Renting with Europcar

[straitman]

When renting with Europcar should it make any difference whether you rent direct and insert your Exec Privilege number in the booking or rent from the Virgin web site?

I found the price to be within a couple of $$$$ but when renting from Virgin there is no where to put your Exec Privilege number in the booking. But if booking direct do you get Virgin points?

i.e. what is really the best way?

 

[jsd]

The Europcar direct website has an option to put in your Velocity number (and many others) under the 'driver details' section (the tick box opens up two more fields)...

Have always earned Velocity points on direct bookings and points have almost always hit Mum's account within the week

So to answer the actual question, booking direct allows you to enter both numbers at the same time so unless the Virgin site shows significantly cheaper prices direct it the way to go...

 

[AdMEL]

IMO, direct is definitely the best way to go! The prices should be the same (in my experience, they have been). When checking the Virgin website a few weeks ago, the booking conditions appeared more restrictive than direct (can't remember exactly, but I think Virgin has a cancellation charge, or something similar). Whether it is actually charged is another thing - even Europcar direct states that if the booking is not cancelled at least 48 hours prior to collection time, a cancellation fee may be charged, but I was recently advised by Europcar that despite this, there currently is no cancellation charge at all.

FYI, my recent experience with Europcar crediting Velocity points and also refunding amounts overcharged has not been good.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

i.e. what is really the best way?

G'Day Bill,

For me, I choose direct. I had a couple of small issues dealing through the DJ booking engine (though CrazyDave did say he'd rectify one of those for me, which I never bothered about) but I guess once bitten, twice shy!

As for Europcar........well I've said previously and I'll say again, their computer system has a mind of it's own and it seems no human intervention can change that! Probably the funniest example of that happened to me a couple of years back at ROK. First in line at the Europcar counter to pick up my pre-booked rental and just as it came to signing my life away I noticed the price was different (by about $30/day more....I think it was) to what I booked. When I queried that, the lady said her computer showed that price and despite the fact I produced my booking confirmation, she couldn't do anything to change it. Well, not bloody good enough, I thought and promptly rang Europcar reservations head oriface to complain bitterly, only to find the central booking computer agreed with my printed booking confirmation and it was only the ROK booth that differed. Back to the poor young girl in the booth to explain to her she must have the wrong page or something but she refused to believe it, despite the fact I still had the guy at Europcar central on the phone. I got him to explain to her the actual price, but she wouldn't believe him either :shock:. In the end, I leaned around the booth and asked Hertz next door if they had any cars and she said yes, so guess who got that booking?? Plus Hertz gave me an upgrade and it was cheaper than the original booking I had with Europcar. To add to the silliness of all that, it was the morning of 1 April ..........I even asked the Europcar girl if this was an April fools day prank on me being the first customer? She said it wasn't.

That was just one of a list of Europcar computer issues I've had with them, but with the DJ tie up I've decided to give them another run (they often have unlimited Kms at some of my ports, whereas the others limit free kms to 200).

In the previous 3 months, I've hired 6 different rentals with them and out of those, one hasn't been awarded points nor added to my qualifying rentals (despite the fact it should have) which was back in mid September. I've sent two claims to Europcar and one to DJ with no result.....yet. One from the week before last has credited both as a qualifier and I've got the points, yet one just previous to that shows as a qualifier but no points yet. Of course the points only get calculated on the base rental so all their bulls*t fees and recoveries don't earn points (probably the same for all the rental crowds), so the triple points are really only approximately single points for the actual $ spend.

The rental agreement that hasn't posted points yet, shows me doing 1870km despite the fact I only drove it Gold Coast to Brisbane and despite the fact I only had it for 16 hours (by the invoice time stamp). For that to work out, I'd have to have been averaging 117km/hour non-stop for 16 hours........Gelignite Jack, eat you heart out! Perhaps they reckon I don't deserve the points due to the km's I ran up (not)???? I'm just glad it was an unlimited km rental or my bill may have been quite large :evil:, but it goes to show yet another Europcar issue.

All in all Bill, I'm keeping a very close eye on Europcar and their many methods of madness. So far the DJ alliance is holding me with them, but without that, Avis would be my preferred rental (except at the locations where they limit the free kms to 200).

