Europcar France Reviews 

I am submitting a complaint against Europcar regarding unfair and disproportionate charges applied to a three-day rental in France.

Europcar charged me €110 in administrative fees (€55 x 2) for two unpaid motorway toll events, despite these not being traffic or driving offences. Europcar’s role was limited to forwarding my contact details to the toll operator (SANEF). No evidence of actual costs incurred has been provided, nor copies of official notices. I was also not given the opportunity to settle the tolls directly before these fees were applied.

Although Europcar relies on a clause in its Terms and Conditions, consumer protection law requires such fees to be proportionate and reflective of real costs. A fixed €55 charge per toll event is excessive and appears punitive rather than administrative.

In addition, I was charged €176 at the rental counter for Premium Protection Package, Roadside Assistance and other extras despite already having full coverage via Booking.com. We explicitly informed the Europcar agent of this. The agent repeatedly stated “Deposit! Deposit!” without proper explanation. We reasonably believed this amount was refundable. These charges were not knowingly requested or consented to.

Europcar has refused refunds solely on the basis of a signed contract, ignoring the lack of informed consent and the misleading explanation provided at pickup.

If you don't have to, DON'T USE Europcar!

Very disappointed. I have been charged €339 for a scrape on the driver side wheel! I'm pretty sure I didn't even do it, hard to tell as pick up is in a dark underground carpark and the agent didn't check the wheels with us. There's been no attempt at reconciliation. I then got another €55 bill/deduction for the admin for a supposed violation for what I don't know! Again no explanation just 'Have a nice day' on the email.
I have pleaded with them to reply and dicuss but got nothing.
Will never use them again.
I got a link below to contact but tried 5 times after going through a long process only to say error and to phone. Which I did, to UK from Cyprus, again put on ignore for 10 mins. Gave up. Really upset with them

I reserved a car online. I got an email confirmation with a guaranteed price. When I arrive at CDG airport Europcar the lady in the desk, says they are out of cars first, then says she can only give me a car by upgrading me to an SUV and want me to pay and additional 100 euro. The car I reserved was an SUV. The so called SUV she have me was an Toyota CHR! I complained to her and showed her my confirmation email and the guaranteed price she started arguing and told me go if I didn’t like it. WTF! Worst ever service I have ever tried and worst attittude of an employee! She knew it was late and that I didn’t have time to find another car. The invoice was in french so couldn’t see invoicing me for. In one word scammers!

The worst customer service I have experienced in 35 years.

Terrible company …. Will never use them again … trying to rip you off for everything they can …. Always take video and photographs so that you can defend yourself against damage claims not caused by you. When hiring electric car make sure you check cables are actually there so that you don’t get stranded…. If you are late due to flight they will cancel your booking and try to make you pay for a new one

Charges on my credit card once I got home for "damages" I never received a statement of return with photos after bringing back the car even tho I signed the screen of the device of the agent because there was no issue on the return only after I returned home and saw my statement. No supporting documentation or any kind and you cannot get in touch with any customer service people!! I am not calling France long distance. This is becoming a nightmare! Having to attempt to contact Priceline where I booked the car who do NOT have any customer service either (stay away from them too) I have previously booked cars from Europcar many times with no problem The last 2 rentals for the same trip have become a nightmare. Something seems to be happening in Nice this year. They are scamming customers. Stay away from this company, they were good in the past but no more

Shocking customer service. I booked a car to be picked up at their office near Nice Promenade, and they changed it to Nice station, taking me extra effort to get there. When I received the final bill, they had charged me a premium location pickup surcharge (station, airport etc). I've complained to Amex and to Europcar and they're just not interested. After several months of trying, I've just received a letter telling me I'm not getting a refund. Europcar ... don't bother to reply to this telling me to send a message to you with the details. I did this before and you simply ignored it.

