Goldcar PortugalReviews 

Worst experience ever!!! They try to scam you, infront of you. We booked a reservation for a rentalcar at goldcar sicily, catania. They said we don’t have to pay anything when we get on the location.

So, when we arrived there, they told us we had to pay extra since we were younger than 25, even though. We gave our age when we were booking the reservation, remind you. We were supposed to pay 0 additional costs. Then the next thing she told us is, that we are not insured, while we clicked full coverage when booking the reservation, remind you. It stated on the voucher, that we had to pay 0 and were fully insured. After discussing it with them, they got very harsh and offended, we contacted the 3rd party where we booked it, whilst calling she wanted to intervene with what I was saying…

After a total hour back and forth with them, we got back and they cancelled the car. Leaving us to take another car at the airport.

I've had almost the exact same experience as another reviewer on here recently. The company keeps you waiting for ages at the airport - we waited about an hour. We then were shown the car (it was black) in full sunlight making any damage difficult to see. We found a fair bit of cosmetic damage (minor scratches and scuffs on the paint / plastic). We informed a member of staff who was disinterested and said it was all 'superficial' and didn't matter. Fortunately we took a lot of photos. On arrival at Lisbon, we were told the car was 'fine' by the member of staff, then got a bill for over 300 euros for damages (two very minor scratches) a few hours later. Fortunately we had these scratches photographed when we picked the car up, as eventually they dropped the charges. So, poor customer service and they WILL try and scam you for extra damage that you don't do. If you have already booked with them, take a high resolution video or lots of photos of the car. If you haven't booked, then avoid them...

This company is a scam stay away!!!! They keep you waiting a long time in arrival before allocating you a car which after a flight is the last thing you want in the middle of August. The car was returned and a week later we are informed of a small scratch that was supposedly our doing. Thanks to taking time to video the car on collection and drop off along with extensive photos we can prove otherwise! A friend had a similar experience with them and despite the dispute they took the funds for the supposed damage with no response to the dispute. We are receiving generic bounce back emails whilst trying to resolve the dispute and still haven’t had the nearly £2,000 deposit returned! Awful service and depending on their upcoming response will be taking it further… STAY AWAY

I made a reservation on the Goldcar website to pick up a car at Malpensa Airport from 27/08 to 31/08, with the Cross Border option and full insurance coverage.

However, at the moment of pickup, the desk agent informed me that the vehicle could not be released because I was planning to drive to Austria, and Goldcar's insurance does not cover that country. This restriction was never mentioned during the booking process, and I had explicitly added the Cross Border option.

The only solution offered was to rent a car from a competitor and to contact Goldcar's assistance service for a refund. When I called the service center, I was told that no help could be provided over the phone and that I had to send an email instead. As a result, I received no assistance either at the desk or through the customer service line.

To make matters worse, Goldcar later refused to refund the payment without providing any justification.

I find this situation unacceptable, especially from a company of your size. The lack of transparency during booking, the refusal to honor the reservation without a valid reason, and the absence of any real support caused unnecessary stress and additional costs, as I was forced to rent another vehicle on the spot, which was significantly more expensive than booking in advance online.

My experience with goldcar in faro is as follows
Car was rented online and we picked up 10 pm at night had to pay over €1800 deposit at the office before collection, car was not correctly checked out with us by a member of staff, we took a video of the car under a streetlight in the carpark and received an email from goldcar highlighting existing scratches/marks on the car (25 in total) drove the car for 9 days short trips only without event and returned the car to the airport at 6am on date of our flight back, again no staff to check car! we were instructed to leave keys in a letterbox on the wall,
Returned home got another email from goldcar with another diagram highlighting pre existing damage and seemingly "new damage" my deposit was returned a few days later and i thought no more about it until 5 weeks later i was informed by email that "goldcar" would be taking €220
From my account for damage to the car i was given 2 weeks to dispute the charge which i did and didnt hear back from them again for 3 weeks when i asked for a photo of the damage they sent a picture of a miniscule scratch below the number plate i couldn't see whether it was there or not in the video i took and by the next day they had taken the money anyway
They have not replied to my emails since
Do not use this company

Never book with Doyouspain or Goldcar!
This is a scam: the website promises “full insurance, zero excess,” but at the counter they demand up to three times the price, refuse to honor the insurance you already paid for, insist on credit cards only, and mislead customers.

We – along with several other families – were cheated the same way. Our holiday started with stress and wasted time, and no money has been refunded. Doyouspain does not respond to complaints at all.

