Europcar - watch out for cons

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Europcar Ireland - www.europcar.ie
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Sullivanlc56's review of Europcar Ireland - www.europcar.ie

“Europcar - watch out for cons”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Sullivanlc56 on 09/06/2014

We got a fantastic deal through Argus by searching and booking and paying in full - basically qualified for early bird special. We got the car we wanted - a large family auto transmission with plenty of boot space and the second driver for free - at a reasonable price given the value of the dollar against the pound. We were also able to book one way car hire, pick up in Heathrow and drop off in Edinburgh.
Sadly this deal was with a car provided by Europcar. When we arrived at the Europcar pick up office at Heathrow the queue to pick up cars was out the door. They operate using an automated number system- you print off a number then wait your turn regardless of the arranged pick up time on your car hire documentation. We finally got up to the desk to complete our paperwork over an hour after our pick up time which had arrived early for. We were served by a trainee who was not an English native speaker. We were advised that the car we had booked and paid for through Argus - a Ford Mondeo sedan - was not available and that for only 50.00 pound more - which we took to be a one off fee from the way the young lady spoke - we could have a BME of equal size, boot space etc. We did not want to agree to this without seeing the car so at the young lady's suggestion we went out to look at the car she was referring to. It was just as she described however I was concerned about the scratches on the back bumper and felt the boot space was not adequate for our luggage. She then suggested that we could have a brand new Mercedes for the 50 pound extra - we had to look at the car before we could accept. By this time we had been waiting for 2 hrs to pick up our car and agreed this would be fine. We were taken back in to the desk only to be told that the young lady had made a mistake and that prestige vehicles could not be hired out on one way travel unless a 100 pound was paid. We said this was unacceptable and that we just wanted the car that we had booked and paid for. At this point the manager took over and said he would sort it. He found us a vehicle - it was an older model BMW I believe, we were not asked to view this vehicle just told it met the original criteria. We were asked to provide our credit card details for security - I pointed out that we had already paid for the car hire but was told this was a security deposit. We were told that we either had to pay a non refundable fee or provide our credit card for security. I said that we didn't need excess insurance because we already had this covered by our travel insurance. The manager said this was for the security bond not insurance. By this time we were tired, worn out and nearly three hours late for a family reunion. We handed over the card and signed the documentation.
We left the airport in the car they had assigned to us. On the drive our to West Byfleet from Heathrow I had time to read the documentation. I realised that we had signed for a security bond of over $2000 and on top of that they were going to charge us 50 pound a day extra for the car they had assigned us. I rang Europcar as we were driving and after being placed on hold, transferred numerous times and finally getting someone to speak to I was told that yes an amount of over $3000 had been authorised against my credit card, including a 50 pound a day fee for an upgrade. I stated that I wanted this stopped - they said the only way this could be altered was for us to return to Heathrow and sort it out with the staff at the pick up point. We had to turn around (we had reached West Byfleet) and go back to the pick up point. Once there I ignored all instructions to 'take a number' and demanded to see the manager. I was able to get the 50 pound a day extra taken off but we had to change cars yet again - we were given an older model Mercedes station wagon, not the type of vehicle we had selected at all. We still had to pay over 70 pound for the fuel. We were not able to have the security bond removed - they hold this amount against your car until you return it - which remained the same amount. We also found out that if they deemed damage had occurred they would deduct any costs they saw fit from this security bond and leave it up to us to try and claim this back from our insurance. Fortunately no damage was incurred and we finally got our money back three days after the return of the car which we had for 3 weeks. Make sure if you intend to rent a car a) that you have a credit card b) can afford to have a sizable amount held against it, that you don't need to spend whilst on your holiday.
I would say that our experience is probably typical of many car hire companies; however we hired a car from Green Motion for the first 3 weeks of this trip on our original arrival in UK. This company were a delight. Reasonable prices, no lengthy waits, personalised service, the car we paid for - a Ford Mondeo, a 250 pound security bond held against our credit card and the ability to pay 20 pound cash for fuel up front regardless of the amount of fuel in the tank on its return. The only reason we were unable to use them again for the second half of our trip is because they don't have a drop off location in Edinburgh. Green Motion is the car hire company I would recommend if hiring in the UK if you can pick up and drop off at Heathrow. Only other downside with them is that you have to get on a bus to their pick up location and it costs about 4 pound per person for the trip - not a very long journey but it might annoy some people.
We also used Hertz in Ireland and had no problems with them. However avoid Europcar at all costs even if it means not using Argus car hire

  • 1st May 2014

    Date of hire (month/year)

  • UK - Heathrow Airport

    Country & City of hire

  • Excellent

    Condition of vehicle

  • Poor

    Choice of vehicles

  • Customer Service

  • Value For Money

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Somearesothick's Comment

Written on: 17/06/2014

Green Motion £20.00 for a tank of fuel ehh??? no wonder they went bust!!!!

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