“Let me tell you about the disgraceful service that was provided by Goldcar in Faro, Portugal earlier this year, 2022. The wait at Faro airport was not unusually long, yes it's a nause but not unexpected. Staff were reasonable and polite on this occasion but were keen to persistently push extra insurance on top of that which we had already taken. The agent had pre-warned us to turn down this regardless, it was not needed. The car was clean, I gave it a good amount of scrutiny as I am used to hiring cars in the UK and abroad and know how discerning you need to be to avoid comeback at the end of the rental. The car was fine for what we needed it for but it was hardly used as we spent most of our time walking, out of choice. On the odd occasion that I drove, I was careful not to scrape alloy rims,miss holes in the road etc, much as I would do with my own car. I have been driving for 40+ years, in the military and HGV. On returning the car, an inspection was made but the operative went straight to a minute slither of rubber on the front offside tyre, as if he knew it was there before we arrived. I admit I did not pick this up on collection. This had not penetrated the tyre wall in any shape or form and was merely cosmetic but extremely difficult to see, even after it was pointed out. When I protested, the agent became abusive and told me to see 'them in the office' when I requested to see a manager. The girl in the office was equally frosty and of course, they are aware that you have a flight to catch and use this to their advantage. I was billed 200 Euros for a new tyre. When I pointed out that this is not the price of a new tyre, more likely 100 Euros, they actually agreed but said that this is the price THEY charge. There was no compromise, despite all three of my party stating that I had not driven the car in a manner to cause this damage. There was no attempt to reconsider, I was guilty and that was the price I had to pay in their eyes. There was no channel for complaint at site and was told to complain online ..... about as much help as a chocolate fireguard. Of course, I had to pay the 'fine' and after I forwarded photos of the 'damage', strangely enough there was total silence. I had read the reviews before I hired the car and chose to ignore many of the bad reviews as you always expect some people to have an axe to grind. With hindsight, I should have heeded them, I wish I had paid a little more money, listened to my inner self and taken a car from a professional company, not Goldcar. I promise you, I treated this car as if it was my own and ended up getting stung by what can only be referred to as a true bunch of cowboys. Never, EVER again will I use Goldcar. Do yourself a favour, there are plenty of other companies running a reputable business for a few Euros more. It's cheaper in the long run than being robbed by trumped up and falsified fines which appear impossible to get out of. On the plus side, Portugal was lovely, the people were friendly and receptive, the food great but these people left a VERY bad taste in my mouth. Thank you Goldcar for making a memorable experience so immemorable. Shame on you.”
“Wow! These are out and out crooks!
I booked the car through Booking.com for 8 days car hire from Lisbon Airport, and also took up their insurance policy. Good price, so far so good.
When I picked up the car, I felt there was something off, they tried to sell me their own insurance (not sure of legality of multiple insurances) but politely declined. I allowed their hefty deposit to be held on my credit card, but my suspensions made me take photos and generally be super vigilant of the car. When I returned the car, with full tank, and in identical condition as picked up, the inspection seemed to go well and car was accepted in good condition. I was asked to sign a digital form that also showed there were no problems. I was told the receipt would be emailed.
No email arrived and £182 taken from deposit with no explanation.
Booking.com are looking into this, but have not communicated with me at all.
So, I decided to use live chat with Goldcar (4 hours later) and was told there was a problem with the wheels. I have photographs to prove car was in good condition and have insurance to cover any damage. But Goldcar are unscrupulous and dishonest.
Please make sure if you’re using them to have as much evidence as possible, photographs of car, petrol receipt and take a picture of tablet with your return form, as you won’t get a copy on email and it can be altered to support their story after you sign it.
The money stolen from me is more than the cost of hire and insurance for 8 days.
I’d strongly recommend not to use Goldcar, but make sure you’re covered if you do.”
“After paying upfront for car hire and collection from Malaga Airport we had to pay a deposit of approx £140.00 on our card. We returned the car full as requested but Goldcar deducted 60 euros. 50 E penalty charge and 10 for petrol.. despite three emails to customer services we have been ignored. Don’t use this Company they are just scammers and can’t be trusted. They confirm having inspected vehicle on return they would give a full refund.”
