Europcar Reviews 

We booked a vehicle a few months in advance at the Christchurch Airport for the duration of 6 days. It was confirmed the day before for a total of $440. Once we arrived from our flight we were greeted by the lady at the desk telling us they don’t have the car and wanted to give us different car and then tried to charge us $860. It was unbelievable she did it with a straight face. We immediately walked to Ezi rental and got a car for $360 including insurance.

I’m now getting slammed with emails from Europcar telling me I’m a prestigious member and asking for me to leave a review. So here it is. DO NOT USE THEM.

Yesterday I had a crash and AA insurance sorted a rental vehicle via Europ Cars. I arrived at the airport and there was an issue with paperwork, Manesh (sorry if name spelt wrong) managed to resolve it after not giving up on working with AA and also upgraded the car for me so my children and I (all very tall) can safely fit in the car and I can continue my work. Much appreciated! The man! 5 stars all day!

Will never use this company again. Company is a scam taking multiple payments.
Booked through a third party.
Person manning the booth turned up 20 minutes late for pick up, and then charged me a $200 bond that was not stated as a charge when booked.
Drop off went fine, then I was charged again for the rental. When I called they said that they will reverse the initial hold. As of now I have paid for the car rental twice and had a $200 bond.

The worse. Do not use Europcar. They charged me an incorrect administrative fee for a parking ticket (which was also incorrect). After finally getting a refund from them, they then promptly charged me again. I see from other reviews this has happened to others. I am now locked in a doom loop of emails, their assurances that it will be paid, no payment further emails etc. Terrible customer service.

Be extremely careful hiring from these guys and expect to get ripped off if anything goes wrong with overseas customer service that will not listen or hold anyone accountable. We are still waiting for our refund from this company. We hired a car 1 way to new plymouth to find there is no drop off location so we got charged a relocation fee to palmerston. The wellington team did not show us any paperwork despite us asking and zoomed into signature box. We received this days later after rerequesting. We were reassured this drop off location was fine after double checking and no mention of $500 one way fee. Turns out paperwork said return hire to wellington which was admitted to be wellington staffs mistake and manager said he would resolve a refund for part of relocation fee. This was after the wellington team had told the overseas customer services it was not their fault. Unfortunately this manager avoided our calls and caused us so much stress we had to walk away. The dealings have been disappointing, leaving us overcharged and hurt, a very different experience to the many great experiences in Europe. We would love to continue to use this company but without honest dealings and resolution we will be sadly using your competitors.

I have just arrived at Auckland Airport and I have been waiting for over30 minutes in a line of 8 customers. One rep behind the counter trying to do his best. Other rental companies seem to have no lines and plenty of staff. There is your first clue. I said to the guy to call for help but fell on deaf ears. Poor service. Really unhappy. This is no way to treat customers.

My AA Insurance company set me up with a rental car through Europcar and when I got there they didn’t give me the car that I was advised I was getting.
Unfortunately I had an accident in the car which I immediately rang them to get a very unhelpful woman who didn’t even action anything or make a note. Three days later I get a message from the people whose house the car had been parked outside of saying the car was still there. I had to arrange and pay to have the car towed back to the airport.
I have emailed and rang this company several times to sort this out ….considering they charged for the premium insurance…. and they haven’t dealt with the insurance company of the other car in the accident.
I am now being threatened with $43500.00 bill for the other car 5 months later.

AVOID.
Got car rental at a great price during a Black Friday special.
However, when we returned home, they billed us the full amount.
Please be aware that car rental companies can process credit car payments via "transactions".
Which means that they can change the final price at their own discretion even though you
entered a PIN at a credit card terminal for a different amount.
Contacted Europcar they claimed that we accepted the amount because we signed their rental agreement.
They also claimed they could change the amount because we returned the car 2 hours early (yes early)
AVOID THESE LYING THIEVES.

We had a very bad experience at Brisbane airport. I booked online and received a guaranteed rate. The person at customer service then charged us nearly double as he added many extras without asking us, e.g. insurance, windscreen cover, etc. We specifically did not want any of this as we had travel insurance. When we queried why he charged us for all the extras that we did not ask for instead of charging us as per our guaranteed price booking/reservation - he said he cannot help and told us to call the customer service help line. We talked to someone on the phone who said they can't help we need to talk to the person at the counter. After multiple requests the person at the counter eventually voided the contract that he had messed up and issued a new one. He said the new one will not be at the rate promised with my original booking because that booking was now voided. I told him it was voided due to his error. He didn't care, just shrugged his shoulders. We were charged for both then went on to have 3 long phone conversations just to get a refund which made for a stressful holiday. One of the worst experiences we've had with any company ever.

A total bloody rip off. Overcharged but was limited to europcar on the time of booking. Useless staff who miss sold insurance. Stone chip in the windscreen and they want another $1100. DO NOT Rent from these C...S

Failed to provide vehicle as contracted. No solution offered. Group of Senior citizens abandoned at Auckland Airport - No response from CEO when complaint was filed and unsatisfied at local level.

Please feel free to contact me for more details.

Great customer service in Dunedin with the guy on the counter. Efficient and friendly. The opposite was the case in Nelson unfortunately. Our customer service experience with the female staff member that greeted us was awful. She was unpleasant and made us feel like a huge inconvenience. She definitely should not be in a customer service job. To top it off she put our return time an hour later than we actually returned the car so we were charged for an extra day. This meant we had to take the time to call and get this sorted.

