Europcar - Republic of Ireland Reviews 1,366

I would describe them as scammers. I coped on that I was signing for insurance when I said I did not require insurance. - I only knew when extras was coming from my account. Until I met one nice guy at the desk . Shocking - Many times

I’ve rented from Europcar several times this year - around four hires totalling roughly three months - and my experience has consistently been disappointing.

Most recently, I was accused of causing damage to a vehicle that was clearly documented on the official paperwork at the time of pick-up. Despite providing proof, Europcar still attempted to charge me for this pre-existing damage. (Pick-up: Galway City Centre | Drop-off: Dublin Airport)

Their vehicles also tend to be poorly maintained. The last car I hired needed new wipers - visibility was terrible in the rain - and the wheel alignment was off, causing the vehicle to constantly pull to the left. (Pick-up & Drop-off: Dublin Airport)

During another hire, I was offered a small upgrade at the airport terminal desk but was told to collect the car from the main depot about a 20-minute walk away. The shuttle bus that was supposed to take me there never arrived. When I finally reached the depot, the allocated car wasn’t available, and they did not honour the upgrade I had been promised. (Pick-up & Drop-off: Dublin Airport)

Overall, Europcar’s service quality, communication, and vehicle maintenance have fallen well below expectations. I’ll be reconsidering future rentals with them.

How i wish I'd read this before booking my car at the time as the flights! Absolute chaos at Dublin airport as no one who had prebooked knew where to go. Eventually a very exasperated member of staff directed us outside in the rain to wait for the shuttle bus. Staff in pick up point totally disinterested to the point of rudeness. Eventually got to see a monosyllabic assistant who was totally disinterested once I said I had insurance (booked through them) No chance to inspect the car, just sign here in 7 places. We will pre authorise 85 euro for fuel which will be refunded
and 2000 for damage. Your car is over there. Asked about return and was told just scan the QR code.(more on that later) At the time of pick up there were a number of foreign visitors there. Chinese American and Dutch. What an appaling introduction to Irish hospitality and customer service. Found car on far side of lot with rain falling and light failing. No guide on car
functions/switches etc. Drove out
of lot onto motorway to find rear wiper blade assembly missing. I didn't know that at the time and only discovered at daybreak next day. Just assumed wasn't working. Reported this via app. Car brilliant. Move forward to end of chilling holiday. Scan QR code for return. No specifics just every depot in ireland. Picked up via terminal 1 so that must be the right place. WRONG. After following some of the worst directions ever around Dublin airport found car park only to be told I am in the wrong drop off and will cost me 35 euro. Agreed to leave there as didn't want to deal with airport traffic again. Car checked over assurance given that wouldn't be charged for wiper and petrol 3/4 full so would be charged for balance (no issues) Thought that was it WRONG AGAIN. Got home to have an invoice for 85 euro plus vat for fuel. Emailed customer service as no phone number twice. No reply. The final straw was when I was contacted by my credit card company to say that Europcar Ireland had called for a payment of £1745 and should they pay it. Needless to say nothing from Europcar and no reply to further 2 emails. Card now blocked and unusable. I will never ever use this company again and would urge others not to either. Looking like could be in for a legal battle

absolute rip off-on returning the car to santiago de compostela airport- one of their staff spent 15 minutes xraying the car with a torch and SURPRISE SHE FOUND A SCRATCH- charged us € 264 extra- told us someone would ring to discuss no call received.......SCAM.

