Rhodium Car Reviews 

Cheats and thieves! Do not use this company unless you have the time and energy to dispute fictitious charges. Yes, you may get a cheap headline price for your rental; but expect them to find a way - fair or not - to charge you more.
My car had an incomplete damage report when I checked it, so I marked it up and had it stamped and signed off by them. On return they refused to check the car. Two days later I received a bill of €220 for damage which was clearly marked on the updated report.
All correspondence from Goldcar is from NOREPLY email address so the only way to complain is to wade through a labyrinth of forms on their website. But don't bother - they won't reply. It will be up to you to fight it via your credit card company.
When I contacted my card company they told me that I had been billed more than the amount Goldcar had advised. Not only was the charge for a false reason, it was also inflated.........

I had a good experience with this company. I was a bit worried when I looked at the reviews, but when checking out other car rental companies, I found their reviews were just as bad. Goldcar were quick, friendly and efficient. I picked up the car at Porto Airport. They tried to sell me their excess insurance, which was not too bad at all. I did not take it because I had already bought insurance elsewhere. It was about £1.50 a day cheaper than Goldcar. The young lady that came round the car was really helpful and friendly. She pointed out some of the scratches I missed. There were quite a few scuffs and scratches on the car. We drove away happy and later they emailed me a copy of the check out sheet. It bore no relation to the one I filled out. I tried contacting the airport depot, no answer. I tried calling the customer care number, no answer. So I worried quite a bit about being charged for damage I hadn't done. When we returned the car, we were handed the sheet I had signed and all was well. Apart from being unable to contact them, all else went well and they were really cheap. I don't know what it would be like if I had broken down. Luckily, I did not have to ring their breakdown assistance. Hence only scored 4. Maybe I was lucky. All car rental companies are the same really, apart from on price. They all rely on you missing the odd scratch or scrape. They probably charge different customers for the same damage. Check carefully when you pick the car up or get excess insurance. If you use theirs, you won't have to leave a deposit. If you use someone else, they will charge you for any damage and you will have to claim it back. Would I use them again. Well, not being able to contact them during the rental, puts me off.

Having used gold car previously without any issues we did so on this trip to Malaga. Already knowing how they work with over priced fuel, additions (car seat) and on this trip out of hours service which is all stated and was happy to book with, they then charged me for extra insurance. I stated that I did not want this and after they went through all the pricing and gave me the final price added £130 to my card. Well done gold car another customer lost and another bad review.

Goldcar Almeria are run by fraudsters. If you dont take out their expensive insurance cover they will make you pay for it. Any little dent in your returned car will be a reason for them to charge you hundreds of pounds. I got the money back via my excess insurance company but I highlighted their practice to them. The insurers should sue Goldcar for fraudulent activities, total scam.

ABSOLUTE CROOKS & SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN!!!....RIPPED MY FAMILY OFF FOR OVER £500+ FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS RENTAL.
My sister booked a Goldcar vehicle via Holiday Auto's over the internet which at the time seemed very reasonable. She explained over the phone that she didn't have a Credit Card but could cover any deposits, excesses etc with her Debit card balance. She was told that that would be fine.
She also took out the option of the AXA Comprehensive insurance at the time of booking so as to bring the retainer/excess down on the rental.
Went to collect the car and arrived full of bags along with my 75 year old mother, 8 year old Niece and a family friend to be told that because she didn't have a Credit Card they would have to pay for an EXTRA insurance of around £100 despite what she was told on the initial phone call. As there options were limited at this time, and they would lose any monies already paid to cancel, they reluctantly paid for the extra insurance as there hands were tied.
Got to their superb Villa in Calen Porter and started to enjoy their holiday and put the bad start behind them, until.....on the 3rd day of their holiday my sister took ill and couldn't drive. The family friend couldn't drive, my mother at 75 wasn't confident enough so they phoned and asked if they could hand the car back earlier, to which they were told it wouldn't be a problem and the car would be collected from them and would NOT occur any further fees as long as the vehicle was as it was when initially collected (which it was).
Called the office EVERY DAY of their holiday asking when the car would be collected and were continuously promised it would be. Got to the last day of the holiday and car STILL not collected and Sister was still so ill she had no chance whatsoever of being able to drive so asked the Taxi to drop them off at the Goldcar Office in Mahon so they could drop the keys off. The office was empty so the put the keys through the letterbox with a covering note explaining everything and this was their only option as they had to catch their flight.
Never thought anything more about it until they got home when Goldcar took the following further payments out of my sisters bank account :- £244.36 on the 27th September & then 2 further payments of £239.00 & £53.29 about a week later WHY???.....Need a Full explanation as you are NOT going to get away with this and is getting dealt with as we speak. Oh and before Goldcar start making excuses or denying any phone conversations the bad news for them is that the conversation regarding collecting the car early and for no further charge was RECORDED on the family friends mobile phone so no excuses!!!....PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT RENT A THING FROM THESE CROOKS AS YOU WILL BE SORRY.....READ ALL THE REVIEWS FIRST!!!!.....ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!!!

