Story and photograph by Emmjay

I had hired this car in Cairns for two months for my work through a travel agent.  Returning it to the airport and hurrying to catch my flight. The inspection guy found the tiniest scratch on the front bumper (see photo) and submitted a report.  I didn’t even know the scratch was there – it might have been supermarket rash.  If I had known it was there, I would have touched it up myself with a duco pencil.

Then two months later I got an unsigned letter saying that they were going to charge my credit card $424.60 including $100 claims administration fee. 

No evidence of a competitive quote, no correspondence.  So, I cancelled my credit card to prevent this charge.  Who knows, it could even be a scam.

Fortunately, I had travel insurance purchased through the travel agent (Cost $3.50 per day instead of Europcar’s $35 per day – which was more than the daily rental for the little Hyundai.) These people were counting on the fact they thought I had their insurance – and were charging me just under the amount they think I would have had to pay to make a claim.  The alleged repair bill was equivalent to about one week’s additional hire.  Money for nothing. 

So I am going to let my insurance company, the major travel agency chain – and the NRMA and RACQ know about the experience.  

Rest assured I will never, ever hire a car from Europcar again.

Check out other reviews at https://www.productreview.com.au/reviews/e425f44f-610d-39f0-8683-2e2de13b3f04

I have since found that quite a lot of people out of some 800+ reviews have had “repair” issues with Europcar. What a curious co-incidence.