Car Rental Warning Europcar

[GrammaZ]

Just a note of warning for those of you renting cars in Italy or probably anywhere. And this probably applies to other companies than Europcar. We rented a car for a week to drive through Tuscany and dropped it at the Rome Airport. We filled the tank up at a gas station about five kilometres from the airport. Dropped the car, attendant looked at the mileage and gas gauge. My husband asked her if we owed her anything else and she said, No, all was good. We realized we did still have to pay the road tax and after hour charge that we had agreed to before.

 

When we got our statement, they charged us for 8 litres of gasoline to top off the tank, a 13E refuelling charge and VAT on all of that. I did attempt to get them to reverse the charge through the agent we dealt with, Auto Europe in the States, but to no avail. If we had kept our receipt showing we had filled up the tank in Rome before we went to the airport, we would have been okay. Of course, that was the only gas we didn't charge (we would have had our VISA statement as proof) as we were wanting to use up Euros. I guess what really gets me is how did we know there wasn't eight litres missing when we picked up the car. The gauge showed full, the same as when we dropped it off.

 

So point being made, keep proof of your fill up until after you get your VISA bill or statement from the rental companies even if they tell you all is right.

[smeyer418]

8 liters is about two gallons....not a lot of gas but the charges are outrageous. I have had the gas pop at less than full.I always make sure it really full, I hate paying one cent more than I have to.

[Andym]

Petrol over in Europe is running at about $1.65 a litre !

[smeyer418]

It was $2.00 per liter in Turkey in September.