GoldCar Rental
Reviews and Complaints

European Consumer Center in Spain
Calle Príncipe de Vergara 54, 28006. Madrid.
GOLDCAR CUSTOMER CLAIM SERVICE

RE :
GOLDCAR SEVILLA AIRPORT

Dear Sirs,

I am still awaiting for your answer by email in writing why you charge me two times by 45 Euro ( 05.12.17. and 04.01.18.) ttl 90 Euros instead of 45 Euros only for administrative charges as fine management fee for hired a vehicle under contract No. [protected] between 20/11/2017 and 27/11/2017 .

Please do not send me some phone numbers as contact for additional charges which can occurred, .

DO NOT SED ME TELEPHONE NUMBERS AS ANSWER, BECAUSE PHONE NUMBERS WHICH YOUR GOOD COMPANY PROVIDING TO ME CHARGE ME 6 EUROS PER MINUTE !

I AM AWAITING ANSWER IN WRITING !

Awaiting yours.

Please confirm .

Brgds / Jurij Puh

I hired a car from Goldcar Rental in Toulouse airport on the 30 November, 2017 and returned it on the 05 December, 2017. The sales person has informed me that there was some damage on the car and myself and my wife went through the damage and it was as noted on the acceptance form which included damage to the rear of the car. We did not damage the car during the time we used it and on return did not find anyone to inspect the car with us on the Goldcar section. We again inspected the car, before we left it, and know there was no extra damage to it. I knew they were slow to return the deposit, so I was allowing them a month to do so. To my horror, when I contacted a rep at Goldcar, I was informed the money was taken, without my consent or notice from Goldcar, from my account due to alleged damage to the rear of the car. I have e. mailed customer service twice and have as yet received any response.

Further to my complaint and your response of 19/1/18-I fully understand that I must leave a deposit if I have independent excess insurance- I have rented cars for last 20 years . What your assistant was telling us was " that the insurance issued by Ryanair was not adequate for basic insurance and that we must pay an addition-"only gold car company can insure cars from " gold car"-that is why you got a cheap car hire rate" I found this quite insulting. Gold car rate was only minimally cheaper than other companies and I have never been told such a thing by other companies. I have always had excess insurance and so always declined car hire company addition insurance to cover the excess. I can only surmise that the assistant was on some kind of bonus to get customers to purchase additional insurance. I have never been told that the insurance included in the car rental is inadequate as a basic insurance . This was my first experience of this.
It seems that this is company policy as my son had the same experience in summer of 2017.
You did not address my complaint in your response-0ie why was I told that the basic insurance at booking was inadequate as a basic insurance? One comment made was -"if you break your leg you wont be covered"

I really would like this addressed better than your initial response. It does not give me confidence in the company and right now I will not be inclined to use it again.
I look forward to hearing from you
Daniel O Connor
[protected]@eircom.net

I booked a car( booking number FR869085680 )with the company Gold Car on Ryanair.com site( cartrawler being the provider) fro collection at Nice airport. When we went to collect on Sunday 7th Jan the staff member told us that the basic insurance provided by Ryanair/CarTrawler was not applicable to that company car and that no one else can provide insurance but Gold Car. She was very aggressive to all 4 clients who were collecting cars at that time. I declined to pay more basic insurance as I considered that I had got cover when making the booking. and as I had annual additional excess insurance felt sufficiently covered. She was quite frightening to deal with and despite not agreeing to take more insurance we felt quite nervous taking the car. I would not use that company again.
My son had the same experience in 2017 and was bullied to paying out more money for what he understood was covered when making the booking.

Can you please confirm the insurance position when making car rental booking? I live in Ireland and car rental was in Nice airport on 7/1/18
Signed Gwen O Connor

• Booking number DYS-[protected] (with the company Goldcar/Rhodium car rental company - contract number with Goldcar/Rhodium [protected]).
• Pick up on Nov 10th 2017 at 20:30 at Alicante Airport
• Drop off on Nov 18th 2017 at 06:03 in the morning at Alicante Airport.
• We returned the car in the same condition as we received it.

To our surprise, we got an email from Goldcar / Rhodium on November 20th 2017 to inform us that damage/scratches were detected - the same scratches and damage that we reported when we received the car on Nov 10th and that an amount of 400 EUR will be deducted from our credit card!

At arrival on Nov 10th, we did a full check of the car, first ourselves, and after detecting quite some scratches/damage, we asked a Goldcar representative to report the damage when we picked up the car.
The damage at the rear was initially not reported on the papers we received from Goldcar/Rhodium Car nor was the damage in the front; but we noticed both scratches immediately, amongst others scratches /damage after very detailed investigation (with a flashlight!) by us.