Utterly appalled by Goldcar: I would strongly advise you not to use them. You have been warned.... They basically hire a car to you but then when you come to collect it force you to take out very expensive additional insurance. I have never seen so many angry people at a desk to collect their cars. I was given a choice - I could pay a E2,000 deposit on my card there and then and any damage (e.g. a scratch would be charged at E800-1,600 TBC) or take out their additional insurance for E500. A con.
Wish I had seen the other reviews first.

I wish I had read these reviews before we recently hired our car from Palma, Majorca.

As seems to the standard mode of operation for this company we were fraudulently mis-sold 'compulsory' and 'fully refundable' insurance upon collection of our, despite advising the thief at the front desk that we had already paid for private excess elsewhere ahead of travel. We were fed the same lies that many others have seemingly been told that this insurance was compulsory, refundable and handed documentation (in Spanish) to sign that obviously stated that was not the case.

These crooks need to be shut down. Neither Goldcars or Rentalcars (that we booked through) have taken any responsibility to resolve this seriously fraudulent practice. Completely unacceptable. Avoid both vendors.

Edit 06/03: fundamentally disagree with every since point raised in the response provided by Rhodium Car or whatever the Hell Gold Cars have changed their name to now, no doubt in a shameless attempt to shake their terrible reputation. We were conned by this company as have many, many, many others if the majority of others reviews are to be believed. Can this many people all be wrong? Strongly avoid.

Hired a car at Nice Airport in September 2017. It had a dent in the front that was not recorded on the sheet. The sheet had lots of dents that weren't recorded. Took a photo of the new dent (it was 1am) and drove off. Returned the car after 5 days, the rep agreed that the photo was taken at the time of rental and that I would not be charged anything. 10 days later they ripped €260 off my credit card, the lying scum. I am challenging it and MasterCard are pulling the money back from those crooks. Have cancelled a booking I had made with them for next month and will never use these daylights robbers again.

On my return they charged me for excess mileage €126. After challenging they implied I'd driven 940km which was 350 km over my allowance. After totting up the miles I'd driven it came to approx 400km well within my allowance. I was on a full to full fuel and on the return I re fueled at a cost of €37 I hired a van with 5 passengers. I pointed out that it was impossible to do 900km on that amout of fuel sent them the receipt of fuel. They replied stating my starting and finishing mileage. This was not true but because I didn't take a photo of mileage before and after they have stolen €126. After using this company on many occasions this will be the last.

Damaged, dirty cars and a company that tries to rip you off. Hired a car in August 2017, was charged for the extra insurance, and a deposit taken to ensure that the car was returned fuelled. When I got to the car, the outside looked like it had been on a tour of Beirut, the inside was dirty and had bits of trim missing. Within the first 60km, the adblue warning started to come on, wasting our time having to find a supplier and fill the tank. Upon return, was told to leave the keys in a box and my deposit would be returned. Only a partial refund received, even though a photo of the fuel gauge and receipt has been supplied. I have now complained to the company I booked through in the UK. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

I have used Goldcar previously and not had a problem. I have however just returned from Spain having hired a car from Goldcar in Malaga. They deducted £2023.94 from my credit upon collection as I have excess insurance. I asked if I need to refuel the car at the desk and was told no, return it as empty as possible (no mention of charges). I have just checked my credit card bill to see that I have had £1756.73 refunded to my card, a deficit of £267.21. I rang Goldcar and the representative tried to explain it away as fuel and admin charges! They have charged me £120 to fill a Volkswagon Touran up and £35 admin for the privilege! Yet another example of hire companies charging rediculous amounts. It still does not explain the deficit. Be very careful before using this company

Avoid at all costs. Even though vehicle was returned cleaned and hoovered we have been charged €240 for damage to the exterior and interior of the car. We even have photographic evidence to show that the vehicle was in perfect condition (albeit with the pre-existing damage) but GoldCar have taken the money and are ignoring emails / website contacts.

