... The company I use is Europcar, simply for the fact that my local branch was quite easy for me to walk to (until they moved), and they offered a good service. As a company, you can set up an business agreement and get a 15% discount, depending on the volume of car rental.
*** Who are they? ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Advantages: Good cars, good locations, easy Disadvantages: None that I have found
...spanning some 170 countries. Europcar were founded in Paris in 1949, and have over the years had many varied owners, from Volkwagen, to Wagon-Lits, right up to 2006 when they were acquired by Eurazeo (a European Investment company)
==*** Where are they located? ***==
They have many local, regional, and country offices, and of course at all Major airports.
My local office in Taunton, has recently moved ... ...so I cycled to the Europcar offices on one occasion I had to make 2 rental bookings at the same time. In the five or so minutes it took to arrange these, the rental agreement number had increased by over 2500, so they are renting A LOT of cars
All the cars are new, as soon as they get to around 12,000 miles they cars are sold on.
My last rental was a Renault Megane estate. This with my business discount cost £26 per ... more
With my job I have to travel to Europe quite a lot, this travel also entails carrying quite a lot of equipment, so flying is really out of the question, both practically and cost wise. To get to Europe, the best option for me is to drive, and I'm certainly not going to use my own car!
Also my office is some 250 miles from my house, so I could use my own car, but looking from a cost perspective, I can claim 40 pence per mile up to the first 10,000 miles (Inland Revenue rules) or I can hire a car, which benefits me on 2 counts
I'm not wearing my car out
It is actually cheaper for the company
*** What am I going to do? ***
So to cover my requirements, I always try to rent a car. The company I use is Europcar, simply for the fact that my local branch was quite easy for me to walk to (until they moved), and they offered a good service. As a company, you can set up an business agreement and get a 15% discount, depending on the volume of car rental.
*** Who are they? ***
Euorpcar are a large car rental business spanning some 170 countries. Europcar were founded in Paris in 1949, and have over the years had many varied owners, from Volkwagen, to Wagon-Lits, right up to 2006 when they were acquired by Eurazeo (a European Investment company)
*** Where are they located? ***
They have many local, regional, and country offices, and of course at all Major airports.
My local office in Taunton, has recently moved from the convenient location of the local railway station, to somewhere about 6 miles out of town, basically in the middle of nowhere - apparently it costs £15 in taxi fares to get there. I think this was a big mistake for Europcar, surely if you need to rent a car, the majority of people will be on foot! It is not so much of a problem for me, as if I am hiring a people carrier; I cycle to the rental office, and just put the bike in the back! If not I walk!
When I travel to the USA, I have not used Europcar, I always tend to use Hertz - just because that is what I have always done. A colleague of mine went to the US recently, and used Europcar, and assured me there were no problems, the booking worked smoothly, and they had a good range of cars.
*** On-line? ***
You can of course go on-line to obtain your booking, just go to www.europcar.co.uk, and fill in the various forms for obtaining a quote, as an example, On the web site, I selected Get a quote From here I have the options of
Leisure bookings
Business bookings
Chauffeur Drive
Travel Agents
Van Hire
Luxury Cars
Disabled Service
I have only really used the Leisure section, so cannot comment on the other options.So for this review, I have decided to rent a car from my local branch for 2 weeks, return back to my local branch.
You select the car type, and the dates required, once you select OK, the next page then gives you a drop down menu with a choice of cars, also the options of child seats etc.
So I have gone for a Golf 1.4 or similar for 2 weeks, with no extras. The next page then gives me the quote. Two prices are displayed a prepaid price of £239 or a pay on arrival price of £342.16. I have looked at the conditions for both of these options, and to be honest, I can see no difference, so from a cost perspective, it is much better to go for prepay!
Also on the Home page on the web site, they have a number of deals, the one I am looking at tells me I can rent a car for the weekend from £45 (that is for a mini car for 3 days)
All in all, when I have used the on-line booking process it has been very easy. The only thing to be aware of is that if you need the car for going the Europe, you will need to ring them, and you need to ensure you have the Green Form, which is the European Vehicle Hire Certificate.
