Goldcar España Reviews 

BEWARE - They Scam you!!!
Went to pick up a car from them yesterday at Alicante airport. They refused to let me have the car unless I paid € 453 for damage to a car that I rented in May 2025 ?????? Can you believe it???? Its common knowledge that they inspect the car when you take it back and highlight any damage to your the time. No such thing had happened.
They rent cars cheap and then make their money by taking people for ridiculous damage claims.
Luckily I was with friends and we all managed to get in to their car.
These hire companies have become unscrupulous in claiming money from their customers. BEWARE, BEWARE.
I have been using Thrifty and they seem to be genuine.

REUS AIRPORT GOLDCAR AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
If I could give 0 stars I would!
Where do I start, told me I only needed driving license and card used to pay on it, then when arrived after paying €45 to get to the airport they then needed passport - fine we then paid another €90 to get the passport. After this - they then asked for a €1400 deposit after asking for €0 deposit as we paid the premium insurance cost.

Customer service is absolutely awful, the whole process is awful, after wasting the full day of our holiday, spent £200 on booking which there now refusing to refund along with €180 in taxi costs.
The worst car hire I’ve ever experienced!!

Do not hire from this company. As per other reports they use previous damage (that you would struggle to find, especially on an already dirty car in a dark mult-storey car park) to generate revenue. The staff member even said to me when I contested "what does it matter you have insurance"!! Outrageous, stay away!

Great experience from start to finish. Daniel was lovely. Very accommodating, courteous and funny too. He gave us a free upgraded car which was only 7000km on clock. It was a joy to drive.

⚠️ WARNING: Think twice before renting from Goldcar

I want to share our experience with Goldcar at Bari Airport, Italy, because I would personally never rent from them again.

We booked a Volkswagen T-Roc for 12–22 August 2026. Instead, we were given an MG without any explanation or agreement.

The car was also dirty, including a windshield heavily covered in insects.

But the serious problem appeared only 4–5 km after leaving Bari Airport: the air-conditioning did not work at all.

The temperature was 35–37°C. It became so hot inside the vehicle that our mobile phones overheated and shut down. We arrived at our hotel completely soaked in sweat.

After several hours and calls to Goldcar, a mechanic was sent to the hotel. He confirmed that the A/C was not working, loaded the car onto a recovery truck and took it away.

Goldcar then told us that we had to return to Bari Airport the following morning to collect another vehicle. They said over the phone they would cover these charges expense.

Our hotel was in a rural area approximately 1.5–2 hours from the airport, with no public transport available. The hotel owner had to arrange a taxi for us.

Taxi: €200

The following day we collected the Volkswagen T-Roc we had originally booked. We were then also charged €16 for fuel for the faulty MG that Goldcar had taken away.

Most importantly: when I spoke with Goldcar by phone, I was told that all these costs would be covered.

We therefore submitted a formal complaint requesting reimbursement of:

• €200 taxi costs
• €16 fuel charge
• One day’s rental reduction, because we effectively lost a day dealing with Goldcar’s vehicle failure.

Goldcar has now rejected the claim.

So we are left paying €216 in costs that arose solely because Goldcar provided us with an unusable vehicle — despite being told over the phone that the costs would be covered.

The replacement T-Roc worked as expected, and we returned it with a full tank as agreed. They tried to push a small mark on the sideview mirror on us, even though we had maximum insurance coverage, but I had a video of the car upon picking it up that also showed the mark.

I’m sharing this because I would have wanted to know about experiences like this before booking.

📌 My advice: Just stay away from Goldcar….a truly horrible company. DO NOT TRUST THEM!!!!!!

I have kept the booking documents, Goldcar documentation, taxi receipt and correspondence regarding the complaint.

The first car was battered. There were so many scratches and areas of damage to check. This should have been our first warning.
Day two, it broke down. Full electrical failure. In 40 degree heat!
Back to the airport, eventually for a replacement car. I got heat exhaustion waiting as there was no shade.
They then took another charge for fuel etc. so two full charges taken. This was June. We still havnt had these refunded. It’s Sept. We are having to raise a dispute via the bank…
Customer service is a joke. Not helpful at all. Not even prepared to listen.
Avoid at all costs.

