Europcar Portugal Reviews 

Please don’t use this company. When we landed we had a ridiculously long wait where they changed our car last minute. Foolishly we never took photos and videos of the car before leaving. When we gave the car back they charged us over £200 for a small scratch on the front of the car that I know we didn’t do - my husband is a very safe and careful driver! I asked them if I could see photos of the car before they gave it to us and the lady said I could ask at the main desk, so I did just that. Nuno who served me was incredibly rude and said he didn’t have them. So I asked again to see them and he told me I would have to go back to where I originally had come from to see them, he smirked at me and said “be my guest”. He continued to be aggressive in his tone with me throughout so I decided it best not to continue dialogue with him. I had seen the terrible reviews once we got here and hoped we wouldn’t be another victim but alas we were. Please avoid at all costs and I would advise the company to put Nuno on a customer service training course.

SCAM at the desk! I was charged with extra insurance that I did not agree on. I made a booking online and chose the car and service I wanted and payd for it online, at the desk they asked for a deposit witch is normal in these cases but it wasn't a deposit, they added premium ensuranse to the deal and I did not book it. I chose my ensurance when I made the booking online. They are SCAMERS and proud

Very poor experience. Be very careful. Take full picture of car outside and INSIDE. They tried to make me pay $1000 for carpet which was crap to begin with.
DO NOT RENT WITH EUROPCAR PORTUGAL IN LISBON>

Based on my experience, I would recommend exercising particular caution — especially when returning vehicles outside of opening hours.

Within a period of 3.5 months, I encountered three similar situations with Europcar (via Goldcar and Keddy), all involving damage claims raised after the vehicle had been returned.

In two cases, the claims were later cancelled following internal review, and Europcar acknowledged that the charges had been raised incorrectly. The third case is in review at the moment. Most recently, their Executive Relations team confirmed in writing that a damage claim had been issued in error and was subsequently withdrawn.

What I find concerning is that all of these situations occurred after out-of-hours returns, where the vehicle inspection takes place later without the customer being present. This process appears to leave room for errors or misunderstandings.

In my case, neither the company’s photos nor my own documentation showed any visible damage.

While I appreciate that the issues were ultimately resolved, the repeated nature of these incidents raises questions about the reliability of the check-in process. I would therefore strongly recommend thoroughly documenting the vehicle’s condition at the time of return.

Absolute garbage customer service. You cannot make any changes on a booking during the trip and the attitude of the employees is absolutely insulting from the airport staff to the Caldas staff. Terrible experience. Never using europcar again!

The final bill morphed from 460 EUR on the signed document to 920 EUR in their final bill. With no explanation.

They behaved in an illegal and deceitful way at every step of the process.

I have rented a lot of cars and these guys take the price for worst service ever (and there is a lot of competition... )

We reserved through the Europcar site. The site clearly indicated that the amount quoted was what was to be paid at the desk on pickup. We booked accordingly. At the pickup counter the price was 1 1/2 times the amount quoted. There was no explanation given other than if we wanted the car the new amount was what was to be paid. The online advertised price apparently means nothing. The company couldn't care less. This is my second experience with terrible customer service from Europcar. Awful!

Worst car rental ever!! Liars! Hidden charges! Disgusted by the service! Never ever in my life. Do not use!!!

Rented an online car for Barcelona Airport T2. When picking up the car immediately they suggested an upgrade for more 200€, even suggested a Maserati for more 300€.
I said no thank you, I want the C5 Aircross PHEV or equivalent I’ve rented.
They also suggested that I should not have e requested snow chains, they usually offer them at no cost. In short I did not get a PHEV vehicle. Instead they gave us a SsangYong Korando, with lots of damages all around, poorly equipped compared to the car rented online. EUROPCAR no more!!!!

Unbelievably slow service. 4 people sat chatting, only one actively serving and only one person in front of us… 25 mins later still waiting.

6 months after rental of a car with Europacar Portugal (August in 2025). Europacar Portugal has sent me a bill of EUR 36,90 as admin fee, and in Portuguese! WITHOUT my consent, they have used my creditcard to draw this amount now in March 2026. When I emailed them many times asking for what is this for, they don't reply. This is completely against EU's GDPR that use my private information without permission! This is the worst that I have experienced within EU, do NOT use them!!

