Dirty and unsafe vehicle received from Europcar

*** R Kleyn Hyundai Tucson

I made a booking for an “More expensive category car”. Rental period was from 23 February till 27 February.

5minutes after leaving OR TAMBO I stopped at the filling station to buy water. I then realised that this vehicle had dents and scratches all around the vehicle. I immediately checked the yellow form and didn’t see any notes on it.

I phoned Europcar in OR Tambo and asked for another car and they said there wasn’t.

I told them I will take photos and proceed with my trip.

We then noticed how dirty the car was. When I say dirty, I mean shamefully dirty. Half eaten pies, ****in wrappers and pieces of chocolate. Also a bunch of sticky finger prints on the radio unit. There was also a little bit of dust on the dashboard. I again stopped at a service station to buy anti-bacterial wet wipes to clean the dashboard, radio and steering wheel. What happened to your stringent covid protocols of cleaning the car? This is beyond unacceptable.

This was not all that was wrong with the car. The wheel alignment of the car wasn’t straight. The car constantly wanted to go off the left side of the road. I had to countersteer the whole time and this left me with a sore wrist after my 870km trip.

I felt unsafe in this vehicle and stopped to check oil and water levels as well as tyre pressure. All four tyres was inflated between 3.0 and 3.2 Bars. It was at this time that I again phoned Europcar saying that this car is unsafe and I want a new car. My second call to Europcar Customer services was about 2 hours after receiving the vehicle and I was promised that It will be investigated and reported to the Branch. I was also promised to get a call back with a solution to this issue.

I arrived at my destination the same day and decided not to touch the vehicle again before Europcar fixes this or sends me a replacement. For three days I waited without even starting the car, but Europcar never phoned me back. I phoned Europcar OR Tambo again and left a message for the manager to phone me back. She didn’t. This was my 3rd call asking for someone to help me.

On the 4th day I had to get back to OR Tambo and I had to use this dirty unsafe car again. I arrived at the airport and went straight to the branch. After waiting 20minutes, I was told the manager is not available and that they’ll get her to call me back. She didn’t.

Another two days passed and I phoned Europcar AGAIN. I want to speak to the manager, but she wasn’t available. I explained that this was ridiculous and I was furious with the bad customer service. The manager eventually phoned me back a few minuted later and I tried to explain to her my issue. Her reply was that this wasn’t possible because the car goes through numerous and thorough quality checks. This is just another way of disrespecting me as the customer and calling me a ****.

Fact of the matter is: this car was not just VERY dirty, full of scratches and dents, but it was also unsafe. I reported it four times and never did I get any help.

Please contact me to explain how this was possible, what you are doing to rectify this and making vehicles safer for other travellers and why I should consider renting from you again.