BEWARE of EUROCAR

Old Oct 8th, 2008, 04:15 AM
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BEWARE of EUROCAR

Hello; Having just returned from France of 23 days, [GREAT TIME] I wanted to alert everyone of Europcars new policies. At the counter, you are told to return the car empty.You start with a full tank of gas. Thru Auto Europe, we rented this car with a 'zero' balance. On return my CC was charged an extra 180.63 euros. I can understand being charged for the gas. But this is the series of charges; 1.Licenses and Fees, 0.47 euro. 2. Diesel Vehicle, 41.80 euro. 3. Refuelling service, 11.29 euro. 4. Full tank option 70.79 euro [It does not take into account what is left in the tank, even if it is a full tank]. 5.Pr station charge, 28.10 euro. 6. Fuel charge 1.73 euro. Auto Europe is attempting to get the 'Diesel charge' reversed. In June in Ireland with Budget Car rental thru Auto Europe, we were told the same thing at the counter when picking up our car. However, Budget policies estimate how much gas is left and returns your money. We were given a refund of 37.50 euros. Interesting how policies differ between companies. I am not sure how Europcar works in other countries, but in France BEWARE. ENJOY Iris
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 04:49 AM
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We rented a Europcar car through Auto Europe in Scotland this summer, and we were told at the rental desk that we needed to pay for a tank of gas up front but that we could return it empty.

On our way back to the Edinburgh airport, we joked that we should just drive around until the tank was empty to get our money's worth. While having this conversation, we missed our turn and ended up on a highway headed North, adding unintended miles and about half an hour to our journey.

I've filed that away under "be careful what you wish for".
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 05:05 AM
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I get a car from Europcar every two weeks in Paris with a full tank, so I don't know what you're talking about. I'm picking up another one tomorrow. I do have a question to ask them, though -- the rate through AutoEurope dropped 15% since my last rental.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 05:16 AM
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What does it mean by "full tank OPTION?" Were you given a choice of returning the car full or empty?

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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 05:33 AM
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At least in our case, we were told that we were paying for a full tank of gas, and it didn't matter how much was left in the tank when we returned. If we left the tank empty, so much the better. If we left it full, we did not get any refund.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 05:40 AM
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We just rented from Eurocar in Dijon in Sept and didnt have this problem. We told them we would bring it back full and we did.

How long ago did you return the car...maybe I need to keep an eye on my credit card...
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 05:54 AM
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What a greedy ploy. Since it's impossible to judge with any precision how much fuel there will be left from your last fillup (short of siphoning out any excess), you are in effect presenting Europcar with free fuel. None for me, thanks.

On a related note: I just got my final reconciliation from citer (National's French counterpart), and they charged me 7,56€ for fuel in spite of the fact that I had topped up ten minutes before turning in the car.

National/citer SUCKS!!
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 06:07 AM
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What did AE say about this? Do not forget that you were their customer, and they have great customer satisfaction people.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 06:39 AM
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This EXACT thing happened to me when I rented from Europcar via Auto Europe. Unfortunately, the full-fuel tank option is mandatory when you rent for 5 days or longer! During our week, we barely even used one tank of gas -- talk about a waste of money.

Europcar also tried to charge us 50 Euros because they claimed we returned the car late. We were supposed to have the car back by 12.30 and (according to them) we returned it at 12.50 -- actually we were at the rental office at 12.30 and STOOD IN LINE for 20 minutes waiting to return the keys. Anyway, I protested that fee via AutoEurope and they were good about getting it removed (though it took about 4 weeks).

I wish I knew a way around this full-tank-fuel option for my next French car-rental experience. Please post back with your experiences!

Good luck!
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 07:42 AM
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So, does this FULL TANK policy only apply to rentals for 5 days or more?

We rented from Europcar (via AutoEurope) last month in France for 2 days. We were not offered any fuel option, and we returned the car full tank. We did not get charged any for fuel; though we were charged for the railway station pick-up/drop-off fee.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 07:48 AM
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ANOTHER BAIT & SWITCH FOR AUTO EUROPE!! This makes three (3) posted in this forum just in the last couple of weeks. There are about 22 complaints filed against Auto Europe at the Better Business Bureau (BBB)in the last 36 months. If you consider the fact that BBB is one of the absolute last resources for complaint resolutions, then you will get the picture of how MANY MORE there must have been!

