Europcar Reviews 

I rented an Alfa Romeo Stelvio from Europcar at Naples Capodichino Airport from 13 to 24 October 2026. At the time, protests over fuel prices in Italy made refuelling difficult. At pick-up, the person at the desk simply told me not to worry about returning the car with a full tank. The "Full Tank option" was not properly explained: I was not told that it meant paying €131.62 for a whole tank, with no refund for any fuel left over.

Had it been explained clearly, I would either have declined it or at least used the fuel I had already paid for, rather than returning the car with 7/8 of the tank still full, as Europcar’s own return report confirms. Instead, I paid €131.62 for one eighth of a tank.

When I raised this with Europcar customer service, they refused any refund, even a partial one based on the fuel actually used, on the grounds that I had accepted the option when signing the contract. Fair enough, I did sign the contract, but I signed it on the basis of a misleading explanation at the desk.

Rented at MXP. Bald gentleman with yellow teeth tried upselling us on insurance we didn't need (he probably gets commission), then insulted us in Italian to his blonde female coworker when I rejected to "offer" (I speak Italian). Fast forward two months after the rental ends, I get a fraudulent charge notification from my bank. They kept my card information on file past the rental date, and tried charging us $250 for a number of supposed traffic violations that were never explained. Thankfully my bank flagged and declined the charge. I will never, ever use Europcar again and will warn anyone I meet who is interested in renting to stay away from them. Disgusting behavior from people whose economy is propped up by tourism.

BEWARE of EUROPCAR! Do not trust this company! DO NOT rent a car with EUROPCAR!!
EUROPCAR is sending me letters with damages we have never done. Case #27841403
We rented a car this summer at Bologna Airport. We are frequent travellers and we always take very detailed pictures and videos when renting cars from any company when we pick up the car and when we return it to avoid surprises like this one.
First of all we had to wait 30 minutes for our car because it wasn’t ready at the airport. It was given to us in poor condition, they didn’t have time to clean it properly inside and outside. And no apologies for the wait. When we returned the car the person in charge there didn’t want to take the set of keys because he was on his lunch break. He pointed out at the box that was just right next to him for me drop the keys. A minute before I had given him an extra bottle of cold water I had that I wasn’t gonna use and for that he was able to move his arm to accept it but not for the keys. Strange customer service I must say! Two days later we got the letter confirming the car was returned in good condition, no charges and our deposit was back.
To our surprise almost 3 months later now we have received a damage information letter with a total of 1.016,36€ charge in damages.
At first I thought it was a fake email or a joke or a very stupid mistake. So I replied Europcar. And then Luca from Rome from Italy Customer Service got back to us confirming the charges. Still believe all this is a really bad joke because after consulting the bank, the intermediary company where I rented the car and even Europcar Customer Service, they all confirmed to me they cannot charge us for a car rented months ago, returned and confirmed by them in good condition.
I just cannot believe they are wasting my time with this nonsense.
Now not only they lost us as clients but they are gonna loose a lot of future customers reading this. Europcar I’m still waiting for your apologies.

Lousy service in Firenze and Lucca. Dont trust the front desk people.
electrical car with too low capacity, and unable to charge. desk service refused to assist.
contact phone numbers on the eurocar web page dont work, some are wrong, others never replied.

On July 12, 2026, I arrived in Italy with my wife and two young children to begin our family vacation. When I went to collect my reserved rental car, I was told that I could not receive the vehicle because I did not have an International Driving Permit.

The employee offered me an alternative rental and explicitly assured me that I would receive a full refund for my original reservation if I accepted the other vehicle. Based on that assurance, I proceeded with the rental.

I was charged $1,498.74 on my Chase credit card and received the vehicle keys. However, after returning home, I discovered that the promised refund had never been issued.

I contacted Europcar customer service and submitted a formal complaint, but the response I received failed to address the central issue: the refund I was explicitly promised by the employee at the branch.

I have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter directly with Europcar, without a satisfactory resolution. THIS COMPANY DOSN’T CARE FOR THE CUSTOMER. STAY AWAY FROM!

Only occasionally do I need a vehicle when I’m in Italy but I usually go Europcar when I do. All fine, nice polite, helpful English speaking staff (Davison, Arezzo). Easy to book, challenge to pick up, only due to the office location far from the city centre though, everything else good.

Dean at Stansted airport is a nightmare, unfriendly, unprofessional and rude. Also got charged for a scratch not done my me. Wont use them again!! Stay away from this rental company. They are the worst one and I rent cars all over Europe.

I rented a car from Europcar in Italy and had a very disappointing experience.

When collecting the vehicle, I was asked whether I wanted additional insurance coverage. I explicitly declined. However, after the rental, I discovered that Premium Plus Protection and an Assistance Fee had been added to my agreement at a cost of EUR 428.

