Goldcar Rental Reviews 309

Avoid if you value transparency and fair treatment.

Goldcar at Marseille Airport advertises Jeep vehicles, yet they don’t even stock them. We booked expecting a Jeep and were handed a Toyota C-HR instead. Advertising vehicles you do not actually provide is misleading.

The “customer satisfaction” culture here is uncomfortable. Staff hand you a feedback card where every rating except 10/10 is crossed out, complete with a smiley face next to the “correct” score. Customers are strongly pushed to leave a perfect review and to mention staff by name. It feels more like score management than genuine service.

We were charged extra for snow socks that were ripped and unusable. We needed them on three separate occasions and could not safely use them. This left us feeling unsafe driving in winter conditions and forced us to leave the car parked for an entire day. We emailed a complaint immediately during our stay and received no meaningful response for a week.

Payment at pickup was high pressure. We were told only the driver’s card could be used. When the payment was briefly declined, we were given 15 minutes to fix it or the reservation would be cancelled and we would have to rebook at the walk-in price on the spot. Alternatively, we could pay an additional 200€ to avoid leaving a deposit.

We were also told they intentionally provide brand-new vehicles “so customers are more careful.” The car had 10 km when we collected it. We were later charged 1,534.67€ for superficial scratches with no peeling paint or structural damage visible. When you hand out brand-new vehicles, even minor marks become billable at full repaint cost. A brand new car will get normal wear and tear as soon as it hits the road, it's unavoidable.

After the return, the deposit was released — only for Goldcar to then proceed with multiple separate charges to recover the repair amount they estimated. There was no prior warning, no single consolidated invoice, and no clear explanation before the withdrawals started. Because my account is held abroad, each transaction incurs bank fees. They charged the account six separate times, effectively draining it and leaving £0.04 remaining. This resulted in multiple unnecessary foreign transaction fees. And of course, the costs will have to be covered by me.

Overall, the experience felt driven by upselling, pressure tactics, and aggressive damage recovery rather than customer care.

Rent elsewhere.

Appalling service from key and go rental at Tenerife south airport. Premium brand car choices on booking but sub prime manufacturer vehicles offered on arrival. Choice of two cars offered one with 70k plus kilometres recorded or alternatively a 19k kilometre Dacia! I chose the lower mileage car hoping it would be better, what a mistake! Damage evident on just about every panel and when driven the gearbox was awful, whining, synchromesh issues, lurching on take up because the gearbox and engine mounts were so badly worn. The brakes were questionable from the outset, way too much pedal travel and low feedback resulting in a much slower and more cautious driving experience. No one around to query this with at the car collection point and so decided to “put up with it” for the week hire. Plenty of people to talk to on return of the car but not one who had any interest beyond a forensic examination of the body work and multiple “new” damage items recorded on returns notice, pretty remarkable really considering the car was driven to our holiday villa and parked then returned to the airport a week later! All I can say is that it is a good job that I photograph every aspect of every hire car that I ever use before I drive it and so have a record date and time stamped of the condition and mileage before I turn the ignition key. I have been a Goldcar client for many years and sadly watched them decline with each new rental that I take, sadly this one is a step too far and so the remaining holiday hires this year will be with an alternative provider.

Avoid at any cost

I was a regular client of Gold Car (with full insurance taken) and everything was good until last time. They charged me 300 euro for a border crossing. They told me that I was in Morocco. I was not, I even sent a copy of a parking ticket in Spain but after a few mail exchanges, the clerk stopped replying and closed the file.

We had booked a car through through DiscoveryCars and when we arrived in the airport, we had a very unpleasant experience with the employers who basically tried convince us that the insurance we had already bought through DiscoveryCars didn’t cover.

Their attitude was threatening and belittling, saying that it was a big problem when people booked cars through other websites than their own.

We would have to buy their solution which was 3 times as expensive and two extra deposites of €100 and €139, was added without showing a contract. They wanted payment before we could see a contract. If we didn’t accept their “offer” we would have to leave a deposite of €2300 instead of €1100.
When we were standing at the desk, two other people had the same experience. 

We ended up leaving without a car, because of the horrendous experience and treatment.

I immediately after wrote to DiscoveryCars, who declined making any refund to the amount I had already paid. Also very disappointing!!
Over all a waste of time and money, and a terrible service. I cannot recommend GoldCar in any ways, and I would be very reluctant to recommend DiscoveryCars.

