Free Europcar rental for a weekend - how?

[markis10]

For those that are wondering how to take advantage of the free weekend car rental that Privilege Elite members get, you need to email Nicole who should have sent you your welcome email with the details of when and where. Its for a maximum of three days being Friday to Monday and is for a small compact!

Europcar seem to be getting more and more of my business as at least the locations I have used check fuel, a Camry Hybrid from Hertz needed $15 in fuel for only 26km travelled!

 

[bigbadbyrnes]

hello Markis ^_^


Two questions, neither which I expect you to know the answer too but I just thought I would check:

1.) do you happen to know if the free weekend rental covers overseas rental locations?

2.) Do you happen to know also how the "free additional driver cover" benefit works out?

I'm looking to book a rental this weekend and doing up the booking on the Europcar website while logged into my elite privileges account, any booking I tentatively make the additional charge for an extra driver is still there.

Do you just book the rental for one driver then add the second at the counter? Or add the second during the booking then seek a refund for the extra cost??


Might be worth starting a new thread on this.

 

[markis10]

I don't know the answers, I suspect it must be an Australian rental but could be wrong.

 

[Kolo]

Its available for AU and NZ only unfortunately.

 

[ozmille]

For those that are wondering how to take advantage of the free weekend car rental that Privilege Elite members get, you need to email Nicole who should have sent you your welcome email with the details of when and where. Its for a maximum of three days being Friday to Monday and is for a small compact!

Europcar seem to be getting more and more of my business as at least the locations I have used check fuel, a Camry Hybrid from Hertz needed $15 in fuel for only 26km travelled!

How quick is she usually in getting back? I emailed the generic AU Europcar address last week and followed up directly with her beginning of this week and still haven't heard anything back...

 

[markis10]

How quick is she usually in getting back? I emailed the generic AU Europcar address last week and followed up directly with her beginning of this week and still haven't heard anything back...

Over night - did you ring her?

 

[ozmille]

Over night - did you ring her?

How bizarre, haven't called her as I don't have her original email with signature anymore.

 

[markis10]

Looks like the free weekend can now be automatically redeemed online, just got this email:

Congratulations! You have earned a weekend's car hire for free Your Privilege qualifying credits have reached the required level: enjoy your free weekend anytime now! Just follow the steps below and have a pleasant drive!

Click on the Redeem button below Select your dates and destination on the dedicated website Accept the terms and conditions Confirm and your e-voucher will be issued online instantly You can print it or save its number for future reference at time of pick-up in the Europcar agency

 

[Ev1dent]

I can report that the free weekend is more hastle than its worth.

I recently gave it a try and when I arrived at melb airport to pick up the car, the staff told me that they'd never even heard of the Europcar loyalty program and were surprised when I pointed them to teh details on the web site. Next, when they looked harder at the reservation they found that there was some sort of coupon code on the booking, but the computer system wouldn't accept it, but told me that they'd investigate. Because I didn't want to pay for the risk reduction (I have separate travel insurance to cover the excess), I had to give them my credit card to cover tolls and any damage to the vehicle.

A few days after the rental, the full charge was charged to my credit card, and the rental was charged at teh full rack rate, not even the price I would have got if I'd not tried to use the free weekend. I have now been fighting for neally two weeks to get a refund. Spoke to their customer relations again this morning, to give them one last chance to fix things up before I lodge a chargeback with my bank.

Europcar does offer competitive rates, but my experience is that the free weekend offer is just a gimic and more hastle than its worth.

Like others, I have had a number of Europcar rentals and never had an upgrade despite that being one of the supposed benefits of Privilege Elite.

I'm still Velocity Gold, so might switch across to Hertz and see how their service and pricing compares.