Europcar GreeceReviews 

I rented a car from Auckland for 21 days with a premium insurance total price 1645nzd. When I got back home they charged me 2004 NZD without me authorizing the extra amount. I also booked an AWD car and they gave me a FWD car. They are scammers

Very awful treatment from delivery supervisor

Europcar is a con company. If you are going to Rhodes please book with a local car company.
I booked online with europcar thinking the experience would be good with an established rental group however I was mistaken.
The car we received was nothing like the car we had asked for and was terrible. Unable to get up any hills and could barely move. Has many broken features the most important being the fuel cap wouldn’t open. We went to multiple petrol stations and the employees were unable to open it. So of course when returning the car we had planned to fill it up but were unable to.
We ended up having to pay €50 back at europcar to fill up a quarter of fuel which would’ve costed €20 when we didn’t have a choice in the first place.

Actually one star is one too many.
Disastrous experience from the start. We had three diffent cars in one week becase of two flat tyres, both caused by the tyres being completely worn out. The third car, which we had to wait three days to get, had no working AC.
Endless phone calls with the staff att the Chania office, who didn't seem to care at all.

On August 19, I rented a car at this office, including Premium insurance with no deductible.

The lady made a big issue out of the fact that there were no dots between my initials on my credit card. I had to prove in several ways that I was the owner of the credit card and showed bank cards, passport, and driver’s license. Even my Europcar membership didn’t help. It was the very same credit card I used to make the booking, and suddenly it wasn’t valid anymore. After I told her that I found her behavior questionable and that I had never experienced any problems at other Europcar offices, she suddenly decided it was no longer important and gave me the car. Apparently, her trick to make me pay extra administration fees didn’t work.

She then started taking pictures of the damage on the car. Because I didn’t trust the situation, I also took my own photos and videos before driving away. This shouldn’t have been necessary, since I had taken out Premium insurance. When I returned the car (after a 1-day rental), another lady started asking questions about the damage. She asked if I could prove that I hadn’t caused it. I told her that her colleague had already taken photos, but apparently those were not available at that moment. Despite my insurance, I was told I’d still have to pay about €35 for damages. I showed her my photos and immediately told her not to try to scam me. After that, she let me sign and I could leave.

This office (or certain employees) try, even with Premium insurance, to pocket plus minus €35 in so-called “administration fees.” Always take photos and videos showing both the car and the office building; this evidence can save you a lot of trouble at this Europcar location.

I booked an infant car seat for up to 12 months-old, but on arrival in Athens they only had a forward-facing toddler seat for 15+ months. Unsafe and not what I booked. I had no choice but to buy a new baby seat, which I had to leave behind by the end of my holidays. Europcar refused to cover this extra cost despite the contractual breach. Very frustrating and unsafe service for families with children.

This has been one of the worst rental experiences we've ever had, and we are extremely disappointed with Europcar.

We booked a car through Europcar UK for our trip to Heraklion, Crete. Unfortunately, due to flight disruptions, we arrived at the rental office a few hours late. Anticipating this, we informed Europcar UK about the delay in advance, and they assured us that the car would still be available upon arrival.

However, when we got to the Europcar office in Heraklion, we were told the car had been cancelled and given to someone else. No prior notice, no call, no email — nothing. When we explained that Europcar UK told us it would be fine, the staff at the Heraklion branch told us to call the UK team ourselves. We did so right there in the office — and even the UK team was confused and shocked. They confirmed that the booking was still marked as active in their system and had no idea why the car had been rented out to someone else.

This is completely unacceptable. Not only were we stranded in a foreign country after a delayed flight, but we were also treated with zero accountability or support by your staff. We were told at the time that a refund would be processed, but we have received nothing to this day.

This entire experience feels like a scam, and we demand a full and immediate refund. Our booking was confirmed, our delay was communicated, and we were reassured that everything was fine — yet Europcar failed to deliver the service we paid for.

Sort this out immediately, or we will escalate this further through formal complaints, consumer protection channels, and public reviews.

For the holidays we did rent a car with ADAC and Europecar. After arrival we wanted to pick up the car.
The location is further away from the airport and not convient to access with luggage!

When we arrived SHOCK: the employee told us the contract is canceled we will not get a car.
We would have to enter into a new contract.

Never experienced sth like that ever before.

Due to the fact that we booked through ADAC we had a back up. So we called them. And they told us it is not canceled. Even that it can not be canceled.