A big red flag to never hire a car with Europcar Ireland.
I rented cars for the last 20 years both private and on business with many different agencies. I never had such a negative & humiliating experience in my life.
As part of our 17 Day Summer Holiday with my sons (11 & 14) we prebooked a rental car with Europcar and picked up our rental at Dublin Airport (count on at least 1.5 hours waiting time!).
On the third day our car broke down an hour south of Dublin at 5.30PM upon which we called road assistance. It took several calls for them to arrive around 9.30 that evening. Unfortunately, the car was beyond repair (cooling system issue) and Road assistance left us around 10pm after calling a taxi for us to bring us back to our BandB about 35 minutes away from the broken car. The road assistance mechanic instructed us to keep our key (as road assistance would need to come up to our BandB and pick up the key) and contact Europcar the next day to arrange for a replacement car.
We called Europcar the next morning at 8am to inquire about a replacement car and were happy to hear a car was available in their Dublin South location. What was shocking however was that they could not issue the replacement car until the broken car would be towed away by road assistance. And that task was put back to us.
This is where things got unpleasant. We were exhausted (especially my two sons) from the prior day; we were stuck in a BandB without means of transport and nobody seemed to have any solution to offer. In addition we had to check out at 10.30AM so were literally outside the room in the guest room making our phone calls.
We made several calls to road assistance (very long waiting times every call) and after a lot of arguing got green light to drop off the key in a hotel close to the broken car (they refused to come down to our BandB despite instructions from the prior evening) and then make our way to Dublin Europcar
In addition: road assistance flatly told us to sort out transportation ourselves as they did not have transportation available. They were only allowed to use one specific provider and that one did not have any cars going that way. We tried several local companies ourselves as well as Uber and found it impossible to find a taxi ourselves as well. We eventually arranged private transportation to make the roundtrip back to Dublin.
We arrived, quite exhausted, at Dublin south Europcar around 3pm that afternoon. Again, a lot of arguments and in short, they could not issue a replacement car as the broken car was not yet back in Europcar depot. This is 22(!) hours after our initial call to road assistance despite many many calls from my end. And still we are being made responsible for the whole experience.
After a lot of arguing we were forced to take out a NEW contract which came with an additional rental agreement & costs plus an additional charge of 1800’euros deposit (on top of the initial 1800 that came with the initial contract).
Being stuck with 2 children at 3.15PM, luggage and our evening booking in Connemara west Ireland (a good 4-hour drive) we were forced to accept the offer and made our way to western Ireland.
In the following weeks I made many email inquiries and phone calls to figure out how to get back my deposit and double rental costs. Emails are NEVER answered so your only way is to make phone calls which in the end never resolved anything (despite good efforts from the staff).
I had to escalate the issue to UK regional headquarters (Responsible for Ireland/UK/Nordics) to finally (after about 6 weeks) resolve the issue.

In Summary :
If your car breaks down the contracts with Road Assistance are extremely poor. And Europcar shows no empathy or responsibility to step in and help out (how easy would it have been to simply provide a new rental to a family stuck only 1 hour out of Dublin?). Local Irish staff is totally uncapable of resolving anything and they are clearly short-staffed as well.
I did get a written apology but nowhere in the process did I ever feel it was meant or really will drive improvement.
I will never rent a car with Europcar Ireland again in my life.

Update 29 Oct : Europcar's response proves my point. They already have all details in multiple emails and documents and also escalations through the regional HQ. Their response is just an automated reply without any meaning or action.

