Goldcar Rental Reviews 

The worst customer service everrrrr , getting scammed and forcing me to take the mega relax insurance even tho I said I don’t want it, when i called the customer service a girl named Dowa hangup on me not once not twice but 3 times saying there’s nothing they can do for me , honestly i expected more ngl

I am currently in Spain and picked up a car at Girona airport that we had paid for in the UK on Saturday 20 September. We were told we had to pay a further 300plus euros as a deposit as the money we had paid in the UK was just to “ reserve “ the car only. We paid it and have emailed 2 customer service email addresses and have had no reply’s . We have just phoned the customer service and were told that at the airport we had to either pay a 2000 euro refundable deposit or pay 300 non refundable deposit. We didn’t know anything about this then or in the uk and really felt angry and let down. Does this sound right to you costing over £500 for 1 week car rental plus we have paid a refundable fuel deposit as well
Look forward to hearing from you
Neale Brewster

1 star is too higher rating I would not rate this company.
I booked a hire car through the jet2 app following making a flight reservation.

At the time of making the booking I opted to purchase Damage Refund Insurance.

Upon arrival at Palma airport Majorca at 21:30 we made our way to the goldcar desk as it proved impossible to check in online. We were given a ticket with the number C15 and told to wait until the number showed on the screen with a desk number.

It was extremely busy at the goldcar desk and we could hear people becoming frustrated, I approached the deck and asked how long approximately it would be until we were served and wax told quite bluntly 3 hours!

Eventually after almost 5 hours our number was called and we're met by the rudest assistant who said the delay was normal and it was after all high season.

We were then told that we had 2 options to either buy the additional insurance for an additional €288 or pay €1100 excess. I advised that I had purchased the additional damage waiver insurance so therefore did not need anymore insurance. They told me I had been scammed by AXA and that it didn’t matter what I bought and needed to take option 1 or 2.

I endeavoured to show them the documents from AXA which they rudely replied they don’t want to see them and advised that AXA had nothing to do with this booking. When I insisted that I didn’t need the additional cover they became confrontational and extremely rude and informed me that everyone had to take out this additional cover it pay the excess and if I hadn’t been dtupid and read the documents emailed to me I would know this.

As it was by now 03;30 I reluctantly agreed to take out the cover at a cost of €288 and an additional €91 Is pending in case the fuel tank is not full upon returning the vehicle, as I was by now extremely tired and somewhat infuriated by the rudeness and the staffs indifference and surly attitude.

The key was handed over with no directions as to where the car was other than its outside. After 1 hour of looking we returned to the goldcar desk to ask for assistance to find the car to be informed it’s on the 3rd floor of the multi storey car park.

Finally we had the car only to add insult to injury to find the car in very poor condition in terms of cleanliness and we aldo noted some scratches and dents in the vehicle at no point did anyone from goldcar walk round the car with us to confirm the condition of the car.

This service is wholly unacceptable and I would suggest that jet2 not only stop directing customers to goldcar but they undertake their own investigation into what I can only describe as unlawful practice.

DO NOT BOOK GOLDCAR (EUROPCAR) - CRETE

Absolutely awful experience — I strongly recommend avoiding this company at all costs.

Aggressive Insurance Upselling
From the very beginning, the staff were extremely pushy about buying their in-house insurance, even though I already had coverage from my booking platform. Their insurance was about 3.5 times more expensive, and the way they tried to scare me into buying it was honestly uncomfortable. They claimed my insurance wouldn't cover various made-up scenarios — for example, that if the car needed repairs and couldn't be rented out, I would be charged €40 per day until it was back in service (something that of course their insurance conveniently covers).

Fuel Return Scam
They strongly encouraged returning the car with an empty tank instead of the normal full-to-full policy. When I asked about full-to-full, they said I'd have to pay a €350 deposit and that if even 0.5L of fuel was missing, I'd lose the whole deposit. This clearly pushes customers toward leaving fuel in the tank — which means they profit. I ended up returning the car with way more fuel than I used, just to avoid any issues. Feels like a scam.

Vacation Ruined by Stress
Since I didn’t fall for their overpriced insurance and stuck with my original coverage, I spent the entire vacation stressed out. I was constantly worried that they’d find a tiny scratch or make up damage when I returned the car. It made it hard to relax, especially when the car was parked and unattended.

False Advertising – Car Restrictions
I booked a semi-SUV (Fiat Cross), which is supposed to be suitable for light off-road use. But at the counter, they told me I wasn’t allowed to take the car to the two most famous beaches in Crete — Balos and Elafonisi. Why offer this car in a location like Crete if it can’t even go to the key tourist spots?