The guy from Europecar was not happy to hear that and kept up his posititon.
After 20 min of discussion he said we have to ask ADAC to sent an E-Mail to two very difficult mail addresses. Telling Europecar that the contract is still on going.
He wrote it on the back of a Europecar sheet.

So we called ADAC again and told them what the guy asked for. ADAC was very surprised, expressing that as very uncommon. But they did sent the mail as required.

But the guy from Europecar told us he did not receive anything.
The guy was busy, so we kept asking his Co Worker. But she said she can not check.

Super weird situation. We kept waiting had another discussion with guy. He told us again that he did not receive anything.

So after almost an approx 60 min we called ADAC again. And they checked the mails and that they have been sent to Europecar. Everything was correct.
And ADAC did sent it once again.

We told the guy from Europecar to check his mails again. He was like oh he forget to refresh the page…

We were there for more then an hour when he finally told us to proceed now.

We did the paperwork. When it came to the second driver (me) he was like there is no second driver included. That costs extra.
We checked the contract from ADAC and there clearly was the second driver included.

It was a back and forth for more then an hour until we finally got the see the rented car.

We took pictures of the outside and the inside of the car to be double safe. As the car had several signs of use.
And it was not even properly cleaned as it would be the service from Europecar.
There were smear strips everywhere it was iuuuh!

After one week we returned it and did the same. We took pictures of the outside and the inside of the car.

Would we recommend to rent a car here? NO!!!

So sad I did not read the reviews before. After long travels with my 2 small kids, when I finally was in Europcar in Chania, they told me that my card is not acceptable as it is not credit card. But they can use my card if I buy 270 euros insurance🤡which is more I paid for the car…just..don’t have any words to describe the feeling. I had paid insurance via booking.com. So I ended up going back to the airport, finding a new car..but loosing the money I had paid for Europcar booking. Such a bitter taste, when you come on a holiday with your kids and first experience is Europcar.

Extremely disappointing experience with Europcar. After reading several similar negative reviews, we unfortunately had a comparable incident. We prepaid nearly €900 online for our rental, only to be told at the Athens rental counter that the same credit card used for payment wasn’t recognized by their system as a valid credit card, despite having used this exact credit card successfully for numerous other rentals and hotel bookings without issue.

We were then informed the rental would only proceed if we paid an additional €400?!

The employee handling our case was exceptionally impolite and completely unwilling to help or offer alternatives. When we requested to cancel the booking, the employee claimed he was unable to process cancellations from his computer and refused to provide a written statement to present to customer support, which made the situation even more suspicious.

Due to this unacceptable treatment and unprofessional conduct, we immediately switched to another rental company. We will definitely avoid Europcar in Greece in the future and recommend others do the same.

I have a 1 year old, and a 5 year old. We pre-booked seats for the children but upon arrival were told none were available. In an even more ridiculous turn of events we were advised to drive down the motorway with the kids lose in the back to Jumbo to buy child seats - laughable, what a sorry little franchise.

The deposit is still not refounded after 1 month, rude staff and a credut card required but nowhere to be said on the webside. 0/10 would not recomend to anyone

We experienced a very helpful, efficient service from the Europcar team in Paros and in particular had a good communication and assistance with the manager Michaelis. Thank you Sven Denmark

I rented a van for one day. The next morning when I was returning it, the clutch gave out and I miraculously glided into a parking space. I called the airport and let them know. They said they called roadside and to wait for them. After one hour, I jumped in a taxi to the downtown location to follow up on the issue and to see if I could get a replacement van for another day. They said they were out of cars and could not help me. Then they asked me if I had called roadside assistance, I said that I called the aiport about an hour ago and they said that they notified roadside and that they were on their way but that it has been over an hour and the family is still waiting by the van for roadside. The rep called roadside again and notified them about the van and told me we had to wait for roadside assistance. So I taxid back to my family and waited another hour to NO AVAIL. I finally sent my wife and kids back to the airbnb and I waited for another 1/5 hours and NOTHING. That is when I decided to just leave the vehicle with the keys in the glove box, and locked it. I was held hostage for over 3 hours and then they charged me $3500 for leaving the broken down vehicle. They are terrible when it comes to broken down cars.

After paying for two cars from home, we couldn’t get the cars before giving a creditcard, not a debet card. From not one of the drivers BUT BOTH drivers, the credit card even HAD to be in the drivers name. An of course all problems go away if we PAY MORE? What the actual ….

Such a poor experience, bad service from Chania airport. Clearly a tiny scam they are running where problems go away when you just pay more.