AVOID!!!!!
We booked the Europcar standard package online prior to our trip. When we arrived to Bristol airport to collect the car, we made it very clear to the rental agent (Shreya) that we did not want any upgrades or additional extras. Shreya passed my husband the rental agreement and asked him to sign the highlighted areas. He was then asked to insert his visa card into the machine to pay a £100 deposit. As he removed his card I seen a transaction of €671.11 had been approved. I immediately queried why there was a discrepancy between the amount we had been charged and the rate we had pre booked (€263.86). Shreya stated that the difference was due to vat and tax not being included in the online rate (this information was incorrect). This explanation didn’t seem right, so I later reviewed the agreement and discovered that the extra charge was actually for Premium Protection and Roadside Assistance, services that we explicitly declined and were never informed were being added. This practice feels misleading and dishonest. We should not be charged for optional extras that we didn’t consent to, and it’s unacceptable to disguise these charges as taxes or unavoidable fees. I have requested a full refund of the unauthorized charges and have asked for Europcar at Bristol Airport to review its sales practices to ensure transparency for future customers. We booked in good faith and expected to pay the advertised price, not to be misled at the counter. I rang on Friday regarding this matter and was told by the agent that she completely understood why we were upset and asked if we could hold the line so she could speak to her manager. She then said that her manager (Aaron Goldsmith) had been informed and he would call me back on Saturday to issue the refund, she then said “he can get very stressed and is quite forgetful so if you haven’t heard from him by 12pm/1pm please call back”. On Saturday I rang again at 11:12am and it was Aaron who answered. He stated that Shreya wasn’t in work today and that he would have to have a conversation with her first before he could proceed, he stated that he would try to make contact with Shreya and then call me back later in the day. At 4:22pm I called again as I had not heard anything. This time Aaron said that he still hadn’t managed to speak to her so it would be later that evening or tomorrow morning when he could call me back to have a conversation regarding the problem. On Sunday at 16:55pm I called yet again, as Aaron had failed to make contact despite saying he would. He said he still couldn’t reach Shreya and that she wouldn’t be returning to work before our departure. He said as soon as he spoke to Shreya he would call me to discuss, this did not happen instead my husband received an email at 14:50pm from a Monique Burrell stating that “after speaking to the colleague in question and reviewing the paperwork done at the time. I have found that our procedure was followed and all paperwork/correct signatures of adding protection to the rental were signed and understood”. From reading the online reviews of Europcar (specifically Bristol Airport) as recent as a week ago another customer has had the exact same problem, so there clearly is an issue with staff following their “procedures”. Signing a contract that includes additional protection does not mean you consented, if they were not properly explained or were misrepresented, which in this case is exactly what happened. If you were misled or charged for extras you didn’t agree to, you have the right to request a full refund for those items. This applies even if the rental company claims you “signed for it”, the signature is not valid consent and does not override your consumer rights if information was omitted or misrepresented. Shreya failed to explain what we signed for and when queried she misrepresented the costs. I have yet to receive a response from Monique or Aaron at the time of writing this review. Their level of customer service is inexcusable.

Absolutely nightmare to deal with if anything goes wrong. Our vehicle was damaged by one of their hire cars 5 weeks ago. Not so much as an email have we received have rang sent emails you name it we have done it have phoned the claims department every day and left messages not so much as a call back they are impossible to get to speak with someone about this matter.

Renting our car in Dublin City Center was fast and effortless. Our rep, Vanessa, was very helpful and upgraded us since we had booked directly with the company. She explained some of the different driving customs and talked us into the higher insurance, which when another couple asked us "Do you still have all of the parts of your car?" made us smile, but we returned the car undamaged. We had rented on a different trip with another agency and this was much better.

Fantastic Customer Service👌 I would just like to say a huge thank you for the excellent service from start to finish with regards to our car hire. Arnych Pydiah made the whole process so customer friendly it was an absolute pleasure to deal with
him.
Thank you so much for all your assistance and excellent customer service. You will definitely be our first 'port of call' for our next trip. Keep up the great work!

Unfortunately would never hire again
Overcharged 1500 repair light bulb scratches paid on cedit card had no insurance
Waited 4weeks for contact from company
Disappointed

So for the second time in 3 months, Europcar hold my deposit for weeks, and worse of all, they don't answer any of my emails, no matter all the different email adresses I use to reach them! Clearly I was foolish to go again with them after my first bad experience, this is now surely a way of working and not a one-off incident. When I use the other companies at Dublin airport, no issues whatsoever, so avoid them!

I returned the car on time but before the office opened. I had no issues whilst driving it. I've since been charged around €700 with no communication as to what for.
I've emailed them 3 times with no response.
Surely they have to inform me of the reason for the charge?

Steer clear!!

23 Oct 25 update
Following this poor review Europcar contacted me asking them to contact their customer service, which I have done, and no surprise I've not heard anything back.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!

When I rented the car another customer didn't take the extra insurance. The customer service person smugly said they will take ALL excess insurance prebooked on his card for anything. This was at pick up, I said to my customer service agent that they can't just do that and he said they will. When I dropped my car back in perfect condition they found a small scuff 5mm on the tyre sidewall (not the alloy rims) and now they are charging me for a tyre replacement. It was so small I wouldn't have even bothered with it on pickup. Three other customers where being charged for small damages on the car that they insisted that they didn't do. I had to queue up to talk to a manager because people were contesting the charges. I wouldn't recommend renting with them from my experience. If you do not take the extra insurance they seem to find a way to charge you. It looks to be standard practice and they will just repeat like robots "terms and conditions ". They are very good at finding the smallest damage immediately and in the dark, like a returning customer beside me discussing small damage on the cars' roof, they didn't look at my roof. I wonder if they are on a bonus like the one they get for selling the extra insurance? What percentage of car returns with no extra insurance are being charged? Is it abnormally high? I rent a lot of cars and have never seen this before.