This was a real scam. In Santander we did use this rental company, and after suggesting 2 cars that did not suit our reservation, thay finally came up with a car that was the one we did reserve. BUT there was several smaller damages, so thay had to give us a new damage scheme after we looked over the car. I even took video of the whole car. SO, when we erturned the lady went straight to the wheels finding damages, and when we pointed out the fact that we had got these damaged added to the scheme before leaving, she went straight to the front of the car, looking under the bumper and "found a new damage". She did not even look on the other side, stright to the damage, it was so obviously. So this damage i am sure has been used several times, really bad of such a big company, so I will never use them again on my many travels in Spain. But it was in march 2025

Added €150 fine for “special car cleaning” due to small amount of sand in the car at return. Apparently it is not “normal usage” to go to the beach when on holiday in the Algarve!

Saw several other customers being levied with fines so seems their business model to recoup their low charges. Avoid!

Rented a car through a danish website buying insurance through that company. When I picked up the car in Alicante airport, they pushed for me to buy additional insurance, they threatened me that all sorts of accidents coulis happen, and said it was not a real insurance I had purchased, they were the only ones who could sell me an insurance. This insurance would cost me more than a weeks rental of the car. When I declined the insurance, they insisted on withdrawing an insanely big deposit from my account, not reserving, but withdrawing.
I asked to delete my booking, at get my money back, because I found it unfair, but that was not possible.
The lady at the counter told me the amount, and I payed. When I received my receipt by e-mail, they had added 4,5% mark up exchange rate - this was not informed to me prior, and that amount was not transferred back to me after ended trip.
Do not use this company, they scam you.

We arrived at murcia Airport and went to collect the car we had paid for. On reporting to there office was told my licence wasn't valid. My hgv has expired which we knew about. My car licence is valid to 2027 but was told they can't accept. Ive double checked and my licence is as shud be/ valid. Smells like a scam to me.Was told by other people to steer clear. The reviews arnt good but I'll be letting people know in future. The manager needs to look at this not good publicity is it?

have rented cars many times, but my experience with Goldcar was by far the worst customer experience I have ever had. I genuinely regret choosing this company.

When we picked up the first car, it was dirty and covered in scratches, dents and other damage. We spent around 20 minutes carefully inspecting and documenting the condition of the car before driving away.

After approximately 400 km, the red oil warning light came on. We stopped and discovered that the car was completely out of engine oil. We had no realistic opportunity to purchase oil ourselves, so we contacted Goldcar expecting them to assist us. Instead of bringing us oil so we could continue our journey, they sent a recovery truck to collect the car.

This caused us to lose around three hours of our day, including approximately one hour in a taxi, and we had to travel back to the airport to collect another car.

Unfortunately, the replacement car was just as damaged, with numerous dents and scratches, and was smaller than the class of car we had originally booked. To make matters even worse, there was vomit in the back seat and the entire car smelled disgusting.

We were eventually given yet another car. It was also heavily damaged, smaller than what we had booked, and felt completely worn out and poorly maintained.

And throughout all of this, there was not a single genuine apology.

The worst part, however, was the staff and their attitude. The employees were rude and disrespectful towards both me and my partner. They also tried to pressure and frighten us into purchasing additional insurance, despite us already having private rental car insurance.

When I explained this, they actually laughed at me and told me that they would refuse to provide information to my insurance company. That was an extremely strange, provocative and unprofessional response.

On top of everything else, we were required to pay another €1,300 deposit when receiving the replacement vehicle, meaning we temporarily had two deposits tied up.

A rental car company should provide a safe, properly maintained and reasonably clean vehicle, and when something goes seriously wrong, the minimum you expect is professional assistance and an apology. We received none of that.

1/5 – and honestly, 1 star feels generous.

The cars were poorly maintained, the replacement process was a nightmare, and the customer service was absolutely unacceptable.

DO NOT choose Goldcar. Avoid them, especially at Alicante and Madrid.

I have never experienced anything remotely like this with a rental car company before, and I sincerely doubt I ever will again.

Attention ⚠️ arnaque. Pas de profisionel.

Nice staff. A connection/ adapter from C to usb would be nice to charge older phones. Good service!!!

