Europcar Dublin Airport

Run, run as fast as you can and do not hire a car with this company. We have been renting cars for twenty years in Ireland and have never encountered such truly awful customer service. We had the bad luck to lose the car key, it has never happened to us before, we were not careless, it just fell out of my husband’s hand and went down a drain. We tried everything to retrieve the key but to no avail. We called Europcar and were told that since it was six o’clock they could do nothing for us because the second key was locked up at headquarters and everyone leaves there at five pm. WHAT? Their solution to us being stranded? Absolutely nothing. They told us to call at 9 am the next day and they’d see if they could get the key from head office to the airport rental desk. How were we to get from Wicklow to the airport with no car, where were we to stay overnight? They did not care.
When we got to the airport the next day can your guess what happened? At a business where all of the car reg numbers are attached to the keys, someone sent over the wrong key. We are sitting waiting for the right key right now. When I asked the customer service agent how she felt about offering no help whatsoever to us she just shrugged and said we were lucky they had a second key. While we fully accept responsibility and liability for losing the key the fact that Europcar has absolutely no plan to help people after 5pm is nothing short of farcical. Cost to replace the key? 300 Euro. What makes it worse is that nothing works on the car they gave us, the heat is broken, the air control until is broken, lights keep coming on in the console, we had to get AA to check the vehicle last week because the brake ABS fail light came on and would not go off.
As I said, run, don’t walk, to any other car hire company rather than use this company, and ask the all important question, if something happens after 5pm, what will you do to help us? In Europcar’s case it is absolutely nothing and then a snide «you’re lucky we had a second key,» comment.

We land in Dublin on Feb 14^th, get the mini bus to the car rental. So we go to pickup the rental, which they do not have, they are all out of the vehicle we selected. While waiting the lady asks if we want to take the collision damage cover I stated no that my discover credit card covers that, she said they could not accept my card for the coverage without a letter from discover. I showed her a screenshot from a conversation I had with Discover stating that once they car is booked using your card they cover any damage. She stated they could not accept this and we could not take the car without the coverage which in total was a cost of 1,600. So in the end we did not take the car and had to get the mini bus to take us back to the airport to get a bus to our destination bear in mind I have a 6 month old with me. Never ever would I recommend this rental company to anyone. I believed the collision damage cover was optional not mandatory if it is mandatory it should be included in the original price quote. We still have not been refunded our money we originally paid for the car rental $ 260.

Utterly shocking. Looked at my charge when I got home and there was a E100 «Extra Fee» added. I enquired. It was a «smoking fee». I informed them that I had never smoked a cigarette in my life. They hung up the phone. Never again. Stick with teh American brands. This crowd is dishonest and will build in revenue however they can. Also, endless offers of «Upgrages» for 20 euro per day more. And the ridic insurance add-​ons.

Awful. Advised counter in terminal, but had to pile family and luggage into shuttle bus to remote location.
Once there, good 10mn wait before I got to a counter. Then the fun started — offered a discounted upgrade to a BMW, declined. Offered an Audi A4 for no extra price — explained I reserved an estate and that’s what I wanted, but agreed to try the A4. Our stuff didn’t fit. Went back — then 45min of to-​and-​fro while they tried to find us a car that worked. We explained we would take what we booked (IWMR, regular estate) or a People carrier or minivan or minibus. Then it was «oh it’ll be € 60/​day extra for the minibus». I was like — get me what I’ve booked. Nothing more nothing less. FINALLY, an hour after arriving, they produced the right car. Tired, hungry kids loaded and away we went. Formal complaint will be following — avoid at all costs.

Much like the other reviewers on here, I was effectively extorted by the Dublin Airport location before I boarded my flight. I have rented at least 50 cars in my life and never had this happen — including in Europe.
A minor mirror scratch (on the driver’s side nonetheless so it wasn’t from the narrow coast roads) was charged to me at over 50 euro upon check-​in. The associate was snippy about it somehow stating that Europcar’s business model of re-​selling cars after 6 month’s was the customer’s problem and that cars should be 100% perfect. The car — although it had 2900 kilometers on it and was fairly new — wasn’t perfect. The wet and freshly washed car at the city center location in Dublin looked ok to me (we marked a few scratches that we saw on checkout); the scratch in question is probably about 2″ long.
Avoid this company. Take pictures and time/​date stamp them if you REALLY want to rent from them. They seem to make up the rules as they go and hold your 1200 euro damage deposit hostage in the process. Never mind the fact that I could have burned out the clutch or abused the car during my hire period (I didn’t).
Save your brainpower and go with Enterprise.

