insurance! Has to wait more than one hour!! Best to go with Europcar! At least we know how much to pay without surprises! And faster service!!

Everytime I rent a car going to Brazil they rob money. This time Sept/Oct 2024 I rented for 5 weeks, got charged for 8 weeks with promise of refunding my $556.89 they own me.

In 2021 and 2022 they did the same, I never saw a refund and probaly never will see this US$556.89 refunded again. It is cheaper to use an Uber driver than lose money with Movida. The vehicle had high miles, was dirty when they handed to me and the gas pedal was sticking...NEVER AGAIN!

I pre booked a rental car and as per the documents which I have here, my booking included a payment for extra insurance to bring the excess down to zero and cover all damages including accidental damage. I have the paperwork and bank statement to prove this.

On 27/5 I was taken advantage of by a member of staff telling me I did not have this extra insurance. The staff used my children to their advantage, telling me I must be stressed etc and want to get the children out of there ASAP, pressuring me to buy a SECOND insurance for an extortionate price which did exactly the same as the one I had already purchased. The salesman sniggered and said what if someone “accidentally damages your car” clearly implying that they would damage it and I would be liable if I didn’t take the extra insurance.

The staff then told me he couldn't put my credit card through manually. I have checked this with my bank who are happy to confirm that the staff lied. They did not attempt to put my card through manually.

Conveniently this incurred an extra charge. They could magically put my credit card through if I pay an extra cost to lower the excess (remember I have already paid for zero excess)! I told them I would pay with my debit card. At first the staff said I couldn't use my debit card because it doesn't have my name on. I showed him my name on the back of the card and he changed his mind and said I can't use a debit card at all.

My partner then said he would use his 'credit card'. To prove the staff was lying, it was actually a debit card my partner used and payment went through fine, although it meant we were paying a ridiculous amount due to my card "not working". Again, my bank will confirm that the staff lied and we have good grounds to take this further and sue the company for fraud which is my intention if I am not given a satisfactory apology and full refund.

Upon returning the car, we were told it was damaged when we installed the car seats. When I pointed out the staff installed the seats so they in fact would have damaged the car themselves and the installation should be on their CCTV, they backtracked and said it wasn't damaged.

Since that scam didn't work, the staff (same staff member who conducted the fraud on 27/5) came up with another scam and told us the car needed a clean because it had sand in it. He told us they don't valet the car before it goes to the next customer, we should have had it valeted on our way to the airport. We and the other customers couldn't believe it, the other other customers were laughing at how ridiculous this staff member was.

I refused to pay a cleaning charge since the amount of sand was negligible and he was rude, saying my car at home must be dirty etc. He said I could clean the car myself but I don't have time because I need to get to the airport. He was taken aback when I said we were early and asked for the cleaning supplies, telling him I would get it done in less than five minutes and he is welcome to time me.

The staff then got the manager who agreed there was no excessive sand in the car and also no damage.

The deposit has not been refunded as promised.

This is a total of five scams and is consistent with the extensive reviews which quote the exact same experience and scam and the targeting of those in a rush and with children etc.

**UPDATE** it’s now been 6 MONTHS and I’m owed over £1500 plus comp. They are ignoring all emails, saying they haven’t had them (I’ve kept all as evidence). They’ve blocked me on social media as I was warning others. I have been advised to take this as a no win no fee to court to get my money back as well as criminal victim compensation, so evidently have good grounds or they wouldn’t take it on. Movida will be liable for the solicitor costs. Check out all the other reviews on social media etc, and that’s before they’ve been blocked - imagine how many more there are!