*** Customer Service ***
I have had to ring customer service a couple of times, every time I have spoken to them they have been very helpful. The last occasion, I had a query on my bill (the local office couldn't print a bill for some reason) so while I was on the phone, they emailed my bill to me, and we sorted the problem right away, I was very impressed.
*** What does it cost?***
It depends what you want really! The cars they have range from small cars such as Nissan Micras, to luxury cars such as Mercedes, they even have vans
The prices vary so much depending on various options, it is always best to check the web site, or ring the reservation centre. Your costs include VAT, insurance (except Europe), unlimited mileage etc. Again these costs are listed on the web site. There are extra optional costs, such as additional drivers
*** How do you get a car? ***
As mentioned earlier, you can book through the web site, or as I do go directly to my local office. Late last year I had to make several bookings, so I cycled to the Europcar offices on one occasion I had to make 2 rental bookings at the same time. In the five or so minutes it took to arrange these, the rental agreement number had increased by over 2500, so they are renting A LOT of cars
All the cars are new, as soon as they get to around 12,000 miles they cars are sold on.
My last rental was a Renault Megane estate. This with my business discount cost £26 per day (I had the car for 15 days). The European insurance cost a further £97 - this is not negotiable, you need this. In total the rental was £514 and I did over 3000 miles in it too!
As I was going to Europe, they supply all the required safety equipment, warning triangle, fluorescent vest, GB sticker, and headlight converters.
Within the documentation you are given, there are number for contacting roadside assistance; the AA I have never had to do this, so not sure if the procedure works!
*** Boomerang ***
This is a great deal - if you have are going on holiday, you could of course drive to the airport, lets say you were flying from Heathrow, the car parking for a 2 week holiday would cost in excess of £14 a day, unless you went to one of the specialist off-site car parking companies. You are still driving, and your car is, well do you know what is happening with your car while it is parked?
The boomerang service allows you to pick up a car from your local branch the day before you fly, drive to the airport car rental and drop it off, and have a car waiting for you when you return - great no worries about loosing car keys on the beach or up a mountain! When you arrive back, certainly at Heathrow, Europcar have courtesy busses which take you from Arrivals to the Car Rental site, your car is ready, fill in the details Driving Licence, Credit Card etc. and off you go. This is my preferred option if I do have to fly anywhere, if find it so easy. It worked out for me the last time I did it £30 each way.
You cannot book this option through your local office, instead you have to book through central reservations. It is an 0845 number, the reservation desk runs 24/7, so you can always get through. When I have called this number, I have never had to wait more than 2 minutes.
*** Picking up the Car ***
So the day has arrived, you go to the Car Hire offices to pick up your car. You should take your driving licence, you credit card (that you made the booking with) It is also recommended to take a utility bill, that said I've never had to show one, I always take my passport though. They are starting to introduce taking a finger print as well.
The hiring office, should have all your details to hand, they then go through a rather long form which has all your rental details on. There are a number of places you have to sign the form; ensure that you check everything! Also on the form are some drawings of the car. Any existing damage to the car will be noted here. Ensure that you walk around the car, and CHECK to see if there is anything not noted, as potentially you may be liable for damage. Next you should be shown all the controls for the car, where the lights are, the gears etc. I know us blokes don't want to be told, but it is worth listening to! Also ensure you CHECK that the fuel is full. When you return the car you are expected to fill the tank (unless you have paid for the tank) You are then given the keys and off you go!
The car should be in good order, and clean (they are washed before every rental). If it is not do as I do, and have a moan, you will get money knocked off the rental.
As I mentioned at the top, I go to Europe, so generally I need a people carrier. I don't need the seats though, as I have so much stuff, the seat come out and live in my garage. I have on two occasions had a car where I couldn't remove the seats, as someone had replaced them incorrectly. Now I really didn't want to damage the seat trying to get them out, so I took the car back to the hire station, and demanded a replacement car; the car was duly provided.
