Europcar UK Reviews 

I hope I can give not even half star absolutely rubbish service at Leicester Belgrave flyover. Staff has no such a information like Sunday closed so we had to book one extra day.

Also no car availability so I had to go there three times and I have heard over the phone their staff talking like customers here but no car availability so what shell I do. Disaster and pathetic service. I had to get car in emergency paying more money from Enterprise.

I would not recommend Europcar to rent a car.

The Victoria Branch London UK. Bachir gave us the best customer service I’ve ever recieved. He was sympathetic of our situation at Sixt cancelling our booking on the day and sorted my friend Filmon out. Seeing Bachir customer service helping my friend out and seeing the positive impact he had on a negative experience at sixt it was really nice and wholesome. I just want to thank him personally for everything he’s really helped me on my birthday made it an experience I’d never forget.

Bad experience at Stanstead Europecar. I feel that the staff person on reception did everything in his power to extract money from me.
FIRSTLY: He told me that he could upgrade me to another car that is more fuel efficient and in the long term would actually save me money over the course of a rental. The upgrade to an alternative petrol car would cost me an extra £50 per day!!!
SECONDLY: He also tried to convince me to cancel my pre-arranged insurance cover saying that they never pay out, and that I should take out Europecar insurance instead.
THIRDLY: I received a rattling Nissan Juke and not the Cupra I had booked.
FOURTHLY: Europecar charged me £50 'administration fee' for passing on a car parking charge. This was extortionate for just forwarding on an email to me from the car parking company.

Well I won’t be using these guys again! We hired a car 2 months ago and after a long flight we were made to look at a long document on an iPad by some guy with broken English who didn’t explain what we were looking at. I thought I was paying a refundable insurance deposit but it turns out I was signing for additional insurance I didn’t need. I’ve spent 2 months writing letters and making phone calls trying to get the money back to no avail. So I can only summise they are scammers. I am now actively telling everyone I know to avoid Europcar.

I had a reservation in Manchesfer, UK for a mid-sized SUV. I thought that would be large enough for 4 adults and luggage. Unfortunately mid-sized was not as large as I expected, so I had to upgrade to a large van. My original rental through Expedia was for $300+ but the van I rented was for $2100. What upsets me is that Europcar has refused to refund the amount I paid for the original rental. I assumed the agent would have cancelled and credited the original rental when I upgraded, but that did not happen. I paid between 6 and 7 times my original rental cost for the van, but Europcar still kept my money from the original rental. Feels like they are really greedy.

Here's a Trustpilot version that is direct, factual, and focused on warning future customers. It highlights the pattern of events without making claims you can't substantiate.

**The worst customer service I have ever experienced from a car hire company.**

I would strongly advise anyone considering Europcar to think twice before booking.

Our problems started with delays collecting the vehicle and continued long after we returned it. We were pursued over a parking charge that we successfully challenged, yet Europcar still refused to refund the £50 administration fee. We only paid this fee after receiving repeated threatening correspondence, despite the parking charge itself ultimately being dismissed.

The most worrying part of our experience was receiving a demand for around £500 for alleged vehicle damage. We provided clear evidence that the damage already existed when we collected the vehicle, but Europcar continued to insist we were liable. It was only after we challenged the claim with photographic evidence that the damage claim was quietly withdrawn. This left us questioning why it had been pursued so aggressively in the first place.

Customer service was appalling throughout. During one telephone call, a member of staff swore at me before hanging up. I made a formal complaint, but the response I received failed to address the seriousness of what had happened.

To add insult to injury, Europcar informed us that we would be blocked from hiring from them again. After the way we were treated, that was hardly a concern. Neither my husband nor I would ever choose to use Europcar again.

This experience caused unnecessary stress and took many hours of our time to resolve. Between the poor customer service, the handling of the parking charge, the unfounded damage allegation, and the complete lack of accountability, this has been the worst experience we have ever had with a rental company.

If you're looking for a company that treats its customers fairly when things go wrong, I recommend looking elsewhere.

Wish I'd read all these negative reviews before I booked Europcar for 4 days in Scotland. Got a flat tire last morning - no one at Europcar in Glasgow to offer support (we could have changed a spare tire but there wasn't one), 6.5 hrs for their rescue service to arrive, another 1hr to sort the issue, missed all travel connections home (rebooked 4 times due to AA changing the ETA), had to book a hotel for the night (during Pride, so ££££) got NOTHING from europcar. Oh and they are charging me for the flat tire and dismal rescue service. AND took £12.67 for petrol on a recently filled tank (I got that back when I showed the receipt and location - it was an "error" they said)

They prey on travellers.