I was a regular happy customer with Goldcar and then I turn up in December 2025 to get my last car and told I needed to pay for damage on the previous hire or they would not let me have the car. I had received no notification and had a full refund on my deposit. I had no choice but to pay as it was late and i needed the car. They subsequntly sent me the evidence of a minor scratch and I sent my video showing it was there on pick up which they simply dismissed as inconclusive. As i had paid on my credit card with chip and pin the credit card company cannot assist. I have my own excess insurance policy which will pay for the damage but this isnt the point. They are immoral and defrauding customers and want you to buy their excessive insurance. So avoid avoid avoid or if you have to make sure you have a an excess policy and take lots and lots of video of the car before a d after the hire. They have now lost me as a customer which is completely illogical from a business point of view. for the sake of a few hundered euros.

Goldcar ar Malaga airport obviously does not inspect the rental vehicles after customers with insurance. Instead, they inspect the cars diligently after custumers who do not purchase their insurance and make them pay for all damage that has been 'saved up' from the customers with their insurance.
I am saying this because, when receiving the car, there were huge damages that were impossible to miss even with superficial inspection. Had to request them to be recorded. Some smaller damages were dismissed by the Goldcar employee as too small to be recorded. This time I did not purcase their insurance because I had the travel insurance that covers the car as well. After returning the car, the report that I received included the damages that I had already pointed out at the check-out and that were dismissed as too small. Luckily I had taken photos and could prove that I did not cause them. There were some more scratches found that I had not noticed at the check-out. This is my mistake and my insurance will have to pay for it.
If renting Goldcar at malaga airport without their insurance, use video of the whole car instead of photos to make sure you do not miss small scratches. Also, insist on recording scratches that are told to be too small to be recorded.

Goldcar is defrauding customers with their credit card data and make fraudlent charges months after the rentals. The fraud is probably ran by rouge employees, but their customer service is providing cover for it. We rented a car in June 2025 and received a fraudlent charge from them on my card in October

Absolute con artist, I'd give negative stars if it was possible! fraudulently took out insurance in my name. Asked me to sign something which they said was a deposit to make sure I returned it with petrol in and if I did it would be refunded. later that day I received an email saying I paid £340 for additional insurance. I didn't need insurance as I had taken it out through Discovery cars, the third party agent who I book through. There was no mention of insurance at any point the paperwork I was handed was all in Spanish and I had been asked to sign, otherwise I couldn't be given the keys. I emailed and called querying this and was told to sort it when I dropped the car off. When we dropped the car off with a full tank of petrol at the end of our holiday I discussed this with the person we handed the keys into and they said they couldn't do anything and we had to speak to customer services. Later that week I spoke to customer services and inform them that I wanted my money back as they had fraudulently taken out insurance in my name. 2 days later I was sent a picture of apparent damage to the car which looked like it been drawn on with a yellow crayon, picture attached. Because there was apparent damage to the car, I was informed that the insurance couldn't be refunded as I needed it to cover the damage we had!?!?! I sent them pictures of the car when I dropped it off showing the part where they claim to be damaged where there was no damage. I was told that the picture was too blurry and this wasn't good enough for proof. The picture is attached to this review and it clearly isn't blurry! When I asked for metadata of the picture they took to prove when and where it was taken I was just told minute after I dropped the car off and had been filed under that date and time?? That is not meta data! No proof was provided. I asked for their complaints handling procedure and again asked for the metadata of the picture, I was then told that the case had been closed and had been resolved and they hadit was taken when I dropped it off, one the audacity to ask me for a review!! So hears your review you bunch of crooks! I'm now having to take this up with my credit card company to get a refund. Absolute shambles of a company will never use them again and will be seeking legal advice to get my money back and I'll be suing for fraud, and all my wasted time I've had to put into it. You tried to rip off the wrong person!! I won't be letting this go without a fight and I will do my best to ruin your company!

WARNING - Goldcar illegally deducted 145 Euros from us when we returned a car to Malaga airport on 24/08/25. Do not use them.

Worst experience ever renting a car, do not use them! We will never use Goldcar ever again. Firstly when we collected the car we had to return to the office as there were additional marks on the car that were not recorded. This involved joining the long line of people doing exactly the same thing. So clearly it is common practice for cars not to be properly checked.