I expect to be refunded for this “extra insurance” of 250€ we had to buy at 10 o’clock after a whole day of traveling.

0/10 would not recommend to anyone.

Avoid EUROPCAR in Greece at all costs!!! Believe me…you will regret it! They are a bunch of rude SCAMMERS!
I have been renting cars in Greece every summer for the past 20 years and never had any problems until I tried Europcar for the first time this year (2025). What a horrible experience!!! !!
This is how these scammers work: they advertise the rental with a price lower than their competitors. You think you are making a good deal. But upon returning the car they claimed that I “damaged” the car in two places. I had no idea of what they were talking about. They claimed that there were two superficial 1-cm scratches on the bumper which were barely visible, and charged me $400 for each said “damage”. I read online that some other dodgy Greek car rentals are doing the same.
Do yourself a favor and rent with Enterprise or Sixt instead. You will thank me later. And don’t forget.. AVOID THE EUROPCAR SCAMMERS AT ALL COSTS!

We rented a car with Europcar and, while doing it, we specifically chose a baby seat (under one year). When we go to the office, with our baby, they did not only had the baby seat but they kind of tried to forced us to take the ones they had (for 2+). Of course we didn't take those ones because they are not safe, so the next morning I had to spent it around Athens going to Kids shops to buy one. The staff didn't make any effort to solve the issue and the company didn't take care of the extra charge.

Very unprofessional for a well-known rental car brand.

Avoid this service at all costs.

The service at Europcar in Athens Airport was simply unacceptable. The staff’s level of English was extremely poor, making clear and professional communication nearly impossible. From the beginning, they were unhelpful and seemed unwilling to assist, with a total lack of transparency and professionalism.

The worst part was the outrageous charge of €111 for “seat cleaning”, despite the fact that I had full insurance coverage. The reason? A small mark of sea salt water on one of the seats — a superficial stain that I personally wiped off in front of their staff using plain water. Still, they insisted on charging the fee, showing no flexibility and acting in bad faith.

This was a clear lesson. I will never rent from Europcar again, especially not from this branch. The customer service was borderline abusive, shockingly unprofessional, and a blatant attempt to take advantage of tourists.

I’m writing to express my deep frustration with the handling of the deposit requirement for my recent rental.
1. No advance disclosure of credit-card-only deposits
I paid the full rental price up front, yet nowhere—during booking, in the confirmation email, or in the terms—did it state that the security deposit could only be placed on a credit card. This critical condition was revealed only at pick-up.
2. Non-refundable, debit-card “security fee” makes no sense
I was told I could pay a non-refundable “security fee” with my debit card instead of placing a refundable deposit—an absurd policy. A simple cash or debit hold would protect you just as effectively, and I could reclaim it upon return. Forcing me to pay a charge I can never get back is indefensible.
3. Refusal to accept cash or a standard refundable debit hold
Your staff rejected both cash and a refundable debit authorization, even though either would have fully covered the deposit. This left me with no practical way to take the car I had already paid for.
4. Last-minute fees and wasted time
Because I was on a tight business schedule, this surprise policy forced me to scramble for alternatives and incur additional, non-refundable charges simply to keep my trip on track.
5. Misleading “paid in full” assurance
Advertising a “paid in full” rate implies that all mandatory payments are settled. If a credit-card authorization—or a non-refundable fee in lieu of one—is compulsory, customers must be told clearly and repeatedly before they finalize the reservation, not at the counter.

In short, I met every advertised requirement and paid in advance; yet, your undisclosed credit-card-only policy and non-refundable “security fee” blocked me from receiving the vehicle, costing me both time and money. I expect a prompt resolution and reimbursement for the extra charges incurred through no fault of my own.

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent experience renting a vehicle from your company. Unfortunately, it fell far below my expectations.

Firstly, the pick-up process was incredibly slow and disorganized. I had to wait over 45 minutes to receive my vehicle, despite having made a reservation in advance. When I finally got to the counter, the staff seemed overwhelmed and unhelpful, which only added to my frustration.

Secondly, the car I was given was not in the best condition. It had noticeable scratches and dents that were not documented at the time of pick-up. Additionally, the interior was not cleaned properly, which was quite off-putting.

Lastly, I encountered issues with the billing. I was charged extra fees that were not clearly explained during the rental process, making it difficult to understand the final charges.

Overall, I expected a more professional and seamless experience, especially given the reputation of your company. I hope you take this feedback seriously and work towards improving your services in the future.