2.0
June 22, 2026 Confirmation # 1203829386 Rental agreement # 2105741606 Dear Europcar – I am writing to request a complete refund of my auto rental, Paris, June 20 – 23, 2026, as well as compensation for travel disruption. I am travelling with my husband, two young kids (4 and 9) and elderly father (81). Our car has broken down in Deauville, and was towed, and no one at your company could replace it in a reasonable amount of time for my family to complete our journey as planned. On June 20, I picked up the car (VW) in Paris (where we live), at Gare du Nord, without incident, and drove it to Deauville, Normandy. On June 22, I noticed the engine light was on while I was out with my family mid-day. We filled the car with gas (full tank 79.37Euros, 13:16), brought it home, and stopped driving it. (I fed my children). I made my first call to customer service at 15:34. I was told to call back to the original leasing venue (in Paris), but your system repeatedly bounced me back to customer service. This happened six times, until I finally got some real help (and a number for roadside service) at 16:14. I first called roadside service at 16:31, and they told me that because the engine light was orange (not red), I could either drive to Le Havre (nearest Europcar), or get the car towed and then a taxi to Le Havre. Because the engine light was on, I was worried the car would break down on the way there, so I chose to wait in Deauville for roadside assistance. The franchise in Le Havre was closing at 18:30. I asked the agent what happened if roadside assistance came too late for me to get to Le Havre on time; she told me I could go get a car in the morning. I also asked if I would have to pay for the towing: she told me, repeatedly, that because the car was faulty and we had not caused the damage, we would not be charged for the towing. Roadside assistance arrived at 17:26. The gentleman was very helpful; he helped me remove our car seat, and towed the car away. I called roadside service again at 17:37, and was told there were no cars in Le Havre this evening (besides I would not get there in time), nor in the morning. From then until now (21:50), I have been on the phone repeatedly, at one point being told that someone would call me around 830 or 9am tomorrow. I eventually connected with a supervisor, and he has told me that, despite his efforts to call all around, there are no cars available near me for the morning. The one suggestion I was offered was to put my family (husband and two small children – father is going to the airport early) in a taxi at 9am tomorrow, and to go to Yvvetot (75 km away), to wait until a car was available at 11 or 11:30. At that point we would be far from the coast, and even farther from Paris than when we started, in a heatwave. This is not suitable. Meanwhile, I went online to see if I could rent a car in Le Havre: there are, as I write, 12 cars available to rent at that location at 8AM tomorrow when it opens. Yet the agents at Europcar insist there is no way to access those cars. I have also paid for a full tank of gas, which disappeared with the car. So now I have spent more than six hours on the phone, or waiting for a call. There is no car for my family. It is 40 degrees in Paris, and the health department has advised us not to send children to school, so we were planning to spend the day here in Normandy tomorrow. Europcar has now offered to pay for a train back to Paris. But now, because we have to check out of our AirBnB at 11am, we will be with all our luggage, plus our car seat, for the whole day. Any flexibility we had in travel – which is the point of travelling by car – is gone. Update, June 23: Europcar paid for our taxi to store our luggage in Deauville, for our train back to Paris, and a taxi back to the house. This is the bare minimum we could expect. Once again, I am writing to request a complete refund of my auto rental, Paris, June 20 – 23, 2026, as well as compensation of 500 euros for travel disruption. Sincerely, Naomi AdivReviewed 24 Jun 2026
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