Goldcar Portugal Reviews 

Scam, stay away....was patient with this company for a few years, just had enough this time. There is no way to protect yourself from them, they will always find their way to scam you. Whats worse they ignore my GDPR request (asked for a copy of the datas they are storing about me) for more than 30days....this company is not to be trusted with any personal datas, be careful what you provide. From personal experience I know they store your credit card details long time after your rental is over (more than a year). Unfortunately have to deal now with Portuguese authorities just to have access to my personal datas this company is storing about me...

Extremely aggressive service at rental, one hour queue despite having booked the car in advance, they find every unrealistic reasons to charge you more (insurance, toll road paid in advance even if you don’t use it). Avoid avoid avoid

Scam! Don’t use them. I got Key’n’Go service, but car was provided wrong class. Car didn’t had climate control, didn’t have CarPlay. It was no deposit rent, but they demanded 300 EUR!!!! Like half of it will be returned right after rent and the rest after 15 days, but no money was returned. And they support answers in 14 working days, but not for what you ask, but just copy paste answer. Avoid at all cost!

Horrendous. Charged me £300 for damage that was generated after the car was dropped off. I provided them with photos and they still charged me. I wouldn’t drop a car off to them unless you can hand it to someone. They also told me I had been in a car accident when I was away. That was not the case. I have attached the car being returned and where they said the damage was. DO NOT HIRE FROM GOLDCAR.

I would give 0 stars if I could. Avoid. Scammers

When going through a toll booth the rear passenger tyre punctured. I phoned the number on the paperwork and was told a tow truck would arrive, but no further explanations as to what would happen, the implications or the choices. The tow truck driver was wonderful and helped explain the process but of course didn't know details. Then a taxi arrived and we would apparently have to go back to Porto airport to pick up another car. Non of this was explained by the GoldCar representatives on the phone. Including the wait and the drive this took 3 hours. We arrived at the GoldCaroffice at Porto airport to be greeted by a representative behind the desk who proceeded to behave in a rude and angry manner. He explained that because I damaged the car I would owe over 700 euros. No explanation as to the break down of the costs, no itemised invoice, no details at all. He then said it would be a separate invoices as it was more hassle for him to take it out of the deposit. When I questioned him with regards to the costs he angrily replied that what did I expect, I had an accident and damaged their car. When I informed him that we simply drove through a toll and the tyre punctured, that I did not have an accident nor did I damage the car, he raised his voice and repeated what did I expect when I damaged the car. He then proceeded to get aggressive in his manner and did not offer any reasoning. My wife then asked why there was no spare and that the canister of liquid to repair the tyre had leaked inside the boot of the car, he became more agitated and said he couldn't answer that and that he will call his manager to talk to us. Then he said that his manager was not working and what did we expect him to do about it. Then he repeated that this was all our fault for damaging the car!
At no point did he greet us with any manners and at no point was he polite. There was no consideration towards us what so ever. All he was concerned with was the payment being processed as quickly as possible.
The the replacement car key were handed over with the documents. I inspected the documents and noticed there were 2 points of damage noted. I pointed this out to him and he said this was not possible because it was a brand new car. He proceeded to become rude once more so we decided to leave as we had a long drive back to where we were staying and it was going to be dark soon.
The cost of a flat tyre is completely unacceptable as is the treatment we received. I still have not had nay breakdown of the costs or indication as to why the canister of inflation liquid was not useable.
The treatment is totally unacceptable, I would not expect to be treated in that manner nor would I treat another person in that way.
I will never be using GoldCar again and I will happily convey this incident to anyone who asks.

If I could put on zero stars I would. 50 minute wait in a long queue. Couldn't understand why it took the team @ Goldcar so long until it was our turn. £95 car hired through a 3rd party. We have our top up insurance. Car booked in my husband s name. They WOULD NOT ACCEPT HIS CREDIT CARD AS IT HAD HIS INITIAL FOR FIRST NAME . They however were willing to do it if we purchased their all cover package. My husband decided to do that for 238 euro....against my wishes. However when my husband went to pay, the bill was nearly €500.for airport taxes and vat. We walked away and got a taxi. I would never use these people again. A total con. Please be aware we had just come off an international flight. Passport and drivers licence both available..Both photographic. You also have to place a pn number in for the deposit. Horrible start to our anniversary break ! Pay the extra and go to a reputable company