I have rented a small car for a week twice the last six months, first time they sent me an invoice of 190 e for a tear in the tire. That was normal wear. I gave them another chance, this time they snuck in 75 e on the final for unspecified damage even though we went through the car upon return. Oh, and this time the front door lock didn't work so I wasn't able to lock the car for the whole week. DON'T RENT FROM EUROPCAR!

I stupidly hadn’t checked my car on departure from Lisbon airport and later in the week had found that the paperwork also had notecorded damage on the car. So it seemed the car had been hit in the car park and they had driven off. I went to vehicle drop off and explained what I thought had happened and bruina checked the damage report and showed me it was from a previous rental and I wasn’t to blame. Excellent honesty considering I was expecting to pay for it. I know other companies would have charged me regardless. Brilliant europcar lisbon airport. Will be back.

I rented a car for 4 days from Lisbon Airport a few days ago.

Mr. Rui Caveleiro did a great job and helped me using proper, respectful communication, where i saw him having a very difficult conversation with another customer just before me. He not only kept his composure by helping me as if i was just another fresh new customer, he was also able to put the difficult discussion of moments before aside with maintaining a professional demeanor, and solving a minor issue i had with my reservation.

Proactive, helpful, and with a positive attitude focused on meeting my needs was what happened.

The car was ok, no comments at all. Also the return was uneventfull.

I was so happy with the pickup a few days earlier, that i even walked back to the customer desk and again thanked Mr. Caveleiro for his excellent service the days before.

This how it needs to be done. Europcar, thanks.

I am writing to leave a negative review regarding a recent rental experience with Europcar.

The vehicle was rented for 24 hours, but in reality it was only used from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., a total of 12 hours. The car was returned the same evening, well before the end of the rental period, at the agreed location and under the correct conditions.

Despite this, we were later charged for an additional rental day, which is completely unjustified. This situation was only resolved after we repeatedly disputed the charge and were forced to provide a photograph with metadata to prove the exact date and time the vehicle was returned. Only after submitting this evidence was the wrongly charged amount refunded.

It is unacceptable that a customer must depend on personal photographs with metadata to contest an incorrect charge. Had we not had this proof, we would have been financially penalised for an error made entirely by Europcar. This shifts the burden of proof onto the customer and creates a fundamentally unfair situation.

While the refund was eventually processed, this does not excuse the fact that we were subjected to an unwarranted charge and a process that borders on abusive. From a customer’s point of view, this feels less like a genuine mistake and more like an attempt to overcharge unless the client is able to prove otherwise.

This experience reveals a serious lack of internal control, transparency and respect for customers. It significantly undermines trust in Europcar and raises concerns about how many customers may be paying incorrect charges simply because they are unable to challenge them.

AVOID : THEY WILL CHARGE YOU EXTRA WITOUT YOU KNOWING AND NO EXPLANATIONS.
We booked the car via Booking for Europcar Faro Airport. We already had an insurance with Booking but the agent asked us if we wanted to « add an extra premium insurance for 20€ per day, for 5days » which we agreed to for peace of mind.
The only paper the agent made us sign showed an amount of 434,57€ saying this was including the deposit and the premium assurance of 20€/day (100€ in total, the amount we expected to pay)
I received an email from EuropCar cancelling the amount signed and they sent a second invoice, not signed by me, for an amount of 353,31€ and they say I signed it, when this document has no signature on it. It includes the premium insurance we took and 6 other additional charges like « pick up at the airport surcharge » when we booked a pick up at the airport so why a surcharge ? They are the most dishonest people and they don’t care.
SCAM and shame on the agent for hidden vice.
My only hope is for my bank to intervene.

Faro airport.
Probably the worst people I have encountered in 50 years of car hire in the world

Here is a shorter, stronger, and more professional version suitable for Google Reviews or Trustpilot:

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Extremely poor experience with Europcar (electric vehicle)

We rented an electric car from Europcar for one day. At pickup, the battery showed 98% with an estimated range of 380 km. Our planned trip was 320 km, which should have been easily achievable.

In reality, after only 80 km, the battery dropped below 40%, showing just 50–60 km remaining. This pattern repeated multiple times: after charging to 80%, the battery fell below 20% after about 100 km. Due to unreliable range and long charging times, we were forced to change our destination, leave the highway repeatedly to find charging stations, and spend the entire day stressed and searching for chargers instead of traveling.