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Sorry for the lengthy rant above, but I neglected to answer your question. Booking Europcar direct still pays the triple bonus points and tier bonuses. The DJ site do offer the guaranteed cheapest rate, but I personally don't find that much use. Once I book, I rarely go looking for cheaper options (though I do always check all the majors for pricing before I book). It may be a different story, if the DJ booking engine actually searched for the cheapest price for me, instead of expecting me to to it and notify them to price match!

Personally, I think dealing direct, rather than through DJ and their third party booking partner, must be less problematic when trouble strikes. The booking I made with an issue that CrazyDave was willing to correct for me was a classic example of this. DJ said it was a Hertz problem and to take it up with them, Hertz said it was a DJ problem and to take it up with them.............:?:

 

[AdMEL]

swanning_it, your Europcar experience seems similar to mine! Their systems and customer service are, in many cases, appalling!

Out of interest, which locations does Europcar offer unlimited km where the other only offer limited km?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Out of interest, which locations does Europcar offer unlimited km where the other only offer limited km?

The three that most commonly affect me is Rockhampton, Mackay and Proserpine.

 

[AdMEL]

The three that most commonly affect me is Rockhampton, Mackay and Proserpine.

Interesting. I didn't know such anomalies in km existed. Thanks for the heads up - I'll keep it in mind if I ever end up in those places! Not likely though! Are there any others that you're aware of?

 

[JohnK]

I know I am posting in the wrong forum but good to read other people's experiences.

I have been renting with Europcar and have not had any issues apart from 2 rentals one weekend in September still not crediting to BMI. Have called and have sent emails to Europcar but no resolution. Think it is time for BMI to fix that one.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Interesting. I didn't know such anomalies in km existed. Thanks for the heads up - I'll keep it in mind if I ever end up in those places! Not likely though! Are there any others that you're aware of?

No, but that doesn't mean they aren't around. I've learnt always to check. Incidentally, it was this very anomoly that was the issue that CrazyDave offered to correct for me. I knew Hertz was 200km free at ROK but when I was checking with the DJ booking engine, it indicated Hertz out of ROK as unlimited and I (perhaps foolishly) believed this was a real benefit of booking with DJ. I needed to go to Gladstone and ran up in excess of 200km and was billed an extra $60 (or something like that), so beware all, of that little gotcha !!!!!!

 

[AdMEL]

No, but that doesn't mean they aren't around. I've learnt always to check. Incidentally, it was this very anomoly that was the issue that CrazyDave offered to correct for me. I knew Hertz was 200km free at ROK but when I was checking with the DJ booking engine, it indicated Hertz out of ROK as unlimited and I (perhaps foolishly) believed this was a real benefit of booking with DJ. I needed to go to Gladstone and ran up in excess of 200km and was billed an extra $60 (or something like that), so beware all, of that little gotcha !!!!!!

I know what you mean about checking - I always check too, but my first check is usually using drivenow or oodles, which are far from accurate. I just checked ROK and oodles showed Avis with 500km per day included (haven't seen that amount before!) and Thrifty 100km, but when I checked Avis and Thrifty direct, it was 200km for both. Very annoying! I suspect the same issue affects Virgin, given they use a third party consolidator.

I always check my rental agreement km when I know the km are limited, especially Europcar, which I've found to often have higher km than the agreement shows.

 

[straitman]

Thanks everyone.

Like swanning_it I vowed never to use Europcar again after several work related incidents. (They tried the old damages trick and another time had un unregistered car)

The only reason I'm trying again is the Virgin tie-up. I'll look at it all again tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Thanks everyone.

Like swanning_it I vowed never to use Europcar again after several work related incidents. (They tried the old damages trick and another time had un unregistered car)

The only reason I'm trying again is the Virgin tie-up. I'll look at it all again tomorrow.

I guess to be fair, I hadn't vowed to never use Europcar again, as their unlimited kms at those destinations of mine is certainly a calculatable difference and the issues I have had were annoying, prolific bug-bears more than anything. The only rental crowd I've vowed and declared never under any circumstances to use again is Red Spot. They've shown me all so clearly what they are like and I was taken once, but never again. Given I've been renting cars since the mid eighties and rent anywhere between 10 and 50 cars a year, they've lost revenue and will continue to lose revenue.....many, many more dollars than they weaseled out of me that once!

