Hassle free rental

There were quite a few upsell attempts, but I declined all of them. I forgot to refuel the car before returning it, so I was charged a service fee, which was quite expensive! Remember to return the car with a full tank. For the first time, I was charged an emissions fee, and there was another fee that I didn't quite understand, which was also quite expensive. I booked a manual transmission car but was given an automatic one; the vehicle was brand new.

I booked an economy (Corsa or similar), but was initially given a Fiat 500 (I had a total of 800 km to drive, hence did not want a micro), which I managed to avoid and was finally given a Toyota Yaris instead. The guy at the desk was very eagerly trying to sell me additional insurance, claiming that the all covering extra insurance I had (taken at the time of bookin; insurance by AXA) would be useless if something happened. The car was in a very poor condition with all corners scratched heavily, the front spoiler skirt almost falling off and a big dent/scratch extending from the passenger front door all the way to the back. Only 6 scratches were listed and as I felt being rushed out of the office I took photos/videos of all visible defects (later realized that I didn't even manage to spot all of these). At least managed to convince the guy at the parking-office (not at the counter) to come to check the car with me before taking off. Hesitantly he came and very briefly looked around the car and listed three additional defects on the paperwork. Was it someone with less experience with cars instead of me, none of those would have been listed. At least on returning the car I was verbally given an "all good", so hopefully, no further expenses will be claimed from me.

Friendly, English-speaking staff at the Vigo downtown location. Fast pickup, good road trip.

The car was fine and the staff very helpful. The hire location is close to Plaza Espana in a narrow one way street, currently exacerbated by major building works. It can be challenging to collect and return the vehicle with so little space to manoeuvre - a skip full of rubble was being passed over the car as we were trying to hand it back and the traffic was horribly backed up. If europcar could arrange a separate secure area for pickup and return it would be great.