Europcar France Reviews 

VW Polo Registration No. HD-078-SC

Be very wary of Europcar at Nice Airport!! I hired this car from them on 16 July 2025; at the time of collection I identified 2 areas of significant damage on the car not registered in the Damage Schedule. One an extensive area of scratches on the roof and another on the top of the bumper. I reported these to the attendant.
When I returned the car on 23 July the attendant identified a minor fine scuff on the lower nearside wing extending into the bumper. This is definitely not damage that occurred during my rental and must have been existing. It was in such a position that it would not have been visible in the darkness of the car park on collection.
The mark was so minor that it could easily have been removed with a cutting polish but 3 weeks later 888 euros was taken from my credit card. I challenged this decision but received a weak response from Europcar UK that they could do nothing.
I also noted on the new damage schedule that the extent of the damage I reported on collection had not been accurately recorded; the scratches on the roof which covered an area at least 30cm square were recorded as a scratch 2-5cm. The marks on the bumper were not even recorded. All ready for the next customer to be fleeced. Be very wary using this company; they used to be very reliable and trustworthy but are now as unscrupulous as many of the cheaper operatives, I will never use them again.

I have just tried to forward my complaint to the email address supplied by Europcar in their response but it is not a valid email address and I get a failure code. Not very useful!!!

If I could provide a 0 star review I would. They are terrible to deal with, they have overcharged my credit card without justification and have not provided any information or receipt for my mid-August car rental at Paris airport. Service team was disorganized and slow. Still trying to get my deposit refunded. Beware of this company, service is so poor they should not be trusted.
Now they will autoreply to my complaint with a script message that is only meant to seem like they care.

I pre-paid a car through booking.com and after the rental Europcar in Nice still charged me with 372 euros even though I left the car with no damage and a full tank of fuel.
I also had full insurance through booking.com.
I feel like they robbed me now so DO NOT USE Europcar in Nice or at all is my recommendation.

It took me 2 months to actually submit a review. I originally booked an automatic car with Europcar and pre-paid using Booking.com.
When I got there, the kind person attending us made us confirm that our car was in fact an automatic car, and made me sign the contract. When he went to get the keys, he realised the car we signed for was just returned, and said we'll have to sign another contract for the new car that is pretty much the same. I did not think to ask AGAIN if it was an automatic.
Anyway, we end up going to the car by ourselves (no one was here to check the car), and noticed 30 mins later that the car was in fact a manual. My bad, I thought, I'll request a refund of the difference when I get back - we have to get going...

When we go back, I let them know and the same person was very apologetic and confirmed that we will be able to get a refund since we were not given an automatic car. I only need to email the client service.

2 months later, 9 calls made to the client service, countless emails and follow ups. I finally got an answer that since I had signed that contract (not knowing the type of car was changed!!!) I am not eligible to a refund. I have been following up on emails and ringing, they are absolutely useless and SCAMMERS. Do not book with Europcar.
(I will also mention a few more things, such as how difficult it was for us to get a report of the minor scratch there was on a car to claim insurance, or the 'pre-paid' gas tank that was in fact also a bit of a scam...)

The car itself was fine.

I rented a car from Europcar at Geneva Ferney Voltaire Airport and had a very disappointing experience.

Despite booking Premium Protection (full insurance), I was later charged an “Administrative Damage Fee”. The car already had visible damage at pick-up, and the staff said taking photos or videos was unnecessary. The car was returned full of fuel and in the same condition, so these charges are unjustified.

The check-in process was also unpleasant. Staff were overly aggressive in upselling, insisting we needed additional services and trying to charge for insurance already included in the booking. Only after repeated clarification did they acknowledge it was covered.

Renting a car should be transparent and hassle-free, but this felt like a constant struggle with hidden fees and misleading information. I have filed a complaint requesting a refund, and until it’s resolved, I cannot recommend Europcar.

We went to France three weeks ago and rented a car from Europcar. I've rented cars in many countries. I've never seen service as bad as the Europcar branch at Paris CDG Airport. They charged me for the rental car, provided full insurance, and took a €100 deposit. It's been almost two weeks since I returned the car. They haven't refunded my deposit, and there's no communication. They said it would be refunded within 48 hours. There are so many low reviews, and most of them are complaining. Is there anyone in authority to find a solution to this and reach out to the reviewers? We're still stunned.

I rented a car from Europcar this summer and a stone on a road caused a very small scratch on the paint (barely visible). They have ended up charging me 700 euros in damages which is outrageous! A complete scam. Will never use them again and seriously discourage anyone else from using them.

A few days ago I wrote a review detailing my poor experience with a recent Europcar rental. The company replied sending a link and suggesting getting in touch with them. The next day (today) I filled in the form and explained the issues - only to receive an error message saying that due to a technical problem on their part, the form could not be submitted. So the complaint procedure itself seems to be a scam!

I have rented from Europcar Nice Airport now for about 20 years. Always been good (expect the long wait times). However this year I had a terrible experience. The agent I was dealing with offered to switch our car to electric. I then agreed and she said I only needed to change the deposit amounts. It now seems afterwards that my rental price doubled because they charged for an upgrade. This was absolutely outrageous because I specifically asked many times to confirm that the price would not change, she printed loads of forms and it seems one was a change in price. Now they have just said because I signed it, nothing can be done. Absolutely terrible service, will now change to one of the other providers and recommend others do as well,

Terrible experience with Toulouse Europcar and am still fighting to get a duplicate charge of the rental back over 6 weeks after the rental ended.

