I have just returned home after an expensive trip to Bulgaria thanks to Europcar Car Hire.
We had driven to Sunny Beach from Obzor. Whilst there, my wife had her bag stolen, it contained nothing of value but the keys to our hire car were taken.
I had left the car in a very safe compound, it was used by the police to hold vehicles lifted off the streets, the parking charge was 3lev per hour.
I rang Europcar at Varna Airport and after waiting for several hours, was met by the rep. He informed me that THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY SPARE KEYS ! I was told that the spare keys were in Sofia and as it was Friday, I would have to wait until Monday because the keys will be delivered to the Bourgas Airport depot. I was then taken to Bourgas to pick-up another car, then I drove back to Sunny Beach to pick my family up. We then drove back to Obzor.
On the Monday, I drove back to Sunny Beach to meet the rep at the car park with the keys from Sofia to change cars. Thanks to Europcar not having spare keys on day one, I had to pay 165lev to get out of the car park !
The cost of having new keys made was 120euros, which was in the contract.
I also had to pay for all the fuel used in driving to and from Sunny Beach.
Europcar would not assist me in any of these costs, they just shrugged there shoulders and told me to check my travel insurance.
Total cost for one weeks hire = £450
Hi drobbo57.
sorry to hear of your problem must say every time I have hired in Bulgaria I have never had the bad fortune you seem to have had , we always hire from ts travel.net and touch wood never have a problem.
sorry to hear of your problem must say every time I have hired in Bulgaria I have never had the bad fortune you seem to have had , we always hire from ts travel.net and touch wood never have a problem.
It was a very unfortunate and expensive experience, but I suspect it is perhaps the sort of thing that could happen with any major car rental company in any country. Because of the nature of the business, with one-way hires, etc., spare keys are likely to be held at head office or perhaps the branch where the car was originally purchased and delivered, rather than at the local branch which you rent from.
I know of two similar cases. In one, holidaymakers who rented a car in Glasgow lost the keys in the city, and then had to wait for spare keys to be sent from London. In another, a car rented in Glasgow was taken across to the Republic of Ireland where the keys were lost and once again the spares had to be sent from London. In that case, the insurers provided an alternative vehicle until the spare keys arrived. But in both cases, the rental locations or local branches could do very little, as the spare keys were held elsewhere.
Problems can also occur with tax discs (or insurance discs if applicable) for much the same reason. By the time head office renew the tax or insurance and send the discs on to the branch holding the car at time of renewal, it may have moved on to another branch in another part of the country as part of a one way rental. When discs and car eventually meet up, the hirer may have picked up a ticket for displaying out of date discs.
I hope that your insurance policy will provide cover for the expenses incurred.
David
I know of two similar cases. In one, holidaymakers who rented a car in Glasgow lost the keys in the city, and then had to wait for spare keys to be sent from London. In another, a car rented in Glasgow was taken across to the Republic of Ireland where the keys were lost and once again the spares had to be sent from London. In that case, the insurers provided an alternative vehicle until the spare keys arrived. But in both cases, the rental locations or local branches could do very little, as the spare keys were held elsewhere.
Problems can also occur with tax discs (or insurance discs if applicable) for much the same reason. By the time head office renew the tax or insurance and send the discs on to the branch holding the car at time of renewal, it may have moved on to another branch in another part of the country as part of a one way rental. When discs and car eventually meet up, the hirer may have picked up a ticket for displaying out of date discs.
I hope that your insurance policy will provide cover for the expenses incurred.
David
I used Europcar back in 2007.
Dodgy outfit delivered a tired Polo model from the 1990s. Not quite what you expect from Europcar, and it was ~£120 for 3 days. Couldn't send it back, they had nothing else. But it made mockery of the usual 'six months old' statement.
Were based at the big complex esta of Sveti Vlas, took it Sunny Beach a few times, and up across the hills to Varna.
Dodgy outfit delivered a tired Polo model from the 1990s. Not quite what you expect from Europcar, and it was ~£120 for 3 days. Couldn't send it back, they had nothing else. But it made mockery of the usual 'six months old' statement.
Were based at the big complex esta of Sveti Vlas, took it Sunny Beach a few times, and up across the hills to Varna.
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