Europa

Booked through Auto Europe very easily and took my voucher to the depot at Valencia Airport. Pick up was easy, paid for my fuel and a booster seat, received car in clean condition although bodywork was damaged and dented, and went on my way.

On return just drove up and handed over the keys. However after I had cleared security back at the airport my credit card company was contacting me about a huge request for funds from Europa Goldcar. I contacted the Valencia depot and was told that significant damage had been done to the car (the underside apparently, conveniently the only part of the car not covered by the insurance package I paid for) and I was being billed for repairs. Because the vehicle was inspected by their staff before and after the rental period without me being present I didn't have a leg to stand on.

I treated the vehicle like it was my own. I would advise travellers intending to use the Valencia Airport depot of Europa Goldcar to make sure the vehicle they rent is inspected by the Goldcar mechanic in their presence before and after their rental period to avoid this.

I would strongly advise against using this company. We booked car hire through Carjet and were allocated this rental company. On arrival we were told that the car wasn't available, even though we had booked in advance and notified the company of our flight details. We were asked if we wanted to pay more for an alternative car which we declined. Finally after waiting around for about 45 minutes a car was provided.

However the car had no spare tyre - we only discovered this when we had a flat on a mountain road. We tried to call the helpline number for about an hour but couldn't get through. Fortunately the office was still open - we called their number and were put through to the helpline. We were told that someone would be out within an hour, but no one arrived and we called again. This went on and on, costing more and more (we only had a mobile and the international rates are exorbitant). Eventually after about 3-4 hours, a tow truck arrived and took us back to our accommodation. We were told that we would be able to claim compensation but I have tried emailing customer services at Goldcar and have had no response to my 4 emails.

The car was pre-booked online. The charge quoted was 105 Euros, on arrival in Malaga we queued for two hours and 40 minutes to be told by the operator that, the queues are always like this! The counter staff changed several times whilst we were waiting, at times only one person was dealing with the queue. The company had clearly made no contingencies for a situation they knew was going to occur and seemed happy for people to wait this ridiculous amount of time. The queue actually grew even longer whilst we were waiting, by the time we were served, it stretched back up the ramp into the arrivals hall, if you know Malaga airport you will know how far this is! We were charged 41 Euros for a full tank of fuel, even though by the time we returned the car we had used less than a quarter of a tank. There was no discount offered. We were also charged for additional insurance for tires etc. costing 16 Euros. Again, this was not mentioned at the time of booking. The total cost of the car was 168 Euros, quite an amount more than originally quoted. This company is clearly ripping people off, misquoting them and making them wait ridiculous amounts of time to collect their cars. I would not recommend this company to an enemy, let alone somebody whom I liked! All in all Europa are a rubbish company and offer rubbish service, avoid!

Poor service has ensured we will never use them again.

Europa tried to give us a Merc A class we ordered a Ford Focus eventually got an Alfa Romeo 147. Very good car service after this very good we unfortunately burst a tyre, but they said get fixed and we will refund you when you bring the car back. True to their word they did, will use again.

Hired a car from Europa at Palma Airport, Focus Diesel and charged an extra 60 Euros for a full tank and told to return it empty. After being laid up with food poisoning for 3 days, we hardly used the car and on returning to the A/port I requested a refund for the fuel as the tank was still more than half full. I would have settled for 30 Euros. However there was no refund even though I pointed out to them that we had come to Mallorca to walk in the mountains, not to drive around the island every day trying to empty the fuel tank!

45 minutes wait at Europa collection desk at Murcia Airport to get car.

Car in dirty condition internally and externally.

Had to put oil in after 10 days and only about 200 miles. Was assured cost would be reimbursed when returning car but conveniently for them when trying to do so they could not get access to my information on the computer. I gave up!!

There were also two other complaining customers beside me at the desk one of whom was demanding a refund and refusing to accept the offered car.

Son in law had to wait an hour to get his car, operator on the desk kept going to answer telephone. Was told that the car had done high mileage and the bodywork was scratched and when protesting they said what do you expect, we are the cheapest. Promised child seat was not with car and returned to desk and the one supplied was a baby seat dumped on ground beside car, we helped ourselves to the right seat (hope it belonged to that company!).

Would not recommend this company to anyone!!Would not recommend nor use again.

I used this company at Majorca, picking up and dropping off the car at the airport. One very noticeable thing was that when collecting the car at the airport, their desk, out of all the car hire companies, was the only one with any customers at it! They gave me a very nice, brand new Ford Focus 1.6 5dr, which was just what I was expecting. I also got a free booster seat and free second driver.

Unfortunately, the same very nice new car got badly scraped and dented within 48 hours when parked in a side road outside our hotel, so I was expecting to have to do some explaining when handing it back. Nothing of the sort. I handed the keys back and said that it had got damaged and the lady just said no problem. No one even looked at it, let alone check that i'd actually returned it!

Don't give any Europa or any car hire a signed slip for any collision excess (although I think you'll struggle to get them to trust you). We've learnt the hard way never again. We may end up paying twice.