Avoid this company. They insisted my existing credit card rental insurance wouldn’t fully cover me and charged me an extra $ 150 for their insurance too. I was in a rush to get to somewhere by 9am and didn’t have time to investigate further. They also took a fuel deposit that I was told the applicable amount would be refunded (depending on remaining fuel in the car) and I never received it and it’s been over a month since I rented from them.
So they charged me an extra $ 300 at the desk in addition to the original amount paid of $ 142 AUD when booking).
He also kept trying to push a much more expensive car saying «It’s only another 20 euro, and it’s diesel so it’ll work out cheaper overall». Leaving out the fact that the cost was 20 euro PER DAY extra.
As the average price difference between petrol and diesel was $ 0.15 per litre at the time. The car I was renting was a Ford focus with mixed driving average of 6.6 litres per 100 km (or 0.06 litres per km). So renting for 6 days, I would’ve had to drive over 2,000 km or 330 km a day — that’s from the top of Ireland (Belfast) to the bottom (Waterford) EVERY DAY OF MY TRIP to break even on the savings of renting that other car.
These guys are con artists.

Beautiful car, great all-​inclusive pricing, easy to check the car out and back in. Fast shuttle to and from Dublin terminal. Love the prominently posted «Fair Wear and Tear» policy. Highly recommended to US customers by this US customer!
I don’t have a clue why all these other posts are 1 star — but I think I can guess. I mistakenly clicked on a rental car link for cheap rentals in Ireland and got a quote for the same car I eventually rented from Europcar. However, the agreement didn’t include the «all-​inclusive» package, which includes CDW, theft and some other insurance. No US insurance company gives you insurance coverage in Ireland, so your US policy is no good once you leave the US. And only one credit card includes insurance coverage in Ireland. So, without some kind of CDW coverage, no Irish insurance car company will let you take a car. The COST of that coverage will vary widely. In Europcar’s case, if you book through their site, the price includes the CDW.
What it doesn’t include — and will never be included at any Irish car hire site — is the «EXCESS» coverage, which covers the «deductible» you will be required to guarantee with a credit card at the checkout desk — unless you buy a stupidly expensive «EXCESS COVERAGE» policy. The deductible is EU1200, so you can see that almost any minor damage you get on the vehicle, like parking lot dings, run-​ins with bushes on narrow roads, or door dings in tiny parking lots, will be subject to this deductible. Frankly, it scares the @#$% out of me. Europcar will offer to sell you this policy when you check out, but they’ll want at least EU10 per day for the policy.
So I purchase something called «EXCESS COVERAGE» from another company for about $ 50 per year that covers the first GBP6000 of damages any rental car company in Europe might charge me. I bought mine from
– it’s underwritten by Chubb Insurance, once of the largest insurance companies in the world. If I get charged by Europcar for any damage, I simple pay and then submit the charge to Chubb and they reimburse me.
So, to shorten it up for those with short attention spans, like me:
1. Rent direct from the Car Hire firm — not a third party, like Kayak
2. Look for rental pricing that INCLUDES «all» insurance — CDW, Theft Protection, Lost Key, etc.
3. Purchase Excess Coverage protection from a third party to save hundreds.
Enjoy your trip and forget about the minor stuff.

Do NOT use this company! They are dishonest and charged me four times the amount that my brother was charged using another rental car company for the same amount of time. He also had a larger vehicle. They cannot continue to operate like this as no one will come back and use them again. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE !

Beware. CarTrawler through Aer Lingus website is terrible. They charged me to reserve a standard/​intermediate sized car through Europcar/​National. When I got to the airport, Europcar didn’t have my size car and forced me into a «discounted» upgrade car to the tune of EUR40 per day. I had no choice since my group of 4 people was standing there with our bags ready to begin our 10-​day trek around the island. I’ve been fighting with them via email since July. I’ve tried to deny the charge through my credit card. Now CarTrawler says my prepayment was part of the «extra» charges on the Europcar invoice. Guess what? There are no «extra» charges listed on my invoice. Save yourself some grief and avoid CarTrawler, Europcar, and National in the Dublin Airport. This was the one blemish on our wonderful trip to the Emerald Isle.