The Goldcar representative was not very willing to report any damage. He did not feel like helping us, even if it was really quiet at that time.
So the representative was not willing to help and didn't want to report any of the damages as they were considered to small, but after insisting for quite a while, he reported the scratches/damage at the rear of the car and he sent us the confirmation (which we received on Nov 11th via email, please find attached a copy of the email).
The damage at the front was "not big enough to be reported" as well as some other scratches and damages we reported, even after insisting, he didn't wanted to report! So we left the airport both my wife and I, feeling a little bit uncomfortable but the employee assured as that "it was too small" and not a big deal.
These are the exact words of the person who did the checkup.

When we returned the car November 18th 6:00AM, we had to drop the key in the Goldcar/Rhodium postbox, as the office was not yet open (we had an early morning flight).

To our surprise, we got an email from Goldcar / Rhodium Car Rental on November 20th 2017 to inform us that scratches / damage was detected: the same scratches and damage that we reported when we received the car on Nov 10th and 400 EUR was deducted from our credit card.
We are now being charged for exactly the same damage/scratches that we reported when we picked up our car!
After some back and forth emailing, we were able to receive a refund of 200 EUR, as the damage at the back was indeed reported, but are still missing 200 EUR that has been charged for damage that was already visible at pick up but that the representative didn't want to report!

We have the feeling that we are the victims of fraudulent and corrupt practices of Goldcar/Rhodium (and the way they try to make money).

I have booked and prepaid a car for rent sometime in September, 2017, category BB, a Fiat 500 or similar. When I got to their desk at the airport on the 28th November 2017, they said the Fiat 500 is not available, there is a Fiat Panda instead. I was not offered any choice, after travelling for a number of hours I haven't even checked if this is the same category I have booked and prepaid earlier. I have returned the car on the 2nd December, 2017, could not talk to anyone, just had to drop the key.

After returning home, I have checked on their website and found, that versus the booked and prepaid category BB car, the Fiat Panda I was given is a category AA car (https://www.goldcar.es/en/reservas/disponibilidad/) . I wrote to their Customer Service and got the following answer (email correspondence is in the attachment):
"I have investigated your case and I have seen that the office gave you a downgrade from a group BB to a group AA. However after reviewing the rate prices I have seen that with the policy that you have chosen on the moment of the reservation the group AA have a higher price than the BB and therefore no refund can be done."

The above suggests some worrying practices at Goldcar: they are promoting (even with price discounts) a higher quality car and when the service supposed to be delivered, they simply say that type of car is not available. If in airlines for example I was offered a Business Class ticket, which I order and pre-pay, the airline should grant me that level of service, irrespective of any price changes in the future or differences on the day of travel. Similarly, in hotels, if I book and pre-pay a suite, they cannot downgrade my room booking unilaterally.

All the above could have been acceptable, if they would have offered me a compensation, as I was requesting in my original mail. They simply refused with the above argument.

I have also asked them to provide me the contact details of their regulating authority where I can file an official complaint, they have not answered me, even after repeating my request.

I hope you are in the position to investigate these practices of Goldcar, in order to protect the rights of the customers.

Data of my contract:
Contract number: [protected]
Date pickup: 28/11/2017
Date return: 02/12/2017

Contract no [protected] Client 3346031 Mr.Harold David Milner
I Paid doyoudospain18th.August 2017 £62.06 For the rental of car
On 21st September 2017 I rented a car and paid £67.72 (72.26€)
On 20th.October 2017 I returned the car half full and told I would be refunded.
But I was charged. £31.10 (33.48€) instead of credited
So I believe I am owed £62.20 (66.96€) the rate at the time was 1.0765
I do have my visa bills as proof.

1. 55 eur was distracted from my credit card on 28/12/17 based on a claim of a fine the car has received without producing any proof . I am certain that i have received no ticket and do not recall any breach of a traffic law. I expect to be presented with the ticket and if you cannot produce it please refund your charge.
2. When taking the car I was charged with a fuel deposit. It was not refunded although I returned the car with full tank and it was confirmed by your representative. He said that he gives no written confirmation but assured me the refund is due in short time. I trusted your company and checked only now when I received the fine claim. I expect to get back the fuel deposit.
3. The rental order was done through "Rentalcars.com" and included "full protection". At the counter, your representatives stated that the protection allready paid for is not enough and I paid for additional insurance. I do believe I have paid twice on the same service.
4. On your web site as well as in your letters and publications you put emphasis on the trust between your company and your client. Unless you will clarify the points above, a serious problem of trust exists between me and your company. Dr. Moshe Zaidman

We picked up our hire car at Castellon Airport.
We had booked a small car (Peugeot 108 or similar)
We were shown a Fiat 500 which we thought was similar and were happy with it.
We did not realise nor was it made clear to us that this was an 'upgrade' and we had to pay an extra E 41. However it did appear on the document which we signed so we have no legal redress. This was deceitful practice and no doubt the employee makes a bonus on this. SO PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS SCAM and QUERY items under 'Liquidacion' which you do not understand.