SCAM TECHNIQUE - CHECK INSIDE OF CAR AS WELL AS OUTSIDE

A few weeks ago, I hired a car from Goldcar for a couple of days, but when checking for damage, I noticed there were scratches to the wing mirror that were not mentioned on the damage form. I took photos and ensured they logged this before I left, but it seemed surprising that they had missed it, as it was obvious. I then used the car for only two days, and when I returned it, they opened the back door and claimed that some stains on the back seat were caused by me. It was just my partner and me the whole two days, so no one ever used the backseat or placed anything on it. It was clearly there from before and made me realise this is an easy way to charge people because they don't have to log damage to the inside of the car on the sheet and who checks a back seat if you’re not using it (not that they checked the exterior properly for damage first before renting it out either).

Needless to say, they've ignored me entirely, charged nearly 150 euros to my credit card, and I have no doubt they have no intention of ever responding. They even sent me a final statement note saying no money would be charged, but then charged me anyway.

They'll probably even use this same trick on someone else without ever cleaning it. This will be the last time I ever use them, and I encourage people to check the car inside and out with Goldcar.

Please also be aware that they intentionally lower their rates slightly more than other car companies at the airport, so you use their service, but then when you get to their counter, you can expect to wait 2 hours in a queue with dozens of people. I would recommend paying the tiny bit more and getting your car in 10mins instead.

Please do avoid them if you can.

Wouldn't accept a credit card with 4 months until expiry claiming it needs 6 months minimum. Said I couldn't pay the retainer fee on my credit card. The only way to hire the car was to pay a extra €721.00. already had insurance through AXA via easy jet. Plus already paid over £400 for the hire in the fist place. Left me my girlfriend and our 4 year old without a car for 10 days as we wasn't prepared to pay the extra. This was the 6th time getting a car from gold car and wise to the bully tactics so we walked away and got a taxi. Avoid at all costs if possible.

Absolute shambles!!
In the queue at Lisbon airport for an hour already and still waiting!
And I’m one of the lucky ones! The queue is just growing and growing!
If you can’t handle the bookings then don’t take them.
Joke!

I wouldn’t even give them one star.
They coerced my elderly husband to buy the most expensive insurance when he didn’t need or want it and then when he blew a tyre travelling from the airport he was left dangerously stranded by the side of a motorway in the dark. He tried to get through on the correct number to the 24 hour emergency service but he was repeatedly cut off and told the service was not available. Luckily a kind man took him home and back again to fix the tyre. This cost him 130 euros on top of the 240E insurance cover which they refused to refund.
I made a complaint and was told it was his fault he couldn’t access the service which is a lie. There’s no way of making a valid complaint. They are scamming vulnerable customers. Don’t use goldcar.

When picking up a paid for rental at Majorca Airport the desk told me that my credit cards, I tried 3 different ones, did not have sufficient credit limit to accept the holding fee of 2300euros, however I know my cads, in total had over £15000 limit, each one with more then 2300euros available on it. They were typing the credit card numbers into a computer not swiping them or letting me input the details so I had no way to prove they may not have been putting the correct details in. I took up my complaint with Holiday Autos on my return but to no avail. Shoddy underhand tactics and I will never use this company again or likely Holiday Autos for passing business to this company.

Avoid
Add extra insurance when u go to pick it up even though we had already paid to be fully comp
So it actually works out a more expensive rental
Than on our return we received an email pointing out dents and marks which they claim we did - clearly a con as we hardly used the car
We've always used car rentals in Spain and have never ever had any of these problems
Shocked and will never use this company again
Please use someone else

One star is to much! We booked and paid upfront for a small rental car from Madrid Airport Terminal 4.
we arrived from our flight and presented at the desk.
The gentleman soon attempted to sell me additional insurance to cover any damage excess for EUR150+ This we declined as we have a Swinton year round excess policy (£47!)that covers just that, his attitude turned aggressive as soon as he realised he would not be making a commission from us.
We drove the car for a week and returned it full of fuel and unmarked, the receiving agent agreed and we left on our way back to UK. 6 weeks later a charge by Goldcar for EUR231 appears on my credit card with out any notification, on enquiring it seems they found a chink in the rear wing of the car. No email,no check in document sent to my email and when i logged into my Goldcar customer portal 2 invoices were listed with the "print PDF" function disabled. Lodging a complaint with this corrupt company is really painful and my requests for a photo of the alleged damage go unheeded, however I have images that show no damage in the area they allege. They have effectually stolen EUR231 from my credit card . My Primary mistake, and something they took advantage of , was not demanding the "check back in" document be emailed immediately before leaving the garage.

