Ripped off by Europcar

IceTry

Ripped off by Europcar UK with a made up tiny "scratch" on a tyre hub. Nasty, threatening staff - when I disagreed the man started making up other stuff, bumps, to frighten me. I see on "TrustPilot" there are scores of the worst stories, both at home and abroad about this company. But are there any better ones? I looked at Hertz and they seemed almost as bad in terms of reviews. Really, one should avoid hiring a car at all costs presumably since there are there no reputable car hire firms?

Moto2

There's always a disproportionate amount of negative reviews as people feel the need to vent a lot more than they feel the need to sit down and praise a company.

Caz3121

the hire companies work on the basis that you should check the car over before taking it out and they will compare it when you bring it back. You mention "made up" so was the scratch there or not? If so, it does not matter whether you did it or not, what will matter is whether it happened whilst the car is with you....eg you collected the car without it and returned it back with it
Do you have an excess policy that will cover this?...for 2 days an excess policy would cost you less than a fiver
I have used Europcar, Hertz and Alamo in the UK fairly regularly and have never been hit with any damage claims (I always check the car thoroughly before taking it away) but have an annual excess policy just in case
We did get hit by Alamo in the US. Picked up car and there was a deep scratch on the bonnet that was not listed, we found the employee and made sure he detailed the damage as we were taking back to different airport. When we took the car back, they took a copy of the damage report. About 2 months later we received a bill from Alamo for about $800 for the repair costs - I mailed them copies of the paperwork proving the damage was there before we collected the car and they apologised and closed the case

IceTry

Like I said, he added stuff that was impossible, on a whim, when I objected to his original claim. Clearly stuff that was already there, though I had not taken photos unfortunately. I was new to this game so simply trusted them and assumed they were reputable. Obviously I now know that you have to assume the worst. Agree that clearly customers will vent, but when you have a similar experience your first time, you do wonder. Worst of all, they have access to your credit card and can take the money at will - it is up to the customer to prove otherwise and go through a long wrangle of paperwork and possibly courts; what if it is something that is invisible that they claim. The point Caz made about what Alamo tried to do is a case in point. For many people $800 is maybe a tenth of their annual income, but it didn't stop the company trying it on. Obviously once bitten, twice shy - I would always get an excess policy in future and spend at least half an hour taking photos, making the guy check everything with me, and so on.