To top it all off, this all happened during a very stressful personal situation — my girlfriend was extremely sick during the flight and needed medical attention right after landing in 35°C heat. The last thing we needed was high-pressure tactics and shady policies.

Bottom line: The whole experience felt exploitative and dishonest. Goldcar (operated by Europcar) made our vacation significantly worse. Avoid them — you’ll regret it.

We rented a car from Goldcar in Nice and this was by far the worst experience ever. After less than an hour of driving we got a flat tire. That can happen, but what is completely unacceptable is that Goldcar is simply unreachable. No phone support, no help at all – nothing.

Luckily, there was a spare wheel in the car that we had to mount ourselves. However, this was just a “donut” spare tire, meaning you cannot drive faster than 80 km/h. Imagine how unsafe that feels on the French highways…

After endless attempts we finally managed to get someone on the phone, who promised that a mechanic would come the next day. Of course, nobody ever showed up. We spent an entire week calling and emailing Goldcar, without any solution. Meanwhile, we had to drive around on this unsafe spare wheel, until we finally decided to return all the way from St. Tropez to Nice.

When we dropped off the car at the airport, we immediately reported the issue. We were promised that a ticket would be created and that a manager would contact us. As expected – nobody ever got back to us. Even after several follow-ups, we received no response whatsoever.

In short: this company provides ZERO service. They abandon you in a dangerous situation and then completely ignore you. Absolutely unreliable and downright dangerous. I strongly advise anyone to stay far away from Goldcar.

Major scam artists at the Majorca airport branch. Booked what seemed a fairly good price for a 5 day car hire. Whilst my account was being processed, I listened into the surrounding conversations and it was clear everyone was being scammed due to one reason or another. Sure enough, it was my turn. My middle name miss spelt so the booking voided unless I paid a €187+taxes fee. Left the building to find that taxis and other car hires where all mega expensive. They know the game and they play it well. Had to mess around for half an hour to find a bus that then taken 1h 45mins to get to the hotel. Customer service, Useless! All they could do was offer an ever more premium car for even more money. Lesson learnt. I've drove in europe plenty of times without a hitch. 0 out of 5 for Goldcar. Can only imagine how bad things get when there's an accident involved!

I will never rent from goldcar again, when there are issues, they just disappear, I paid for their "full insurance" it is worth nothing at all... their call center told me they cannot connect me with anyone on the phone and to send an email, I did send an email and no one up to this day even replied, and it has been a few weeks and I already finished my trip...
The service number they sent me to call hanged up the phone saying they are a service company and not goldcar... what a joke you are making out of your clients!

I would never rent from goldcar again, bad customer service is an understatement...

Goldcar Athens airport. The actual rental went well, although the car was not in perfect condition, but I guess we can blame Greek traffic. The small print showed that a deposit of 1000 euro was required, which I managed to negotiate down to 140 euro fuel deposit only by taking out more insurance. It's an absolute scam. My deposit has not been returned, and when I called about it I got a very sarcastic man on the phone who first queried whether I had really paid it with a credit card (there was no other way of paying at time of booking), and then dismissed me by saying I had to take it up with my bank. The bank have now raised a dispute but it will take possibly another month. Imagine if I had paid the 1000 euro deposit! BE VERY WARY of this company.

Could not fault the whole process, would recommend, had no issues great service

I really like the car clean and super easy to take the car and enjoy my holiday

Worst company imaginable. Now 3 weeks and still no reply from them. Rented a car and paid for it but was not given it because I did not have an international licence. From the USA and rent all the time in Italy as my family lives there. Never had a problem with a licence from any other company. This is a total scam. Was told like everybody else to contact customer service. Still got no answer after 3 weeks. They are absolute crooks who shamelessly defraud you of your money. Reported them to my credit card company who stopped payment and will dispute this charge. A really unpleasant experience.

Easy and fast process for pick up and to drop the car. Literally less than 5min in both processes. The car was in decent condition and competitive price. We had the insurance through a third party before arriving

This is possibly the worst service I’ve ever received from any company. On a trip to Italy our car broke down 3 hours after pick up on a journey from Milan to Lake Garda. These things happen. The car was recovered but could not be prepared. The company would only provide a replacement if we made it back to the airport (almost 3 hours away) to pick one up. They wouldn’t provide a car locally and wouldn’t pay for the journey back. We were stranded and had to rely on public transport for the rest of the trip. Before this point we were told repeatedly that they would find a replacement and call us back. They never did and we were on the phone for hours trying to get through. They have also refused to offer us a refund for the remaining rental because they will only do this in person! This is surely a scam.