** Update** Please note the date of the response. 8 months after my post! I thinks this says it all. As far as my complaint, I have referred the matter to the European Consumer Centre for investigation as well as raising a dispute with my credit card company.

AVOID AT ALL COST! – SCAM! I was unlucky that my CC didn’t work, I had a debit that I used to pay the deposit, they told me they will take the payment in EUR which I didn’t mind as my Debit offer me transactions in Euros w/o fees, then in invoice I see they have taken the money in GBP with a very immoral Exchange rate + 2% Exchange Rate MARK-UP. They also made a “mistake” at the pickup and made a note of damage in the wrong side of the car, this was a little scratch that cost €330 EUR, furthermore two weeks later, when they paid me the differences back, and due to bad exchange rates plus the MARK-UP, they returned my deposit -£342.32 GBP for €330 EUR charges stated on the invoice (this is with a GBP/EUR@ 1.15), in addition to this, 150 EUR of the 330 were logged as an “administration fee for the loss of use of the car due to repairs”, they know that private car hire insurances wouldn’t cover clients under this concept, and they told me in advance if there was an incident my insurance wouldn’t cover me in full, they used this argument to encourage me buying their insurance which cost several times the total price of rent the vehicle- They catch your attention with a price quoted that is too good to be truth but you end up paying double the price for one of the main companies – TRICKSTERS

DO NOT USE GOLDCAR - SCAM AND DONT REFUND MONEY.
WORST CAR SERVICE EVER

I hired a car through Auto Europe at Alicante airport and had a bad experience with Goldcar. Damage was un-registered when checking the car over. The desk staff were uncooperative and had unacceptable manors. Rang Auto Europe Customer Services (Jorge) to let them know. Considering payment was made to Auto Europe, I was told that any issues should be taken up dirtectly with Goldcar. What ?? Auto Europe's response was unhelpful. If this is a 'partner' of Auto Europe, I would have expected some sort of feedback to Goldcar, but no. Deal with your own problems ! They take your money and are dis-interested in discussing the issues with Goldcar. Goldcar have arrogant staff and zero customer skills. Ditto for Auto Europe. Will get my car somewhere else in future. Think carefully people about using either of these companies !

We rented out car from this company online and paid 145 pounds quite a while before our holiday which was 19 jul 2017-28 jul 2017. We then arrived in Barcelona and showed up at the office stand of Gold Car at the airport, in order to collect our car and sort out paper work. We were then asked to provide a deb cart for deposit of 296.95 euros for the fuel and risk of damage etc. Id like to highlight that my husband and I specifically asked what exactly this payment was and we were reassured that it was only a deposit which will be FULLY returned if there were no issues with the vehicle. After the holiday we returned the car with a tank full of fuel, clean and in definitely pristine condition. The next I received an email from the company that I was refunded 112 euros, which isn't even half of the full deposit that we were promised to be fully refunded by the representative at the office in the airport. That's when began to research what exactly had occurred and realized that the company misled us into buying 'Super Relax' cover. At no point were we offered any kind of insurance or cover, we were only told that we had to pay a refundable deposit. I feel that this is such a scam and very low of the company, I am aware that this hasn't just happened to me but to many others and cannot believe how this company continues scamming so many people.

Goldcar/Rhodium are operating a scam and should be avoided. I rented a vehicle for two weeks from the Lisbon airport location. They used unscrupulous tactics to get me to upgrade to a more expensive vehicle as my vehicle type was not available in their fleet upon pick-up. They used scare tactics in an attempt to get me to purchase their own insurance. A Goldcar representative did not walk around the car with me to mark existing damage or scratches. I had to do this myself in a very dark car park on a form that was provided to me by Goldcar at the counter. I did my best effort to mark all the scratches but no doubt missed some. I took a photo of the form for my records as Goldcar would not give me a copy. When dropping off the vehicle, as I did not purchase their insurance coverage, I strongly believe I fell victim to two totally false vehicle damage claims as two "new" scratches were identified on a wheel. As the only driver I am completely positive that I did not cause those marks. I was told the wheel would need to be replaced, however the scratches were superficial. This cost me an additional 230Euros. I believe this false damage claim was Goldcar's way of obtaining additional funds from me. They hook you in with a low rental rate. They then use unscrupulous tactics to get you to pay for an upgraded vehicle and scare tactics to get you to purchase their own insurance. If you do not purchase their insurance they will find a scratch and charge you excessive fees. Staff were terribly rude.