I hired a car from Europcar at Stansted. They told me to take a video of the car before I left, which I did. On return of the car the charged me for damage to the tire that I did not cause. The mark was very small and could only be seen in their photos when taken right up next to the wheel. The mark could be seen in the video I took but they said it was not clear enough. There was also rubbish left in the car when I picked it up which they didn’t even acknowledge. Take VERY detailed videos!
Not professional at all.

Lady said I was 'lucky' not to get charged a valet fee. I rent cars a lot and never had anyone say this to me before. Do they not valet each car after its been used.
Also lady told me I hit a kerb...which I didnt. I could not see the mark she was talking about. Literally on my hands and knees looking for it. No one replied to my e mails. Will be avoiding Europcar Knock in the future.

I needed to rent a car for 4 hours from Cork Airport to Dublin airport. I went through Carjet and they got me a car with Europcar for 24.83 euros plus 10.95 full insurance. When I got to Europcar to pick it up they said the insurance wasn't sufficient and I needed to buy another policy for 25.00. Plus there would be a 70 euro charge for dropping the car off in a different place. When I got to Dublin to drop off the car, they said I would need to pay 160 euros because there was some dog hair in the car. I assumed they vacuumed and cleaned all cars as a matter of course when they were returned. And I have an Irish Setter, not a terribly hairy dog. So my 4 hour drive cost 295.11!! Never again!

Never rent from Europcar! We rented through booking.com, and paid what we thought was a deposit of 358 euros at Dublin airport. Turned out they had added an insurance without asking us and that was what we paid for - we have tried calling, and contact through website and now they say that the 358 euros are an extra insurance, so they will not return it. They just added it to the papers. I mentioned this for a friend and she had experienced the exact same thing, and also her brother! Total scam.

We had a terrible experience with Europcar Ireland. When we picked up the car, we were unexpectedly charged an additional €100 fee that was not mentioned anywhere in the booking terms.

They also held a €250 deposit, which they said would be refunded as long as there was no damage to the car. We took detailed photos of the vehicle at pick-up, as instructed, because there were already some scratches that were not recorded in their form. We uploaded all the photos exactly as requested.

When we returned the car in perfect condition, they later claimed there were “new damages” and refused to refund our €250 deposit. We sent them our original photos — with timestamps — clearly showing that the car was returned in the same condition, but they still kept the money.

We have spent days trying to get this resolved, and the whole process feels like a scam designed to keep people’s deposits. Extremely disappointing and frustrating experience. I would strongly advise others to be very careful and document everything if you ever rent from Europcar Ireland.

I rented a car from Europcar last month and was shocked by their attitude and policies. They took a second deposit, supposedly to cover fuel if the car wasn’t returned full. I returned the car three-quarters full and they kept the entire £100 deposit, claiming it was for their “express fuel” option — which I never agreed to. I feel they have targets/commission and will lie to you to scam money.

Europcar has no concern for customer relations and strictly enforces contracts, even if you were misinformed about the terms. Their approach seems designed to maximize charges rather than provide fair service. Avoid them at all costs unless you want to risk being taken advantage of.

I had a deeply disappointing experience with Europcar at Dublin Airport.
Despite clearly declining additional insurance (as I’m already fully covered through my Mastercard Platinum), I was told I could not take the car unless I purchased their insurance. I even had my insurance company on the phone confirming my coverage — yet the staff refused to hand over the car.

Feeling pressured and with no real choice, I signed just to continue my trip. I filed a complaint the very same day, clearly stating that I never wanted the insurance. Two months later, I still haven’t received a proper response – only generic replies and complete silence for weeks at a time.

This is unacceptable treatment of customers. Being forced to pay for something unnecessary and then ignored afterwards shows a lack of professionalism and respect.

Avoid Europcar if you value transparency and fair treatment.