Panek Reviews 32

PANEK IS SCAMMERS, THEY TOOK MY DESPOSIT, 600 EURO! WARNING, DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!

I rented Seat Ibiza on 10 October returned on 16th October. No rep. at the car park to inspect the car with - most likely ON PURPOSE. Tried phoning their office - recorded message! . Car was in same state as when rented. But they won't show picture of the car at inception of the rental, only at the ending! Then, suddenly I have a picture of some scratches at the top of the rear bumper only visible after opening rear hatch??? Those could only have been made if an object (like a suitcase) was dragged through opened hatch. But the scrape was there beforehand, only I didn't notice at the tme of taking the car. That is their con!!! Now they clam 2000PLN for the damage. What I find incredible is that they arbitrarily set a figure on the alleged damage without any evidence like estimate repair invoice or such like. How do they get away with that? Their response is standard blurb including lines like " not possible to appeal" you need to take them to Court, and they know customers fly in and out, so how likely is that?

When we have arrived to get the car on Saturday they asked 190 PLN for "working on out of work hours". And after we have returned the car they asked for 250 PLN for car wash. They have never mentioned those things prior renting the car.

20/4/25
Yes when you search for a car they come up very cheap. You have to put a deposit on the car using your credit card ,which incidentally cannot be cancelled by you. This works out to £1250 approx depending on zloty to £1 rate. Your paperwork for the car is sent electronically in Polish so will need translating, I took a video of all the car when I picked it up and a video of all the car when I dropped it off. Of course no damage , had the car for 6 days, they didnt inspect the car with you on pick up or return. Just had to drop the keys in the box on counter with car park ticket stating level and bay. You then get sent an email saying in my case there's 5250 zlotys to pay. No damage, not dirty. There's nowhere to allow you to clean the car on arrival at car park, so if its raining which in my case it was. Then they are going to charge you £50 or 250 zlotys, even when the car drys there's a bit of dust from the rain.
The 5000 zlotys is and hopefully will be a matter for the police, I have informed my bank about this transaction that's about to happen today or tomorrow and the fraud department are contacting me soon.
So beware all don't use this company they will spoil your trip to a beautiful country. The police should investigate this company s activities towards tourists visiting this country.
22/4/25
An update from Panek in Poland they say the 5000 zlotys are for a stone chip in windscreen smaller than a pea, which is generally classed as wear and tear, their vehicle protocol showed a small circle on the screen in the drivers area, but their photo shows it to be in the passenger area.
You must read fully all the terms and condition and excess charges before you get to the desk to fill in paperwork. And if your in UK use questor excess insurance company, less than £50 for a years cover. I'm still waiting for a reply from Panek about my appeal regarding this less than pea sized chip in passenger area of car, there's also UK international consumer center who can be very helpful in these situations, they have contacts in the countries to look into your case for you , it's worth to see if they can help.

Update 23/4/25
This is their response
Good day,
In response to the complaint, after reviewing the content of your application and the information available to Panek S.A., including the rental documents, we would like to inform you that after analyzing this data, pursuant to applicable legal regulations and the Panek S.A. Regulations regarding the Rent-a-Car service, your complaint has been rejected.

The attached documents of the rental B11916400 confirm validity of the charge for the new damage occurred during the rental and returning dirty car.

The charge is a contractual penalty, due to the Lessor in the agreed amount and is not limited to the costs of repair (civil codex, Art 484 , c. 1).

The car was given out for the rental without any windshield damage and argument that it can be another splinter may not be applied here. Neither from your side have we received confirmation of the argument.

Pursuant to Art. 32 sec. 1 point 2) of the Act of 23 September 2016. on out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes, Panek S.A. declares that Panek S.A. does not provide for the possibility of out-of-court settlement of the dispute in the case of your complaint (no consent to participate in the out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes).

You notice not the cost of repairs, so others can be charged the same for any more , so if 4 more people have very small chips that 25000 zlotys (£5000) they would have had before they might replace the whole screen cost approx 1670 zlotys .some profit hey. SO AGAIN BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY BEST STAY CLEAR OF

I can't upload photos onto this site but go on Facebook Google panek car hire and you will see but you may need to enlarge the photo to see the £1000 chip.

Update 24/4/25
Low and behold i went through my video when I picked up the car still frame by still frame and found their little chip right there on the screen,
There's a link to an article that states they are being investigated i.ll try and find the article
It was an article written by www.Bankier pl
6th may 25
My bank has requested information and they have so many days to reply regarding my dispute.

PANEK SCAMMERS NO RECOMMENDED, Serious-AVOID!!! They stole 320 pounds from my card 1.5 months later, for damage to the car and that the car was not washed. I washed the car inside and outside 13 miles from the airport and I got proof of that and there was 100% no damage when the car was returned! False claims of damage after 1 month.The worst rental company I have dealt with in 15 years of renting cars in Europe. Do NOT rent from this company!!! I went against my better judgment after seeing these reviews and thought these were just disgruntled customers. These 1-star reviews are an accurate representation of this company!