“We actually had a good experience with the car until we returned it. We filled up with gas 25 miles before we returned the car to the Nice airport. What we did not know and were not informed of was a penalty of $50.00 on top of the $11.00 worth of gas. I’m sure it was in the fine print but no one said anything about it. This is a hidden expense to trap their customers. BE WARE!”
“AVOID AVOID AVOID this company are absolute Scammers and not to be trusted
I booked a hire car with Goldcar at Nice Airport for 4 days through I do Spain for £184 unfortunately my plane was delayed and I arrived at there desk 20 minutes outside there normal guidelines and was told my contract was now cancelled and I had to re hire at a cost of €630 for the same car but if I e mailed there head office it’s “likely” they would refund my original £184 when I return to the UK.
I have just received an e mail from Goldcar stating my original hire is non refundable and they can’t help !!!
Absolute Cowboys, should have looked at the 1,000s of 1star reviews before I used this shameful company
Richard Preston”
“We were charged an additional £260 for the hire of a car we had already paid for online with Do You Spain. . In addition we were not reimbursed full for the fuel deposit charge (underpaid by £20) though we have photo evidence of start and finish fuel levels. Their after rental service is non-existent.
I will never use either company again. This is daylight robbery!”
“Terrible customer service and blatant overcharging. Wish I had read the other reviews before renting from Goldcar. I made a reservation for a compact car through Expedia and made a deposit. When we arrived in the airport, they did not have a compact car and gave us an SUV instead, which was a nightmare to drive in Majorca. They charged me 40% more than the reservation was supposed to be for and refused to issue a refund when I contacted customer service claiming I had asked for an upgrade. What a scam!”
“The worst rental car I have ever used. We were supposed to get an automatic but they had no automatic available when we’ve arrived. They have forced us to pay the additional insurance as they have recently changed the insurance policy and we would be liable for the full value of the car have we not taken the cover from them (double the car rental price!!) - excess only insurance wasn’t covering it anymore. Then we had to wait for the car as it was coming from different location. At the end the car had a pop up on the screen saying “service the car immediately” and some broken parts in the trunk. We have spent more than 2h to pick up the car. We had a little baby which made it a total nightmare. Stay away!!”
“i made a reservation for one month and I paid in advance, now my flight is delayed for one day and they refuse to change the pick up date of one day,
they canceled my contract and refuse to reimburse me and refuse to
rent me the car one day later.they just stole my advance payment of
1000 euros-BE VERY CAREFUL THIS COMPANY and their marketing arm CARJET,
real THIEVES!”
“the E_ mail there is no word about the Insurence money , they make me paid 150 € for Insurence and after one day the charging caple stuck in the car I was with two kids in the street from 11 pm until 2 am then I take a taxi to hotel and leave the car in the street next day I had to take another Taxi from the hotel to where the car is. The customers service are the worst ever after 10 times trying to reach someone speak English they send me someone told me he can't help me😡😡it not his specialty
I had to take taxi and go back to the airport where I did the contract they were rude and lier and told me to calm down
How can I calm downan I had to leave two kids alone in Hotel one son is 5 years old 😤😤😤 because of their car , then they send me to the Coldcar parking , the workers there, were nice they told to go back and wait next to the car and they wil send someone to help me and they call me back to make sure everything was ok. And the problem of the car was silly and the office in the airport didn't tell me about the problem of the electro car and they lied and said they told me , the woman who did the contract told me it is better than the benzin car then she lied and told me I've told you that the electro car had always problem.😤😤😤 I stayed in the street from 08:00 am until 15:00 pm just wating in the street.
I lost one day of my vacation cuz of them”
“Warnings ng!!Almería ser port office would not give me car with United States drivers license.
Was informed there needed international DL.
Did not refund $$$.
I had rented car in a different location in Spain 2 days prior with no problem. (Different company)
Do not rent here.”
“Good Afternoon,
I just received a 50 euros penalty + 35 euros gaz fulfilling when there was only 25% of the tank to load on an Opel Corsa. Arriving to the airport, I mentionned that there was a small lack of gaz since I did not find gasoline station on the highway to the airport and the recepcionist told " that is not a problem at all ". This is not a way to care about a client not saying that the cost will be the same of three days renting. I would recommend any client to not go with this company. To add on this, the 950 euros they block on your card can be blocked until 30 days which I never saw in other rental cars companies,
Very disappointed,
Kevin MAIMI
Very disapointed.”
