Beware Europcar, Melbourne Airport, Australia
Avoid Europcar for any hire car requirements at Melbourne Airport, Australia, at all cost.
With nothing more than a wish that nobody else is stung with illegitimate claims of damage after returning their vehicle I wish to alert others to a recent occurrence of such behavior by Europcar that my wife recently experienced. My wife returned a vehicle early one morning in October after a few days hire and even managed to make human contact with a company representative at drop off to hand over the keys etc. The car was returned in exactly the same condition that it was hired. A few weeks later an abstract and absurdly nondescript letter arrived in the mail with an accusation of damage caused to the vehicle during my wife’s period of hire. This letter was sent without one shred of detail about the claimed damage my wife was accused of causing but instead simply listed, at long length, their intended procedure for recovering the costs of repair. An email was promptly written back to Europcar vehemently disputing the accusation and reminding them that the car had been handed over to a company representative at drop off with no issue raised at that time. Our objection was completely ignored by the branch manager and a second, unsigned, letter was received a few weeks later with the bill.
For your own protection, please be very careful of the unprofessional and disgraceful customer service that is provided by Europcar in Melbourne.