The car rental itself cost only EUR 254, meaning the optional extras were significantly more expensive than the rental itself.

These additional services were not clearly explained to me at the rental desk, and I was not aware that they had been added. Had I been informed that optional products worth EUR 428 were being included, I would never have accepted them.

When I contacted Europcar, my complaint was rejected solely because I had signed the rental agreement. In my view, a signature does not change the fact that optional products should be clearly explained and actively accepted by the customer before being added.

I plan to escalate the matter to consumer authorities for further review.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Europcar and will not consider using the company again.

Very easy going as always with Europcar.
Car return is very quick and efficient.
No bad surprise.

Returned an Audi A5 at Malpensa T1. The agent took my keys and told me to go. After I left they wrote up a "dent": no customer present, no signature, photos that don't even show a dent. I sent them video of the intact car the same day. Their own customer service confirmed no claim existed. Three months later: a 355 euro bill for a full bumper repaint. Disgraceful. Film everything, and never leave until they check the car in front of you.

Prepaid booking cancelled – no resolution after 5+ calls and 10+ emails

Europcar cancelled my confirmed, prepaid €120.17 reservation at Milan Malpensa Airport (18 September 2026) without adequate advance notice or a clear explanation.

I was forced to book a replacement car at more than three times the original price.

Although Europcar confirmed a refund of my original booking, they have not addressed my additional costs or explained why my reservation was cancelled.

Over one month later, despite 5+ phone calls and 10+ emails, I still have no meaningful response or resolution.

Extremely disappointing customer service and a complete lack of accountability. I cannot recommend Europcar.

Europcar at Olbia Airport turned out to be cheaper than the competitors I checked. Another big plus was that they accepted a card in someone else’s name, as I didn’t have a physical card in my own name with me. Most other rental companies I checked required one, so this made a real difference.

The staff were friendly and efficient, and the rental process was quick. Overall, my experience with the car was positive, and the vehicle was fairly new. Returning the car was hassle-free too, at least in my case with full coverage.

I’m taking off one star because it could have been cleaner, particularly the windows, which were quite dirty on the inside.

I've rented a car three times in Italy during the past 2 years and had some fine as well as terrible experiences.

2 years ago, my dad, sister, and I had rented a car from Europcar Florence Airport beforehand. When we went to pick up the car, two women (a younger and an older) were at work at the office. The younger woman was quiet and seemed almost scared of her co-worker. The queue was very long and as we got closer to the counter, I saw how the older woman was discussing with a lot of the clients and being very rude, putting it mildly.
I told my dad, let's try to approach this situation with extreme kindness and see if we can avoid a bad situation. And we tried. But she was out-of-this-world rude to us and didn't want to answer any questions we had about the contract - "you can rrread it yourself, you have your oooown eyes", she yelled. When I couldn't take it anymore, I started yelling back that she was the most rude person I'd ever met, and she started to threaten with calling the police. Unbelievable experience. I will never EVER rent a car from that office again and cannot recommend anyone doing so.

During the past three weeks, my dad and I rented a car twice from the office in Lucca. We went twice within the opening hours, but there was a note saying they had gone to Pisa to pick of cars. In the end I had to call them, and they told me to book online, and so we did. Pick up and delivery of the car went smoothly.

Second time, we booked a car to drive to Como and deliver it there. We were going to Como with the sole purpose of watching Il Lombardia, a big cycling race. When I booked the car, it said the office closed at 13h on Saturdays, but it was explicitly stated that you could return the car after opening hours. This was the only reason that we rented the car, because we knew we probably wouldn't be able to be back in Como before 13 after having watched the race start in Bergamo. When we drove to Como a couple of days prior to the race, we went by the office to see where we were to return the car. They told us it wasn't possible to return after closing. I completely shut down because we came to watch the race and this would make it impossible to go to the start. I told her several times that the website said we could return after hours but she wrongfully claimed that this wasn't true. I completely panicked, but in the end we came to the solution that we could return it later in the day in Milano instead. But that meant we had to spend several hours to drive there, return the car, and take two different trains to get home. Very disappointing.

A ruined birthday, hours stranded, and a $272 bill for “toll-free” assistance

We travelled to Italy to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday and rented a car from Europcar in Rome. I had booked an Audi and was given an Alfa Romeo Junior instead. That was disappointing, but we accepted it and continued with our trip.

The real nightmare happened on her birthday, June 20. While driving through Tuscany, around Greve and Panzano, the car lost power and stopped responding properly to the accelerator. The check-engine light came on, leaving us stranded in the countryside.

We had paid for roadside assistance, yet we spent hours waiting for help and repeatedly calling to get assistance. We were hungry, thirsty, and stuck instead of celebrating. All our birthday plans had to be cancelled. A special day we had travelled to Italy for was completely ruined.