Avoid!!! Avoid!!!Avoid!!! Scammers and thieves. Please don't book with them people. Avoid like a plague even when you think is cheap, thats just to catch their victim. In reality you will pay a lot of money. Panek Wroclaw airport women at the desk Małgorzata tried to scam me few times to finally at the return of the car charged me for fictitious car damage. Aparently scratches which is not true. Car returned in the same condition. In report from return car there is no evidence of any damage. But after reading all similar stories looks like its criminal company its their way to steal money. But Karma will come back to you and to all bad people who taking part in this criminal. I rented a car all over the world in Europe, Africa and Caribbean and nowhere I've been scammed like in Poland my own country, you should be ashame Panek

I rent a car with them from Krakow, they charged me 900 euro deposit to be refunded in 30 days.
It never happened and it is impossible to be in contact with them via phone, emails, chats. That's a SCAM company

Never use this company!

Reviews can vary—some people don’t read policy carefully or check in time, and then they blame the company. However, the truth is usually somewhere in between. Unfortunately, my family and I experienced exactly what people accuse this company of.



We booked a car to be picked up at the airport in WRO. The issues started right at the counter. The staff member, who didn’t seem particularly helpful from the start, had a problem with my credit card because, unfortunately, my bank chose to display only my initial instead of my full first name. So, there was already a problem. Fine, I had a second credit card, so that issue was resolved.



The next problem arose with my driver’s license. Since my license was reissued in the UK, Panek doesn’t accept it because it wasn’t issued in the EU. I explained that I originally obtained my driver’s license in Poland many years ago, but since I live in the UK, it has been reissued there. The Panek staff member told me that in such cases, I would need an international driver’s license, which I could only apply for at a Polish transport office and would cost $20. That wouldn’t have been a problem, but unfortunately, there are no Polish transport offices in the UK.



So, the Panek representative said there was no other solution because my license couldn’t be accepted, and he couldn’t issue me the car. Then suddenly, the Panek employee had an idea: he proposed that I take out additional insurance for just £30 per day, which would magically make my non-EU license acceptable, allowing me to rent the car.



It turns out that Panek’s policy requiring a driver’s license issued in the EU can conveniently be overlooked if you pay for their expensive insurance. For an extra £30 per day, they were more than happy to bypass their own rules.



If you don’t want to experience unnecessary stress, or be left stranded at a foreign airport with your family at night, avoid this company. Never again will I deal with such practices—scammers, plain and simple. It’s not worth the words. I don’t recommend this company to anyone, as they showed no initiative to help us resolve the issue beyond trying to squeeze an extra £300 out of us for 10 days of rental.



No, no, no to this company. We ended up renting a car with Express Car Rental instead, in a super pleasant, professional, and fast process. I highly recommend Express Car Rental to everyone.

To start, DO NOT be fooled by any of the “positive” reviews. Those people are likely paid or blackmailed to say good things.

We made the mistake of renting from Panek back in August. It was only when we arrived at the office that we learned they charged 200 euro PER border crossing so that cost us an additional 400 euros. You also need an international drivers license which thankfully we had. Also, you have to clean the car before returning it or they will charge you 90 euros.

They have tracking devices on the car and follow your every movement. Once we realized they were scammers, we carefully looked through the contract and it says you can be charged per minute for every kilometer over the speed limit that you're driving.

We adhered to all their rules and still, TWO MONTHS LATER, they are trying to charge us an additional 187 euros for some stupid reason.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE LOW PRICE. IT WILL COST YOU MORE IN THE END.

Stay away, rented a car from Gdansk airport and got a crash car without any notice in contract. I tok pictures and movies and reported it to panek. Had to call and send in pictures and videos. After manny days I finally got an answer, and they gave up fighting with me. Returned my deposits before time. Not a good company and remember to take pictures and videos on pickup and again when you deliver the car.

The worst rental car company & customer service @Gdansk Airport. They have informed us of the car cancellation upon car collection only. Manager didn’t even bother to offer the replacement car.
Not trustworthy company.

