Ryanair Car Hire Reviews 

Stay far away from this. Ended paying double charge since the car rental Company would not hand out the Keys before I paid extra insurance charge, since it was late at night i ended up paying as i had no other option and thinking Ryanair would compensate. Ryanair refused everything. Rent your car directly at with the rental Company and save yourself alot of money and frustration

No customer service. I booked a car and couldn't contact anyone about not receiving it. Their chat does not work, there is not other method to contact them so you're stuck.

Ryanair’s “full name on credit card” policy deserves a place in the Louvre of corporate booby traps.

In the UK, banks usually issue cards with initials, not full first names. Most normal humans have absolutely no idea you’re apparently supposed to request a government-grade fully spelled-out ceremonial card in advance of hiring a Fiat Panda in rural Italy. Some banks won’t even issue one at all. But Ryanair and the car hire companies know this perfectly well.

And before anyone says “you should’ve read it properly”... yes, technically. We booked things last minute and weren’t as forensic as usual. Lesson learned. But there’s a difference between transparency and hiding a tripwire in small print and pretending it’s customer protection.

Booking through Ryanair car hire is like buying a £10 sandwich and discovering the bread, plate, napkins, and personal safety are optional extras.

We arrived at the desk, exhausted after nearly 12 hours away with two small kids, miles from our accommodation, two hours away in the middle of nowhere, only to be told that because the card said “J Smith” instead of “John Smith,” we’d need to pay an extra £380 for insurance.

The card worked, matched the booking, matched the ID and belonged to us but tragically failed the sacred Full First Name Ritual.

What criminal mastermind was this policy designed to stop exactly? “Curse you, Inspector, I almost got away with renting this Vauxhall Corsa using my own functioning credit card!”

And that’s the genius of it. They know people at that stage don’t really have a choice. You’re abroad, stranded, tired, and already committed. Just cancel isn’t a realistic option when you’re standing in an airport car park wondering if your holiday has become a side quest.

Judging by the mountain of reviews online, we’re clearly not the first people to get caught by this tiny little technicality with a £380 price tag attached to it.

Will be speaking to the credit card company about a Section 75 claim.

Worst experience ever. We arrived at the airport and the rental company was basically impossible to find. After wandering around for 40 minutes and PAYING for parking just to search for them, we finally found the desk.

Then the person behind the counter told us we “didn’t have the reservation number”, even though the reservation and number were literally visible on the booking confirmation. He then sent us to another company because apparently they were “connected”.

There was a computer where I had to manually enter all my data and booking number, but it kept showing ERROR. Around 40 people were waiting in line, it was already midnight, there was nobody to call, nobody to help, nobody explaining anything. Absolute chaos.

At that point we gave up, took a taxi and went to the hotel. Then at 00:30 I receive an email saying the reservation was “not confirmed”. Amazing. Except the money had already been taken from my card TWO DAYS BEFORE.

This honestly feels like a complete scam and one of the most frustrating travel experiences I’ve ever had. Zero organization, zero assistance, zero professionalism. Avoid at all costs.

I booked a car with Klas Waggon at faro airport, they tried to scare me into buying additional local insurance at €260 for 1 weeks hire even though I had paid full insurance via Ryanair
I was told a 2cm scratch would be charged at €600
The car I was allocated was covered in dents and scratches, too many to record accurately, stay clear!

If I could give zero I would. DON'T BOOK CAR HIRE THROUGH RYANAIR!!! At the pick up desk they tried to fob us off with a car with no air conditioning working, eventually gave us an inferior car to the one booked but had air conditioning. At the pick up desk was told we didn't have the correct paperwork despite following Ryanair instructions, then was told I'd have to pay an extra €15 a day (€105) because I was over 69 years old despite giving all information at time of booking. Luckily I had detailed videos of the car at time of pick up as they tried to blame me for existing damage. Now told I have to wate for 16 to 20 days for the over €1300 to be removed from my credit card despite paying for extra excess insurance to Ryanair. Read other reviews before booking through Ryanair. It is virtually impossible to contact Ryanair by phone, they just thank you for your enquiry and hang up.

Avoid Carwiz Car Rental at all costs !!!
Carwiz SCAM rental company!!!
Stay away from Carwiz !!!

SurPrice - Ryanair promoted car rental - KEEP AWAY!!

Booked SurPrice from RyanAir website - what a mistake. I shall never use a third party RyanAir recommendation again.

Ostensibly cheaper than other car hire companies; however, once in the office, they will do their upmost to change the T&Cs of your rental agreement to add extra charges.

Liars, cheats, thieves, toxic, despicable, odious people. Pay more, steer clear, use another rental company.

I took the AXA excess insurance offered when booking car hire with flights. Goldcar car hire in Tenerife. At the desk I was told that I had to leave a deposit for their €3000 excess....or pay €309 insurance to cover that excess. They did not want to know about the AXA policy. So I had paid for the car hire, AXA insurance then also had to pay another £267 to cover Goldcar excess! Have since complained to Ryanair, Car Trawler etc a few times and got nowhere. My advice is to hire from Cicar or another firm who provide fully comprehensive insurance with no excess! Have had no problems at all with Cicar! I thought that selling insurance at rental desks was a thing of the past!

