vaclav

Hi. Recently we have rented a Europcar car for our month holiday in Australia at Sydney airport. Car was OK and served us well and we had returned it without any damage. Yet, that nice Australian branch of Europcar still considered it good idea to peel some extra money from us (fortunately not so much - but them being too greedy could have alarmed my bank) and charged us for special cleaning of the car interior - allegedly it was stained. I am not sure if there were any stains inside - we did not checked when getting the car in that dark cellar parking but I seem to recall that the car was not exactly clean. But what I do know for sure: we did not add any extra stains to the car seat covers and they provided no evidence there were any stains.

In any case, the whole think looked as a premeditated scam. So, next time I would go for some other company - hopefully this is not a common habit in Australia. I do not have any problem like that before when renting cats in the U.S.A., Europe, or Japan.

Good luck.

CounterClifton

Not sure how common it is, or what the stain situation was... but that's the first I've heard of someone being charged for interior cleaning here in Australia. And I can't say I've had anyone walk through an inspection of the interior at the outset of a rental either. Tricky or a mishandled situation with a previous stain, sorry to hear you had a downside to you visit.

CounterClifton

By the way, it's very likely that Europcar in Australia is made up of many franchised locations. I know most international brands are. So the experience may not be similar elsewhere with the same logo but at a different location.

vaclav

Yep, me too. It did not occur to me to check inside the car - there was not enough light to see anything. And of course, there was nobodu to return the car to - they just took the key at their desk. Anyway, they provided no evidencve there were any stains in the car and the invoice for cleaning was a simple letter anybody can fake ...

I am not sure if the Sydney Int. Airport is a franchise but the claims came from Europcar Australia headquarters.

CounterClifton

Yeah, that one might be corporate but then, they might just route communications through a central database (as part of their booking and billing arrangement? I don't know). I know their Australian site has a page for "franchise opportunities", so I figure it's probably the latter.

I just meant that your bad deal might not be a sign that Europcar itself is to be avoided, if that makes sense. Could be a shady operator OR they may have just now noticed the stain themselves and have slack ops at the airport there. I'd contact corporate, explain the lack of evidence you did it and ask what your recourse was, especially since they're the ones passing bills along

vaclav

Yes, I see your point. Actually, few years ago we rented an Europcar vehicle in Finland and everything was fine. I do believe it is local manners which comes into picture here.

In any case, I have forwarded my correspondence with that Australian outfit to the Europcar headqurters in France to let them know how their Australian branch is behaving. I will see if they support such behaviour - it is up to them to show that this is not typical for Europcar; if they do not respond properly, they are always other companies to try next time ....

annhig

have you disputed the bill with your credit card company? - as your contract is with them, not with the car hire co.

even if you can't get a refund, they will get fed up with these people if they get loads of complaints.

nelsonian

Eurocar normally has a very good reputation, well it does in New Zealand anyway.