We paid around €80 in charging costs and still struggled to complete even a shortened trip. The vehicle’s range display was clearly inaccurate, making the car unfit for the rental purpose.

When returning the car, we tried to report the issue so Europcar could check the vehicle or warn future customers. Despite it being almost midnight, we made the effort to speak with staff. The rental agent at Lisbon Airport (Miguel Del) immediately stated, “We will close in 2 minutes,” showing no interest in listening or helping.

This was my first and last experience with Europcar. I have rented electric cars from other companies without issue. Poor vehicle reliability combined with dismissive customer service is unacceptable.

This review reflects our experience from the staff at Lisbon airport.

We’ve used Europcar for a number of years without any problems. We go to Portugal 2-3 times a year and book our car through Europcar. We normally pick up our car from Faro airport and make the 3 hour drive to see our family, use the car during our stay and then drop the car back in Faro before flying home. Never had a particular problem with the service or the cars, it’s all been fine.

On this particular occasion though, after leaving Faro, about 1 hour into our drive the car started making a whistling sound. After a bit of checking, we discovered it was due to the windscreen coming detached. It must have been poorly fitted and worked its way loose on the drive as the noise wasn’t there at the start of the journey. Not ideal but these things happen so as we continued to drive slowly down the motorway (2 kids in the back) my wife called Europcar to see what we should do. The person on the phone was very helpful and said we could pull over and wait for a taxi, drive back to Faro and swap the car or drive to Lisbon and swap the car there. We decided to drive to Lisbon and swap the car as this would leave us closer to our end destination and seemed like it would be the quickest option. The person on the phone confirmed that they would make a new booking for us at Lisbon and that we would just need to show up and swap the cars over.

We made our way to Lisbon airport to the drop off point which had been described to us (after missing the turn the first time we managed to take the correct exit on our second attempt). We handed over the car in the car park and were directed to go straight upstairs to collect the car which had been arranged for us. As it happened the people upstairs knew nothing about our booking and told us we would have to go into the terminal to complete the paperwork.

We made our way back down and into the terminal which is where we met, who I would describe as someone who must have been off on the day they taught the Customer Service 101 course. I have never come across anyone so ignorant when it comes to customer service.

A lot of what was said was in Portuguese (my wife is Portuguese so I let her do most of the talking). After explaining the situation to the guy at the desk, a woman who was busy putting notices on the desks (the one who missed the course mentioned above) decided to get involved and asked if we had refuelled the car we had just returned. We replied that we hadn’t at which point she informed us that we would be charged the refuel fee. We started to put across why this didn’t seem fair but she asked my wife to be quiet so that she could speak. She then accused us of trying to get free fuel for our trip from Faro. She didn’t seem able to comprehend that we had to drive to a destination that we didn’t plan on going or that we were in the situation due to a faulty product provided by the company which she works for or that if we had taken the taxi option offered by the person on the phone this would have cost them more money.

She took no time or interest in understanding our point of view or maybe considering that we had been awake since 3:30am that morning and that we were supposed to be with family and having lunch by 1:30pm but it was now 3pm and we had 2 tired hungry children en-tow and that the last thing on our mind was finding a petrol station while driving into Lisbon. She did ‘graciously’ offer for us to pack our kids back in the car and drive back out of the airport to refill the car in order to avoid the charge which we also graciously declined.

We will never use Europcar again. It’s only when there are problems that you are able to truly experience how good the customer service of a business is. And it only takes 1 naive, self important person to damage the customer relationship forever.

When picking up the car I stated that we had prepaid insurance through booking, including insurance of road services. But the staff at Europcar clearly stated that this was impossible. They stated that it was not possible to cover road services or assistance, except if we paid for paying for additional insurance. We paid an additional €84 for this road assistance insurance. We read through our car rental booking at Booking later, which did state that road services and assistance was covered by an insurance. I called Europcar customer support to clarify. I have been sent back-and-forth within Europcar customer support since and Have not been able to get this this specific issue solved.

Usually, I do not purchase top up insurances at the counter given my experience with car rental companies, but the staff was extremely clear and proactive in promoting this insurance.