Europcar is engaged in blatant fraud. They overcharged me for a dangerously defective car -- and I…read morecontinue to receive phantom charges more than 3 months after returning the vehicle.
There were problems with the car from the start. Although they were supposed to provide a car with a full tank of gas, the car they provided had only ¾ of a tank. More alarming, on the morning of our 5th day in Italy, the car began to overheat and smoke, breaking down on a highway from Siena to Rome. We navigated the car into a local gas station, where several good Samaritans helped us diagnose the problem. As it turned out, the car was rented to us either without sufficient coolant or with a coolant leak (see photo of good Samaritans attempting to fix the car).
We returned the car in Rome approximately 90 minutes after the rental agreement required. Of course, we were only "late" because the car Europcar provided was defective and broke down, causing a hazardous situation and delaying our travel. The attendant who accepted our car acknowledged that the delay was caused by Europcar's deficient vehicle and excused the delay. He also took our receipt for fluids and stated that he would submit it for reimbursement to our credit card.
Incredibly, though, Europcar charged us and extra $281.91 for returning the car late and allegedly adding another driver. Europcar claimed that we returned the car more than 2.5 hours late - despite me submitting time-stamped photos to the contrary.
Inexplicably, Europcar charged me an additional $45 a month later - and another $45 two months after that --all without explanation.