DEMESIO SUKCIAI!ATTENTION SCAMS!ACHTUNG BETRÜGER!ВНИМАНИЕ МОШЕННИКИ!
"Panek" rental company is a fraud, I highly recommend that you first read customer reviews about the company. The situation is as follows: Via "car rental booking" ref. 752003376 at Kaunas airport.I didn't receive the car I ordered. I ordered an automatic - I got a manual, but the price is acceptable. Rent for the week of 10/07/24-17/07/24, rent for 76.19 GBP and additional insurance 46.49 GBP.I want to say that the car returned, perfectly clean and tide.Unfortunately, it is not possible to check-in at the rental point.Call to Vilnius open automatic gates and missing 30 min.During work, around 09:30 in the morning, nobody was there. I left the car at the office door, took the ignition keys into the designated box and calmly flew home to the UK.Surprise 26/08/24 £1237.02 or €1400 disappears from my account.I'm trying to contact you by phone, it's absolute rudeness. He doesn't know what's wrong and doesn't give information over the phone. He recommends writing letters to @.When I contacted @ I was told I was speeding, driving irresponsibly and the 1400 euro deposit would not be cash back to me, the car is back to rent office perfect.in summary, since when can car rental companies in LT chase people? They perform the functions of the road police. As far as I understand, the rental car itself is also equipped with a tracker radar and I still don't know what?I still have full protection no stress insurance, I ordered it for the stolen 1237.02 GBP cash claim for compensation.I warn you once again to avoid these "legal" thieves, I travel all over the world and there is no such practice anywhere.There is another term in the legal system, moral damage. But 100 crying customers do not make an effect for them. Stolen money on an international scale compensates for everything.DEMESIO SUKCIAI!ATTENTION SCAMS!ACHTUNG BETRÜGER!ВНИМАНИЕ МОШЕННИКИ!

Date of experience: 17 July 2024

On arrival I was informed that I have to take another insurance because my driving license is issued in UK. I already had an insurance taken out during the booking process. The new insurance offered by the car rental office was €250 for 5 days. The person working there mentioned that what did I expect when I rented the car “so cheap”. The original booking fee was £180 with the insurance. I was then offered a discount of €50 for the insurance. This made me think that this is just another way of boosting the price for renting a car. The person at the desk wasn’t helpful at all. I ended up cancelling the whole reservation

Do not use! They will try to con you out of €240 fee for a £5 document that you do not need to legally drive in Latvia. They do not care, they just want your money. Left a young family at the curb at 1am telling us to get a taxi, whilst they sped away in a Polish car. Booking via booking.com shows no requirements for IDP. The owner is just there to steal money. No proof or document explaining the €240 charge as it will go as a nice fake charge.

They will rely that it is in their terms and conditions, but their confirmation email mentions nothing of it. The government websites also show no need for an IDP.

Very happy I walked away from this scam. After doing some research in Latvia, they will charge for anything that is not 100% perfect on the vehicle when you return it (another scam). They have a reputation and are known of by both local Latvian rental companies and most importantly, the Latvian authorities who are investigating their practices for damaging tourism, links to criminal activity (money laundering, rental cars are tracked, and magically stolen = another charge for you, Panek get a new car and more money, vehicles being tracked down and damaged = another charge for you) and breaches of GDPR and more.

Avoid! I travel and rent card regularly, the experience with Panek was awful. They tried to get the money off for alleged damages. Very dodgy! The customer service as bad! Please avoid, save yourself money and stress.

Hidden charges and poor service! Supposedly a cheap car rentals, in reality midrange prices for very poor service. The extra charges significantly exceeded costs of other much better rentals! “Late collection” - despite collecting the car exactly on time at the specific contracted time, “highway fee not included” – had to start the trip by stopping at the nearest petrol pump and purchasing a highway ticket; “cleaning fee” charged from the deposit, enormously high for a car that was used just by me and kept in a very good condition. I am not going to use this car rental ever again.
(I have my doubts about the 5-star reviews on Internet. Even if they did not charge all the extra fees, this is hardly a 5-start service. There seems to be largely 5-star or 1-star reviews, and my own experience certainly fits the latter.)

I have booked a car from "panek" over "ryanair" iOS Application which delegate it to "rentalcars.com". It was for 3 days only but cost was over 100Euros so It is not so cheap... Everywhere was information that I will be able to cancel it free. When I have arrived in the airport and visit "panek" they rejected me because I am Ukrainian. I have tried explain that I have residence of Spain and show them my Spanish driver license with my plaster card of Spain residence but they have rejected... They explain me that I will get all my money since rejection was by only their pedantic to absence of special international driving license, and explained that another car rent companies there is NOT the same rule. So I counted on ability to return my money. But after a while I have gotten a lot of rejections from all of them(from ryanair and from panek so all of them point on rentalcars.com...) BUT!!!! There is not information nowhere that in case something will went wrong they will not return money and will resist to do that.
SO FOR ME IT IS SOME INCIDENT WHICH I WILL CHARACTERISE AS RASISM. I have arrived to celebrate happy birthday of my God children(my relatives who are refugee from Ukraine), that money I could spend on them but I could not.

Strongly do not recommend to rent from Panek Lithuania. They have charged me 50 Eur after almost a month because the car was not clean, although I have cleaned it and used car wash. When asked for car pictures from them to prove that car was not clean, they replied that the pictures will cost additional 50 Eur. to send to me. So you see my point, not very honest business.