After hours of waiting, help still had not arrived. The sun was setting and it was getting dark, and we felt we could not wait any longer. The car responded to the accelerator, but could only reach approximately 50 km/h. We ended up having to travel at that speed on motorways with a 130 km/h speed limit—a frightening experience.

The roadside assistance number printed on the key tag was clearly labelled “TOLL FREE NUMBER” and “NUMERO VERDE,” the Italian term for a freephone number. There was no warning on the side shown in my photo about charges for foreign SIM cards or roaming.

Crucially, while we were still stranded and speaking to a Europcar representative through that very number, my girlfriend was already receiving notifications of telephone charges. We explicitly raised this with the representative, who assured us that it would be sorted out and that we would not be charged. Despite that assurance, the calls ultimately resulted in a bill of approximately US$272.

The customer service afterwards was disgraceful in my opinion. I spent more than two months exchanging emails with Europcar and providing evidence of the charges and the “toll free” label. They offered a refund equivalent to one rental day, but refused to reimburse the telephone charges.

My complaint is about both the misleading information and the explicit reassurance we received when we raised the charges during the breakdown. We relied on what Europcar’s representative told us while trying to get the assistance we had paid for.

Cars can develop faults. What matters is how a company responds. Hours without help, a ruined birthday, and months of emails ending in a refusal to reimburse these charges left us deeply disappointed.

I would not rent from Europcar again.

I am extremely disappointed with my experience with Europcar Italy.
I rented a car from Europcar in Lecce, Italy, on July 4, 2026, and returned it at Bari Airport the following day. When collecting the vehicle, I discovered several damages that were not listed on the original rental agreement. A Europcar employee inspected the car with me and manually added the damage to my copy of the condition report, specifically writing "Driver door scratches".
Fortunately, I also took photographs and video before leaving the rental station, clearly showing the scratches and dent on the driver's door. I even have a photograph of the Europcar employee standing beside the car while updating the damage report.
Despite all this, Europcar later claimed that I had caused the damage and demanded €346.55.
I immediately disputed the claim and provided photographic evidence, video documentation and the updated condition report.
Europcar acknowledged my complaint but took weeks to respond. Eventually, they asked me to provide the original photographs with metadata showing the date and time, which I did.
They even acknowledged that their delay had led to the charge and indicated that the evidence was needed to proceed with the dispute and potential refund.
Yet, despite having all this documentation and repeatedly confirming that the case was still under investigation, Europcar went ahead and charged my credit card €346.55.
It has now been more than three months since the rental, and I still have no resolution, no proper explanation and no refund.
I have now had to contact my bank to dispute the transaction.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that the damage was identified and documented together with a Europcar employee before I even drove the car away.
I have spent countless hours dealing with something that should never have become an issue in the first place.
My advice: Be extremely careful when renting from Europcar Italy. Photograph and film absolutely everything, keep copies of all documents, and do not assume that damage recorded by their own employees will protect you from being charged later.
Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Europcar.

Rented the car in Italy for 3 days. The deposit for car was 500€ + 80€ for rent. After returning the car they returned only 100€. There was no any explanation about why the sum was so big, because the car was returned as it was with no damages. The invoice in their web page is also not available. Contacted them two weeks ago, still no response from them.

Do not use EUROPCAR - Go to Goldcar instead. We were provided with a faulty air con system which meant we had to detour two hours out of our way to get a replacement car, this was very inconvenient. After all this they even took our deposit money because we arrive one hour late to the airport due to traffic. We gave the car back in immaculate condition. Awful customer service that you would not receive at Goldcar.

Rented a car at Florence airport having booked through web site Holiday Autos. I had used this site many times before and had good service from various suppliers, but this was terrible. When I arrived to pick up the car I was told the category I had reserved wasn't available but they could give me a smaller car. I examined it as he suggested but it was too small, so I explained that I needed the bigger car for four people and all their luggage.
The response from the Europcar agent was I could take the smaller car or cancel the booking, or wait an hour on the chance that something became available. I was furious so I went to speak to another hire company to see if they could help. I was just about to rent a car with the other company when the Europcar agent rushed in and said they now had the right car. This was over an hour after I arrived. The car was ok but had not been properly cleaned. I accepted it, but when I took it back the staff didn't check the car or sign off that it was undamaged. I am still waiting for the damage deposit to be returned.

Car broke down. They took it away and left me 150km from the nearest office and told me to make my own way there to get a replacement. If this is what your top level cover looks like then goodness knows what the lower level is. I'm now having to chase my refund and missed days rental. Utterly shocking service

Don't go near this company - at Milan Malpensa, I experienced them being rude to customers at both the hire office and the returns office. Also staff standing around doing nothing when there was a very large queue waiting to be seen.

On top of that, it took nearly 3 weeks to get my deposit back, and even then they applied numerous additional charges that I'm still in dispute over.