Car Hire at Geneva Geneve-Cointrin Airport

I normally dread going to the sales desk at a rental car company because normally they try and sell you everything. On this occasion, europcar had all the info they needed, didn't try and sell me anything, had the right size car available and only required a signature and a swipe of my credit card. And the when I dropped it off the handover was seamless, the staff were friendly and didn't try to find an issue with the car so that they could charge me more money. It really was the best experience I have ever had hiring a car (apart from the overall price, but I understand that is down the market, not Kayak or Europcar).

Pros: - really nice car (Skoda Fabia), fully equipped and very clean - guys at pick up/drop off place very nice and friendly Cons: - very low value for money especially for extra insurances like flat tyres; no option to eliminate the excess, only to lower the amount and for a high price (30CHF per day to reduce it from 2000 to 750) - a strange policy of looking for visible faults of the car before driving it off; there were other people like me in the parking lot looking for any scratches or punctures and trying to take pictures of any findings; this was utterly hilarious and ridiculous in the same time as we have been transformed from tourists to some sort of insurance agents! - when questioning the guy at the front desk about the excess he bluntly said that he doesn't know the conditions offered as we didn't booked with them but with a broker; a stupid thing to say as I imagine Europcar signed a contract with the broker and they offer the conditions agreed upon with Europcar. Bottom line, this was my first experience with Europcar and I will do my best to avoid this company due to policies they have in place.

nice attitude clean car easy check back when they were closed,

The guy who served us at Geneva (I think his name was Hussain) was humorous, kind and efficient. Our flight was delayed so we arrived beyond opening hours however he couldn't have been friendlier and more helpful. In the past we have had very different experiences at Geneva airport with other hire car companies but I would definitely use Alamo again based on this experience. ps drop off was also simple!

Good customer service at desk

Good

They gave us a different car that we had asked for. Instead of getting a car big enough with between 4-5 doors, we were given a 3 door Fiat 500, where we almost could not fit our package...

fast and better car than rented.

the car i booked was totally different that a car they gave me

We dropped the car off within the contract period. They not only charged us an extra day, but they also sent us a photo of damage to the car that they want to charge us for. The photo was taken almost 24 hours after we dropped off the car. I have now asked them three times to provide me with their records of when the car was returned to their possession, and they are refusing to answer that question. So instead I am forced to dispute the charge through my credit card company.

The care was so small

Hidden costs. Charged me extra 60 euro to take to France from Switzerland. Tried to charge me 300 euros for insurance upgrade for 1 weekend. Was not the car I booked. Did not show me how to use the car. Do not use this company.

Refused to initially give me the size of vehicle I reserved. Gave me smaller vehicle than reserved and luggage wouldn't fit. Had to go back to desk to change vehicle, which required a second shuttle ride and lost hour delaying our long drive to hotel. The replacement vehicle was smaller than what was reserved, but larger than the first. Vehicle was lower quality than what was reserved. Feeling abused and cheated.

The car itself was annoying. It kept beeping about something and there is no indication anywhere on any screen or display as to why. I thought mabye it was when I approached a train crossing, but honestly I still really don’t know.

Never EVER travel with Avis on the French sector of Geneva Airport. There is no signage / wayfinding to the return area. I spent 45 minutes driving around putting in their “suggested” location onto goggle maps and WAZE which literally makes you drive around in circles. The return is down some dodgy road, where the maps is telling you to do a UTURN. None of the contact details are Correct on the paperwork. The charge for dropping off on the Swiss side was over £500. It would have taken Avis 10 min to drive it back to the French side. The car also didn’t have a full tank.

Geneva airport is a nightmare. There were some surprise admionistration fees that make the booking substantially more expensive than it would seem initially.

When collecting the vehicle it was found to be dirty inside, front windscreen was awful could almost not see through it was so filthy, in fact the vehicle was picked up from what seem to be the return bay ....on the opposite side it seem that was where the clean vehicle were....dissapointing as had no choice as was in rush to drive to the Alps, in the vehicle that was given, possibly due to the low cost via USA website Also I asked to make certain i had snow chain as per French law, was given one set but apparently one was already in the vehicle as per normal , and was charged an additional €65 despite the return person confirming i would not be charged if not used (which wasn't) beside this all was fine