“We arrived in Nice (France) and was told our car had already been allocated - even though we'd already paid and arrived on time. They'd used our departure time from the UK to say we were 3 hours late. We had to pay £465 to 'upgrade' to a car we didn't even want (a Fiat 500 SUV - which was actually smaller). Rubbish company. Avoid!”
“I rent a car from goldcar ( through rentalcars) in Lisbon airport .
When we came to take the car the service representative ask for my credit card . I didn't have it with me ,but I had my debit card, my wife had 2 credit cards but it didn't help. The only solution the service representative gave as was that my wife will be added as an extra driver ( 83 euro) and we pay an extra 245 euro for the insurance. even thoוght we had the full cover from rentalcars.
the car we got was in bad condition- The tires were old and every time we stopped to fill up with gas we had to fill the tires with air because there was an air leak, the vehicle was delivered without an instruction book without a yellow vest - very unsafe.
I was shocked. I had my debit card, they would not care.
So. We call your service representative and she told us to add my wife as an extra driver , send you the contract ,and that you will give us a refund 245 euro (the extra payment for insurance that we already had )”
“Its a 1st and last time I tried to rent with this company. I have rented in Nice / France thru web. I have a couple of questions related to pick up time. When I called to service team It was really BAD experience. I have found unprofessional and useless customer service , without patience and without empathy - and 2 times just dropped off the call
would never suggest to my friends and family”
“Hi
I would like to share the experience with the company Goldcar, because their staff are very unfriendly and their rules are non-life.
I booked the car on the internet about two months before the trip started and paid a 20% deposit with my credit card. When I arrived at the airport on Madeira island on 2nd August 2022 I had to pay the remaining amount.
Unfortunately, I had only a virtual card and not a physical card. Their rules say they don't accept virtual cards. I understand this. Unfortunately I have only a virtual card because I forgot the physical card at home and with this card I have also paid the deposit. But I also had the physical diners card but payment was possible only with the card with which the deposit was paid.
When my husband wanted to pay with his credit card, it was also impossible because their rules said that you must have a credit card in your own name.
The only solution was to change the contract and change the name of the first driver. But in this case the price was higher for about 200 eur (we are talking about 4-day rent here!)!!! We decided that we wouldn't rent a car and rather lose the deposit.
So for these reasons I definitely don't recommend Goldcar as a rent-a-car provider.
Just for comparison: a week before we rented a car in Lisbon airport for one week. But in the company Master Kings. They also did not accept virtual cards and the payment had to be made by card of the main driver: as you can see, rules were similar to those of Goldcar. But in the company Master Kings they didn't complicate. And my husband was able to pay normally with his card. Without additional costs.”
“Goldcar company together with rentalcars.com lied to us and manipulated it us and got almost 1000euro extra from us. They laugh to your face because they know you cant defend yourself once you reserved the car.”
“Disgraceful rental company, stay away! I booked a vehicle two months before arrival. I received a mail receipt, which said I should be sure to bring a valid credit card, when retrieving the car at the airport (Alicante). When we arrived, I wanted to pay the deposit using one of my three valid credit cards on my iPhone. Goldcar did not accept anything else than a plastic card! I could not go and get the amount in euros in cash to give as a deposit, I could not use my mothers plastic credit card either. Although the car was paid for in advance, I had three credit cards and my passport, they told me the reservation was lost and we were left without a rental car. Goldcar says it's in the fine print, but in my email from them, it says 'a valid credit card' and that's what I had with me. Although it's on my phone I have been able to use those credit cards everywhere since I put them in the phone. Goldcar is out of touch with the digital age, they are scammers and they were cold and uncourteous, when ditching us and taking my 650 euros without giving us the car we paid for. Second bad experience with Goldcar, never ever going back!!!”
“Avoid Goldcar in Portugal . I rented a car 3 days ago in Lisbon : my flight was delayed by 20 min from Paris and they charged me 40 euro for picking up after 23H....then after 200 km a notice appeared the car had to be serviced (efetuar revisao). then i dropped the car this morning at 4 am and received a note there was a dent in the wind screen and they want to charge 523 euro. of course there was no employee at 4 am so now they do what they want. It bad practice, unethical company. They price their vehicles cheaper on expedia for example and then find all sorts of ways to double the rental price. Avoid!!!”