DO NOT USE GOLDCAR, THEY ARE CRIMINALS, SCUM, THEY WILL STEEL YOUR MONEY. I HAVE USED THEM 3 TIMES NOW AND EACH TIME THEY ACCUSE ME OF DAMAGE TO THE VEHICLE IN ORDER TO KEEP THE FUEL DEPOSIT, EVEN THOUGH I DEMAND A FULL INSPECTION WITH THE ATTENDANT PRIOR TO TAKING THE VEHICLE WITH PHOTOS, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF, DON'T USE GOLDCAR

I was charged an additional €40 by Goldcar after returning my hire car with Gold Car Menorca (Mahon). When I returned the vehicle, I was verbally advised that there were no additional charges.

The end of rental statement also recorded no additional charges. Goldcar's own documentation states that if a charge is subsequently made, the customer will be informed of the charge and the reason for it.

Goldcar has now told me that the €40 charge was for a "late return penalisation". However, the documentation shows the vehicle was due back at 16:00 and the inspection was recorded at 17:39. There is no clear evidence in the documents provided showing what time the vehicle was actually returned.

I have therefore asked Goldcar to provide the exact recorded return time and evidence that the vehicle was returned after the 59 minute grace period. I have also asked them to explain why the end of rental statement recorded no additional charges and why I was not notified in advance of the €40 charge.

At this stage, I have not received evidence demonstrating that the €40 charge is justified.

I would expect a car rental company to provide clear evidence and an explanation before taking an additional payment from a customer's card.

❌️❌️❌️BEWARE, DO NOT USE. Been using rental companies for 30 years in Fuerteventura and never had a issue until using Goldcar. After a late flight and arriving at 8pm tired, went and picked up car, after I already booking it (€189 to pay after I'd already paid deposit) to be told that I had no insurance and the price i had booked was just for the car. I was then told I had pay separate for insurance which was €389 extra. I questioned it but being late and having a 2 hr journey to hotel said I would pay and then check when I get to hotel. I checked the next day and did in fact have insurance. I phoned customer services (14th Aug) who said they would let them know and when i return the car it would be sorted. Surprise surprise, when i dropped the car off (24th Aug) they knew nothing about it, and spoke to member of staff who was very good tbf, but said no one there had the authority to do the refund being a Sunday and the manager would do it Monday when back, and suggested sending a email too, which I did. I emailed again on the 25th & 26th Aug for an update for my refund but no reply. I then spoke to customer services who said they cannot/ dont have access to contact the branch directly and that i have to wait for the report they had done and the response. I am absolutely disgusted by this service, but especially by the member of staff on my arrival to pick the car up as he has lied to upsell their insurance. I will disputing the charge to my credit card, and charging it back as ive done everything to get this rectified but had nothing from them. 100% AVOID THIS COMPANY

I rented a car for 1 week in Majorca. My rental included a full insurance package.

I returned the car at the end of the rental with no damage. Goldcar were not interested in checking the car - since it was fully insured.

Goldcar now insist that there was damage to the paintwork. This was not caused by me. Goldcar are insisting that I complete an accident form so that they can make an insurance claim.
I am now being threatened with a penalty if I do not complete an accident form (for an accident I didn't have).

I won't be using Goldcar again.

Rented a car from the airport in Alicante, and on receipt of the car I requested a pre trip inspection. I was told that it was not necessary, and that any mark of scratch less than 2cm was not of importance. The car had a few minor points of damage, but not having a ruler on me, I could not confirm that a scuff mark was longer than the standard 2 cm. On return, this was pointed out and measured, no paint damage or dent, but a minor surface scuff was found. I was told it was new, and that I am liable, even though it was not my fault. After logging a complaint, and objecting to the claim, they promptly to charge me, without even acknowledging my objection. Totally unacceptable, and extremely unprofessional from a business like this. I will never use them again!

I rented a car at Bilbao airport with Goldcar .i was told I needed to pay a deposit for the gas and when I bring the car back I will get my refund for the money like right away. I tucked the car back everything how they sed and now is been over a month and still didn’t get my money back.

This company fraudulently took £325 out of my account by pretending that there was vehicle damage following car hire from Toulouse Airport. It was totally fictitious. It's their business model to offer cheap car hire and then charge 400% on top. It's a scam. Be careful because sometimes they hide themselves behind an other company acting as an agent because their reputation is so bad. Never use them