Rentalcars.com Reviews 

We hired a car through Rentalcars 12-26 April, pick up from Marseille airport. We paid extra 40eu to drop off before their opening time for 26Apr, early morning flight. We found some scuffs on car when picked up so took photos and a video. It was a Peugeot supplied by Gold Car. Since returning home Gold Car Marseille have taken 4 payments without an explanation. When we enquired through Rentalcars they were not willing to assist us, we asked them many times to contact Gold Car on our behalf. We contacted Gold Car Marseille and their head office. We were told first charge is for late car drop off. We dropped car off at 7am, their office wasn’t open until 9am. Their employee logged the drop off onto their record at 9.09am. We have given them photographic evidence from Ryanair that we had checked our bags at airport 8am therefore we couldn’t have been with car at 9am. This evidence they have chosen to ignore. Instead they ask for a fuel receipt showing time, we used an auto pay at pump where they don’t give receipts, bank statements never show time of transactions which they have asked for. The next two charges are for number plate damage and mirror scuff. We have time stamped photos of these items from when we picked up car because these we noticed these damages when we picked up car, again they are ignoring our evidence. The last charge is an admin fee. I would definitely never use Gold Car again, they had decided from the beginning they were going to get as much money as possible from us because we don’t live in France. Rentalcars also made no effort to ask Gold Car why our evidence is being ignored. We have asked both companies for their evidence of car damage and proof we dropped off car late and got nothing. All we want is additional charges returned back to our card. We find it unbelievable that a large company like Rentalcars can rip off individuals in this way, this dispute is still ongoing many weeks.

I booked Alfa Romeo Stelvio for 140 euros and I received a beaten-up Mazda for 260 euros

I was given Mazda in very bad condition instead of a Premium car Alfa Romeo Stelvio. They also refused to give me the car unless I bought an insurance for 120 euros. The support from rentalcars insisted on me buying this insurance. I raised an enquiry to rentalcars, but they refused to compensate my anything and answered with AI generated texts

Rentalcars.com was not helpful at all when I requested a refund. Through rentalcars I reserved a car with nu car rentals. I was told that the car was at the airport, it was not. The shuttle to get to the car location was so dirty that I didn’t want sit on the seat. The shuttle time took close to an hour. This was way too far from the airport. When I called rentalcars to request a refund they told me that I should know more about the place that I rent the car from. THAT IS RENTALCARS JOB! That is why I went through them. They are to find the deal and know about the companies that I would book with. Rentalcars was not helpful at all and nu car rentals was terrible. I will never go through these companies again. Lost my money!

It’s a horrible company of scammers!!!!!!!!!

Terrible experience. The car was not ready at the agreed pickup time and the final price included extra charges that were not clearly explained during booking. Customer support was unhelpful when I asked for clarification, so I'd be careful before renting from them again!

Just looked up rentalcars.com to see their reputation based on a fraudulent activity that I have just experienced. Rented at Sixt through rentalcars.com. When I went to Sixt, they said that since the lamination was coming up from the corner of my license, that they would not accept it. Mind you, the license is legible, valid, and I had both a passport and a mobile ID from my state as backup. Sixt refused to release a car to me. Since I rented through rentalcars.com, Sixt told me I would have to go through them to get a refund. They claim they would release the refund (though I don’t see any evidence of that), but rentalcars.com would actually have to issue it. Rentalcars.com is refusing to issue a refund. I would avoid these guys (and probably their sister company booking.com) like the absolute plague. They basically stole the money that I paid for the car and are refusing to refund it.

I ordered a child seat with Renatcars.com by Booking.com as we were travelling with a young child. When I got to the desk they wouldn't give me a car seat even though I showed them the order which had one. I had to go and find a local shop and buy one myself while leaving my wife and child in a busy, hot airport.
When I complained to customer service about what had happened they offered no help or compensation even though it didn't say anywhere on their website or subsequent communications that there may or may not be a car seat available. A truly terrible way to do business to treat a young family.