I used them for many years; they are NOWHERE near the company it used to be.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 08:24 AM
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I for one will never use Europcar again.

Iris, we had the same thing happen to us in Paris just a few weeks ago. My husband just got our credit card statement and we had to pay an extra $280.00 because of all the fees they tacked onto our original agreement. Had I known in advance I would have used another company.

Also Europcar made us wait for about 2 hrs in line at CDG in order to pick up our car. This in turn made us late for a tour we had arranged in Epernay. Really ruined our day...

Next time we will use another car agency!
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 08:25 AM
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Well, according to my AutoEurope voucher "Rentals 5 days and longer, client will be charged for initial tank of fuel."

Not sure if you could protest this.

Also says: "Rentals less than 5 days, client is advised to return the vehicle with a full fuel tank and to retain copies of gas receipts."

BTW, I was also charged extra for 1) Rail station pickup (28 E), 2) ecological fee (28E), licensees fee (10E). In total, the actual amount I paid (including full tank gas "option" (70E) was 133E higher than what I had initially anticipated.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 09:34 AM
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I found the local charges in France to seem particularly expensive.
If you rent an automatic, they charge a per day "environmental impact fee" of about $6 but I did not realize they charged if you have a diesel.

We also did not have an option on being charged for a full tank and how long are you going to drive around with no gas in the car to at least try to get your money's worth?

Also, even though they said the charge for petrol was the same or less than local stations, it was much higher. It was about E.20 per liter more. It ended up to be significant when you do the math. The only thing that saved us is that our gas tank was very small.

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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 10:26 AM
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Hello again; Some of the questions that arose from my post have been answered. The new policy is 5 days or more. You must pay for gas up front and bring the car back as empty as possible. No refund for gas still in the tank. We KNEW we would have to pay for the gas. It was all the other charges that acrueed. In particular, the 'Diesel Vehicle fee of 41.80 euro. After contacting Auto Europe we were told this policy of Eurocar is relative new. Auto Europe now advises their customers of this policy. We did not get advised because we rented in January at a god rate. When it says 'fuel tank option', you have NO option if you are renting for 5 days or more. So we are working with Auto Europe to get a refund of the 'Diesel Vehicle fee'. While we have rented with other contractors for the auto rental companies [nova car hire being one], we have full confidence in Auto Europe. Keep in mind that with Budget rental, while saying up front, you pay for the gas now and bring the car back with little gas. They estimated and refunded euros for the unused gas. We have used Europcar before and the policy was always return the car full. Their policy has now changed. ENJOY Iris
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 10:32 AM
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Hmmm... I don't see a Diesel Vehicle Fee on my statement, even though our car was a diesel.

As I said, we rented this car in Sept 08; and I think I made the reservation in August 08.

The only EXTRA charges we received were:
Licenses and Fees €4,10
Railway Surcharge €28,10
and VAT
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 10:35 AM
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They estimated and refunded euros for the unused gas.

I wonder why they don't fill it up and subtract the amount required from the tank capacity.

citer charged me 1,85€ for fuel I had been buying for 1,35€.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 11:09 AM
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Hmmmmm; There is always a sceptic in the crowd. TRIPADVISOR Do you have a fax machine and I will fax this information card immediately and you can report your findings. ENJOY Iris P.S. Remember, this policy applies only for cars rented 5 days or more. I'm not sure how this applies in countries other than France
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 11:13 AM
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iris Are you talking to me? I didn't say I don't believe you. I am just stating what my experience is with AutoEurope/Europcar when I rented a car last month. I don't understand why in some cases they charged for a Diesel vehicle fee and why in some cases they didn't.

I am just stating the FACTS for MY rental.
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Old Oct 8th, 2008, 11:32 AM
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Hi yk; Thanks for the reply. It is interesting how your invoice/charges were different than mine. For instance, I have no 'Railway surcharges' even listed on my paperwork. Actually, it's a three inch by nine inch card. I have accepted the charges for 'refueling service, 11.29 euro' and 'Pr Station charge, 28.10 euro' and the cost of the fuel, 70.79 euro. We knew we would have to pay for the fuel, but not necessarily for the 'refueling' and 'station charge'. The charges I reported are exactly as they are printed on the Europcar paperwork. However, I have Auto Europe checking on the charge for 'Diesel Vehicle, 41.80 euro.' I will inform all our friends on this site of the outcome. Iris
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