~~WARNING 1 ~~
If you are renting a people carried, especially for a large family, CHECK the rear seats, I have on many occasions found these seats to be incorrectly fitted, and potentially dangerous.
~~~ WARNING 2 ~~~
Always ensure you have the green card insurance documents if travelling to Europe. Don't think you can get away without it! At the beginning of January I was going to Germany, and I always go through the Channel Tunnel. Before you get to passport control, you pass some number plate recognition cameras. When I went to passport control, the Policeman there knew this was a hire car, and he wanted to see the green card, be warned!
*** Returning the Car ***
Once your trip is complete, you have to return the car - shame I know! Ensure that you have taken everything of your out - obvious I know, but with most cars nowadays there are so many little cubby holes, it is easy to forget, and remember the CD player.
Once at the Hire station, take your paperwork in. The person will then check the car for you, ensure the tank is full, check the mileage, and check for damage.
You are then given a printed receipt of your bill
*** Contacting Europcar ***
EUROPCAR UK Limited Reservations and Sales Centre James House 55 Welford Road Leicester LE2 7AR
Advantages: Outlets across the world, good prices, good service from the Swansea Branch Disadvantages: Hidden extra charges, people are the lynchpin and service does vary
...one.
And on to Europcar themselves; My first paid for UK experience of this company was when I discovered at the EasyJet check-in desk at Gatwick airport that I needed to return home to complete some very urgent work, leaving my other half to tootle off to Madrid on his own, and me back down the M4 to Swansea. The even bigger downside was that I had to return to Gatwick on the Saturday to collect him, for some reason, driving back down the M4 at ... ...most good companies these days, Europcar offer preferential rates to customers who book on-line, and you can reserve vehicles at any of their world-wide locations.
Their site is ridiculously easy to navigate, you can book cars at any of their outlets across the world and you simply need to provide a debit/ credit car to secure the booking, and provide them with your full name, a contact number and a valid e-mail address
I checked on their website, ...
sue.51 10.01.2004 (13.03.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Europcar
Advantages: They delivered and collected the cars Disadvantages: Porr un-roadworthy car and no car seats for a day and half then collected 12 hours early
Europcar Car hire in Crete BEFORE ARRIVING IN CRETE: I booked two cars with this company for our stay in Crete on the internet prior to our arrival in Crete. I chose this company because on the website they offered: A) Reasonable prices – no amazingly cheaper but competitively rated B) No extra charge for 2 stage 3 car seats that we needed for the grandsons C) They would deliver to and collect the cars from the place where we were staying. I booked ... ...for confirmation that I would be getting 2 cars and the two car seats too. I did get two emails with links which I saved but then the links did not work a second time so I had to email to check a week before we left and again got confirmation that indeed I had 2 cars with two stage 3 car seats booked for delivery to Camari Gardens at midday on stated date and they would be collected at midday on the collection day 10 days later. THE DAY OF DELIVERY: ...
catsholiday 24.08.2009 (26.08.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Europcar
Advantages: Good website, nice rates. Disadvantages: Sometime terrible service
...So I am not saying, Europcar is a bad company, but I had a rather bad experience, so just read on your own…
Once upon a time my wife and I had to make a little trip from Munich to Leipzig (Germany). We actually were planning on doing this by car, so we can have a few stops and visit a view places on the way. But of course destiny can be cruel and so can be traffic forecasts on the radio. They were predicting a lot of traffic on the Saturday we wanted ... ...Monday and they had a Europcar Agency not too far away. So I went to the German Europcar website.
Booking a car there is painless and easy. Choose location, date and the car. Enter credit card details, done. One thing I liked was that they offered some type of cars, they claimed would be available at my chosen locations. So, well, fine, I booked a Mercedes c-class station wagon with automatic shift and a diesel-engine for Sunday morning at 11.00 ...
geromuc 04.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Europcar
Advantages: It was a nice car and was absolutely perfect for our needs Disadvantages: Understaffing and a lack of training conspired to create a later departure than planned.
