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I have an old battered and seat stained Citroen on hire through motability while my car is being fixed. Europcar phoned beforehand and said I had to pay £1 by card in the event of not returning it with a full tank of fuel. Fair enough. I have since read on Facebook about motability customers having money taken out of their account by Europcar and being charged anything from £20 – £100 for the cost of valeting and refuelling even though customers have said they sent it back clean and refuelled.
Anyone had experience of this or heard it happening to someone else?
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Hi, never had this happen, the golden rule on delivery is to photograph inside and outside including the dashboard meters on return and get a receipt for fuel.
Cheers Michael
Never happened to me. As above photograph inside and out on delivery and return as well as the intrument binnacle showing full tank of fuel mileage etc.
Yep, I’ve used them twice, once via Motability and once via the car dealer, both occasions they took money from my card. Both occasions the car was not full on delivery, just below the full line. I pointed this out to the delivery driver and he said he’d make a note. I handed back exactly the same and on both occasions had around £20 taken. Got it back both occasions after kicking off.
They tried to take £100 from me last summer
luckily I have a ring door bell and it was a person who brought the car that damaged it in my drive way. I sent this evidence plus the video I took before I even drove the car to motability and the £100 was removed.
No problems when I had a hire car from them earlier this year. Just did the usual careful checks on collection and return and made sure it had a full tank. It was a two month old Mercedes so I was extremely cautious!!
Thanks for the replies folks. It seems to happen with Europcar on a regular basis according to Google reviews. One of the solutions several people have suggested is to get Motability to waive the £1 debit/credit card fee with Europcar on initial contact. That has worked for people apparently, especially if they have had money taken previously. I’m glad people got their money back from Europcar, but there must be better hire companies Motability can use; their cars aren’t exactly the best examples both inside and out, IMHO.
Thanks for the replies folks. It seems to happen with Europcar on a regular basis according to Google reviews. One of the solutions several people have suggested is to get Motability to waive the £1 debit/credit card fee with Europcar on initial contact. That has worked for people apparently, especially if they have had money taken previously. I’m glad people got their money back from Europcar, but there must be better hire companies Motability can use; their cars aren’t exactly the best examples both inside and out, IMHO.
I must be the exception. Had a nearly new Mercedes while mine was being repaired in Sept this year. Also taking a deposit or credit card imprint is normal practice for any car hire company
I have a 3 year old DS3 that’s uselessly small at the moment. When it goes back I’ll temporarily empty my account into my savings account so if they try anything the card will decline lol
A few years ago I was given a loan car by my dealer that came from Europcar. The loan car was delivered to the dealer by Europcar and I was to collect it from there after dropping my car off.
We noticed all the plastics inside the boot were damaged; however, it wasn’t noted on the paperwork. When we asked the Europcar rep who delivered the car if the damage could be added, we were told no, but not to worry it wouldn’t be an issue. So we took photos, had the service manager of the dealership look inside the boot, and away we went. As a belt and braces approach, I took it to the local Europcar office that morning and they looked it over and noted down all the damage on the paperwork. The guy even said it knew the damage was there because the previous hirer caused it and paid for it !
Two weeks after the car was returned, I received a very large bill for damage to the inside of the boot from Europcar head office. I had email exchanges, photos, witness comments from the dealer and the local Europcar office. But still they insisted the damage was caused by me. In the end the CEO of the dealership told Europcar that if they pursued this issue, they would loose their business. Eventually, Europcar backed down, but they still refused to apologise.
If Motability use Europcar, and I ever have the need to use one, I would never, ever take the car unless all the paperwork noted all the damage at the point of collection.
This happened to me, they took £89. The hire car broke down but had a full tank when it was recovered. Trying to get hold of someone was near impossible and my complaint has been ignored up to this day
they never took any money out my account but when i left the hire car at a dealer with a full tank of fuel no damage whats so ever yet 6 months down the line i had letter saying damage to windscreen and dent in door and motability says they were paying for it and goes againt me just disgusting and eurocar dont provide disability cars
I currently have a Qashqai from Europcar while my Renault Austral is in for recall. I took photos of my car and the hire car. We’ll see what happens after I take it back.
Current: MY24 Renault Austral Iconic FHD. AP £3,995 +£570 for hoist.
Previous Motability cars:
2013 Ford Focus estate petrol auto.
2016 Vauxhal Zafira 1.4T petrol SE Auto.
2019 Ford Kuga Vignale 1.5 petrol auto AWD.
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