tonyk

I want to report the horrifying experience I had with Europcar in Portugal during the month of September. On June 16th, I booked a reserve of a compact car with automatic gear for the period 15th September (Évora) – 24th September (Vila Real) under the name of my wife for the guaranteed price of 512.43 Euros. We also subscribed to an insurance policy providing total Loss and Demand Waiver coverage, eliminating any deductible we might incur during the rental for an extra cost of 14.88 euros per day.

On September 15th while picking up the car in Évora, fully aware that engines in Europe can be driven either by gas or diesel, I asked the employee named Nuno if the engine of the Fiat Linea we were renting was on gasoline. His answer was YES! Given that I am a portuguese native speaker, I am positive he understood the question. Unfortunately, when I stopped at a service station to fill the car, it was the owner of the service station himself who filled the tank. Of course, it was writen DIESEL on the tank tap and I wonder why he did not tell me about it.

On Friday September 18th, while I was leaving the city of Marvão, the engine of the car stalled, preventing us from keep going on our trip. We then phoned the 24h assistance service for help.

To make a long story short: Europcar is charging me aproximately 300 Euros for picking up the car, replacing it with another and “assistance” despite the fact we were misinformed and paid for an insurance policy providing full LDW coverage (not to mention we had to wait six hours for help to arrive). B) We were promised by the Porto Alegre Europcar station to receive exactly the same model I had rented in Évora, but instead got a car with a manual gear! C) when I complained by phone with the Evora station I was insulted and not helped at all; D) I called the customer support department in Lisbon where I talked to Sr. Virgilio. He was unhelpful, did not pay any atention to what I was telling him (in Portuguese) and showed clearly that he did not care, in fact he sounded bored!; E) When we delivered the car back in Vila Real not only they charged this absurd amount of 300 euros mentioned above but they also charged me more for the same car with manual gear than the price I had booked for an automatic gear car! The total rip off in my assesment amounted to 340 euros I am trying to suspend this abusive charges reporting this situation to Visa. I will go to law court if necessary! Europcar never more!!! Avoid dealing with this dishonest company! Use either Avis or Hertz!

nukesafe

I'm not clear. Was the diesel car mistakingly filled with gasoline? Was that what made it stall?

alihutch

I have always had excellent service from Europcar....one of the cheapest for one way rentals.

nukesafe

BTW, there is a chap on these forums, Maitaitom, who is rather an expert on this subject, having done the same thing. He had no excuses, however, other than perhaps the Maitais to which his screen name alludes.

Anyway, I would suppose that you would need to carefully examine the insurance agreement you signed to see if adding the wrong kind of fuel is explicitly excluded from coverage.

Michael

Something does not compute. The owner of the service station filled the car with gasoline even though there was a DIESEL sign on the gas cap? And he did not warn you about the conflict? And you speak fluent Portuguese? So within one paragraph we are told that you speak fluent Portuguese but that two different Portuguese locals deliberately misled you or did not bother to warn you about what to put in the fuel tank? You are an unlucky traveler.

StCirq

Agree, does not compute.

Alec

Putting a wrong fuel is almost always excluded from insurance coverage and you are liable for the full cost of draining the tank and cleaning the fuel lines. It's up to you to check which fuel a car takes and not rely on what a staff member may have told you.

cigalechanta

We uses europcar for many years and they never let us down
(this in France) Twice diesel was mistakenly put in(BY US!!) and we got another car in one instance, the other we had it siphoned out. For a newbie, gazole sounds like it must be gasoline

astein12

I'm confused as well... so, you're saying that they put gas into a diesel? (It's pretty hard to put diesel into a gas engine, the nozzle doesn't fit).

Unless you specifically instructed them to do this, there's not way in h*** that a service station owner is going to do this. And even if you did tell them, I don't think they do it.

I've always had good luck with Eurpocar. That said, good luck with pressing your case. Not wure if the LDW is going to cover you given that they'll probably argue that it was a deliberate action on your part that damaged the car.

Continental_Drifter

Uh - If you put the wrong fuel in your own car, it wouldn't be covered by insurance either.

We have always used Europcar and had nothing but terrific results.

ALWAYS read the big yellow sticker in the area of the gas cap that says "DIESEL ONLY" in about three languages. In this case, it sounds as though the station owner read that big yellow sticker just fine. Why would he have "told" you about it, when he was the one filling your car?

Which fuel? That's the renter's responsibility, not the lot boy's when he drives the car up to the front.