I booked a car for Sardinia with Goldcar via Holiday Autos. I booked a few weeks ahead, but when I arrived in Sardinia GoldCar told me I had to have an International Driver's Permit as UK is outside the EU. THIS IS NOT THE LAW; gov.uk says IDPs are not required in Europe as part of Brexit agreement. Holiday Autos did not know this- with their T&Cs clearly stating an IDP was not required. They offered me a refund or to rebook with another company at current rates, which would have cost an additional ~£270 for the week. I rebooked to Noleggiare via Discover Cars for cheaper, but Goldcar's unpublished conditions and Holiday Autos' mistake still cost me a further £180 and time needed to rebook. DO NOT USE GOLDCAR IF YOU ARE FROM THE UK, there are plenty of affordable other providers who don't make up unnecessary and costly conditions.

I booked a car with Goldcar for my trip to Bologna, Italy, from June 6 to June 10, reservation number #27398764. Upon arrival at Bologna airport, Goldcar unexpectedly required me to present an international driving permit in addition to my Turkish driver's license. This requirement was neither clearly communicated at the time of booking nor consistent with my previous experiences renting cars in Italy and throughout Europe, where my Turkish license was always sufficient.

Because of this sudden and unclear policy, I was unable to collect the car and had to rent another vehicle from a different company at the same airport, using my Turkish driver's license without any issues.

Goldcar has refused to refund my prepaid amount, citing their restrictive cancellation policy. I find their practices misleading and customer service unhelpful. I strongly advise future customers to carefully consider alternative rental companies to avoid unexpected difficulties and financial losses.

I have been a customer of Goldcar for years but have almost always picked up the car from Alicante Airport. There is never hassle if you are used to them and the Key 'n Go is so easy. HOWEVER, I recently went to Sardinia and booked a car from Goldcar to be picked up in Cagliari's Elmas Airport. I read the Terms and Conditions before my trip to check if I needed an International Driving Licence and it said I didn't if I had a UK licence, which I have. On arrival I was refused a car by Goldcar as I didn't have an International Driving Licence and they have refused to refund any money. I am now in a battle to get the refund. I explained my situation to Avis, when eventually hiring one from them. They said that this happens all the time at Cagliari Airport. They have hired cars to customers who have had the same experience as me on numerous occasions. This indicates to me that Goldcar terms and conditions for Cagliari are very ambiguous and many customers are caught out by this. Be careful!

Felt pressured and misled — paid double what we expected

Review:
We booked our rental car via Economy Car Rentals, not knowing it would be handled by Goldcar in Chania, Crete.

Already in the shuttle from the airport, the driver kept telling us how badly locals drive, how easy it is to get scratches, and how hopeless it is to get help from the police. Looking back, this was just the start of scaring us into buying their most expensive insurance.

At the desk, it got worse:
• They claimed that with any cheaper insurance, scratches and dents wouldn’t be covered without a police report — and the police wouldn’t bother for small stuff.
• They also told us there was no roadside assistance with the second-best insurance. But after we signed and paid, another staff member admitted that of course there was roadside assistance — just not if driving off-road or drunk. So either they lied or intentionally confused us.

We had booked a Renault Clio but got a tiny Suzuki Swift with squeaky brakes. And the fuel policy? Full tank out, return empty — impossible to plan, so you pay for fuel you don’t use.

We actually had our own excess insurance via our mastercard, but we felt so insecure and pressured that we didn’t dare rely on it.

In the end, we paid more than twice what we expected and started our holiday feeling stressed and cheated.

Conclusion:
We felt manipulated and ripped off. I recommend choosing another rental company or being very firm if you end up with Goldc

Upon arrival at the rental desk, I was refused the vehicle on the grounds that my Turkish driver’s license was not accepted. I would like to emphasize that my license is issued in English and fully valid for international travel. In fact, I have previously rented cars in Europe without any issue or requirement for an international driving permit. Moreover, other car rental companies in Italy accept my license without hesitation.

The refusal from Goldcar came as an unpleasant surprise and caused me significant hardship, especially as I was traveling with small children. I was left stranded at the airport and had to spend several stressful hours trying to secure a last-minute replacement vehicle. Unfortunately, Goldcar staff were also entirely unhelpful and showed no willingness to assist or accommodate our situation in any way.

Excellent service throughout apart from the extra insurance they try and make you take out, they should just add it to the price in the first place, it's a bit of a con to be honest, great car though.

Goldcar Sardinia
All good no issues. I took about 100 photos of the car on pick up. Returned full of fuel and no additional damage. Car was given a quick check and all was fine. Deposit money returned swiftly. Cannot fault unlike centauro rent a car who make your life a misery.