This site is riddled with car rental companies that rip off customers and does not veto or provide transparent information on T&Cs for the individual car rental companies one is booking with. I lost money because the specific T&Cs for a car rental company were not clearly outlined and they decided to cancel my booking as i was over 60 min late. This was at the airport and i was 90 min late. They expect me to phone them even if i had provided my flight number (which Rentalcars.com does not request by default) and the flight was over 30 min late. As if i could call them from the plane!!! I will never be booking with this website again.

I arrived at an airport where I had made a Rentalcars booking. The hire desk was not at the airport, airport staff told me that I should call the third party vehicle provider directly to see how to obtain the rental car (which was apparently off site). I called 6 times and received no response. When I called Rentalcars they informed me that they could not identify the hire desk nor contact them so I should just use another provider at the airport. I did this (at a big additional cost due to instant booking). Rentalcars did not reimburse the alternative hire charges when I made a complaint (but instead offered a £30 'goodwill gesture'.

When something goes wrong with the car pick up they wash their hands of it. Stating “you will have to deal with the rental company”.

Got a car downgrade at Hertz/Thrifty/Dollar due to me showing up 15 minutes before the pickup time. Rentalcars just eats up the fallacious justification of the car company without any pushback. This is BS - if I had picked up the car 15 min after the pickup time, I am sure they would have taken this as another excuse for a downgrade. Stay away from both rental cars.com (they are useless) and the Hertz group.

I had a very frustrating experience with Rentalcars.com / Booking.com with Drive SA.
Our pickup time was scheduled for 9:00 PM. We arrived at the airport and were picked up by the shuttle, but then we had to wait for other unrelated passengers before being taken to the rental office. Because of that delay, we arrived at the rental counter after 9:00 PM.
Once we got there, Drive SA told us we had to pay an extra **40 euro late pickup fee** because it was past 9:00 PM. This was extremely unfair because the delay was caused by the shuttle process, not by us. We were ready and available at the airport on time.
Rentalcars.com did not clearly explain during booking that this extra charge could happen, and after contacting them, they were not helpful in resolving the issue. Overall, this was a disappointing and stressful rental experience, and I would be very cautious about booking through Rentalcars.com again.

I was forced to pay 300 euro again and rent at the my travel destination ( Island) due to my credit card was a debit card ..wich wasent explained problery on the internet site ...wy cant i get my money back when the deal couldent be acceptet by the the car rental dealer..

I made a booking for my wife to collect a car at Cork Airport, Ireland. I followed the links and opted for the full insurance protection on the Rentalcars website.
When we got to the airport we were told that we needed a credit card which my wife does not have. She has a debit card which was not acceptable. I had a credit card which was also not acceptable. The Dollar Car Hire person at the airport told her she could pay €29 a day for there insurance using her card but this made the transaction unviable and she had no choice but to forefit the booking. The staff at the car hire desk agreed with us that it was not made clear that she required a credit card.
There was no clear information showing that you need a credit card before you make a booking for car hire with this company. There was a passing reference to it in a paragraph of a subsequent conformation email but again NO CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS.
I would advise anybody considering using this service to be extremely careful.
My wife did manage to cancel the insurance part of the transaction but had to forfeit the car hire cost.
The only saving grace in all of this was the Rentalcars person who processed the insurance refund over the phone. She was extremely kind but could not refund my wife the full amount.

Booked & prepaid a car at Paris Orly. Flight delayed, arrived 1h late — Avis office completely closed, nobody there, phones not answered. Had to rent on the spot from another company at a much higher price.Rentalcars refuses any refund or help. Their answer: "not our problem, read the T&Cs." They take your money up front but the second something goes wrong on the supplier side, they vanish behind a clause.Zero customer support. Avoid for any prepaid airport rental.

Awful company - I can only advise any person not to go anywhere near them and go elsewhere.

Extremely disappointing experience.

I paid for a car rental, attended the pickup location on time, and never received a vehicle. Despite this, Rentalcars.com still kept the full amount and repeatedly hid behind policies instead of offering any practical solution.