Exhausted, want to pick up your car and get going no problem - have counter staff lie to you and say they don’t accept your 3rd party insurance..cancel it for you and then sell you comparable coverage you didn’t need for 4 times the price so you can carry on with your rental.
Then the car is filthy covered in dirt so you can’t even validate previous damage.
What a way to start your first few minutes in Scotland!
When I found out about all of this after researching it as a common practice at EDI, I went to the manager upon drop off ( got it all signed off as undamaged) and told him about the misrepresentation and deceptive actions of staff upon check in and was hoping there would be a resolve.

Nope - you must send it all off to a customer service email address…and frankly acted like it was all just acceptable practice …now go catch your flight and we will never see you again.

Ahh the kicker is because you have personally signed for this insurance in person the Credit Card company won’t reverse the charge as a dispute.

They do have this scam figured out well.

I am sure that most just want to get on their departing flight and move on and they are certainly aware of that.

This type of hustle you may expect in another land - but the airport in Scotland? Tourism UK and Consumer protection really needs to investigate their business practice.

Unless you like the pain of doing business with fraudulent deceptive practices- stay away from them. Competition is a couple of GBP more but worth every nickel.

They must all go for beers and dinner weekly to spend the additional commission made and laugh about how they scammed the customers.

It is the car rental version of The wolves of wall street’s boiler room !

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

They claim for damages at the end of the hire period that were pre existing. They did not have any photographic evidence to prove the damages were not on the car before my hire, because they took photos on dodgy angles to cut those damaged sections of the car out, but one pre delivery photo did show a scuff they claimed I did, but they said because the damages were not 'wrote down' on their paper work then they assume it wasn't there. That is not evidence. The car did already have marks on it which were listed on the paperwork and I sighted them but stupidly took it as that and didn't look any further.
They actually took pre delivery photos outside a house around the corner from mine then got back in the car to drive to my house so driven it after taking pre delivery photos.
And do not bother taking the matter further with the BVRLA as they always side with their members - not sure how they can't pull them on not having actual pre delivery photos capturing the areas they now claim to be damaged and how they can charge for a scuff which was actually captured on the pre delivery photo - always going to side with their members

If you do have to use this company be aware and take comprehensive photos and videos of the vehicle before driving away.

The counter staff at London Gatwick South Terminal gave us a "free" upgrade, which we never asked for — then charged us for it. Sold as ‘it is your lucky day’. No real explanation. When I called it out, I was told the fee would go back to my bank account. It never did.

I'd already paid in full online when I booked. Then got charged again at the counter. And when I tried to dispute it, Europcar refused to accept anything but written proof — witnesses mean nothing to them. So that extra 80% is just gone. No refund, no recourse, nothing.

This is a scam dressed up as a legit company. Don't fall for it. Get everything in writing before you sign a single thing and please read everything carefully.

Watch out for verbal "clarifications" — always get it in writing

I rented a car from Europcar UK for under £250. At pickup, I was advised to switch to an automatic transmission "since it was my first time," for an additional £30. I explicitly asked if that was a one-time charge, and I was told yes. It was only after the trip, when I actually read the paperwork I'd been asked to sign, that I realized the £30 was per day — with fees, it added up to over £250 extra, nearly doubling the cost of the rental.

At drop-off, staff pointed out damage that hadn't been noted on the sheet I signed at pickup. Luckily, I had taken several photos of the car before driving off, and every one of the "new" damages was already there.

Two takeaways for anyone renting here: (1) always get any verbal "clarification" about pricing confirmed in writing before signing; (2) photograph and video the entire car (including wheels, bumpers, and roof) at both pickup and drop-off, with a visible date/time stamp.

Europcar cancelled my booking without my knowledge; at pick up I was forced to pay full rack rate given it was a same day pick up (but I obviously needed a car so what was I to do…?!). Am now having to follow up repeatedly to get the refund I am owed.

Never rent a vehicle from this company they are scammers. All they do is charge you more money 💵 stealing your money.

I was incorrectly charged a refuelling fee by Europcar despite returning the vehicle with a full tank (confirmed by the fuel gauge and distance to empty reading at the time).

When I raised this, head office repeatedly insisted their decision was correct and even issued a “final response” rejecting my claim. They even sent me photo evidence of the telemetry system showing I had returned the car with a full tank but claimed I had returned it with 70%. I could not get them to understand they had sent me factual evidence that I had filled the car to full, it was almost like an automated response even when the case was escalated.