Don’t rent with Europcar Dublin. All visitors to Ireland should avoid this company and their underhanded sales and marketing tactics. I wish I had read the various forums and complaints about this company before renting from Europcar. As a seasoned traveller I utilize the services of many rental car service companies and as far as attempting to deceive and upcharge customers Europcar is in a class by themselves. First, I was told by the Dublin city office that if I wanted to turn the car in at the airport — which is 20 or so miles away — I would have to pay a drop off charge of 35 euro. They asked me on more than one occasion if I wanted to return it to the airport so they could update the record. One of many add-​on/​up charges they were trying to pass along. When I called the main customer service number for Ireland for Europcar’s Dublin Center hours of operation, I was informed that this was not correct. I could return the car to the airport at no extra charge. I also found the «fill» charge for fuel to be exorbitant at 150 Euro. I got this money back on return but its a ridiculous hold charge. Next came the discussion regarding insurance. I chose the basic insurance which was expensive with 1K euro deductible. I have always relied on my Amex for supplemental insurance — only needing it once with National Rental Car and zero issues. I was given the heavy/​hard sell on the supplemental insurance from Europcar — at something like 24 euro extra per day. I refused. The Europcar rep told me to get comfortable in the car while she did the walk around — I wasn’t «comfortable» with this suggestion so I did my own walkaround. one area of damage on the driver’s side door identified and on my way. The vehicle was in my possession the whole time. Easy highway driving and parked at the hotel in a safe secure spot. On my return low and behold the Europcar rep found 350 euro damage on the bottom/​undercarriage area of the vehicle. Was that damage there previously? I’m willing to bet anything that it was. Why? Because Europcar Dublin corporate incentivizes and rewards their people for increasing revenue by any means possible thus creating a corporate culture that preys on the very people they are supposed to serve. So to all those who are considering a visit to Ireland, DO NOT RENT A VEHICLE FROM EUROPCAR. However if you miss this and the many other posts (of hundreds of dissatisfied customers) I guarantee you will be sorry you did.

I would avoid using this rental car company especially if you are traveling from the USA and expect to use your Mastercard for car insurance. They require, unlike other car rental companies in Ireland which accept Mastercard, a letter from the bank issuing you the card, specifying that the card covers insurance in the Republic of Ireland. When I asked where these terms are and could I see a copy of them — I was told on their website; when I handed my iPad to the representative and asked them to show me where, the representative couldn’t find them, nor could other staff or the people they called, so not sure how I’m supposed to see or know of them. Overall, just avoid and you will be better off.

Achtung! Europcar-​Personal dreht Kunden unnötige Zusatzversicherung an! (Mai 2013)
Auch mich wollte man zunächst für ein Upgrade mit Zusatzkosten überreden obwohl ich einen Kleinwagen vom Typ Micra über Holidayautos bestellt und bezahlt hatte. Nachdem ich mehrfache Versuche abgewehrt hatte ging der Vertreter dazu über mich zu überzeugen, dass ich nur unzureichend versichert sei und ich würde ja zum ersten Mal im Linksverkehr fahren müssen. Dabei schreckte er auch vor Unwahrheiten nicht zurück.
Den Voucher/​Mietwagengutschein, wo mein Vollkasko-​Versicherungsschutz eindeutig vermerkt war, hatte er mir sofort entzogen und mich mit der AGB abgelenkt. Meine Kaution wäre im Schadensfall verloren, wenn ich diesen SCDW nicht abschliesse. Anfangs wollte er 22EUR/​Tag, dann ging er langsam runter auf 16EUR/​Tag als letztes günstiges Angebot.
Das nenne ich arglistige Täuschung! seitens der Europcar-​Mitarbeiter. Bei diesem Weltunternehmen hätte ich sowas nicht erwartet und habe mich einfach überfahren lassen. Zum Denken bin ich leider erst wieder nach der Unterschrift gekommen. Zusätzlich wurden auf meiner Kreditkarte 1200EUR Kaution und 50EUR Strafzettelgeld geblockt.
Erste Tankfüllung: Es wurde am Counter auffällig mit einem günstigen Spritpreis geworben, verrechnet wurde aber der Höchstpreis am Markt! Der Wagen musste mit leerem Tank zurückgegeben werden.
Bekommen habe ich dann endlich den gewünschten Kleinwagen, einen VW Up! Der war in angemessen ordentlichem Zustand und die Rückgabe war auch gut organisiert mit Shuttlebus.
Die o.g. Praxis scheint dort an der Tagesordnung zu sein, wie andere Reisende bestätigt haben. Einige haben das auch erst im Nachhinein gemerkt oder geglaubt, dass sie die Tagessätze zurückerstattet bekommen.
Den Stern gibt es wegen dem Ärger nur weil man 0 Sterne nicht geben kann.

Unfreundliches Personal. Gebucht war ein Micra oder ähnliches, andrehen natürlich für mehr Geld –wollte man uns ein Peugeot erhalten haben wir danach ein Fiat Panda verschrammt und dem wir ab und zu die Reifen wieder aufpumpen musste, natürlich auch ohne Steckdose für Navigation USB. Am Ende wollte man uns die abgefahrenen Reifen berechnet? Den Stern gibt es nur weil man 0 Sterne nicht geben kann.