 

[AdMEL]

I guess to be fair, I hadn't vowed to never use Europcar again, as their unlimited kms at those destinations of mine is certainly a calculatable difference and the issues I have had were annoying, prolific bug-bears more than anything. The only rental crowd I've vowed and declared never under any circumstances to use again is Red Spot. They've shown me all so clearly what they are like and I was taken once, but never again. Given I've been renting cars since the mid eighties and rent anywhere between 10 and 50 cars a year, they've lost revenue and will continue to lose revenue.....many, many more dollars than they weaseled out of me that once!

After my experiences over a number of years, with Hertz, Avis, Europcar and Thrifty, I prefer to stick to hertz and Avis as much as possible, due to better service and better availability of cars. After several bad experiences, Europcar and Thrifty only get used when there are no other choices, or they offer significantly better condituions, such as unlimited km. In my experience, at non airport locations, Thrifty and Europcar tend to only have cars for bookings made in advance, so if you need a car at short noptice, or something goes wrong with another rental (such as an accident, or not returning the car when they should), you get shafted (This has happened to me with both Thrifty and Europcar, more than once each - on one occasion, Thrifty tried to tell me I had booked a lower class vehicle than I had and on another occasion, Europcar offered me a really cheap rate as compensation). I haven't yet used Budget, but have joined Fast Break, in case I need to. I have no intention of ever using Red Spot, given they don't have cars I want to drive (no interest in driving Korean micro cars! Especially not when I can often drive C Class Mercs from hertz for less!) and after everything I've read and long suspected.

 

[markis10]

I have to say that there is not one brand that is consistently good, it all comes down to the branch! I had 5 different rentals in the last 7 days, my two Hertz ones were interesting :

1. Dropped car at BNE airport, left keys in boot for home, spent next three days ringing branch with no answer, finally answered on Saturday to be told lost property is a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 only deal!
2. Got charged $30 for fuel for doing 50 km in a Camry, despite topping it up Saturday at the Darwin United near the airport 5 minutes before return (it took 7l which I thought excessive for 50km).



My other beef is the varying authorisation amounts charged to your card, Europcar is $150 + total est rental (not sure for Audis), Hertz is $80+ for non luxury, $500+ for luxury while Avis is the pure rental cost.

 

[darrend]

I am booking a car in Frankfurt for two days.

I went onto the local Europcar site and got a quote. $237.82AUD. I then logged in with Exec status number and expected fresh quote for same to be discounted and to my surprise it was same amount.

I then went to Lufthansa site (am Senator with Miles and More) and linked the Lufthansa microsite on Europcar. Got a quote for same car, date, times at $159.42 (a reduction of 33% over the local quote). I then got a quote on same Lufthansa Europcar microsite without entering my Senator card and the quote was $237.82 - same as the quote on the local site when I looged in with the Exec status card.

The Exec status is a result of election upon reaching Platinum with Virgin, thing is given this experience I question the value of it. Any thoughts?

 

[darrend]

I have to say that there is not one brand that is consistently good, it all comes down to the branch! I had 5 different rentals in the last 7 days, my two Hertz ones were interesting :

2. Got charged $30 for fuel for doing 50 km in a Camry, despite topping it up Saturday at the Darwin United near the airport 5 minutes before return (it took 7l which I thought excessive for 50km).

I had issues with fuel a few times with AVIS - twice in Melbourne and once in Auckland. Car in Auckland was not full when I picked it up - took a photo of fuel guage and staff were OK to sort that out. In Melbourne similar deal and both times staff were OK with it and credited me the fuel.

Once hired a car at Broken hill, dropped it off after hours and owner's teenager got to it and caused significant damage. They tried to come after us for the cost of repairs etc. Fortunately had photos with date/time stamp showing vehicle was left intact and damage happened after the event. Owner investigated and real story emerged. I know it is painful keeping evidence but a short 30 second run around the car with digital camera is good insurance.