“We had a reservation at Paris Orly Aiport, we were late and almost missed the pick-up window. My partner ended up calling VIP Cars to inform about our slight delay and they conveyed the same to the company we booked with. The rental company waited and had our car ready. I would suggest if you let them know of any delay to avoid any No Show, also one major recommendation, do read the voucher and terms. We read the voucher well which is why we didn’t face issue with the documents and also carried the credit card that was applicable. Saved us all the time and hassle. VIP Cars has become our go to for finding rentals.”
“Prepaid the entire rental but they gave away the car for being too late. What is the point of preparing the entire rental. They then refused to refund.”
“Warning! Do not book through this agency!
Our reservation for a vehicle at Catania airport was made via Vipcars.com, an entity that received compensation for providing insurance services. Our intention was to collect the vehicle on the 2nd of June 2023. The reservation was made by myself, and my Italian partner, who possessed the appropriate credit card, was designated as the primary driver. However, the individual at the rental counter exhibited extreme rudeness and promptly denied us the vehicle, asserting that the person who makes the reservation is automatically considered the primary driver. Despite our efforts to contest this, the individual abruptly resorted to employing derogatory language in Italian, while her adjacent colleagues found amusement in our predicament. The entire encounter bore a striking resemblance to a scene from a mafia film, presenting an utterly surreal atmosphere. A refund of the payment for reservation as for insurance was denied as VIPcars refused to reply in person to my request, instead answering via bot with autoreply. As a seasoned travel journalist specializing in inflight magazines, and having previously worked in the corporate department of a prominent car rental company, my familiarity with the industry is extensive. Acarent, a company registered in Sicily, exclusively operates within Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Morocco, Malta, and Greece—countries known to harbor a level of corruption conducive to their business practices. Subsequent investigations revealed that the car rental aggregator VIPcars.com operates under the trading names of Webart Softech Ltd and Inc, offshore companies registered in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively, with company directors conducting their operations from India. The aforementioned entities purportedly offer rental car insurance at discounted rates, which prove to be non-refundable and demonstrate a reluctance to fulfill claims, as attested by other reviews. It is strongly advised to steer clear of these two entities, as engaging with them will invariably result in financial losses and a highly unpleasant experience. I am compelled to notify the relevant authorities such as the financial ombudsman, UK trading standards, etc regarding the fraudulent nature of these agencies, in order to instigate a thorough investigation into their illicit activities and, ideally, bring them to justice.”
“We paid for a car through VIPCars, and the car rental company would not honor it. Everyone acknowledged that we paid for the car, but everything did not match perfectly. We had to rent a far more expensive car, and VIP still charged us a cancelation fee -- even though it was clearly their mistake. They need to learn how to do things.”
“If you are from North America, Australia and many other countries outside Europe and you rent a car through VIPCars you’ll lose your money without getting the service you paid for. At the time of my reservation, the company took immediately 201$ deposit from my credit card and sent me a voucher. However, when I went to pick up the car from the rental car company, they declined to provide the car on the basis that I don’t have a valid International driving permit. They told me that having only a North American one is not accepted, you need two. On the voucher VIPCars sent me, they deliberately omit to say that drivers from North America must have an International driving permit in addition the regular one. Instead they say that “A full driving license must have been held with no major endorsements.” The small print later says that only permits from EU/EEC countries and Geneva/Vienna Convention on Road Traffic member countries are accepted and an International driving permit is also accepted. It doesn’t say that you need both. It happens that I have rented cars previously directly from the same rental car company at the exact same location and counter and they have never asked for the International one. As a matter of fact, after my reservation was declined, I went to the next counter to another major rent-a-car company and rented a car on the spot without any problems. They laughed when I mentioned that I don’t have an International driving permit. Maybe if I have dealt directly with the rent-a-car company and not through VIPCars, the outcome would have been different. Anyway, after declining the VIPCars reservation, the rental car company cancelled it, and they told me to contact VIPCars to get my deposit back which I promptly did. To the 3 emails I sent, I got an unVIP treatment, and a point blanc refusal to give me my money back, even if I have not received the service I have paid for. The reason they gave me was, cit.: “We would also like to inform you that we are unable to refund the booking amount as the booking time has already passed.” It wasn’t. The rental car company cancelled the reservation at the time that was mentioned on the voucher. It’s certain that VIPCars are deliberately using this schema to deceit their customers from North America, take their money and then decline to reimburse them for the service that has not been provided. I’m sure that happed to others, so if you don’t want to happen to you, please do yourself a favour and stay away from VIPCars.”
“This service is total scam.
I booked the rental service though vipcars and when i went to Maggiore to pick the reservation and get the car i was expecting to pay around 100 euro but the final bill was over 140.
I asked for resignation from the contract and the agent said there will be some fees or penalties to be paid.
Therefore it wasn't convenient neither to quit.
This is unacceptable.
Service support? Completely useless.
Delivering answers only to fit the KPI timing but not solving my case. Ticket is open since 3 weeks, still waiting for answer.”
“I booked through VIP Cars for a rental in Costa Rica. Prior to the trip my wife checked to ensure everything was still ok. The booking had been cancelled by the rental company and noone contacted us. VIP Rentals had no information on the cancellation and never fixed the issue. Since we now had to rent a vehicle short notice, the cost was over double.
DO NOT USE VIPCARS
We even talked to 2 seperate representatives via phone and noone ever contacted us back.”
“Buyer beware! This company is a rip off. I will never use them again. I booked a vehicle in Portugal for my recent trip through them. I paid for a 7 passenger vehicle but when I arrived in Portugal, I received a 5 passenger vehicle. I was advised there was nothing they could do.
In addition, I was advised to ride with my 6 year old on my lap and have my 80 year old father transport luggage on his lap after squeezing into the second row.
I had to spend the majority of my trip contacting car rent companies to try to secure another vehicle.
VIP Cars initially offered to refund me the 500 dollars I paid them and are now refusing. I asked to speak with upper management, to which they denied me the opportunity, stating there was no upper management.
Oh, and the additional vehicle insurance I purchased through them was useless.
I am appalled and disgusted.”
“They should be ashamed of forwarding their customers to Surprice cars in Lisbon, they are fraudulent, scammers ! It's a terrible way to ruin Your company name VIP! Read the reviews on surprice and maybe you might think twice sending your clients there !
Jim”