👉 Please share this with others. Avoid these companies if you don’t want your trip ruined!

Goldcar Faro Airport
No problem with the car!
Be careful when dropping off the car at Faro airport when the office is closed. No one to inspect the car, just leave it in an unguarded car park and leave the keys in a box.
I then receive an email alleging damage to the car, and invoice for 109 euros, despite no one at Goldcar to carry out the check in process stated on all the documentation.

Worst car rental experience ever – Goldcar Madeira
Avoid this company at all costs. The staff was rude, aggressive, and pressured me into signing papers without giving me any real choice. I was lied to about the charges: what they said was the “vehicle cost” turned out to be expensive, useless insurance I never asked for.

This is nothing but a scam with hidden fees and dishonest tactics. Customer service hides behind “you signed the contract” instead of taking responsibility for misleading customers.

If you value transparency, respect, and fair treatment – DO NOT rent with Goldcar.

Good experience with Goldcar Tenerife. Easy to find. Lorena was friendly .. Nice car! Easy procedure

Lies about security deposit amount saying I had to pay a 2000 euro deposit despite suv type r being £1379.52. So forced me to take out a £300 none returnable full £300 deposit and then added another £95 premium location fee. I hire cars 3-4 times a year and have never had this. Please stay away, I wish I’d read the reviews. I will not use again as they don’t answer emails. Very poor.

I almost never write reviews, but I felt I needed to do so on this occasion to dissuade others from using Goldcar in Portugal.
The car was hired via easyJet.
Goldcar withheld a deposit for guarantee, fuel and the toll reader. I returned the car with a full tank, I didn't go through tolls and the car was not damaged (as confirmed by Goldcar), but they didn't return the guarantee in full. They withheld another 110 Euros with no explanation. I have contacted them repeatedly to ask for clarifications and they replied that they have already explained the charges and that they have no control over the currency conversion process. The difference of 110 Euros cannot be explained by the conversion rates from British pounds to Euros. When I asked them how to raise a complaint, they ignored my emails.
Please stay away!!

Please don’t get scammed like me. They gave me a car in Lisbon that hadn’t been serviced - the tyre pressures were all different and one tyre was so high, and one tyre so low, I could have had a blow out (on the motorways at high speed) at any moment. It was so dangerous.

There was also not a single drop of water to wash the windscreen. It was totally empty. They obviously don’t care about providing roadworthy, safe vehicles.

And then to top it off, they scammed me over 200 euros for a scratch that was already there - on a car that had over 50 dents and scratches!!! They assured me that the paperwork accounted for them all because there were so many you couldn’t count them.

My paperwork shows over 20 separate sections on the car that have damages, dents and scratches. I wanted a different car that wasn’t so damaged and they assured me they were all accounted for.

They are saying that one of 6 scratches on a damaged section belongs to me! I had found two extra scratches (on top of the over 50 already listed) and they said they would add them on and then didn’t.

This company is dangerous and providing unsafe cars that haven’t been serviced- please avoid them so the same doesn’t happen to you!!!

I can’t believe EasyJet recommended them and have partnered with them. I thought I could trust a company they were recommending for EasyJet car rental. I have also complained to EasyJet.

Scam, stay away....was patient with this company for a few years, just had enough this time. There is no way to protect yourself from them, they will always find their way to scam you. Whats worse they ignore my GDPR request (asked for a copy of the datas they are storing about me) for more than 30days....this company is not to be trusted with any personal datas, be careful what you provide. From personal experience I know they store your credit card details long time after your rental is over (more than a year). Unfortunately have to deal now with Portuguese authorities just to have access to my personal datas this company is storing about me...

Extremely aggressive service at rental, one hour queue despite having booked the car in advance, they find every unrealistic reasons to charge you more (insurance, toll road paid in advance even if you don’t use it). Avoid avoid avoid

Scam! Don’t use them. I got Key’n’Go service, but car was provided wrong class. Car didn’t had climate control, didn’t have CarPlay. It was no deposit rent, but they demanded 300 EUR!!!! Like half of it will be returned right after rent and the rest after 15 days, but no money was returned. And they support answers in 14 working days, but not for what you ask, but just copy paste answer. Avoid at all cost!

Horrendous. Charged me £300 for damage that was generated after the car was dropped off. I provided them with photos and they still charged me. I wouldn’t drop a car off to them unless you can hand it to someone. They also told me I had been in a car accident when I was away. That was not the case. I have attached the car being returned and where they said the damage was. DO NOT HIRE FROM GOLDCAR.

