Europcar España Reviews 

Europcar Madrid Chamartin Estación is attempting to charge me €1,110 for 3 damages that were all pre-existing. I have already forced them to drop two false claims by producing a signed inspection report and photos they tried to ignore.

They have provided zero proof (no HD photos from collection, no independent expert report to certify the current claim, no final repair invoice) yet they maintain a predatory €1,110 charge. I have initiated formal arbitration with the Junta Arbitral de Madrid & ECRCS to expose these fraudulent practices.

Their own staff (Cristian) even admitted in writing they 'could not find' the damages I was being charged for before suddenly changing their story.

Truly a shameful way to treat customers.

I am writing to inquire about a recent charge of €264,39 that has been deducted from my credit card .
We are confused by this charge as toe rental for the vehicle has already been pais through EASY TERRA.
Europcar gave as a new car ! They offered us a different car for the same price and this was agerend upon verbally. Nou we have to pay the day and upgrade price and it,s being charges to out creditcard.

We feel CHEATed and SCAMMED. It is not fair.

We payed twice. For the same car.

No response of Europcar ……..

So do not book there

I have been a customer for over 20 years, primarily hiring vehicles in Alicante five or six times a year. I now feel that this loyalty has counted for nothing.
I believe I may have been the victim of a so‑called “scratch scam.” I have been charged €362 for a hairline scratch on the bonnet, visible only under torchlight, on a vehicle that already had significant existing damage. The car has been parked on my drive and in disabled parking spaces, I am always ultra careful.
I became aware of the charge only through my credit card statement. I have received no communication from Europcar, no invoice, and no supporting documentation. Despite successfully corresponding by email with me in the days prior to vehicle collection, my email address in the Europcar app now appears to be missing two letters, which has presumably prevented delivery of any correspondence.
In my view, this raises serious concerns regarding the logging of minor damage and the unexplained alteration of contact details. If this is coincidental, it is nonetheless troubling. This experience has left me questioning the company’s practices.

If I could give Europcar zero stars, I absolutely would.
This has been one of the most frustrating and stressful customer service experiences I’ve ever had. I already paid a parking fine directly to the authorities when I received the physical notice. I even went out of my way to contact Europcar, provided clear proof of payment, and was explicitly told: “We have received proof of payment, we will proceed to attach it to the file and to disregard any other emails on this.” Sounds resolved, right? Not even close.
Despite confirming everything was handled, Europcar still went ahead and charged me again for the same fine—just taking the money straight from my account as if the previous communication never happened. It’s not just an inconvenience; it’s completely unacceptable and feels incredibly careless, if not outright dishonest.
Now I’m left chasing a refund for a mistake that should never have happened in the first place. The lack of internal communication and basic competence here is staggering. Customers shouldn’t have to double-pay fines and then fight to get their own money back after doing everything correctly.
Avoid Europcar if you value your time, money, and peace of mind.

Not recomendet this company, then return the car, worker tell me that everything good. When i get the papers he wright that i delay on 2:30m and take from me a deposit.
Dont trust this company.

Absolutely a shambles of a company, it took 30
Mins to process collection of car despite doing everything online prior, drop there was no one there and they have no kiosk at Lanzarote airport, so far has taken over 20minutes to process drop off, will never use again

We hired a car from Malaga airport. Pick up took too long when staff were present and still took 20 mins. Car was not full of fuel as quoted and had multiple catches and dents. I asked for another and was told there weren’t any. When I got to the car it had 5 scratches on it that were not listed on the original list - bought it to 16 things! Took an hour to sort out before we finally left the airport. Tried to complain and it was dismissed. Will never use again.

I would strongly warn anyone against using Europcar based on my recent experience in Tenerife. What should have been a simple, prepaid car hire turned into an extremely frustrating and costly ordeal.
I had already paid in full (£89.07) for the rental through Enjoy Travel, with clear confirmation that no additional charges would be required at the counter. Despite this, Europcar later charged my American Express card an unexpected £399.63 without proper authorisation.
To make matters worse, these charges appear to include duplicate costs for services that were already prepaid. There was no transparency, no clear explanation, and no justification for billing me again.
The most concerning part of the experience was how the alleged “damage” was handled. I was presented with claims about minor marks on the seats—marks that are entirely consistent with normal wear and tear. The rear seats in question were never even used during my rental. At no point during pickup was I advised to document the interior condition of the vehicle, only the exterior.
At the time of return, I was uncomfortable with the situation and deliberately did not provide a valid signature agreeing to any damage charges. Despite this, Europcar proceeded to charge my card anyway, without my consent.
The so-called “damage” shown in their photos would require minimal cleaning at most and absolutely does not justify a charge of nearly £400. There was no fair or transparent process to assess or agree on these charges at the time.
Finally, after raising these concerns, Europcar simply stopped responding altogether. The complete lack of customer service and accountability is unacceptable.
In summary:
Unauthorised charges applied after a fully prepaid booking
Duplicate and incorrect billing
No valid agreement or signature for damage charges
Excessive and unjustified fees for minor wear and tear
Poor communication and complete lack of support
I would strongly advise others to avoid Europcar and choose a more transparent and customer-focused rental company. This experience has been stressful, unfair, and deeply disappointing.

europcar tenerife south
Fraud with additional insurance. I was offered extra insurance for €29.20 for the entire rental period. I agreed and paid in a single transaction: €350 deposit + €29.20 for the insurance. After the rental period ended, I received an invoice showing that €29.20 was charged for only one day of insurance. In total, the additional insurance cost me €204.40. The person at the airport counter deliberately misled me. This company are scammers just like most car rental services! Even in the bank transaction history, things are not clear. The transaction for €379.20 was removed from the history and replaced with another one for a smaller amount.

