The staff did not make notes on the damaged areas and assured that there were no issues. When returning the car at a different location, they did not communicate with their local colleagues in a timely manner and blamed us for the damages. They did not provide a proper response! Additionally, the car was very old and frequently indicated engine overheating on the highway, requiring maintenance!
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.
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.
I was not satisfied with my car rental experience in Turkey. Firstly, the information provided by the car rental website was incorrect. ESSENCE rental company did not have a counter at the airport and did not provide shuttle service. It is essentially a lesser-known company. After picking up our luggage, we spent over an hour and made numerous international calls before finally finding the rental staff in a café outside. Then, we had to wait another half hour to complete the formalities. They gave us an old car with worn-out tires. After my strong insistence, they replaced it with another old car with slightly better tires, but it had over 80,000 kilometers on it and was heavily damaged. The clutch and gear shift were severely worn out, it had an empty fuel tank, and the side door was broken. During the trip, the remote key ran out of battery, and we couldn't open the door. We couldn't contact anyone by phone and had to solve it by ourselves. This was an extremely unpleasant car rental experience, utterly speechless.
Our group of 9 arrived at Kisseli Airport but didn't find the car rental company's pickup staff. We called the store, but the staff couldn't speak English. After seeking help from airport staff, the pickup arrived after 15 minutes. The pickup only took 3 of us to the car pickup point, which was 1 kilometer from the airport. At the location, there were only the boss and one staff member. They did not acknowledge the additional driver fee confirmed in our domestic order and doubled the price. They spent half an hour trying to sell us insurance, but we refused since we bought comprehensive insurance beforehand. The boss became impatient. After confirming the car, they took us for refueling and asked for a tip. Our remaining 7 companions waited for over an hour at the airport.
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.
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.
“Drove 4000 km around Istanbul, Turkey in 18 days. Very comfortable and safe. Besides banks, gas stat”
About Essence Car Rental:8.0/10
Car pick-up was easy and straightforward. A company representative met us at the arrivals hall and took us directly to the parking lot opposite. After verifying and inspecting the car, we received the keys. No unnecessary questions or explanations about operating the vehicle. They just informed us that the car had no gas and could only drive for about 10 kilometers. We also had to pay the parking fee ourselves when leaving the lot. I asked the parking attendant where the nearest gas station was, but he didn't speak English. Without further ado, I drove out of the airport, avoiding highways and overpasses, sticking to surface roads to find a gas station. I stopped on the side of the road and flagged down a taxi to ask the driver. He didn't know either. Just when I was about to despair, a passenger in the taxi told me to follow him. People in Islamic countries are actually very friendly, haha.
The company did not confirm my order, causing eight of us to wait at the airport for over eight hours. We left the airport at 6 AM and only got the car around 2 PM. It directly disrupted our itinerary; we missed our hotel reservation and lost 150 euros.
Fueron muy correctos. En el mostrador intentaron ofrecerme nuevos seguros a los ya contratados, pero eran los mismos, les mostré la copia de todo y ya no hubo problemas. Nos trajeron y llevaron al aeropuerto rápido.
Muchas gracias
About QEEQ:10.0/10
Deberían enviar a las empresas de alquiler los seguros que ya están contratados y no tener que mirar con lupa lo que está contratado y lo que te ofrecen para obtener más ingresos.
“Absolute terrible - nobody showed up with the rented car at Izmir airport.”
About Essence Car Rental:2.0/10
We called Them 2 times, the First Call - they were delayed and sorry. After 1/2 hour a New Call - Then they Said they had cancelled the car the Day before by mail - but they never did that. No car 1.30 in the Night fantastic
Since it's a small company without a storefront, there was no queue. I received one-on-one dedicated service. The only minor issue was a discussion over currency conversion fees when paying, but everything else was satisfactory.
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