However, the local Portugal branch later contacted me separately for general feedback unaware of my head office case, reviewed their records, and confirmed that no fuel had been added after return — meaning the charge was clearly incorrect. A refund was then issued.

This raises serious concerns about the reliability of Europcar’s systems used to determine fuel levels, as well as the accuracy of their investigations.

To make matters worse, my formal complaint to head office was completely ignored, and I was left out of pocket due to exchange rate losses caused by their error.

Very poor experience overall. I would strongly advise others to take photos of fuel levels at return and be cautious of automated charges and contact the local branch to get the actual readings.

Avoid at all costs. Would give 0 stars if I could. I booked a car with a Sunday return, paid for it, returned it on the Sunday as agreed, only to be hit with a charge afterwards for returning it on the agreed day of Sunday as they class that day as out of hours. They knew that was the case when they gave me the quote and booking, but happily took my money and then charged me more for doing exactly what I agreed to do on the booking. What’s more scammy is they took a £100 as a “security deposit” from me for tickets, fines etc which I was told would be refunded in full when I return the car. They then used that to charge me their fees. Horrible business, go elsewhere

Stay away from this company I hired a 7 seater returned on time arrange at branch then they would not refund my deposit saying it was late return total con job

Used Europcar on a number of occasions.
Most recent was a 3 day hire , paid for an upgrade to E Class Merc.
Was told the usual, bring back full etc.
Within a few minutes of driving became aware of a bad odor, pulled off at the services to investigate.
The back seat pocket was full of used blood stained tissues which stank. Food between the seats , chewing gum too.
Then noticed the fuel was less than half full.
Contacted customer services to no avail. On hold for 45 minutes, gave up in the end.
Expressed my horror to the guy at drop off and via email to customer services.
Their reply has been to ignore my complaints regards the state of the vehicle. Trying to escalate but no one is coming back to me.
Dreadful experience, dreadful vehicle, avoid Europcar if you can.
And one last thing , check all pockets for rubbish.

Absolutely appalling experience with Europcar.

I booked my rental car through Booking.com one month in advance and arrived at the branch on time with everything I needed. Instead of receiving the car I had reserved, I was told that Europcar's internal UK address verification system could not verify me and the system doesn't accept any document as proof.

I have been living in the UK for over six years and was ready to provide any additional proof of address or identity if required. Unfortunately, none of that mattered. The staff were polite and apologetic, but they said there was nothing they could do because the system had rejected me. All of my plan was cancelled because of their system and didn't provide proper cancelation so I can go back to Booking as proof, so there's a chance that I won't get my money back, and had NO CAR at the end!!

So despite having a confirmed reservation, I walked away with no car because of what appears to be Europcar's own internal verification process.
A reservation should mean something. If your systems are unreliable or capable of rejecting legitimate customers at the collection desk, that should be resolved before taking people's bookings, not after they have travelled to the branch and organised their plans around the rental.
I have now raised a formal complaint with Customer Services and will be seeking an explanation and appropriate compensation.
Based on this experience, I would not trust Europcar with an important journey. There are plenty of other rental companies that don't leave customers stranded because of their own internal systems.

Extremely disappointing experience with Europcar Manchester Airport.

The rental started badly with a chaotic queuing system. I waited around 45 minutes, only to see customers who arrived after me being served first.

The biggest issue, however, was the misleading information I was given about the insurance costs. I specifically requested full cover with zero excess and was told there was only one option. I was advised the total rental would be £321, but not to worry because £100 of that was simply a refundable deposit.

After returning home and checking my invoice, I discovered the insurance alone cost £221.34—more than my original vehicle rental. At no point was this made clear. Had the true cost of the insurance been explained, I would have questioned whether it was worth it.

I appreciate Kevin calling afterwards to ask about my experience, but unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that I feel I was misled about the final cost. Clear and transparent pricing should be the minimum customers can expect.

Between the disorganised service and the misleading explanation of the charges, I won't be using Europcar again and cannot recommend them.
⭐☆☆☆☆

Europcar Pescara Italy - BEWARE!!. The drop off attendant went straight to a very small mark on the car above the front headlight without looking anywhere else. He insisted we made this (less than 10mm) and we were charged 155 euros even though we denied it was us. I absolutely believe he knew it was there. I complained (took a full morning to negotiate to where I needed to complain) with photos back through the insurance company AXA and received a full refund. ALWAYS TAKE A FULL VIDEO OF YOUR HIRE CAR BEFORE DEPARTURE otherwise you could be ripped off.