We returned the car at the end of our rental period. We received an email later that day confirming there was no damage to the car. Then 4 days later we received an email stating there was damage to the car. However there wasn’t, and they had already confirmed there wasn’t any additional damage. Goldcar never bothered to follow their own procedure as detailed in the contract. The contract says the agent will check the car with us, but no one bothered to come out of the office to look at the car with us. My husband is currently exchanging emails trying to sort out thismess. We hire cars abroad on a very regular basis and have never had this before. Needless to say we will not be using Goldcar ever again

Worst experience ever experienced with a rental car. I am still waiting on the return of my £3000 deposit which they took from my account. This is 10 days after car return so far. They say they have charged me £300 for a tiny dent that existed on pick up. I have sent 4 complaint emails and heard nothing back.

Hidden charges on collection. Charging cleaning fee despite nothing to clean. When queried a blurry photo returned of boot from different car.

No other car rental company can offer such an intense experience.

1. They welcome you with long queues and understaffed desks. If you're lucky, you won't even need to spend your first night in a hotel – ka-ching!
2. You will feel in perfect harmony with all the equally naive customers milling around these desks. Shared feelings of despair and anger bring customers together in a fantastic way and make you feel part of a unique group. There's certainly no better way to start your holiday, right?
3. Once you finally get to see an agent (somehow 'agent' is a serious term) at the desk (typically after 2–4 hours), they will give you their undivided attention! This is because they have so many great offers that you simply cannot refuse (if you do, you won't get the car). For instance, insurance (which you thought you had pre-purchased), fuel taxes (when did those become payable separately?) and the second driver, who is now more expensive than when you booked. They will write it by hand on a piece of paper specially for you. Isn't that the ultimate in customisation?
4. You get a surprise car! They won't even charge you for assigning you a car that's very different to the one you ordered.
5. Picking up the key is a process that tests both your IQ and emotional intelligence. Who else offers that? This makes collecting the car key very rewarding: you conquered it — that's your victory! It's a victory that no other car rental company can offer!
6. Picking up: as soon as you have found your car, don't be surprised if it isn't in the car park shown on the voucher. Be prepared to see a "Coldcar" rather than a "Goldcar". The form says everything is neat, clean and scratchless. The procedure states that if you notice any discrepancies between the form and the car, you should note them on the form and give it to the staff in the garage. Of course, they aren't there. Thought so. Five stars, guys!
PS: Bring some gloves so that neither the car nor you get any dirtier. They will also protect you against all the cold air that will be blown before, during and after your joyful encounters... Goldcar now officially has become Coldcar

Do not use this Company under any circumstances - read all the reviews - terrible Company , I am amazed they are still in business.

Gold car stitched us up ! We ordered and paid for an automatic and got a manual . We asked for a refund as an automatic is much more expensive but they refused and said no we had a automatic when clearly we didn’t and we gave then the reg which they can see is not an automatic but they still refused to refund us the difference! Very bad customer service! Watch out that you don’t get stitched up like we did !!!

WARNING to anyone considering renting from this company Goldcar (key a go): DON’T DO IT.
There are other companies out there that are honest and don’t try to scam their customers. This company is dishonest and deliberately tries to deceive people with made-up charges and fake insurance terms. They claim the insurance covers everything, but when you return the car, they suddenly “discover” damage or “dirt” that supposedly requires extra payment – even though the car just needed a quick vacuum.

The customer service is rude and seems to exist only to protect their shady business. It honestly feels like a deliberate scam operation. I will never rent from this place again and strongly advise everyone else to stay away. Choose a serious company instead and avoid being ripped off.

Their car breaks down and they're trying to get me to pay for roadside assistance which was part of the rental.

They're no good and replying to emails.

After you leave the country they try to charge you for their car breaking down.

See attached proof.

I won't be using them again.

Don't use them. Goldcar will charge you$$$ for damage/ scratch you didn't do 2 weeks after you've returned your car. SCAM. Stay away

EXTREMELY long waiting time for car delivery, several hours!!!!! Farming of waiting customers who HAVE booked a car and are therefore "tied", with priority given to new customers who have NOT ordered online. Absolute crap…