From the start of the rental we had to wait over an hour to collect the car with the queue almost doubling during the time we were in it so almost definitely those that joined later were in that line for two hours.

The rental car itself was fine, however following departure despite them returning the holding deposit in time they tried to bill me over 700 euros for a tiny scratch which luckily I had evidence of being there on arrival so they have dropped.

The rental charge itself has been taken from my credit card twice and nearly three weeks ago they admitted that this is an error and will be returned in 'approximately' a week. Why they need to hold onto a charge that shouldn't have happened at all is beyond me, however here we are another almost two weeks down the line with no sign of the refund despite chasing. Will need to now pursue through my credit card, not what you want to be doing after a nice holiday.
Cannot recommend.

Note for Renters /customers – I hope this helps

Based on our experience with Europcar, it is best to:
- Watch carefully for HIDDEN CHARGES.
- Check the contract before you sign it in case they have increased the price. We had a booking.com ‘genius’ discount and when we signed the contract at pick up, we didn’t really check the details, and they had entered a very different price from that of the booking from booking.com. They didn’t tell us anything about this.
- Maybe record the conversation (informing them), because they seem to promise that there is no extra cost, and then charge you from the deposit (over €240 to us). They promised us that there was no cost for an additional driver and then they charged over €130 for it.
- If you add an additional driver, and they say it’s for, free double check this.
- And, if you ended up being charged extra – be prepared to deal with rudeness – so it doesn’t affect of the enjoyment of your day. We experience a NEW LEVEL OF RUDENESS. And it would be funny (if it weren’t a little sad), that the manager (perhaps for the title? or a little extra pay?) is willing to do anything to not return that extra – unexpected – profit they made for the company.
- In our case, the manager appeared to ENJOY having taken us on almost 1/3 more payment than the booking price.
We hope this helps because we think that if we knew they would be like this, we would have avoided the trouble and extra charges.

Customer service is below par! Agency forces charges that are not on the confirmation of the reservation; delay in picking up the car; offer the smallest car of the category and scare you with the comfort of the vehicle to push you towards an upsell; when you realize the extra charge that is based on the location and try to get clarity, no apologies or gesture offered. I will not rent Europcar again!

Update: the contract in the agency does not match the billing presented. Lines with no amounts (15% surcharge) then appear on the billing. They need to invest in their software and accept customer feedback.

This review is based on all aspects of the rental including their customer care. I will not be reaching out again. They provide documents that don't match and explain you that you are wrong and signed the document. Non sense.

Terrible experience at Toulouse airport. Charged double for upgrade as they didn’t have Clio I had reserved. Ended up with a ridiculously large car for solo travel! Left a review on Google and Europcar ‘reached out’ saying to please get in touch with their customer services. Absolutely useless - spent 15 mins on phone to Europcar France where they said they could do nothing! Wished I’d looked at reviews. Absolute racket

Left stranded in the middle of nowhere for days with a broken down car. Completely useless company. Absolutely horrible experience. Avoid avoid avoid.

At the car rental desk at Nice Airport you first had to register electronically for an appointment with the employee, then wait more than an hour. After this, the employee there had a lot of time, about the beauties of France, etc., then point out, that the rental car had not been paid for, which was not true. Despite the certificate presented in French, that all insurance policies had already been taken out, on the usual handover protocol we were given another contract with incomprehensible abbreviations only in French, of as we later learned insurance benefits "foisted". One day after returning the rental car, a facture/invoice was sent by email, after which further costs were settled in addition to the double insurance for 25 days, although we had only rented for 2 weeks, inter alia for an environmental levy.Our credit card was charged at the same time, 2 weeks later another debit was attempted Our complaint to BSP/ Europcar/ Keddy was delayed, only the request to our house bank to book back the debit led to an invoice correction, whereby by means of a new invoice, the necessary false double insurance for 14 days was again beasted. There was no explanation or apology. A rating on the Europcar website should no longer be possible.

Thieves.take pictures or they will rip you off

Rented a 9-seater at Nantes Airport in June. All was good until I received an e-mail with a €25 bill in August. The car was parked in a campsite at 6.59AM when they say offence occurred. No phone call, I still don’t know what’s it for. Had I seen their reviews I wouldn’t have used them.

hidden charges which were added at pick up, very rude and unhelpful staff at drop off - astronomical charge removed from my credit card for a tiny scuff on the bumper which I don't believe was anything to do with me.

Worst service ever.
I booked a car directly on their website and paid the reservation with a virtual credit card.
Few days later at the desk, they refused to proceed with the rental (fully paid and not refundable) because I could not match my virtual credit card with a physical one. Other personal cards were not accepted. T&Cs not clear about it. Absolute scam.
Never reply to phone nor emails.

Absolute fraudsters. They charged for insurance when I specifically declined. They failed to offer an option for peage tolls in France and they charge 55 euros every time as an administration fee. Unauthorised payment taken for insurance. Bank flags payments as potential fraud, costing significant costly time to sort out.