We have our own annual 'hire car excess' insurance so declined the costly scheme offered by Gold Car. As usual they wanted a deposit of around £1150 against any damage, this is common practice with car hire companies but normally the deposit is just BLOCKED on your credit card
but Gold Car TOOK the money and used a high exchange rate to convert from £ to Euros. Some time after we got home they repaid the money ( less costs) but, again, using a high exchange rate.
In all the extortionate exchange rates cost me £100+
Gold Cars own literature implied that the money would just be BLOCKED and this has been the normal practice with all the other hire firms I have used in SPAIN.

I've used GoldCar extensively over the years and they seem to have gotten their act together with good quality cars at reasonable prices. True they are extortionate with additional costs but you can minimise these if you go into your car hire prepared. I thought I had but however, after returning my car in late November I still have not received my deposit back into my Credit Card account, and am now incurring unnecessary fees because of it, over 20 days ago! Disgraceful. What makes it worse is apart from the telephone, their is no email complaint or query service. I'm no longer impressed with GoldCar.

GoldCar have responded today 21/12/2017 with the following:-

Dear Peter,

We have double check your contract and we have seen that the fuel deposit amount and caution, 1483€, was unblocked under operation code A07153. Note that we have charged 900€ for damages occurred during your rental period.
Take into account that this amount was not charged/refunded, so you will not be able to see any movement on your bank statement. This amount was a pre-authorisation. Please check this matter with your Bank.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you need further information.

Kind regards,

Victoria R,

Goldcar Representative.

My complaint is that I've returned the car fully fuelled and undamaged, and at the carpark had the car checked by a GoldCar representative in Alicante. They stated everything was normal and thanked me.

Now, without any communication, any proof, and justification they have held 1400+ Euros, pre-charged onto my account!

I've been using GoldCar.es for many years, and other return companies around the world, but I've never before have I been subject to such erroneous business malpractice. They have all my details, my telephone, home address, email, yet no contact whatsoever. Something is seriously wrong with this company.

My booking was through DoYouSpain Reference DYS [protected], customer complain CS-697384

My contract with GoldCar is [protected]

The car hire was for a Ford Focus Reg 3141JZZ

Other than phoning, I have no method of contacting GoldCar at Alicante.

GoldCar is a SCAM, we received a letter via email stating that we were being charged 165 euros, for 3 tickets (that we supposedly received during our time in Italy). The problem is that we NEVER received a single ticket! In fact, we barely drove the car, since we were there for our wedding, and stayed fairly local.

In their letter, Goldcar was extremely vague. The letter said we had received these 3 tickets sometime during our rental period, but it did not specify the dates, locations, or time of supposed tickets. It also said that the although we had gotten these tickets (that they were charging us for), they could not provide any proof or copy of the tickets. There was also no contact information, and the email was sent from a noreply address, making it impossible to contact them in regards to this issue.

I plugged in our ticket number on their website and received an error message, not allowing me to proceed to filing a claim. I contacted them through Facebook (and have yet to receive a response). I then googled their company and found that thousands of people all over the internet had also been victims of this "ticket" scam by GoldCar.

If Goldcar does not respond with PROOF of these tickets (dates, times, actual copies that these tickets exist), then I will be filing a dispute with my Credit Card Company, will be filing Fraud/Scam with International Consumer Affairs, and will be sure to post about this on every social media forum.

Scamming customers is unacceptable. Car companies like Hertz, Enterprise, Budget make perfectly good money just renting out their cars to customers, without the need to scam or steal from its customers, these companies are also easy to reach when customer service is needed. GoldCar does not respond to customer issues, they do not even provide an email address, and make it extremely difficult and time consuming to reach out to them, however they have no problem sending customers vague emails about fake tickets and charging their customers ilegally.

Hi all, I m from india and was in spain btwn 14th&29th nov 2017. Hired a car @ airport palma... Returned in 2 days... Again hired a car at airport teneriffe for 3 days, here they charged me 35 euros extra.. Reason :- documents from the car missing? I disputed it... Sent them 4 mails, (1468907, [protected], 1470839,) called them twice from india (5 euros each call) still no response... And then I receive another mail, that there was a ticket against the car in palma? When asked to clarify that.. Still no response... Its already 20 days now... I will post in all the available media... How not to hire gold car services...

