Europcar UK Reviews 

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.

1 star

I recently rented a car through Europcar at Rome Fiumicino Airport (Case No. 26497604) and the experience has been nothing short of disappointing from start to finish.

Upon arriving at the desk I was told by a member of staff that upgrading to a 7-seater vehicle would cost €331.16 in total for 4 days. Based on this, the upgrade made financial sense for our group and we agreed. What I was not told was that this figure would be added on top of my existing base rental charge, nor was a 5% airport surcharge mentioned at any point before I signed. The final invoice came to €522.29, significantly more than what was communicated verbally at the desk.

When I raised this with Europcar's customer service team, I had to chase six times over nearly seven weeks before receiving a resolution. The responses I received from Roberto in the customer service team were dismissive, repeatedly citing the signed rental agreement rather than acknowledging that what was verbally communicated did not match what was charged.

Despite acknowledging in writing that there may have been a misunderstanding at the rental desk, Europcar has refused to offer any refund, goodwill gesture, or even a voucher. For a company of this size, retaining a loyal customer over £200 should have been straightforward.

I will not be using Europcar again and will be ensuring that friends, family, and colleagues are aware of this experience when making their own car hire decisions.

I booked a 10 day car hire at Faro Airport, for what seemed a resonable price compared to the other operators in the airport. How wrong I was ! the reception confused me with additional surcharges, the insurance I was happy to pay for peace of mind, but the location premium charge is a total con @£115, safe to say I will not be using Europcar again as they are very expensive. I suggest people look to local operators for a better value product.

My credit card was wrongly charged, I have waited a month and still not received a refund.
My credit card was charged after hiring a car from Rome and dropping it off in Naples. We received no information on the charge, no invoice, no breakdown, nothing. When I emailed Europcar confirmed they had wrongly charged and will issue the refund within working days. I received no refund so emailed again chasing, they sent a screenshot of a failed payment but had I not questioned they would not have contacted me to tell me the payment had failed. I issued them additional information and I am still waiting for a refund. Now when I email they chasing the refund I do not received a response back. Awful company.

Would give no stars if could waist of a space company every time u book they call up saying they have no calls what a useless company

DO NOT USE EUROPCAR THIS SUMMER, OR EVER.

Charged me 1000 GBP for damages I did not do. I've never had any issues with Enterprise or Hertz - Please use a much better car rental company, I wish I had done my research and realised Europcar was voted by which, the worst car rental company for seeking damage claims.

I shared with them photos proving I did not do this damage, which they did not take into consideration. I asked from them photos of the car rental before it was taken out by me, and guess what?

THEY COULD NOT PROVIDE!!

I will never use this company ever again.

Do not forget valuables in the car!!

So, I left my phone in the rental car at Gatwick Airport South - I know I did (you know the find my app, right?). Despite calling them 3 times and speaking to humans explaining the situation, telling them my phone was in their car, they have not managed to get back to me within a whole week. Can you imagine how awful that is? Even my emails go unanswered. It cannot take that long to check a car - especially as you need to check it and clean it before you hand over to new customer. So, this review is for the extremely bad customer service. If I do not get a response soon, telling me they found my phone and that I can pick it up, they will get a second bad review for theft.

On returning a car to them from hire, a very small dent was noted on the boot lid, something I was unaware of and definitely not done by me. A few days later I was billed for £604 for a repair which would have cost around £100 I requested numerous times for an itemised bill but never received one, next I receive a demand from a debt recovery firm for the full amount plus £40 charge. I feel that I have been badly mistreated and would definitely not recommend this company.

I got a car parking ticket, Europcar wacked on a £50 “administrative fee” for sending it to me. And their phone service was extremely poor.

We had an awful experience with Europcar, and will book with Avis or Enterprise next time. We had to wait more than an hour at the airport (CDG, Paris) for the car, despite having booked in advance. The agents there are rude and aggressively try to sell you extra add ons which you don't need. The car they gave us was smaller than what we'd paid for, and the most basic model going. It was also dusty and covered in marks. They provided no drop-off instructions despite it being in a busy city-centre car park (Gard Du Nord), which made returning the car a really stressful and confusing experience. Finally, they charged us £80 for a tiny 2cm mark on the car, which was already there when we collected it. I will never use Europcar again - my experiences with other rental companies have been far better.