Europcar possible overcharge

[N860CR]

It's good to be back, I've been in Europe for 5 weeks and have spent the last hour and a half catching up on everything here!

Now having never hired a car in Europe, I've come home to a hell of a shock when receiving an invoice from Europcar. I had to make a last minute change onto the QF6 FRA-SIN flight while I was in Berlin and the best way to get to FRA was to hire a car and drive. So I hired a car from Europcar at TXL and the total rate (for the 6 hours...) was to be 109.43EUR.

I ended up getting stuck in a bit of traffic and was late at FRA so I had to drop the car off without petrol. It had about 1/4 tank in it and I assumed I'd be charged probably for a whole tank. What a supprise it was to see they've taken an additional 165.30EUR (Yes, Euro) from my Amex card!

I know fuel is expensive in Germany, but even a full tank at an average 1.50EUR/L a full tank should only be about 100EUR. Can someone tell me if I'm looking at this the wrong way, or are Europcar just trying to screw me and hope I don't complain.

 

[Travel Guru]

It's good to be back, I've been in Europe for 5 weeks and have spent the last hour and a half catching up on everything here!

Now having never hired a car in Europe, I've come home to a hell of a shock when receiving an invoice from Europcar. I had to make a last minute change onto the QF6 FRA-SIN flight while I was in Berlin and the best way to get to FRA was to hire a car and drive. So I hired a car from Europcar at TXL and the total rate (for the 6 hours...) was to be 109.43EUR.

I ended up getting stuck in a bit of traffic and was late at FRA so I had to drop the car off without petrol. It had about 1/4 tank in it and I assumed I'd be charged probably for a whole tank. What a supprise it was to see they've taken an additional 165.30EUR (Yes, Euro) from my Amex card!

I know fuel is expensive in Germany, but even a full tank at an average 1.50EUR/L a full tank should only be about 100EUR. Can someone tell me if I'm looking at this the wrong way, or are Europcar just trying to screw me and hope I don't complain.

I think you'll find the car hire companies charge inflated petrol prices (here in OZ they are currently charging in the order of $2.20/litre) which cover their costs to pay someone to fill up cars of those who fail to do so.

E165 is probably right, though seems a bit high none the less.

TG

 

[Dave Noble]

What the price of fuel at the petrol station is irrelevent. Fuelling charges by car hire companies are normally a lot hire than just the street price of petrol

65% over would seem perfectly within the fuelling surcharge

Dave

 

[N860CR]

I see. Well seems I may be in the wrong. Should it not be specified somewhere though? I know for instance I've seem signs here at car rental desks that state the companies fuel price for that day - there was nothing shown or explained to me when I collected the car.

 

[Evan]

Maybe, but i think it comes under the catagory "common knowlege" as to the way fuel is charged if the tank is not full.
I guess you have made the expereince once and you will try in future to fill your own before handing back.

Of course some companies in Australia atleast have the reverse policy, you can pay up front a fixed cost and return the car as empty as possible ! Not a bad thing really.

E

 

[N860CR]

I think it just hurts that I paid about $550 for a 6 hour rental! They did very well out of me that afternoon.

 

[Evan]

Yes they did ! When converted it sounds even worse
E

 

[Travel Guru]

Thats european car rental outlets for you, biggest scammers around, i got done once but never again!

TG

 

[Dave Noble]

Thats european car rental outlets for you, biggest scammers around, i got done once but never again!

TG

Sorry, but how is it scamming any more than Australian hire companies do;

e.g Hertz charges a refuelling at $2.20 approx per litre for a Fairlane and estimates the amount of fuel used at 17l per 100 Km ; when I hire, I tend to get under 10l per 100km... assuming I drove 100 Km

cost of fuel if filled myself 10l * $1.50 = $15
If refuelled by Hertz 17l * $2.20 = $37.40

which is 2.5 times the cost of self purchase

Even if I drove at the 17l per 100k the price would still be 46% more expensive

Dave

 

[Travel Guru]

Sorry, but how is it scamming any more than Australian hire companies do;

e.g Hertz charges a refuelling at $2.20 approx per litre for a Fairlane and estimates the amount of fuel used at 17l per 100 Km ; when I hire, I tend to get under 10l per 100km... assuming I drove 100 Km

cost of fuel if filled myself 10l * $1.50 = $15
If refuelled by Hertz 17l * $2.20 = $37.40

which is 2.5 times the cost of self purchase

Even if I drove at the 17l per 100k the price would still be 46% more expensive

Dave

Sorry Dave I should have clarified, I wasn't referring to being scammed by refuelling costs, more turning up being offered a smaller but similar looking model to what was booked and paid for, being none the wiser and being ripped off when needing to upgrade because it was too small.

The european outlets often just give me a sense where they'd tell you anything to get a couple of extra dollars out of you, at least most the AU ones I have dealt with tend to be reasonable up front.

TG

 

[Dave Noble]

Sorry Dave I should have clarified, I wasn't referring to being scammed by refuelling costs, more turning up being offered a smaller but similar looking model to what was booked and paid for, being none the wiser and being ripped off when needing to upgrade because it was too small.

I haven't had that prob in the UK ( which is pretty much only European area I rent ) ; the cars do tend to be smaller than Australia, but , with Hertz, I do get the group expected

In Australia, if I book a D I get 1 class upgrade to F which changes a Falcon to a Fairlane
If UK, if I book a D I get a 1 class upgrade to X which changes a Mondeo to a Passat

Dave

 

[Travel Guru]

I haven't had that prob in the UK ( which is pretty much only European area I rent ) ; the cars do tend to be smaller than Australia, but , with Hertz, I do get the group expected

In Australia, if I book a D I get 1 class upgrade to F which changes a Falcon to a Fairlane
If UK, if I book a D I get a 1 class upgrade to X which changes a Mondeo to a Passat

Dave

Yeh thats always nice, it just seems to be when i'm renting in France or Italy i've learned to be on guard and ready for any possible scam.

I think overall rental companies in Australia are pleasant and very easy to deal with, though I did rather enjoy the Avis guys attempt at upselling me to a Full Size Sedan when they knew they couldn't fulfil my booking for a Corolla last week, only to tell me so once i'd rejected paying $10 for an upgrade!!

TG

 

[oz_mark]

I think overall rental companies in Australia are pleasant and very easy to deal with, though I did rather enjoy the Avis guys attempt at upselling me to a Full Size Sedan when they knew they couldn't fulfil my booking for a Corolla last week, only to tell me so once i'd rejected paying $10 for an upgrade!!

I suppose they have to give it a go

 

[N860CR]

They got me with that a little too. I paid about an extra 40EUR to book an Audi A4 over a VW Golf (knowing that I'd be driving somewhat faster than I would at home and felt a little safer in a better car). The A4 was changed to a "similar" Chrysler Sebring (maybe they're similar in Europe... but I'd never compare the two!).

So in the end it was another 20EUR to upgrade to a Volvo V70.

Next time I'll just fly!

 

[docjames]

Next time I'll just fly!

Was there no train option - i've found this by far the easiest usually and reasonably priced compared to other options. The car becomes worth it when there's 3 or 4 of you (not 1) as of course you're dividing your costs.

 

[N860CR]

The train was an option, however it too was pricey. There were two of us and combined the train exceeded the car. The other issue was time - there was very little of it! The only train option had multiple stops and would have ended up taking too long.