Car had been smoked in previously and the smell did not diminish during the entire rental period, car seats and interior very stained. This is the second occasion I have been given a car like this from this location, whilst the rental staff did explain there is nothing they can do to prevent this from occurring from other renters they do state they will charge for a clean if this does happen, this car had not been cleaned. It does seem if you book via a consolidator with Europ car rather than direct with them you won’t always be offered the best cars but that’s the cost of trying to save a few pounds against booking direct with Europ car.

excellent knowledgable staff at pick up

Take long time to pickup cars because the service personnel persuade to upgrade and cross sell insurance. The car also have few scratches on bumper and fenders during my pickup.

I booked Passat or similar and Europcar was trying to give me a compact car (Volvo V40), claiming that they don't have anything bigger. After my complains, they offered me Peugeot 3008, which was still way smaller than Passat, but we fit our luggage there (carrying one of the bags on the back seat). I hate when companies offer something which they cannot provide. I booked my trip ~1 month in advance, so they had enough time to prepare themselves. On a good side: the car I got was almost brand new - just 300 miles on its meter and it was very well equipped.

We arrived slightly early but the Europcar guy was friendly and went out of his way to help us get away as quickly as possible. It would have been five stars if the guy hadn't then tried to sell us excess insurance (which we already had). This made the whole thing slightly uncomfortable, which was a major shame as otherwise it would have been perfect. Please can Europcar train its people not to clumsily up-sell insurance to its customers? It seems to be endemic in the sector, unfortunately. I want to be left alone to make my own decisions about what insurance I buy, not frightened into buying Europcar's insurance!