Ahhh... I'll bet you'll never make this mistake again, for which both Hertz and Avis will thank you!

janisj

You need to clarify what actually happened -- Did the station attendant put in the wrong fuel, or did you do it yourself later on in your trip? I doubt if the attendant put in the wrong fuel on the 15th that the car would run until the 18th when it stalled. Probably doesn't matter that much since wrong fuel would negate the insurance.

But the complaint >>><i>We were promised by the Porto Alegre Europcar station to receive exactly the same model I had rented in Évora, but instead got a car with a manual gear!</i><<< really has no merit -- sorry.

Rental agencies never promise any exact model - there is usually wording like "Fiat Linea or similar". They can't possibly guarantee a specific car unless that is the ONLY model in the fleet. Plus - if there was no replacement automatic available, what would you propose they do?? They gave you what what they had . . . .

lowcountrycarol

Your report certainly is confusing to those of us who speak English fluently. Could "Nuno", who may have not speak English very well, have thought that when you said gasoline you were saying gasoleo....thus the confusion about his response to you. Still not sure who you feel put in the wrong fuel.

ribeirasacra

Something else about this posting . I love cars and consider myself a bit of car nut, but I have never heard of a Fiat Linea in Europe. A Fiat Punto is the car for Europe
Also a one poster complaint does not seem a worthy addition to this forum.

Paul1950

If I were never to fly on any airline that someone complained about or were never to rent a car from any agency that someone complained about, I would never be able fly or rent a car.

kerouac

I had missed this one the first time around -- I love these confused stories where the important details are clearly altered or missing.

Also I love the logic of titles like <b>Whatever You Do Do Not Rent a Car With Europcar!</b> -- that's like saying "do not buy a hamburger from McDonald's because I had one in New Zealand and got sick and they didn't care."

hetismij

ribeirasacra, the Fiat Linera is available in Portugal - http://tinyurl.com/ydlpc5v is a link to Fiat Portugal's site.
It doesn't make the story any clearer but at least the car model is (probably) right.

Josser

OK, petrol was put into a diesel by mistake and it took three days for the engine to react.

daveesl

It should also be remembered that in Europe diesel fuel is often referred to as "Gasoil" and gasoline is often called "petrol". So perhaps if you asked if the car ran on gasoline, the attendant thought you meant gasoil.

With all of that said, I always make it a habit of looking at the fuel fill cap to make sure what the car takes and in some cases the fuel gauge will also say what it requires.

As someone that has built a lot of car and boat engines, I can say for certain that if you put diesel in a gas job and did not know it for 6 days, then you must have simply parked the car within a very few kilometers of filling it up.

Diesel has a high combustion temperature and just as soon as the first bit hit the cylinders you would have known it.

ira

To follow up on davees,

I accidentally filled the gasoline tank with diesel. Drove the car from the pump to the convenience store - about 50 feet. Engine died.

OTOH, if you put gasoline into a diesel, the engine tries to explode.

The whole story is very garbled.

zarpe77

Here is a brief synopsis of my car rental experience with Europcar in Gerona Spain. Before writing this warning I asked Europcar for their take on my experience. In order to be fair I will include it in this email but note that the only issue it addresses is that I picked up the car after 12

I arrived at your rental office at the Gerona Rail Station a little after 12 noon to pick up a vehicle I had reserved online earlier that morning. The person who is working today.. he told me his name was Joan,but I could not guarantee he gave me a correct name,was the most rude and obnoxious person I have ever encountered. Not only was he demonstrably upset that we were there to pick up our car.. He did not want to help us out AT ALL. After much discussion and telling us the office would not reopen until Monday which is 2 days from now.


He finally relinquished, with MUCH fanfare and helped us with our rental.. However, out of what seemed anger and spite in informs me that I will have to pay a late fee of 46 Euros if I want the car...If not, he was going home.Since I had no choice we ended up paying the late fee. Finally when all was done which took a total of about 15 minutes .I asked him about the car seat I reserved online and then, again with much fanfare, he says has only 1 and it will give it to us for 14 Euros a day.If not, he says I can go buy one! Needless to say I am so put off by my experience with Europcar.


Dear Sir,

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the problems you got at the beginning of your rental.


We want to confirm you a copy of your message was already sent to the responsible of the Cataluña area.


But, we want to point out one important clue: the booking number 876129863 was made directly in Internet, where the timetable of the station of Gerona railway station is visible. That day thas station had to be closed at 12.01h. All new rentals open after that time must be charged with the afterhours fee (without exceptions, according wit the interantional procedures of Europcar).


Maybe the way the staff explained this point was not the most adequate one, we will try to take the needed steps to avoid it will happen again in the future.


Finally, we want to thank you send us your comments to help us to improve our service.


We hope you will use again our company in the future.


Yours faithfully,


Customer Service Spain