I would give 0 stars if I could. Avoid. Scammers

When going through a toll booth the rear passenger tyre punctured. I phoned the number on the paperwork and was told a tow truck would arrive, but no further explanations as to what would happen, the implications or the choices. The tow truck driver was wonderful and helped explain the process but of course didn't know details. Then a taxi arrived and we would apparently have to go back to Porto airport to pick up another car. Non of this was explained by the GoldCar representatives on the phone. Including the wait and the drive this took 3 hours. We arrived at the GoldCaroffice at Porto airport to be greeted by a representative behind the desk who proceeded to behave in a rude and angry manner. He explained that because I damaged the car I would owe over 700 euros. No explanation as to the break down of the costs, no itemised invoice, no details at all. He then said it would be a separate invoices as it was more hassle for him to take it out of the deposit. When I questioned him with regards to the costs he angrily replied that what did I expect, I had an accident and damaged their car. When I informed him that we simply drove through a toll and the tyre punctured, that I did not have an accident nor did I damage the car, he raised his voice and repeated what did I expect when I damaged the car. He then proceeded to get aggressive in his manner and did not offer any reasoning. My wife then asked why there was no spare and that the canister of liquid to repair the tyre had leaked inside the boot of the car, he became more agitated and said he couldn't answer that and that he will call his manager to talk to us. Then he said that his manager was not working and what did we expect him to do about it. Then he repeated that this was all our fault for damaging the car!
At no point did he greet us with any manners and at no point was he polite. There was no consideration towards us what so ever. All he was concerned with was the payment being processed as quickly as possible.
The the replacement car key were handed over with the documents. I inspected the documents and noticed there were 2 points of damage noted. I pointed this out to him and he said this was not possible because it was a brand new car. He proceeded to become rude once more so we decided to leave as we had a long drive back to where we were staying and it was going to be dark soon.
The cost of a flat tyre is completely unacceptable as is the treatment we received. I still have not had nay breakdown of the costs or indication as to why the canister of inflation liquid was not useable.
The treatment is totally unacceptable, I would not expect to be treated in that manner nor would I treat another person in that way.
I will never be using GoldCar again and I will happily convey this incident to anyone who asks.

If I could put on zero stars I would. 50 minute wait in a long queue. Couldn't understand why it took the team @ Goldcar so long until it was our turn. £95 car hired through a 3rd party. We have our top up insurance. Car booked in my husband s name. They WOULD NOT ACCEPT HIS CREDIT CARD AS IT HAD HIS INITIAL FOR FIRST NAME . They however were willing to do it if we purchased their all cover package. My husband decided to do that for 238 euro....against my wishes. However when my husband went to pay, the bill was nearly €500.for airport taxes and vat. We walked away and got a taxi. I would never use these people again. A total con. Please be aware we had just come off an international flight. Passport and drivers licence both available..Both photographic. You also have to place a pn number in for the deposit. Horrible start to our anniversary break ! Pay the extra and go to a reputable company

SCAM TECHNIQUE - CHECK INSIDE OF CAR AS WELL AS OUTSIDE

A few weeks ago, I hired a car from Goldcar for a couple of days, but when checking for damage, I noticed there were scratches to the wing mirror that were not mentioned on the damage form. I took photos and ensured they logged this before I left, but it seemed surprising that they had missed it, as it was obvious. I then used the car for only two days, and when I returned it, they opened the back door and claimed that some stains on the back seat were caused by me. It was just my partner and me the whole two days, so no one ever used the backseat or placed anything on it. It was clearly there from before and made me realise this is an easy way to charge people because they don't have to log damage to the inside of the car on the sheet and who checks a back seat if you’re not using it (not that they checked the exterior properly for damage first before renting it out either).

Needless to say, they've ignored me entirely, charged nearly 150 euros to my credit card, and I have no doubt they have no intention of ever responding. They even sent me a final statement note saying no money would be charged, but then charged me anyway.

They'll probably even use this same trick on someone else without ever cleaning it. This will be the last time I ever use them, and I encourage people to check the car inside and out with Goldcar.

Please also be aware that they intentionally lower their rates slightly more than other car companies at the airport, so you use their service, but then when you get to their counter, you can expect to wait 2 hours in a queue with dozens of people. I would recommend paying the tiny bit more and getting your car in 10mins instead.

Please do avoid them if you can.