...on our way to the Europcar desk. And this was, at least, easy to find. Fortunately, the queue was not too long, and I was soon able to speak to the booking clerk. The Spanish, I've learned, do tend to enjoy multi-tasking, if unsuccessfully. That's a polite way of saying that once I had finally connected with the guy behind the desk, he immediately decided to deal with some other client with a problem and also answered a 'phone call. Ho Hum! The paperwork ... ...- walls have ears, and Europcar have my credit card imprint! On return, I re-read the contract. Return the keys to reception and on no account hand them over to the agent in the car park. I was instructed to hand them over to the agent in the car park. "Hey! I'm uniformed!" He was. I did. I checked at reception. It was fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. All in all, I was really pleased with the rental. Having landed in Madrid at 15:30, though, it ...
andymcf 30.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Europcar
Advantages: Good car, good service and good price Disadvantages: A wee bit of confusion at check-in
...minibus ride.!
At Oviedo, Europcar has its cars parked as near to the airport door as it is possible to be. A big 'well-done'.
The Car.
======
We had booked a 3 door VW Polo or equivalent, with aircon.
They do the usual range - micro with 2 doors and no aircon, all the way up to people carriers.
When we got to the car, we discovered that we had a 5 door Seat Ibiza, with aircon.
The car was spotless, maps were provided, it was diesel ( more ... ...give back their report.
Europcar did not bother.! We were politely treated by the same girl in the office, who took the keys, completed the paper work and handed back our credit card voucher - all in the space of two or three minutes.
I have used Europcar in England twice before, but this was the first time abroad. It was a most pleasant experience, making our holiday go extra well. They have outlets all over Europe including UK.
By the way, the ...
trevorbrock 24.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Europcar
Advantages: HOLIDAYAUTOS and Europcar - rip off merchants Disadvantages: totally unhelpful
HOLIDAYAUTOS.CO.UK and EUROPCAR stink.
I was forced to upgrade my hire car at Granada airport as another child travelled with us at the last minute and was told by the Europcar spanish staff in broken English that the price of the new car would be 292 euros. The already charged price of 170 euros would be subtracted from this I would only pay the balance ( 122 euros ). I booked the original car through holidayautos.co.uk.
On my return my credit card had been charged for 292 euros and trying to contact an english person to complain to via holidayautos.co.uk was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The customer services number is in Asia. They subsequently informed me that because I had signed a document ( in Spanish..which I do not speak ) this was legally binding and there is nothing that they can do. They say that it was ...
Advantages: Good location, decent amenities Disadvantages: Can't think of any
I use Alicante airport for my annual break in Spain and find it is convenient and fairly easy to use.
It is situated just outside Alicante on the Costa Blanca, around 46.5km from Benidorm. It is within driving distance of Valencia, around two hours and 179km.
Arrivals
You would probably fly to Alicante if you were staying in Benidorm, Torrevieja, Altea, Calpe, Moraira or Teulada. It is popular with budget airlines such as Easyjet and Bmibaby and there are flights from many regional airports in the UK such as East Midlands, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle and Stansted to name a few.
There are around ten car hire companies who operate out of the airport including the big names like Avis, Europcar and Hertz, these desks are located in the arrivals hall and can get busy at peak times. There are also local car hire companies who ...
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Poor communication and blithering idiots at customer service!
I cannot express how utterly awful this company is. I booked my hire car through them over a month prior to arrival and when I arrived at the airport to collect the car, the agent said they'd cancelled the car. No-one at Argus had contacted me, leaving me and my elderly disabled mother stranded in France. Luckiliy, Europcar saved the day by coming to the rescue. I cannot recommend Europcar more. Back in the UK, Argus took 2 weeks to refund my money and did not even give a reason or compensation for the difference in the hire. Very very poor customer service in my opinion and will advise all to go direct with the hire company and not a third party in future. Do not use! ...
segat1 09.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of arguscarhire.com
