Hire car caution

[Emsie]

We arrived in Santiago and after searching ways to get back to Pamplona it worked out easier to hire a car . It would mean picking the car up from Santiago airport and leaving it at a hotel in Pamplona then we would cycle back over to our van in France . The company we used was Europcar .after paying for the hire of the car the company On collection take a extra €100 key deposit held on your credit card and inform you that the vehicle was to be returned with a full tank of fuel. The next morning just before we dropped the car off we filled the car to the brim and due to reading some bad reviews on trust pilot about this company we had the Europcar member of staff check the full gauge and sign the receipt from the petrol station showing how much fuel we had put in . The lady told us that everything was fine and our €100 key deposit would now be refunded. On our return home we noticed that on the same day we returned the car they had charged us €39 for fuel . After emailing and trying to phone Europcar we have not had a response. Today I have contacted my credit card company and forwarded copies of the fuel receipt and the 2 emails I sent Europcar and they will now start the process of reclaiming my deposit and the extra money they took supposedly for fuel . Just keep this in mind if your hiring a car from this company , that it’s worth keeping your receipts and also get a member of their staff to sign them . It may help you if you also find out they have done the same to you . Safe travels.

 

[DeansFamily]

Also an essential practice is to photograph everything (car panels, windscreen, interior, gauges, receipts and any damage, no matter how small) before driving off and before returning the keys at the end of the hire as dated photos are evidence to protect against disputes with the hire company.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

We arrived in Santiago and after searching ways to get back to Pamplona it worked out easier to hire a car . It would mean picking the car up from Santiago airport and leaving it at a hotel in Pamplona then we would cycle back over to our van in France . The company we used was Europcar .after paying for the hire of the car the company On collection take a extra €100 key deposit held on your credit card and inform you that the vehicle was to be returned with a full tank of fuel. The next morning just before we dropped the car off we filled the car to the brim and due to reading some bad reviews on trust pilot about this company we had the Europcar member of staff check the full gauge and sign the receipt from the petrol station showing how much fuel we had put in . The lady told us that everything was fine and our €100 key deposit would now be refunded. On our return home we noticed that on the same day we returned the car they had charged us €39 for fuel . After emailing and trying to phone Europcar we have not had a response. Today I have contacted my credit card company and forwarded copies of the fuel receipt and the 2 emails I sent Europcar and they will now start the process of reclaiming my deposit and the extra money they took supposedly for fuel . Just keep this in mind if your hiring a car from this company , that it’s worth keeping your receipts and also get a member of their staff to sign them . It may help you if you also find out they have done the same to you . Safe travels.

Also drop a line to Anna Tims at the Observer newspaper your.problems@observer.co.uk

They love stories like these and it's amazing how quickly a dispute is resolved once a national newspaper asks questions.

Good luck!

 

[Molly Cassidy]

I had the same issue years ago with one way car hire in the UK. In that case I had paid up front for a full tank of fuel, so was not required to fill the car before I returned it. As I was driving home for my own wedding, I was too busy with other things to get around to challenging it.

 

[KevinWilcox]

Also an essential practice is to photograph everything (car panels, windscreen, interior, gauges, receipts and any damage, no matter how small) before driving off and before returning the keys at the end of the hire as dated photos are evidence to protect against disputes with the hire company.

Do a walk around the car and video top to bottom. Don't forget the interior.

(And if you do damage the car, just be honest about it and avoid holding everyone up for no good reason).

 

[waynefraser]

I've rented cars in Madrid, Santiago, Ponferrada and Burgos and always been a great experience. Yes, took lots of pictures before and after the rental but never needed them.

 

[Molly Cassidy]

I've rented cars in Madrid, Santiago, Ponferrada and Burgos and always been a great experience. Yes, took lots of pictures before and after the rental but never needed them.

I also have good experiences of hiring cars in Spain, Portugal and Greece.

I think the danger is if you don't have personal contact on the return of the car, so mistakes can be made and you don't get the chance to query them.

When I did the one-way hire in the UK, I just left the car in the car park and dropped the keys in a box. If I had dealt with a human, I would, of course, have told them that I already paid for a full tank of fuel.

As it was, having driven from Lewisham (London) to Perth (Scotland) overnight, I just wanted to go home and rest for a few hours.

 

[waynefraser]

Wanted to add: That my 2023 Camino Frances, after a last minute flight cancellation, i drove from Madrid to San Sebastian, taxi to Hendaye, train to Biarritz. and a shuttle to SJPdP.... was an adventure but managed to make it in time for dinner in SJPDP Albergue

 

[Emsie]

Do a walk around the car and video top to bottom. Don't forget the interior.

(And if you do damage the car, just be honest about it and avoid holding everyone up for no good reason).

We did and took many photos inside and out . The extra charge they have made to our credit card was for fuel , which works out about 25 lt which is very strange as the car was filled to the brim a few hundred yards from where it was dropped off .

 

[Emsie]

I also have good experiences of hiring cars in Spain, Portugal and Greece.

I think the danger is if you don't have personal contact on the return of the car, so mistakes can be made and you don't get the chance to query them.

When I did the one-way hire in the UK, I just left the car in the car park and dropped the keys in a box. If I had dealt with a human, I would, of course, have told them that I already paid for a full tank of fuel.

As it was, having driven from Lewisham (London) to Perth (Scotland) overnight, I just wanted to go home and rest for a few hours.

We did hand the car back to an employee and also showed them the fuel gauge and had them sign the petrol station receipt as proof . All of which have now been forwarded to our credit card company to investigate. Having read many of the reviews on trust pilot it seems this is a common problem with this particular hire car company.

 

[KevinWilcox]

Fuel charge - fair point, this got lost in the thread. It might be that this particular franchisee is less than honest. I imagine you’ve left a poor review on trust pilot, hopefully that will get their attention, though if they do sharp practice like this they probably don’t care. On the other hand, I’m sure I’m not alone in checking reviews for almost everything these days and having a fairly high bar in terms of passing the reviews test. So europcar won’t be getting my custom when I next need to hire. Mind you, having just looked, they never would have passed the review test anyway - I don’t think I have ever seen any company with such a dreadful trustpilot rating.

On a positive note, Cassianos car hire in Madeira were very good when we went earlier this year, in case anyone’s headed there for a holiday.

 

[Flog]

Bear in mind, if the hire crowd has to put ANY fuel in the car prior to hiring it out again, they may have a minimum handling charge.. do check the fine print.

 

[davejsy]

I haven't hired a car since pre-covid, but even then the fuel situation was always a bit of a pain. Often you might not use a full tank so of course wouldn't want to pay for a full tank upfront, but the pain of having to find somewhere to fill it up near to drop off was often a hassle. Add to that how far you can drive from a petrol station before technically the car isn't full, and that he petrol stations next to airports tend to be more expensive. . . So most of the time I just used to pay upfront for piece of mind. I never had issues either way though including often with Europcar.

They should have another option of returning it at least half full, and you just pay for half upfront for me for me that's much easier and less open to the above issue.

 

[Emsie]

Bear in mind, if the hire crowd has to put ANY fuel in the car prior to hiring it out again, they may have a minimum handling charge.. do check the fine print.

The petrol station is literally right across the road from the hotel where the cars dropped off . It would not have used an egg cup full lol. . Like I said it’s an issue if many others on trust pilot have left reviews having had the same issue of not being paid back the deposit and being over charged for fuel .

 

[pjacobi]

I just read of a US case where a customer is disputing a gasoline/petrol refill surcharge in an all-electric Tesla. The rental card company has so-far refused to concede this is in error. The Tesla was returned with batteries charged to 96%.


-Paul