Europcar

Pros: Check in and out was easy.
Cons: Car was damaged. Charged almost triple what I was quoted.

Rented in Kerry County Ireland. Car had damage to rear corner but I mad sure it was annotated on checkout. The problem was that I was quoted 79 Euro for a week through Expedia and had reserved it at that rate. At checkout, the rate was NOT written on the rental contract. No amount anywhere. I asked and they said they don't put it on there, that it's as per the reservation.... sounds suspicious. I checked it back in no problem, but the amount that just showed on my credit card is 220 Euros. That's 178 percent more than the quote. There are no extra fees they could possibly legally justify for that! And there's not even a contact number on the contract. I haven't been able to contact them yet. And Expedia blew me off and said it's my problem. Next is the credit card dispute....

Pros: Usually good cars.
Cons: Desk service reasonably good and efficient. Customer service not only inefficient, they are dishonest.

Rented a car in Great Britain for two weeks during which we incurred a speeding fine. Europcar passed this speeding notice on with warning that £27 would be removed from our credit card for "reasonable administration fee". We dealt with the speeding fine and protested to Europcar that £27 was not a reasonable fee for posting a letter and not authorised to be debited to our card. Europcar not only debited our card, but debited an amount of £34, not £27. Replies to our letters to Marie Barrie in Customer Service took over a month to arrive and were posted in the Netherlands!

Pros: I suppose they did actually give me a car, so that has to be good.
Cons: Weasels...100% weasels.

Rented a car in Los Cabos in June, 2008. The biggest problem I had is that they charged over $540 for a one week rental that should have only been $340. They claimed that my bank's conversion of Pesos to Dollars was the reason for the extra charge, though the trip booked through Expedia was charged in dollars.

When we showed up to get the car, we had a reservation for an automatic, but they immediately started putting our luggage in a manual, I assume so we would feel it was too late to say anything. They then tried the same thing with the next renters.

Lastly, when we got in the car the fuel guage was at around 3/4 full, but the paperwork we were given showed full. The guy quickly scribbled on our sheet in pen the proper amount, but only on our copy.

As for the car itself, it was great, though not washed when we got it (not a big deal).

Pros: Easy to make reservations.
Cons: Staff is untrained and doesn't know policies.

Avoid Eurocar in Ireland. Car rented from Dublin returned in Galway. Drop-off fee was added to my final bill even though Galway agent assured me it would not. Requests to correct error were ignored. Credit card challenge was also unsuccessful.

Pros: None
Cons: all of the above

We recently rented a car for 6 days at a cost of 361 euros, when we returned the car, we were told we had driven it with the hand brake on. We had an automatic, I never us an hand brake!. Under emotional stress I paid the bill to discover later that they had billed me not only for One Brake Shoe but also two new tires. At this time I have had no satisfaction from their office. Not sure what to do now, but a 6 day car rental has now cost over $1000
Beware, Beware, certainly no customer service there at all

Pros: easy checkout
Cons: outlandish markups , dishonest , rude

My wife and I confirmed and rented a vehicle thru Europcar Montreal with unlimited milage. After returning the veicle in perfect condition and ahead of the scheduled time Europcars agent told us he had assessed an over milage fee of over $150 stating that we didnt have unlimited miles. Although the agent and Europcar knew of where we were to go and that we had confirmed an unlimited milage agreement they had changed the contract to specify a limited milage of 200 km / day. This company is dishonest and sneaky, they will attempt to add costs at every opportunity (we watched two other very upset customers return their vehicles and argue the charges in just one hour of waiting!). Beware of this company!

Pros: None.
Cons: Extremely poor customer service.

My girlfriend and I live in Marburg, Germany and traveled to the Czech Republic for a week. Europcar was the only subsidiary of Auto Europe who would rent us a car that we could take to the Czech Republic.

We needed to bring it back on a Sunday, and were told to leave the key in the drop box. When we returned, we filled the gas tank, parked the car in the spot we were told and dropped the key in the box.

Several days later, my girlfriend receive a 66 Euro bill from Europcar (already charged to her credit card) saying that the car wasn't returned until Wednesday.

After several emails, phone calls, faxes (including the gas station receipt), we still haven't received the 66 Euro back.

We have spoken with a couple other people in Marburg who have had similar experiences with Europcar.

Buyer, beware.

Pros: aaah, no
Cons: misinformation en disinterested, rude staff

We reserved a car for a week in june 2008 and payed for it in advance, we had an invoice which stated 'fully paid' including insurance. When we arrived in Malaga we had to pay for a full tank (you're supposed to return it empty, ever try that?) and 47 euros for what they called 'excess', since we had already payed insurance.
Well, excess is exactly right, we payed nearly 200 euro for a small Kia for one week in the end. We called Europcar in the Netherlands to protest, they would not let us talk and said they didn't care if we never did business with them again. Nice attitude Europcar.. it was a unpleasant start to the holiday, so I guess we're all agreed we'll use another firm next time.

Pros: Nil
Cons: Poor vehicle, no service, don't care whether the vehicle is functioning or not

We rented an SUV from Europcar in Costa Rica because we mistakenly understood that they were a reputable company. The SUV was no cheaper than the other big name brands. Yet, the car was in poor state. Pieces of the door were loose or missing. The car stalled periodically. The speedometer worked occasionally, and the check engine light came on for periods. The spare tire was completely flat. When we raised the lack of speedometer, they said it works sometimes - what does it matter?