Absolutely shocking experience – avoid at all costs.

This has to be one of the biggest scams I’ve ever encountered. We were given a car that already had multiple scratches, including a huge black mark across the back. When we checked the paperwork, it mentioned a scratch on the rear bumper. Given how large and obvious this black mark was, we reasonably assumed this was the damage already recorded—there’s no way something that big could have been missed.

Before leaving, we even raised this concern with the lady at the front desk, who reassured us that we could take photos as our own evidence. We did exactly that, taking clear, timestamped pictures before even getting into the car.

After returning from what was otherwise a great trip, we were hit with a £164 charge for that exact same black mark. When we showed our photos as proof, we were told they were not acceptable because we “could have edited them.” Completely dismissive and frankly ridiculous.

The staff member we dealt with was unbelievably rude, showed zero sympathy, and had no interest in resolving the situation fairly. It’s no surprise that all the other rental companies were busy while this one was not.

First and last time using this company. I would never recommend them to anyone.

If I could give 0 I would! Given a car with multiple scratches and marks and then charged for that damage when returned. An absolute rip off, definitely a scam. Rude staff too. DO NOT USE!!

not returning DEPOSITS! NO REASON OR RESPONSE!

I was offered by their representative at Lanzarote Airport to buy extra insurance so that deposit would be not 500€ but 100€ and was told it will be refunded within 24 after car is returned. And you guessed it ! No Deposit, No nothing! Emails are ignored , classic behavior of car rental company! NEVER AGAIN!

UPDATE: Still nothing! Continue lying that deposit has been released! If you do not want to lose your money - do not work with them!

I received a traffic fine from Spain.
When paid during the first 20 days, you would get a 50% reduction. Europcar waited to pass on the fine for 25 days, so I had to pay over their service and pay their additional service fee.
seems fraudulent!

I've used Europcar before in other countries and had a good experience, but this was awful from start to finish. When we arrived to collect our car (pre-booked and pre-paid), we were told it wasn't ready, but that we could pay extra to have a better car which was available. This was a lie; when we refused to pay extra, it turned out that our originally booked car was in fact ready. We were then told that we needed to pay an 'airport supplement', but actually this was already included in our pre-paid price. Our car, when we got to it, was covered in scratches and bumps; the list of damage already there went onto two pages and we had to take about 20 photos. Unfortunately, we missed a tiny scratch on one of the wing mirrors which wasn't marked on the list of damage already there. When we returned the car, the attendant went straight to that wing mirror, pointed out the scratch, said 'new damage' and charged us - they didn't even bother looking at the rest of the car. It is obviously a deliberate scam. Avoid.

I booked a car by BOOKING for two days with a clear pick-up and drop-off time. Europcar Logroño gave me the car one hour earlier, without telling me that that changed the drop-off time too. At the drop-off time according to the contract with BOOKING I returned the car.
Not aware of their change in drop-off statement. Hours later (in my train to Madrid) I received their invoice for an extra rental day. They took it of my creditcard. They put a wrong drop-off time in the invoice (even an extra hour later than my actual drop-off time). I have proof of that wrong time (fuel payment at a gas station just 4 minutes away, time stamp on entry ticket of the parking garage where the drop-off was).
For an upgrade car I paid the 2-days costs by card at the pick-up time. In the invoice they charged me 3 days, although I already paid for 2.
Lots of e-mails later I was refunded for a part of the extra costs. I still have a loss of euros 60,--

I was referred to Europcar by Carla. But when I arrived at Madrid Airport they told me that I should switch to Goldcar for a much lower transborder fee to take the vehicle into Portugal. What they didn't tell me was that I would then incur other fees. I am still fighting them for 1. security deposit E79, 2. "Smart Return" x2 E24.72 although I returned the car with a tank filled to the brim and had washed the car the previous day.
3. "Cargo Fronterizo" they told me that this would only be E50 but later charged me E128.93
4. Mega Relax Cover E89.25. + GST They told me I had signed up for this cover but I never received any contact or information about it I had shown them my Australian insurance cover including AU$8.000 for collision, theft etc.

Hires a vehicle , wanted to charge extra for Skoda had reserved and would not give me the car I had booked . When returning they didn’t inspect it and they then sent me photos of damages that I did not do , no amount of back and forth made any difference.
I should have taken photo videos on collect , don’t trust this buisness . I’m very unhappy and will never use Europcar again globally

Europcar Malaga airport is a totally scam. Stay away from this company.
More than 3 months after I rented a car with them were I charged 40€ from my credit card without any explanation.

Me cobraron 40€ por no pagar una multa a través de su servicio de pago de multas donde me cobraban 12€ por la gestión.

We booked a Compact Elite car (BMW i118) and when we arrived with 2 big and 2 small suitcases the employee warned us that we would not be able to fit these into the trunk. He explained that we were required by law to pack ALL of them in the trunk and that none should be put onto the back seats. He also warned us that failure to do so could result in a fine of up to 10,000 euros.

I have done the research later and it turns out that the truth was very different. Firstly, the smaller suitcases could go onto the backseat, given they are secured by a seatbelt. The employee asked us about our plans and we explained that we were only going to go with all the luggage to one location and stay there for the entire trip. This means we could securely fit everything in for just the trips there and back. Secondly, if we did anything wrong, the fine would be either 80 or 200 euros, not 10,000. Either of these actual fines would be less than the extra amount we were made to pay.

All in all, we feel like we were taken advantage of and tricked into paying over double the initial booking amount. It's clear that bookings are more expensive at the location and time of pick-up, and we were made to feel like there was no other choice. Lastly, it was concerning to see that the employee started with most expensive cars first (60 euros/day), and only after some discussion shared that there is a cheaper option (15 euros/day), citing personal discounts.