Reservation, made for November, 2017 in Tenerife Airport South (TFS) .

I still have around 1000 Euros hold on my credit card, although the
contract was cancelled due to a malfunctioning
car, and all expenses should have been refunded.
No one is answering the emails sent...

Their customer support was very disrespectful, and tried to blame the malfunctioning on me...

This is the email I have just received from Goldcar:
Oficinas Centrales de Goldcar, 05/12/2017
Estimado cliente,
Gracias por haber confiado en Goldcar para el alquiler de un vehículo con contratonúmero [protected] entre el 12/08/2017 y el 17/08/2017.
Debemos comunicarle que hemos sido informados que durante el transcurso de dicho alquiler el vehículo ha sido multado 1 vez.
Tal y como nos obliga la ley procedemos a comunicar sus datos a las autoridades pertinentes, quienes le reenviarán a su domicilio en las próximas semanas la multa a su nombre junto con las instrucciones de pago para que usted pueda realizar el pago de la sanción o en su defecto ejercer las acciones de recurso que considere oportunas.
Debemos comunicarle además que, como se recoge en las condiciones
del contrato que usted firmó con Goldcar el pasado 12/08/2017, en los próximos días se procederá a realizar un único cargo en su cuenta de 55, 00 € en concepto de gastos de gestión (resultantes de aplicar un coste de 55, 00 € por multa recibida)
Dicho cargo contempla exclusivamente los gastos incurridos por Goldcar como consecuencia de los trámites administrativos realizados para identificar ante las autoridades que así lo exigen al conductor del vehículo y no suponen en ningún caso el pago parcial o total de la sanción impuesta, importe, que como se recoge en las condiciones del contrato de alquiler firmado por usted, le corresponde abonar.
En esta ocasión Goldcar ha recibido notificación de la multa por internet y no podemos facilitar una copia de la multa. Los detalles de la multa, e indicaciones sobre la forma de pago, le llegaran con la notificación de las autoridades pertinentes por correo postal.
Por favor no conteste a esta comunicación. Si no está de acuerdo con lo recogido en ella debe hacernos llegar su disconformidad a través de la sección de Atención al Cliente de la página web de Goldcar (www.goldcar.es).
Atentamente,
Goldcar rental
I have emailed my lawyer this email to read and inform me about the fine online. As I have a special insurance for fines, he will tell me what I have to do, but I must confirm we are very careful middle aged drivers and the car has been parked in a garage and in special parkings. I want to receive the online fine, before paying it because it is obligatory for every citizen to have the copy of the fine he/she has committed.

We have been charged for a parcel shelf that was missing when we started the rental. You could not have checked the car properly yourselves because we found 6 areas on the bodywork of additional scuffs and scratches which you agreed were there in addition to numerous others you identified.
You assured us when we returned the car that the fuel cost would be refunded automatically, together with unused toll fees from the pre loaded card.
We have not yet received a refund for the fuel or the toll fees ( full tank on return)
Please can you organise to have the fuel refunded?

We have ended up paying you 199.85 Euro for nothing!

Please sort this out

M J and G Smith

We paid for a hire car 18 October through Ryanair, a total of £33.79. When we arrived at the GoldCar desk at Malaga 9 November we were not asked if we wanted to purchase extra insurance cover or choose to have to 1100 euros as a deposit on our credit card. We would not have opted for additional cover as we have an annual policy which gives us full cover including zero excess. Paperwork was signed at the desk without any indication that any extra charges would be incurred.

On receipt of our credit card statement we have found a charge of £249.35 then a refund of £61.76 leaving us with a charge of £187.59 when we believed that we had paid Ryanair in full.

Staff at the GoldCar desk did not explain what was being signed for or give any choice as to our options therefore we feel that the sum of £187.59 should be refunded immediately.

Avoid Gold Car.

They check in desk won't take no for an answer when you say you don't want the insurance. I take an annual policy out each year in the UK (see money saving expert for details of companies) and it is less than half of a weeks cover when buying with car hire. Around £75 for the year for worldwide cover.

She spent half an hour arguing with me saying I needed there cover or I would be charged the full price of the car if anything happened to the vehicle!

