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Goldcar car hire review
Guy is an award-winning travel writer with 20+ years' experience. He runs a crack team of researchers, unearthing everything from the best beaches to the worst car hire companies.
What is Goldcar?
A low-cost arm of French car-hire giant Europcar, Goldcar has a large network of car rental offices across Europe.
Which? verdict
Goldcar is the worst provider in our survey, and has been for many years. Avoid.
Visit Goldcar.co.uk.
Goldcar customer ratings
If you want to see how Goldcar measures up against its rivals, read our best and worst car hire companies page.
| Hire Company | Which? Recommended Provider? | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|
| Goldcar | No | 48% |
Overall score is a combination of the customer score (overall satisfaction and how likely people are to recommend the company) and our own expert analysis. Survey carried out in Feb/March 2026.
What's Goldcar like?
It’s been 13 years since Goldcar first appeared at the bottom of our car hire table, and nine since it was acquired by the global rental giant Europcar. Very little has changed.
You can still expect poor customer service and slow collection speeds. Nearly a fifth of respondents told us they had to queue for 30 minutes or longer to collect their car, and one reported waiting for more than two hours.
Worse, 28% of renters surveyed told us they were stung with additional charges by Goldcar. One customer told us: ‘They fraudulently applied damage charges weeks after I had returned the car. A series of emails followed, to which they replied with a meaningless standard response. In the end, I recovered the money via Section 75. It was stressful and time-consuming.’
As one member noted: ‘The risk of post-contract extras outweighs the cheaper price. Avoid at all costs.’
Should I book with Goldcar?
No. Renting with Goldcar is too much of a gamble.