Europcar

Stay Away from these freaks, they stink and are a mafia.
What a bad experience!
When i went to pick up the car, Jesus Ponzo stated that I needed 10 000 US dollars to waive the CDW. Astonished, I told him no body in the past have asked more than 1200 US Dollars. Then he advised me to buy the CDW offered by Europcar for 25 US dollars a day to avoid all this. I explained to him that I wanted to take advantage of the benefit that my credit card offers that I Had. I have printed an official letter from Amex with my name and card number to assure that my Amex card will cover. HE looked at the letter and then stated that I must present the CNSF letter. I asked him where could I get it from. He said that there is a form online if I logged into their site. I asked politely if I could use one of their unoccupied computers in the office, and he was redundant to tell me to go back to the airport to use an Internet cyber to fill and print the form. I told him that my wife was pregnant and exhausted from the trip, but he insisted that I go back to the airport or I purchase the CDW from him. I couldn’t believe that I was going through this, I rented from more than 15 companies in the past abroad and I never saw poor quality customer service and work ethics. Then I spoke with Lino Fernandez who I thought will be of more help, but instead he refused to accept the letter from Amex because 1– It does not specifically state Coverage of CDW in Mexico. 2– It doesn’t have the email address of the person who issued the letter. So now, I am missing 2 requirements to waive the CDW insted of 1.
I literally spent 3 hours between going back to the airport trying to fill the CNSF form that I never found, and incurring roaming charges on my phone while trying to get help from Amex car rental services. The Amex representative willingly stated that she could change the letter with her name, number and email address and agreed to type «coverage of CDW in Mexico», she asked me to talk to Mr. Fernandez so that she can explain, but when he spoke to her, he bluntly refused to accept this letter and told her that I must buy the CDW insurance although he could not supplement her with information on how she could obtain the CNSF form.
This experience was dramatic and disappointing for me and my wife. We went through all this aggravation and inconvenience for nothing, and now I am reaching out Europcar corporate office to conduct an investigation and supply a valid explanation of their staff actions.

Really dissatisfied with the rental this time. When we booked online you never disclosed that we need to take insurance. I kept telling the staff at the europcar office at the Cancun airport that my credit card includes international coverage (which I used a while ago in Germany with another europcar rental as well) and I don’t need coverage. They declined giving me a car unless I purchased insurance which btw was 2 times the price of the rental! I was forced into buying insurance which is completely unethical. Next there is no one who speaks English at your counter. The service is extremely slow. They scan every document which takes foreber. It took us nearly 2 hours to get a car! At speeds over 90, the radio antenna would wobble and keep banging the top of the car. When I returned, all contracts were in Spanish! How the hell can anyone figure what they were charged. They even kept a $ 500 deposit which you never told they would at the time of booking. I still can’t tell looking at the contract if I was refunded my deposit. In a nutshell, really bad experience!

Europcar got me the car that I needed and I had no problems with it. In fact we drove the Chevy quite a bit over the 4 day period, including poorly maintained and dirt roads, and it held up really well. The car was pretty new too. No complaints there.
The prices they were asking however were outrageous. In the end, I booked online through Holiday Autos. I was a little worried at first when booking because I’d never heard of the company before, but in the end it turned out to be completely legitimate. I spent $ 200 less than I would have if I had booked directly through Europcar. This however is a problem with Europcar corporate, not the local spot in Chetumal.
The only issue I took with Chetumal is that they charged me for showing up early?! It was only 30 pesos, but if anything, they should be giving me a 30 peso reward for being early. There was no way I could have known this charge would have come about. I felt that this may have been a tiny shakedown that would go under the radar. Who knows??? It was a frustrating way to end an otherwise good experience with Europcar.