An old couple who were stood next to me in check in and had paid for a single trip cover for 2 weeks for £50 through admiral were told the same but from a more aggressive customer service person who said that their cover from the UK was not valid and through the piece of paper in the bin. The lady got very upset an they ended up paying €174 for the weeks insurance. I tried to reassure them that it was valid but the lady was soo upset that the husband just paid! These are not customer service representatives they are criminals.

The insurance is valid I can assure you as I have had to claim twice and received the full money back within days.

On top of this awful experience I returned my car. It was checked and I got told I would get my fuel refund as I have returned it full. I have not and still have not.

I have called Spain twice now and been cut off each time I ended up getting through.

They make it awkward for you online by not providing a contact form or customer service email to email direct. Instead you have to put in your contract number and email address which then comes up with a message to say they are not associated so you can't complete your request for fuel refund. It is exactly what was emailed so they must be linked?!

On top of the above the queues and the queuing system is confusing for everyone and not only old or non techy people. There is a tiny ipad in a corner where you are meant to enter your booking reference number and take a ticket.

But do not go to to the counter if you are alone and have baggage. You get told to push your trolley away from the counter! I didn't get served unless I pushed it 2 meters behind me. Thieves will have a heyday!

Avoid this company like the plague. There are much better companies to hire from in Alicante Airport.

Hire Agreement No: ES781220440 booked via Ryanair

Hire Dates Collection: 29/11/2017 21.00 hrs Return 13/10/2017 18.30 hrsw

Mr G WEBB

We have properties in Spain and regularly use car hire services and for the past tow trip tried GoldCar. On the first booking we were allocated Fiat 500 rather than the larger vehicle booked on-line and on the second booking were allocated a very well worn and body damaged Ford Fiesta of which we took numerous photos before accepting it as our allocated hire vehicle. We have European Wide Collision Damage Insurance Sorry! but still had over £1250 taken from our debit card for the period of the hire. To date the £1, 000 has still not been refunded some 7-8 week after week returned the vehicle washed and vacuumed inside to San Javier Airport. I checked in with the car and again at the hire desk and was assured I needed to do nothing else and my £1000 would be credited in the next 2-3 days... sorry no sight of it.
As I own and run an international business I have now imposed no hire of any vehicle from GoldCar.
I look forward to your reply and hopefully my money returned before I take the matter further?

Graham Webb

I rented a car from Palma in Sept, paid in full in the UK. I was offered a "...free upgrade... " on pick up which I accepted. I returned the car with a full tank for which I have photo evidence.

Upon returning home, I find I have been charged an extra £160. Not details or info supplied on why? I find out via my credit card that it's because I rented a diesel car (part of the free upgrade) and am still unclear where the the £160 came from.

I repeatedly emailed and tried to contact Goldcar with no success. No details of where the £160 came from, no details of the complaints policy, they refuse to accept that this is incorrect. Their policy seems to be ignore the customer.

This is a scam and I intend taking them to the European claims court to recoup my costs. Need-less-to-say, after being a repeat customer with Goldcar, I will no longer rent from them

Re: Goldcar Car Hire - Contract No: [protected] Vehicle 7369JPR - Alicante Airport 08/10/2017

We reserved the above car through a UK booking agent "Do You Spain" and paid the hire charge of Euros 26.32 (GBP 25.13) through our Barclaycard credit card on 30th August. As you are aware when I picked the car up at Alicante airport on the 8th October the agreed rental charge was Euros 26.52 plus 73.00 Euros for a full tank of fuel. You also took a "suspended" charge for accident indemnity of Euros 1, 100.00. My understanding was that the Euros 1, 100.00 would be returned, in the event that the car was returned undamaged, and we would be refunded the value of whatever fuel was left in the tank upon returning the car to Alicante airport. We were also under the impression that the hire charge was also covered (Euros 26.52) as we had already paid this amount to " Do You Spain on 30th August.

I have just received my credit card statement and it was of some surprise to note that Goldcarhave deducted a charge of Euros 255.08 (GBP 234.61) on 17th October and a further charge of GBP 24.98 on the 8th October, that appears to be a duplicate charge, which had already been paid to "Do You Spain" to reserve the booking. The car was returned undamaged and I have received no notification or explanation from Goldcar that there is any additional charge applicable to my booking . I expected to pay only Euros 73.00 for the full tank of fuel, less a credit for the remaining fuel. As Goldcar have double charged me for the booking I expect to pay only for the fuel charge of Euros 73.00 less the double charge car hire fee of Euros 26.52 and whatever credit for returned fuel.

My total charge expectation is around Euros 40.00 and Goldcar have charged me a total of Euros 255.08 and 26.52 = Euros 281.60. I have notified my credit card company to withhold payment from Goldcar until the overcharge is sorted out.