I reserved an automatic car, but they said it was broken and only had manual cars available. The rental company's location is at the airport, which is far from downtown.
We did a road trip in Turkey, and the rental company picked us up from the airport at 2 AM and also sent someone to the hotel for the car return. The service was excellent. Our car's side mirror was damaged when parked at a hotel in Goreme, and the rental company owner drove for over an hour with two other people to check the situation and assured us that the insurance would cover it completely, which was reassuring. However, during our drive, the car got a scratch, but since it was minor and we were in a rural area, we didn't report it. As a result, we had to pay 150 TL when returning the car.
1. When renting the car, they promised someone would pick us up at the airport. We provided flight information in advance, but after waiting for half an hour, no one showed up. We had to use our phone with international roaming to call the store, then waited another half hour.
2. An employee at the store tried to overcharge us, asking us to pay an additional 25 euros for highway fees, which we refused. They then claimed that they had already upgraded us to a diesel car and demanded more money. It turned out that highways in Turkey are free and the store only has diesel cars.
3. We used a credit card to pay, but the employee insisted my credit card couldn't process local currency (even though it worked everywhere else). They forced us to exchange euros to local cash with a bad exchange rate. Eventually, they allowed us to pay in euros but still refused to accept card payments. The rental was supposed to be 304.2 euros in cash, but we paid 305 euros and received no change.
4. We booked the return location as Downtown, but we were told that the Downtown and Airport locations are the same and we could only return the car at the airport. We were forced to pay an additional 20 euros to return the car in the city center, which was not in our budget.
There was no office at all. On the pickup day, I searched half a day at the airport and found no one. Eventually, I found someone who quickly handed over the car at the underground parking lot. Returning the car was equally troublesome, as I had to wait in the parking lot for someone to come as agreed. Completely unacceptable.
Nobody was waiting for us at the airport and it was really hard to reach someone to pick-us from the airport and drive us to the pick-up location.
In the end, the experience was so-so as it took more than 60min to collect the car. Take extremely close attention at the scratches, to avoid extra charges at the end of the rental.
The drop-off was fine.
In addition to credit and debit cards, you can now pay for online car rentals with cryptocurrency! Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are accepted. Curious about how long a Bitcoin transaction takes or how to pay with Bitcoin? Read our FAQs for more details.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can disable cookies at any time within your browser settings.OKRead More
Customer Service
Relevant Reviews on Essence Car Rental in Turkey
Amos Ella
-
-
-
-
View more >Marguerite Robin
-
-
-
-
View more >Belle Lynch
-
-
-
-
View more >D.
-
-
-
-
View more >R.Sonmez
-
-
-
-
View more >