I had a horrible experience at Mallorca airport where I wanted to pick up the rental car at Gold car desk. Whilst I showed them all the requested information, they told me that my first name was spelled incorrectly on the booking. It showed my email address as first name instead of my name as shown in my passport. I had booked my car with Ryanair right after i made my ticket purchase, and I did not enter anything, the Ryanair system completed these fields. The lady at the counter offered me a new rental (3x more expensive) or I should call Ryanair to have it fixed. The Ryanair website did not respond, so when I finally got a representative on the phone he wrote down my whole complaint and said that he would speak asap to the complaints department to get it solved. All I received the following morning was an email saying that he was unable to reach the complaints dept, so he gave me the email address and wished me good luck. I ended up with no car at all, no money back and booking taxis instead. Thanks Ryanair and Gold Car for this scam!

So had a booking of car rental from ryanair car booking application as my flight was booking via train air. So my flight was couple of hours delayed due to fog I was informed. When I got to the car rental they had cancelled my booking due to delay. Tried contacting ryan air and has not been helpful at all. Going through the terms and conditions it states on Ryan air that flight delays won't get the refund for cancellations of car hire. What a terrible servic. Even the flight wasn't all that as there was delays on both my flights. Please don't use this horrible service which just wants to milk money out from customers and don't have anything else to care for.

I booked a car through Ryanair Car Rental with pickup from Goldcar at Bari airport. At the counter I was denied the car because, although I had a valid passport, I did not have an Italian ID card as a resident in Italy.

This requirement was not clearly communicated during the booking process, nor were the supplier’s terms and conditions properly provided or highlighted. As a result, I had to rent a car from another provider at a significantly higher cost.

There is a clear lack of transparency regarding essential rental conditions. The booking flow should make these requirements explicit and impossible to miss

Rented a car on ryanair website on arrival to pick up car, the car was not road worthy. It had bald tyres. When refused to hire the car and request refund Ryanair eventhough did not pay hire company still would notrefund me by money eventhough the service was not supplied. Not at all happy Mr O Leary. Booking ref PT940318330

The extra services offered by Ryanair CAR rental are ambiguous and highly deceptive. Taking out the insurance with Ryanair was completely impossible; the booking number for the additional insurance with AXA was unknown, yet despite this, it is still being charged. Extra full cover insurance is charged, but the rental company on site is not informed and charges for it again; as a result, you pay for your full insurance twice. Both Ryanair and AVIS refer to each other, but neither is willing to refund the insurance
Golden advice is to rent your car directly from a reliable company, not via Ryanair, and certainly not AVIS/BUDGET !

Absolute joke of a company when it comes to car hire.
I purchased a small car including insurance (with a high excess) through the Ryanair website after booking a flight. When I arrived at the carhire desk in Malta (Car wizz) they were unwilling to let me collect the car without buying their insurance. My documents clearly showed I was covered but they insisted upon purchasing their insurance on top of what I had already paid for.

Lesson learnt. I will never book car hire through Ryanair again.

DO NOT USE RYANAIR FOR CAR RENTAL!! They use sub standard franchisees who are rude scammers & take your money with no comeback. They have washed their hands of my case & don’t care that I have been treated awfully & robbed!

I booked a 7 seater car (Mallorca airport), Fiat Doblo or comparable, and got a Ryanair/Cartrawler voucher for that. But when checking in at the Sixt website , there was a 5 seater car. NO SERVICE AT ALL via the chat to solve the problem. I could make a new booking at current prices they told me. Canceled the booking. Never again.

Ryanair should drop Green Motion Italy from their car hire inventory.
Highly disreputable and fraudulent in their mistreatment of customers, scamming over pre-existing damage.

I got fully refunded, being a determined and litigous type, but thousands of reviews did not.

​I am extremely disappointed with the service provided by Ryanair Car Hire (CarTrawler). My booking (Ref: IT919000450) turned into a travel nightmare.
​My Ryanair flight (FR 4721) was delayed, but since I had provided the flight number in my booking, the supplier is contractually required to monitor the arrival and hold the vehicle. I arrived at the desk at 20:40—immediately after clearing security—only to find the desk closed.
​To make matters worse:
​The contact number provided on the voucher did not work, making it impossible to alert the store.
​I spent the entire next day (the 30th) trying to contact them and even spoke to Ryanair chat support.
​When I returned to the desk in person on the 30th with all my documents, they told me my booking had already been deleted from their system.
​I have been left stranded, forced to pay for multiple taxis, and now I am being asked for "photos of a closed desk" to prove my case, despite the fact that they can see my flight was delayed.
​This is a total failure of service. I am demanding a full refund and reimbursement for the taxi fares. Ryanair and CarTrawler need to take responsibility for their local suppliers.
​Case Ref: 03135352

UPDATE [13/04/2026]: Still no refund – Ryanair/CarTrawler logic is absurd
​I have received a response from "Eman" at Customer Care, and it is honestly insulting. They are refusing a refund based on the "anticipation" that I would have been late anyway, completely ignoring that my 40-minute arrival delay was due to the Ryanair flight (FR 4721) I provided in the booking for monitoring!
​The facts they are choosing to ignore:
​Failed Communication: I tried calling the supplier as soon as I landed, but the phone number provided on the Ryanair voucher does not work. I have provided call logs proving I tried to reach them.
​Despite providing my flight number, the desk closed and didn't monitor the delay.
​ I went back to the desk on the 30th, and the local dealer told me they never even received payment for the booking. So where is my money?
​This situation left me stranded, forced to pay for multiple taxis, and has caused immense stress, ruining the start of my holiday.
​They are hiding behind template emails and "terms and conditions" while failing to provide a working contact number or a car. This is daylight robbery.
​Case Ref: 03135352 — I will be pursuing a bank chargeback and contacting the Aviation ADR.

Piss rental, and no response had to pay double, to Ryanair car hire and on site to the main supplier, even though I'm not going to do it, but the main supplier did not accept Ryanair payment (receipt)!
Do not rent there!!😠