Europcar

Boasting more than 60 years in the industry and with over 3500 rental locations worldwide, Europcar is a no-brainer when it comes to finding great deals on vehicles. Whether travelling for business or leisure, they have every type of car to meet your requirements, including SUVS, sedans, vans, and trucks. In 2016, it was awarded TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice for Rental Cars.

Without doubt, one of primary reasons I continually resort to Europcar for hiring vehicles is thanks to the excellent rewards scheme it has on offer. By becoming a member of their Privilege Loyalty Programme, you can unlock exclusive benefits, such as priority service, early access, money off coupons, free weekend hires, and complimentary upgrades. Their four tier-level structure – Club, Executive, Elite and Elite VIP – allows customers to increase their rewards based on the number of hires they make.

When airlines brought in online check-ins for their flights, they took the stress out of flying by giving people extra time at the airport that would have been spent queuing to receive a boarding pass. For me, this is one of the best features that Europcar has implemented to its own service, allowing its customers to perform an online check-in before getting their car in order to speed up the whole process and provide for a faster pickup. To do so, you simply need to enter your last name and reservation number, before adding the rest of your details.

I also particularly like their customer support, which comes in the form of a live online chat service. Contacting customer support, whether it’s a major issue or just a query, can sometimes be a challenge, especially when abroad and fees for making calls are expensive. Therefore, a quick way of communicating with a live agent via an instant messaging service can be a great benefit to a website and ultimately, make managing a booking far less stressful.

One drawback that I have found when using Europcar is that to secure the benefits of the Privilege Loyalty Programme, you must make the booking either via the Europcar website or over the phone. That means that if you have come across their service on another platform, then you will not be able to take advantage of their various rewards.

David Jones

I am a professional travel writer and travel enthusiast who traveled the world twice, so I am sharing my firsthand knowledge about everything related to travel and spending time abroad.