Read reviews in ChatGPT, Google, TrustPilot and Tripadviser - nobody should rent from this corrupt operation and the corporate owners Europcar should be ashamed of these crooks.

Never again. I booked a car through a partner of Goldcar with premium insurance. When I arrived at the pick up location they (Goldcar) told me that the insurance I bought wasn’t applicable on the island. So I had the option of paying +- €1500 coverage fee or take an extra insurance of €285 (the car rental was €160 in total). A pure scam in my opinion. Won’t recommend it at all

Never book a car with Goldcar.
When we arrived at the Porto branch, it turned out that the car we had reserved wasn’t available (apparently this is completely normal for this company). So we had to rent a different car and pay for an expensive insurance. The replacement car had over 100,000 km on the odometer. After just one day, the engine warning light came on and the car barely had any power.
At that point, we were in the Douro Valley, quite far from Porto. They sent a tow truck, but made us wait for hours for a taxi back to Porto to pick up another car. They couldn’t even bring a replacement vehicle to us on site.
We lost an entire day of our holiday.
Total scam.

We have used Goldcar several times, purely because they tend to be the cheapest on-site car rental company, but the last 3 or 4 times have been bad experiences

Things that have happened are:

1. We were offered a reduced upgrade. Both times we declined we were given the keys to the most awful cars, high mileage, lots of damage, dirty and smelly

2. We take out our own excess insurance, much cheaper, but the last 4 times we have explained this we were aggressively told it was not good enough and strongly advised to take out their policy. They didn't look at my policy, so how would they know

3. Tolls in the Algarve are switched off. However, you must, by law take the transponder, should you ever venture out of the Algarve

4. The last two times, we have been presented for repair bills, even though the damage was already there. I have tried to explain this, but because I did not take photo's of every single damage, plus, all damage supposedly already recorded, I have to prove I did not cause the damage. I know I can challenge but a previous experience shows me I will not win and they take payment in advance so it's up to me to get it back

4. I once made the mistake of returning empty, not realising, no matter how much fuel is left (3/4's of a tank), you have to pay for a full tank, at premium, not forecourt rates. 92 EURO's for a Fiat 500

Exactly same as Tracey. Goldcar invent damage and advise you weeks after the return despite saying everything is ok.
Without any proof you caused damage they take money from your credit cart. THEFT??
Despite so many emails asking to see proof (if I caused it I will pay!) their standard response is ‘we have reviewed the evidence and you are liable’!! But don’t send you proof.
I WILL NEVER EVER EVER RENT FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN, I ADVISE TOU NOT TO EITHER. TTOO MANY PEOPLE REPORTING THIS ISSUE FOR IT NOT TO BE A COMPANY ENDORSED PRACTICE.

Picked up car from Faro airport for Easter holidays. Very scratched and bumped but we accepted that hire cars don’t get the best treatment. Car broke down after 3 days and although the car was picked up promptly, we had to go via taxi back to Faro airport (at Goldcar’s expense) to pick up a different car. Most inconvenient and they ripped us off for the petrol too. You’d think there wouldn’t have been any charge in the circumstances, never mind overcharging! The second car we were given was in even worse condition. The guy who handed over the car just gave it a cursory glance before giving us the keys. We took photos when picking up and dropping off car and even video’d the car on return, as it was out of hours. Received an email later that day confirming receipt and no charges incurred. THREE WEEKS LATER received further communications saying there was damage to the front bumper and we were being charged £83! Despite several emails over several days with photographic and video footage to disprove this, Goldcar said there was insufficient evidence and charged my credit card anyway. Absolutely disgraceful but frustratingly nothing you can do from a distance when they have your credit card details. Totally disgusted with this business and would never use again. HIGHLY DISCOURAGE ANYONE FROM USING GOLDCAR AT FARO AIRPORT based on our experience.

Big hassle at the desk, gave in and paid for an upgrade then they tried on the insurance, refused that eventually. First car they gave us covered in dents and scratches, carefully photographed everything, drove off - aircon didn't work. Brought it back had to go to the terminal, long process, got another car even more scratches and dents. took some photos but not enough it seems a month after returning it they produce a photo of a scratch on the bonnet and demand 155€ - turns out I didn't have a photo of the bonnet. Another fight by email.... Don't use this company, I won't ever use them again.