Europcar car rentals in Cancún

Hidden costs on the insurance

The car was fine. It didn’t have central locking which was annoying. It was pretty battered too but was serviceable and did the job. Pick up was relatively straightforward. The real problem came on return. We had been unexpectedly held up in the centre of Oaxaca because several vehicles had been hijacked and strategically dumped around the centre, bringing the city to a standstill. As a result, what should have been a 15 minute drive became 2 hours. When we got to the europcar office, we explained our predicament and that we only had an hour until our flight was due to depart and could they possibly get us to the airport asap. They shrugged and said it will take 10 minutes to go over the car in detail and they can’t help - even though I had fully comp insurance cover. They then deliberately took their time - 2 guys standing about joking and the other VERY slowly making his way around the car. 10 minutes became 15. He would stop occasionally to join in the joke (I videoed part of this process as it was outrageous). We had spilled a drink in the car and he explained that we would have to pay £90 to have it cleaned, presumably a process they would do anyway. We had no choice as the minutes were ticking. Eventually we were given a very slow bus ride to the airport and unsurprisingly we did miss our flight. By 5 minutes. I honestly thought that europcar was a reliable brand - the McDonald’s of car hire, but alas they failed big time. I had additional costs all over the place as a result, running into hundreds of pounds. Eouropcar had an opportunity to really excel and go the extra mile, but instead they have annoyed a regular customer to the extent that I will avoid the brand and their affiliates, regardless of price, from now on.

We paid 140 Eur in advance for the car, but it isn’t visible on the final receipt. We were told to pay a huge amount of money for the insurance - it was 3-4 times more expensive then the car itself and this price was not expected at all. We had to leave 500 usd deposit and they said that we will get it back in 4 days. 4 days has passed and the deposit is still not refunded.