UWAGA ! OSZUŚCI ! Ukradli mi 310 Euro. Poczytałem dużo opinii przed wypożyczeniem auta w Goldcar na Teneryfie i byłem pewny, że jestem przygotowany i nic mnie nie zaskoczy. Jednak mocno się myliłem. Oferta wynajmu jest atrakcyjna tylko z pozoru. Gdy nie ubezpieczysz u nich auta (cena ubezpieczenia wyższa niż wypożyczenie auta) to żądają kaucję 1100 euro. Jak mają Twoją kaucje to zrobią wszystko żeby jej nie oddać i nigdy nie zwrócą Tobie pełnej kaucji. Przy odbiorze dokładnie obejrzałem auto i zapisałem wszystkie usterki i ryski w protokole. Przy oddaniu auta, Pani doszukiwała się czegokolwiek. Wychwyciła, że nie zaznaczyłem jednej ryski na masce i to już wystarczyło. Ryska cienka jak włosek. Widać ją pod lupą. Kaucja wstrzymana na miesiąc z potrąceniem 310 euro. Goldcar wyłudza od Klientów kasę. Na tę samą ryskę, której nie było widać w cieniu przy odbiorze auta pewnie zarobili i jeszcze zarobią grubą kasę. Ich praca polega tylko na tym aby wychwycić to czego nie zauważył Klient przy odbiorze auta. To nie jest normalna wypożyczalnia. Każde używane auto ma zawsze dużo rysek i nie jesteś w stanie zaznaczyć wszystkiego przy odbiorze auta. Normalnie kaucja powinna być zabezpieczona na uszkodzenia a nie drobne ryski. Banda oszustów.

WARNING ! SAVE! They stole 310 Euros. I read a lot of reviews before hiring a car in Goldcar, Tenerife and I was sure I was prepared and will not surprise me. But I was very wrong. The rental offer is attractive only on the surface. When you do not insure a car with them (the price of insurance is higher than renting a car), they require a deposit of 1100 euros. How do you have your deposit will do anything to not give it back and never return to you full bail. On receipt, I thoroughly looked at the car and recorded all faults and drawings in the log. When you gave up the car, you searched for anything. She snapped that I did not mark a single scratch on the mask and that was enough. The figure is thin as a hair. You can see it under the magnifying glass. Deposit stopped for a month with a deduction of 310 euros. Goldcar sells cash from customers. The same drawing, which was not visible in the shade on receipt of the car, they probably earned and still earn a big cash. Their job is only to capture what the customer did not notice when picking up the car. This is not a normal rental. Every used car always has lots of drawings and you are not able to pick everything up when you pick up the car. Normally the deposit should be protected against damage rather than minor scratches. A bunch of scam artists.

Following my review on 21st June I received an unsatisfactory answer. I have now opened a new complaint asking for further information again and saying that there was no damage caused to the car during my rental. I have given them 5 working days. When this time has passed I am going to their office at Valencia airport and head office near Alicante airport to fill out an "hoja de reclamaciones". I will also be reporting them to La Policia Nacional here in Spain. This is the original review:
Goldcar is ignoring my correspondence asking for further information. I hired a car from Valencia airport. I was told that the deposit would be refunded to my bank account. A 24 hours after I had left I received an email saying I was going to be charged for damage. There was no damage. I was sent a bad photo (most of it obscured by the camera flash) of alleged damage. I am still waiting for a reply to my request of where the damage was and extra details. I have been waiting for 10 days. I do not believe there was any damage and do not understand why I was told my money would be refunded as there was no problem and then charged for damages. Terrible company, fraudsters and terrible customer service.

Offered us a car where the paperwork shows no damage, but very very extensive damage to most panels including the roof!

We had to check everything, then claimed they found a small scratch on the tailgate on return and charged us £250 for the privilege.

The argument that it was so minor (possibly from a bush) or just not noted amongst the 10 - 20 we pointed out that they had not recorded were not acknowledged.

The attitude was 'we can charge you so we will'.

Avoid like the plague, simply set up to rip customers off.