This is the 4th time using this company and the 4th time we have had a problem! From taking extra payments, not refunding deposits and getting double charges! We had no choice but to book with them as only service out of hours.. I knew it but went ahead! Now at the Limoges hotel, no car, no explanation and no help! This company should be ashamed of their trustpilot score but NOPE! This time I will fight through the courts and make sure they don’t get away with this illegal behaviour

So no car at 6pm.. called them.. they are just the worst company! I won’t be leaving this issue this time! Expect lots of updates

If there is a zero, i will click on that
I rented a car in switzerland for two weeks, somehow, i cancelled the rent later, and received an email saying the refund will be made with 5 days, two months later, nothing has been received, and their customer service is really a douchebag, he kept asking my bank statement and refuse to provide the arn to track the refund.
Finally they keep saying the refund has been issued, and still refuse to provide arn.
fyi the average response takes usually two weeks.
Stay away from this company, it is totally scam.

My partner and I rented a car from Nice airport in September. We had arranged our own insurance and did not ask for - or agree to - Europcar’s insurance. We were told a mystery 202.86 euros on our contract was a “refundable security deposit” and the contract was signed on that basis. However, it turns out Europcar had added their premium insurance to our contract without informing us of this. Their follow up customer service is shocking - all they have done is send us a copy of the contract, which we already have (and it’s taken 2 months for them to do that). We remain 202.86 euros out of pocket and will not use them again. I see from reviews elsewhere this happened to other customers at Nice airport in September.

I was simply robbed by this company; I have nothing else to say except robbery.
I made a car reservation for Orly Airport, for pickup on October 28, 2025. The contracted amount was EUR 565.86 (as attached).
When we arrived at the counter, we were informed that we would receive a higher-category car due to the unavailability of the model originally reserved. My wife expressly asked whether there would be any additional cost, and the attendant clearly assured us there would not be.
We returned the car on November 11, without any damage.
We informed them that we would return the vehicle with a full tank — which we indeed did. Despite that, at the moment of return, we were surprised with a completely unreasonable charge. An absurd amount of EUR 1,415.99 was presented (as attached).
When we questioned it, the attendant insinuated that it could be a misunderstanding due to lack of knowledge of the language. My wife then clarified that she has been a French teacher for 35 years, vice-president of the Alliance Française of Florianópolis (SC – Brazil), making it clear that there was no misunderstanding.
The attendant stated that, at that time of day, he could not change the amount, but assured us that everything would be corrected later, and that only the contracted amount plus the due fees would be charged. Since we needed to complete the return, we trusted the company’s word.
Now, to our surprise, the company refuses to correct the charge.

Hidden charges at collection. Charged me over 600 euros for a bumper scuff that I don't think was my fault. Rude, aggressive and dismissive at drop off. Deducted extra charges from my card weeks after the rental with no explanation and no permission. Claim they can't find evidence of my payment of the above charges - even though I provided them with bank statements, bank emails etc showing that I have made the payment. Instead, they saw fit to deploy a debt collection agency against me, when the customer service team have told me on the phone that their system is inadequate and they have no way of telling who has paid by the bank transfer link they supplied to me. Now no-one gets back to me when I email them - I get auto replies saying "sorry they're a bit busy" whilst the debt-collectors are busy taking out a court injunction against me. Never again.

This place is absolutely useless. It has been 5 months and still have not received my security deposit back. The inquiry process is horrendous - either you deal with a useless chat bot or you have to send a virtual inquiry, the response to which took 33 days to get to me. When someone did respond, they informed me simply that I can expect my money 30 days after the car's return... It had already been 4 months by the time I sent the inquiry. DON'T USE EUROPCAR IF YOU VALUE GETTING YOUR MONEY BACK.

I regularly use rental cars but had the worst experience with Europcar Avenue Foch. I rented the car for 24h and was told to return it to the garage on Sunday morning which I did. Left the keys in the dedicated box and the parking ticket in the car. Consequently I received a bill for 48h with Europcar claiming that there is no evidence that I brought back the car after 24h use given that the agency was closed on Sundays. I wrote several email and called, but Europcar refused to refund me for the extra day charged even though the car was in their garage. They claimed that they never found the parking ticket. I recommend to go with Sixt instead as this has never happened to me before at Sixt. Unprofessional and a reason to never go back to Europcar.

