They are a horrible company to deal with imo
Indeed, they are. When I found out Europcar were the preferred hire car company used by Motability my heart sunk in despair. I had a run in with them many years ago, but that’s a story for another day.
My recent experience with Europcar highlighted how trust is misplaced when dealing with this company. I recently had issues with my Motability car, and the garage allotted the work repeatedly let me down. I needed the car to attend a series of important medical appointments, so required a replacement car. Motability were fantastic and were pro-active resolving issues as the situation was unfolding.
However, for brevity’s sake, let me skip to my experience with Europcar.
I live 65 miles from the nearest Europcar location; hence they delivered the car to me. I’m not sure if the tank was full when they left or if they filled it on the way over to me as it was showing full. During the two- week hire period I established the car would cover 70 miles before the petrol gauge moved from full. The car turned up in bright sunlight, I couldn’t walk around it with the driver due to struggling with mobility that day. The paperwork said no damage, so I had no choice but to accept that and sign.
Within 15 minutes my neighbour said he would look over it for me and take some photos. We moved it onto the shade, and he found several dents, a long scratch, a chipped windscreen and noted the inside was filthy. The time and date stamped photos were all sent to Motability within the hour, they in turn recorded all the information I had given them. Although the chip was within Europcars prescribed 1cm, had it grown during the hire period it would have come down to me.
I was asked to fill the tank up prior to Europcar collecting the car which I did. On the day of collection, the person asked me to sign a form and then drove off. There was no walk around, no signing off its condition. In fact, I didn’t have a clue what the procedure was supposed to be. 15 minutes after the car was collected, I received an email with a condition report which included the signature I gave them earlier. It contained a series of photos of the car and one of the instrument cluster. All taken at the end of my road (he had plenty of space to take them on my drive). In fact, all looked good although the report never stated if there was, or was not, any damage. If there was, my signature would have agreed with that damage.
Two days later and Europcar attempted to take over £200 from my bank card, fortunately, I had just paid all my bills and there were insufficient funds to meet Europcar’s request, so it was declined. I contacted the location who delivered and collected the car and they claimed they knew nothing about it.
Motability had the charge removed, but still no one could explain what the charge was for. I then contacted Europcar and they said it was an admin error for fuel which they removed. Only after they tried to take it from my bank.
So, the point of this thread.
· There should be a clear outlined process that Europcar should follow (No pictures showing damage after you’ve signed any paperwork).
· On delivery, a walk around the car with a section on the paperwork that identifies damage Europcar have failed to note. Or a period in which you can record damage before using the car (photo of mileage included).
· Clear charging policy from Europcar and Motability regarding delivery and collection charges and who pays for fuel between our home and Europcar’s location- if any exist.
· On collection, an agreed damage itinerary with photos and then we sign or dispute any paperwork.
· All these checks should be agreed by both parties, and not reactive after the event.
I’ve been made aware of many Motability customers who don’t access forums like this who have been charged and paid these many bogus charges by Europcar. It really should not be happening.