Stay away from Europcar
 

Rented a car from Europcar UK, the Heathrow Airport location. We talked about the fact that we will return the car at a London downtown location. The agent there failed to inform us of the Congestion Fee that we would have to pay in advance, if we drive the car through the downtown core. Same thing with the agent that processed our return. No mention whatsoever of the possibility that we may have driven through the congestion zone and we will be on the hook for the fee. It would have costed us 11.50 GBP, if we paid it on time. We accidentally found out about the fee from the driver that took us to the airport. I got home and I tried to reason with Europcar Customer Service over the fee. They had no sympathy for me, telling me that I should have noticed the signs posted on the road, as you enter the Congestion zone. It may be true, even though it is hard to read everything on the sign when you drive through heavy traffic, on the opposite side of the road and have to pay attention to the instructions of the navigation system. It would have been much nicer if they showed a little concern for our satisfaction and would have advised us on the congestion zone charge. Transport for London issued the Penalty Charge Notice on November 2nd. Two weeks later and Europcar still did not get to process it and put it in their system. Currently, the penalty has swollen from 11.50 GBP to 65 GBP and because Europcar delayed to process the PCN so long, it will go to 130 GBP. It could have costed me 11.50 GBP, if Europcar would have done a simple courtesy gesture and make me aware of the charge. Now, thanks to them, it will end up costing me a fortune.
Stay away from Europcar at all cost. They may seem like a cheap alternative, but in the long run, due to their very poor services and lack of training of their personnel, you will end up paying more.

You registered with Fodors just to tell us that?
If you had done the slightest bit of research before driving into an unknown city you would have known about the congestion charge.

Research pays dividends. This is the gripe of a first time poster who has been caught out and expect Europcar to bail you out.

Europcar is the best rental company in Europe in my opinion. Mensana, I suggest that you rent a car from each of the other companies and compare.

Joining the chore here, corporesano.

However, you can contest the 130 £ with authorities and pay only 65 £ telling them you are not responsible for delays. It has a 90% chance of success.

But be nice in your wording. Or you'll attract as much sympathy as here above.

If you know TfL issued the penalty notice why can't you just pay it?

When unfortunate things happen in travel, it's human nature that someone might have a need to vent. No matter how much research someone does, no matter how many years of travel experience we accrue, every single one of us has a tale of woe. And the woes keep on trying to challenge our trips.

These days, with the internet, the easiest way to vent, or slap back at the offending party, is to go online and post your grievance. Thank you, Fodor's.

I happen to think a little venting is healthy. It's important to release negative energy and let it go from your being. Threads like this are important for other travelers to read. Stuff happens. The world is not a perfect place, and no one is immune from an unfortunate travel experience.

Another way to look at this: At least you weren't shot by a terrorist. Certain events in travel put other events in perspective.

Reading nonesense is also much better than being shot.

We always use Europcar and have never had any problems.

The OP likely won't be back nor read the responses.

Just running all over the interweb looking for places to post his rant.

I think it's ok to vent too but the title should have been something along the lines of 'Remember to check local tolls and charges before driving overseas' - not 'Avoid X Y or Z company' (who aren't really at fault in this case).

The terms in which you couch a post make a world of difference imho. Also anything that tells me to avoid or boycott something, or cries scam or fraud or whatever instantly winds me up. Tell me just the basic facts and let ME decide who is in the right and wrong and whether or not I still want to use a particular organisation.

There is no shortage of new posters coming here before the trip assuming driving in a different country is same as driving at home or after the fact folks venting about why the driving practice is different abroad.

Most of the issues, before and after the trip, can be dealt better if people stop assuming driving in other countries is same as at home.

With the availability of internet, is takes a second to find out peculiar gotchas others before them have experienced. Traffic congestion charges, traffic restricted zones, speed enforcement practice differences, etc.

London, for example, if one google searches "Driving into London", in less than a second, one gets "London's congestion charge" as the top several hits. Same for many other locations.

Often, warning them about gotchas before the trip does not help either. They were such experienced drivers at home and they felt there couldn't possibly be anything they didn't know about driving abroad.

I'm sorry you didn't know about the congestion charge - but when renting a car in a foreign country it's up to you to understand the traffic rules. This is like someone who drives into the pedestrian zones in Italian cities, gets a ticket and complains that the rental agency didn't tell them not to drive where the signs said don't drive. (The congestion signs are large and prominent - even if you didn't read anything at all about UK rules of the road.)

I hardly think the fee is exorbitant (a regular parking ticket is $150 and up here) and it may encourage you to do a little research for your next trip.

I can't imagine why one would blame Europcar.

Lots of cities have different regulations, London isn't the only one with a congestion charge, actually. Foreigners are too arrogant to think they can rent a car in a foreign country, not pay any attention to the signs (or never bother to learn what they mean in a foreign language) and then complain about tickets. IN fact, with that kind of attitude, you should consider it part of your travel expenses. And not getting tickets in a timely manner is also a part of travel and exactly the risk you decide to take when you rent a car in a foreign country and don't pay attention to signs because it's too hard to read them.

I have zero sympathy also. I live in Wash DC and some whiners have complained on Fodors about getting tickets here because they didn't read the parking signs boo hoo, etc. I don't have sympathy for any tourist who drives a car into a major city on vacation, in fact, because they are harming the local environment and traffic situation and there is no reason for a tourist to need to drive in big cities. Needing to drive a car into central London ios absurd.

I don't see why a renter could not be reminded by the rental station of the congestion charge in London. It's not really the same thing as driving into a pedestrian zone or speeding. I get reminded when I pick up my rental car in Sweden as they can put the congestion fee for Gothenburg on my rental as an extra and got reminded about e-toll fees when I picked up my rental car in Joburg so why not London? But I would not stop using Europcar as they are a very good rental company on the basis of this complaint.

If only people would use my simple plan, they would never get upset with rental car companies. I always build in an extra $250 to our vacation budget for my driving screw-ups like putting the wrong petrol in the car outside Gubbio, backing into a pole in Olomouc, driving in a Paris taxi/bus lane, nearly running over a gaggle of nuns in Florence or onto a public square in Trevi.

Any trip that does not add up to $250 in fines or damage counts as a savings to me. It makes life much more enjoyable and relieves lots of stress.

((H))

RM67 said it first and best--the lesson is not "avoid Europcar", lol.

> It would have been much nicer if they showed a little concern for our satisfaction and would have advised us on the congestion zone charge.>

Yes, it's always nice when someone goes the extra mile, but they're not required to. That's why it's called "the extra mile".

I do think the two week delay in posting the extra charge is a legitimate issue that Europcar should address.

Frankly, I think it's a lot more productive to make sure you don't MAKE those kinds of errors in the first place, Maitai but whatever works for you, Man.

"...I should have noticed the signs posted on the road, as you enter the Congestion zone. It may be true, even though it is hard to read everything on the sign when you drive through heavy traffic, on the opposite side of the road and have to pay attention to the instructions of the navigation system"

This is the bit I don't understand. London congestion charge signs are hardly small or discreet, particularly on major routes into the city.

It's just another sneaky ploy by Europeans to snare us rubes -- Congestion Fees, ZTLs, ticket validations. The list is endless.