We picked our car up from the very dark underground car park at CDG. The car wasn’t clean & it was so close to a wall on the passenger side that we had to pull forward to open the passenger door. We had videoed the rest of the car but I can be heard on the video saying ‘I can’t even get down that side’. Then surprise, surprise when we returned the car they found a small scratch on the door mirror. We couldn’t help wondering if the car had been parked there on purpose to hide it. Anyway no luck with Europcar when we called them out on this so we now use one of the alternative car hire companies. I don’t think any of them rate very highly so we have a separate annual insurance policy for the excess from Cover4rentals. The £47 cost of which we recouped in this one incident.

Europcar rightly gets poor reviews.
Europcar has a policy of upgrading at the counter at extortionate rates and uses the disguise of a foreign language to have customers sign something they don’t fully understand and has not even been explained verbally. Europcar can’t be trusted and makes every attempt to rip off its customers. When you make a complaint, they’re not interested.
Avoid Europcar at all cost.

I rented a car end of September 2025. When I got my invoice I found out that I paid an amount in excess, so the balance was in my favor. I called customer service, they promised to refund the difference on my credit card. Two weeks after, nothing, I sent one, then two, then three, then four emails… and every time they promised me a refund. More than a month after, I’m still waiting for MY money. This is a dishonest company which I don’t recommend. Beware.

I’ve been dealing with a ridiculous and unfair fuel charge dispute for four months now, and Europcars final demand is a perfect example of bad faith customer service.

When I picked up the rental car, the fuel tank was clearly at 3/4 full. I was told, as is standard practice, to return it at the same level.

I returned the car exactly as instructed, ensuring the gauge was at 3/4 full. I even took a photo of the fuel gauge at pickup for my own records, which I later shared with them.

Despite following the instructions perfectly, they immediately hit me with a fuel charge on my final bill.

When I complained, it took weeks to get an answer. It turns out they failed to document the fuel level when I returned the car. They essentially admitted they had no proof I didn't return it at 3/4, but they kept the charge anyway!

After four months of countless emails and calls, they finally agreed to reimburse the charge, but with one impossible condition: I must provide the fuel receipt.

Seriously?

I was only adding a small amount of fuel to top it up to the 3/4 mark as per the agreement—I wasn't filling an empty tank. Who keeps a receipt for a $5 top-up four months ago?

I was following their rules! Now I'm being penalized and denied a rightful refund because they want a receipt for a minor transaction from 4 months ago.

This isn't about the cost of the fuel; it's about the principle and the poor service. They made an error by charging me, they failed to document the return, and now they're hiding behind an unreasonable receipt requirement to avoid issuing a refund they've already admitted they owe.

Europcar, You have the photo of the pickup level and the admission that you failed to document the return level. Issue the full refund now.

Update:
They have refunded me for the fuel but they charged me again for the vehicle retrieval and equipment use, I am absolutely fuming at the lack of inconsideration and attention to detail

Response to Europcar Reply:
Don't be ridiculous, I am never dealing with Europcar again

Very disappointed with my experience. I’ve been trying to get a refund for a duplicate car rental charge for over a month, and despite multiple follow-ups, Europcar has failed to provide any proper response or resolution.
Their lack of communication and accountability is unacceptable… I’ve had to send the same request several times, and all I get are delays and no answers at all... It’s incredibly frustrating to deal with a company that doesn’t take responsibility for its customers’ issues.

I strongly advise others to be cautious when booking, as resolving any problems with Europcar’s customer service seems nearly impossible.

waited a while to get the car at cdg, but no big issue. However its not reasonable that a small traffic fine of 45EUR should have a larger admin fee from Europcar.