Rented an electric car from Auckland airport, car wasn't ready when we arrived. The car was returned late, I can understand that wasn't their fault however, it was how they handled it after that which I am completely frustrated about.

They told us it would be 20 mins, we waited 2 hours (lie No.1). They kept telling us to wait in the car park, it would be 2 mins, 2 mins - after an hour you start to realise that they don't know the car is. When we finally received the car it wasn't charged, I stated they give us a discount to cover the cost of charging, they told us that charging in NZ is free (it's not - lie No.2).

They agreed to give $60 as a 'discount', I said it's not a discount, it's simply covering the cost of what you should have supplied in the first place. Car was supposed to have cables for charging, it didn't (lie No. 3). They asked if we needed a second driver added to the car, we asked if there was a fee - they said no (lie No.4) as I've just received the invoice and there is a charge.

Turns out they dropped the car to the domestic terminal, not international where we were waiting to collect it. The entire place appears to be run by children. I will admit that the manager who came to apologise was trying his best however, he also stated that he would look into the invoice to see what else he could take off as a gesture of goodwill to apologise for our excessive wait - the invoice has no discount applied, it actually has additional charges (lie No 5).

I just called to speak to a customer service person to ask to have the additional driver charge removed, she has put me on hold several times and now I've been cut off.

All in all, we will NEVER rent from them again.

Rented an electric car. There were no cables when i went to charge it. Phoned europcar; national call centre couldn’t arrange to get cables to me, and couldn’t get hold of airport office. I could go no further as only had enough charge to get back to airport. Didn’t get it sorted for the entire 5 days of booking. When i returned car, they said they were unable to credit me for the days i was unable to use car; all billing was done by corporate. Corporate charged full amount. Responded to my complaint by resending a copy of the invoice and then didn’t respond at all. Truly cynical contemptuous corporate behaviour staffed by powerless underlings.

Not even one star! Waited one hour to find out the hybrid car I’d specifically booked wasn’t available. As I was going to remote area for three days full electric didn’t suit. Never experienced such bad service. Would never consider this company again

Waiting 45 minutes to collect the car and still not served.

Each person takes 20 or more minutes to serve and would never use this service again. Everyone has to have all their details manually entered into the computer.
No word or communication about why. They are allowing people to queue jump.
Only one staff member.
I booked Europe car this trip because I wanted to get going quickly and their desk is right outside the terminal.
Next time I’ll just go with my usual budget rental company which has to bus you further out to get car - would be a damn sight faster.
V disappointed.

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the cancellation of my car rental booking with Europ car Christchurch. This booking was for a one-way trip from Christchurch to Queenstown on December 27, 2023.
My booking was confirmed on December 10th, 2023, and I received no prior communication regarding potential challenges with vehicle availability. However, on the evening of December 26th, just hours before my scheduled pick-up, I received a phone call from the Europcar Christchurch branch informing me that my booking had been canceled due to "most of the cars coming back damaged" and a lack of available replacements.
I find this explanation highly questionable. My booking was confirmed well in advance and I cannot believe that such a large number of vehicles could unexpectedly return damaged within such a short timeframe. I find the statement about "most cars coming back damaged" highly improbable and unsubstantiated.
Further adding to my frustration, I later received the following email from Europcar:
We are sorry to learn that your travel plans have changed and that you had to cancel your car rental reservation. We would like to confirm that your reservation has been successfully cancelled.
It is stating that my booking was canceled due to my "changed travel plans." This blatant misrepresentation of the situation is unprofessional and disrespectful. I did not cancel my booking, This is completely inaccurate and misleading. My travel plans remained unchanged, and the cancellation was initiated by Europcar.
This entire experience has been a major inconvenience and disruption to my travel plans. I had made arrangements and commitments based on the confirmed booking, and the last-minute cancellation has caused considerable stress and difficulty, and additional expenses incurred due to securing alternative transportation.
The lack of transparency and unprofessional communication from Europcar is deeply disappointing. Cancelling a confirmed booking without prior explanation is unacceptable.

Auckland Airport…Experience was running smoothly until I returned the vehicle. Was approached by a vulgar female staff member, with the most unpleasant attitude. I paid a deposit on arrival, and when doing so, I was told I would receive the deposit back on return. I asked her about the process for my deposit. Immediately she become aggressive and wasn’t prepared to offer any clarity. She told me she couldn’t be bothered dealing with me & told me to wait outside & threatened to call security & police as I refused to leave without some form of confirmation. This franchise & its staff seems to be of Indian decent, Their abruptness and dishonesty makes you so angry. Like a lot of others who have encountered these horrible human beings, I have now learnt to look at reviews before purchasing !!!

Terrible company to deal with as a third party that was involved in an accident with their client (renter). Don't bother purchasing insurance with them if you are renting a car as they don't pay out and it's up to you as the renter whether you want to claim or not, even if you damage a third party car that was your fault. Renter even admitted an accident happened and how it happened, photos of damage to both vehicles involved sent in, but apparently no damage to their car (renter either touched it up before return or Europcar don't want to admit damage on return and photo's clearly show there WAS damage to both vehicles!) and renter claims not liable even though there is significant evidence they are liable and legal authorities have stated renter is 100% at fault.

Great for renters who are involved in an accident and at fault.. just say your not liable and Europcar will back you all the way so they don't have to pay out

Call centre staff are also useless and rude, no compassion and accused of lying!