Add to this - inadequate service. They did not answer the 24 hour numbers or emergency numbers that we tried when the check engine light stayed on. Previously we used Hertz in Costa Rica. We should have used Hertz again.

Pros: Nice clean car in good condition. Speedy service outgoing and on return.
Cons: Premium company hence more expensive than the average. Regular customers get same service as casuals.

I prepaid on the Internet for a 1 week EUROPCAR rental from Mahon (Menorca) Airport recently. The agent completing the contract at the airport asked if I wanted the additional insurance to cover any excess over the normal CDW cover. I said NO but he PUT IT ON THE CONTRACT ANYWAY. When he presented the printed contract he did not follow normal policy and run through the charges but just asked me to sign in 3 places. Like a fool I did. I've rented from them before and been happy so I had no real reason to question things. When I returned the car I was charged an extra Euro 111 for Super LDW insurance. The whole week's rental of a Merc A180 cost me an astonishing GBP 236 - MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NORMAL COST from most renters. Europcar will not accept any fault on their agent's part and I'm not going to get a refund. So, just be careful; I know I will be in future. Some agents may be on the make for extra commission. Make them take you through the contract before you sign. Of course I'm never going to rent from them again.

Pros: Price too good to be true.
Cons: I got duped.

I rented a Europcar at Toronto, CA. Found out next day the car belonged to Advantage Co. with 63500 km. on it and
out of order cruise control, rear window wiper didn't work,
right rear view mirror kept moving outward. The office open time was 6:00 a.m. according to the Ad. but staff came to work at 7:00 a.m. and I had to leave the car and key to hotel
next door to catch early flight. Also windshield wiper blades
needed change. My incoming flight was late, I had paid in advance to get discount and I got , well, what I paid for.
I sent comment to the company and have never heard an
answer, only message " We will be in touch with you shortly".
On the contract it specified Europcar with 6000+ km.

Pros: Dependable, reliable, customer oriented
Cons: All rental car outfits are expensive but they are still less expensive than others

My experience with EuropCar in Brussels has been excellent: courteous employees, impeccable cars, price/conditions as agreed, even upgrades once in a while.

One time my flight from Washington was delayed. I had called to tell them my plane would be delayed and that we were supposed to arrive at 9:30PM instead of 7:00AM. In fact we arrived past 11:30PM on a Sunday evening.

When I and other passengers raced to the car rental hall... all were closed...Hertz, Avis, ... all of them EXCEPT EuropCar, the lone Europcar employee had waited for me her ONLY client after 9:00PM and it was then 11:50PM.

To understand how grateful I was, realize that I had to drive 2 hours to go to my final destination and other plans for the following day. I sped off while other jet lagged passengers stood around wondering where to spend the night, what to do about their plans.

Recently I switched to TC-Location because their price is much lower. After an extremely bad and costly experience and unbelievable business practices, I am going back to EuropCar. They are worth every penny.

Pros: none
Cons: has a new set of policies that do not exist anywhere

We recently booked a car online to be picked up at the Jerusalem office.Upon pick up they refused to rent me us car since my Australian license didnt have an issue date just a expiration,and i have no proof of having driven for at least 2 years.Following that, my wife who had a New York license which has an issue date was also refused rental since her issue date was within 2 years.The issue date of the license is the date of when the current license was issued and not when you received your first license when you start your driving career.After receiving a letter from the license agency which states that i had been driving for more than 2 years was i permitted to rent the car.Since i was 22 i was told that i have to pay a $10 under age fee per day,even though my contract stated 21 years minimum.

Pros: Can't think of any
Cons: You could be out of pocket for a considerably more than the original rental.

I rented a Europcar van in Sydney last year taking out the waiver cover highly recommended by the staff member on duty.I had a minor accident doing slight damage to another car, but no damage to the van which had a steel platform at the back of it. On returning the van I filled out the appropriate forms explaining the accident and paid the required excess of $350. The truck was inspected and no mention made of any damage and I was not told that I had in any way breached the terms of the policy.
Have you guessed it? Not only have I had to pay the entire cost of the repairs to the other vehicle ( I allegedly breached my rental agreement) but they have kept my $350 excess for repairs to the truck. No invoices, emails never replied to. Can't even get a copy of the original rental agreement or insurance policy.
If I can prevent one other person being ripped off by this company I will feel something good has come from this sorry tale.

Pros: Inexpensive (half what Avis and Hertz quoted) and flexible with good cars. No drop-off charge.
Cons: Make sure you know their hours of operations and avoid their CDW coverage.

We did a Cruise from Venice to Barcelona on Celebrity, stayed 3 days in Barcelona, then rented a car to drive to Malaga over the next 3 weeks. We took a taxi from our hotel in Las Ramblas to their downtown office, making sure to arrive during Spanish working hours. They were very pleasant. Our rate was for a VW Golf diesel. We discovered that out luggage would not fit under the privacy cover of the Golf. They upgraded us to a Peugeot 307 diesel. Very nice quiet car with a smooth 5-speed. Effective climate control AC. We had checked what CDW would cost before booking and determined that we needed to add CDW coverage to our credit card before heading over there (we had been stung by excessive CDW charges by Europcar in Toronto!).

Checkin in Malaga was efficient and close to the airport. Total cost from 10/15 to 11/2 was 169 Euros. We racked up over 1500 km and spent 150 Euros on gas.