What shocked me most was the complete lack of ownership. Every response was a copy-paste explanation of why they could not help, rather than any genuine attempt to resolve the situation.

As a customer, it is incredibly frustrating to pay for a service, receive absolutely nothing, and then be told that losing 100% of your money is acceptable.

This experience has completely destroyed my trust in Rentalcars.com. I will never use this platform again and will be sharing my experience with other travelers so they can make an informed decision before booking.

Very disappointing customer service and zero customer care when something goes wrong.

I booked and did not recieve a Confirmation e-mail, so after 3 hours I re-booked to be sure since thevrental was that same evening. Again NO confirmation e-mail.I called the support and they suggested I cancel the 1st booking and I should recive a fill refund. Today I recieve anemail they refuse to refund ! THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE - THEIR SYSTEM FAILED TO SEND A CONFIRMATION AND I HSVE TO PAY FOR THEIR FAULT ?!?! OUTRAGEOUS.

Do not make the same mistake I did. Green Motion are a complete scam. They would not take my credit card as it did not have my full name, including my middle name on the card. In 50 years and all over the World my card has been accepted. They then abused me when I asked to be returned to the airport. I ended up walking for several hours on very dangerous roads. At the airport I was able to hire a car with the very same credit card. Just a scam.

Worse company to rent a car
Zero Service and stealing money

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find attached the translated version of my formal complaint.

I acknowledge your response; however, it still fails to address the essential points of my claim.

I remind you that this reservation was made through Rental, with payment accepted and validated in advance using my Revolut credit card.

The commercial transaction was therefore concluded between myself and Rental, not directly with Alamo.

At no point during the booking process, nor within the conditions displayed before payment, was it clearly stated that a Revolut card or any neo-bank card could be refused at the counter despite the initial payment being accepted.

The website simply stated that a credit card in the name of the main driver was required, which was fully my case.

Accepting payment with this card, confirming the reservation, and then refusing to provide the vehicle on-site because of that same card constitutes, in my opinion, a misleading commercial practice under consumer protection laws.

I also consider this to be a serious breach of trust toward the customer, who booked and paid in good faith based on incomplete or deliberately ambiguous information.

The systematic rejection of neo-banks, despite them being fully legal and regulated financial institutions throughout Europe, amounts to unacceptable banking discrimination and commercially unfair practices.

This opaque policy effectively discriminates against customers based solely on the issuing bank of their card, without any clear prior information.

Furthermore, I find it highly concerning that the customer service representative handling this case does not provide their full identity or full name in official communications. Such lack of transparency is unacceptable in the context of a formal consumer dispute.

In this matter:

- payment was accepted;
- the reservation was confirmed;
- no clear restriction regarding Revolut was disclosed to me;
- the service was then refused on-site without any reasonable alternative solution.

I therefore consider that this situation may legitimately be viewed as deceptive and abusive commercial conduct.

Your reply merely invokes “conditions not respected” while completely ignoring the following facts:

- unjustified refusal of my second valid credit card;
- total absence of any alternative solution on-site;
- abusive immobilization of funds directly impacting my personal budget;
- arrogant and unprofessional behavior from both the Nantes agency staff and customer service;
- constant contradictions between Alamo, Booking, Rental, and the local agency, each shifting responsibility onto the others;
- absence of reimbursement despite the service never being provided.

I also consider unacceptable the tone used by certain members of your staff and the complete absence of any serious commercial effort to resolve a situation created by your own internal policies.

Consequently, I formally request:

- full reimbursement of the amounts charged;
- a written apology from Alamo customer service;
- a written apology from the Nantes agency employee involved in this incident;
- commercial compensation for the prejudice suffered and the unjustified retention of my funds.

I am also forwarding this file:

- to the European headquarters;
- to consumer protection authorities;
- to my bank for payment dispute procedures;
- as well as to review platforms and competent authorities.

I reserve all rights to initiate any further legal or administrative actions regarding these practices, which I consider misleading and abusive.

I am giving you one final opportunity to resolve this dispute amicably.