Green Motion - Gatwick Airport

The best :) very good :) it was a pleasure :) Nice people and good service :) we were very happy with the car :)

When i collected my car, i had a great experience, Sunny was amazing, a real credit to the company. Explained everything perfectly, and gave me a lovely car for a great price!

Thanks Sunny! Will definitely be renting again soo.

AVOID GREEN MOTION AT ALL COSTS 

Read past google reviews and the Newspaper article in the Guardian to avoid getting embroiled with company: 

We decided to rent a car with Green Motion on August 6th because they offered the cheapest rate we could find. At first we were happy as the customer service seemed very friendly. Little did we know that their friendly service was a pure distraction method and smoke screen.

Firstly they took a £1500 security deposit which is EXCESSIVELY large.

Then they made us sign the release form declaring that the car was in perfect condition BEFORE showing us the actual car. This was our mistake. They prey on people's trust and good faith knowing that the customer is likely to overlook tiny, nearly imperceptible damages on the alloy of the wheels.

After we signed all their forms at the counter, they DID NOT show us to the car and do a walk around.

When we returned the car, a young guy from reception walked with us to the car whilst an older guy who we hadn't seen until then did a check around the car. The older guy immediately swooped in and found 2 tiny scratches on the alloy of the wheels, barely longer than 5mm. We were very surprised and taken aback because we knew we hadn't caused they damage.

The older guy who found the damage tried to bully us into signing the form agreeing to the damage. We declined to sign.

Once we got back to the counter I started reading dozens of online reviews from customers who've had the same experience as us. That's also when we found the article written in the guardian about their methods.

Other things that are sketchy about them:

-We got a parking ticket and they charged us a £68 admin fee for doing absolutely nothing. We had to make sure to pay for the fine ourselves.

-The manager refused to speak to us personally.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I hope someone finds a way to shut these people down.

To put it simply......avoid them

Let me give you my advice first, in case you don’t read the rest:

AVOID AND USE A REPUTABLE CAR RENTAL COMPANY.

Really bad experience. Renting from these guys should come with a Health Warning and certainly a Financial Warning ....

Their business model is quite simple to understand: They rent cars very cheaply to pull in the customers then charge excessively high fees for problems you didn’t cause, i.e. tiny scratches that were already there. You can’t prove that you caused them.

My final piece of advice if you still really want to rent a car from these guys:

1. Go and see a head doctor, you might not be feeling well

2. Get your own rental car insurance, having £0.00 excess from a specialist who is prepared to cover Green Motion cars

3. Photograph every panel on the car

4. Video every panel on the car

5. Argue about repair jobs when they are priced by the Inspection Team

6. Complain to the British Vehicle Rental Leasing Association: (I’m not allowed to paste email adresses but theirs should be easy to find - google “bvrla car rental complaints”

DON'T USE THIS COMPANY.. JUST GOOGLE GREEN MOTION REVIEWS AND YOU WILL SEE THE PRESS HAVE WRITTEN MULTIPLE ARTICLES ON THEM - THERE WAS ALSO A DOCUMENTRY ON BBC REGARDING THEIR WAY OF WORKING...I WISH I HAD READ REVIEWS FIRST

So, my experience started by finding their "cheap car rental" through a company called CarJet. I made the reservation for a Volkeswagon polo (or like for like) on their website. I decided also to take the additional insurance which is provided through Zurich Insurers - just in case the unlikely event of anything happening.

So, i arrived at thier Gatwick branch to pick up my rental car. I arrived at 8.30 in the morning and was advised by one of the guys handeling the reservation that in fact they do not have any "small" cars available and the earliest time would be at 5pm that evening when one would be returned.

I was very shocked and insisted to the guy that the reason i booked through "green motion" was due to the competitive prices. He informed me that unless i wanted to wait until 5pm, i had no option but to "upgrade" to a larger car. The first offer that he tried to push on me was for an upgrade to a Jaguar!!! After some arguments, he told me he could provide a "good deal" on a Mercedes C Class .. This "Good deal" cost me an additional 70GBP!!!! I had no option but to take this as i was due to be at a meeting at 11am... Then came the hard sales for the insurance .. I explained that i had already taken the extra insurance when i booked the car through CarJet.. He then went on to inform me that this insurance through Zurich is not recognised by green motion .. He was insisting i pay an addition 20GBP a day for the insurance which i declined since i already had this insurance ... He then informed me that he would block an additional 2,505GBP on my credit card as a security deposit... I found this shocking that first i had taken an extra insurance and secondly that they can take so much money for security deposit .. I hire often through Avis and Sixt and never heard of such a huge amount of money for a deposit

He then informed me that there was no one available to do an inspection of the car with me and that i should just sign the paperwork as the company is very "honest" ...

I did not take him up on this offer and decided to wait for someone to check the car with me ... Finally, someone arrived.. He became very aggitated when i insisted on checking the car carefully and kept insisting that the car had a lot of small damage which was all logged on the paperwork ... So, during the 30 minutes check we made of the car, i actually identified some small marks and a small tear in the outer rim of the front drivers side tyre .. Again,the guy insisted that it is not possible to log every tiny mark as the "damage information" section on the paperwork for this car is already full! ... So, he explained by showing me the paperwork that there were additional "numbers" marked for damage on the picture of the car on the paperwork, but the description was not added ... I insisted that i wanted these additional small damages i found marked on the paperwork, just to be sure of no issue when returning the car. I also made sure to take pictures of all of this additional damage

I returned the car to the gatwick office as arranged. On arriving, one of the staff was very keen to personally check the car over for damage... Clearly, they are far more interested when you return the car than when you pick the car up! ... He brought a torch with him, although it was daylight. The guy went straight away to the front drivers side of the car. Straight away he pointed the torch on a tiny mark on the drivers door - marking this as a new damage! .. I was shocked that he was able to go directly to this point, passing the back of the car first which had significant marks (which were recorded) .. I explained that there had been no incident with the car but was ignored. He then stuck a pen in the small tear in the outer of the tyre, pulling it open with his pen. He then marked this on the paper.

I explained to him that this, plus additional small damage was already there and showed him the copy of the check.out form. He then told me that this was not the same info he had on his form and infact the guy who had done this check out had only marked the damage on my copy of the paperwork!! roll forward 1 day and suddenly i have a charge on my credit card for over 1200GBP for damage caused! Lucky for my i took plenty of photos of the car before leaving, so i was able to prove i was not responsible for the damage

We have very often rented cars, and in many places, but we have NEVER encountered a rental agency as exploitative and unpleasant as Green Motion in Bristol. For us the primary issue was their unheard of ‘fine print’ policy concerning the use of debit and credit cards that more than doubled the cost of our rental, but several smaller things also made clear the kind of business we were dealing with.

First, the pickup directions, while offering a shuttle, suggested that they were only a 5 minute walk from the the terminal. Not true: at least 15 minutes, and with the need to cross a very busy street with no pedestrian crossing. Second, a verbal assurance, concerning their untypical fuel return policy that anything over one-fourth full, on the car they supplied, would be fine, followed by a 10 GBP surcharge when the tank was returned under half full. And third, a long delay waiting for the shuttle return to the airport: we were kept waiting almost 15 minutes with many people who had been there even longer. Most of those people were crowding inside a tiny hall to escape the rain, but there were so many people waiting and the hall so small, that we were among an overflow forced to stand in the rain while waiting for the shuttle.

But the worst part was their credit/debit card policy. They do ‘accept’ debit cards, but only if one pays a mandatory 18 GBP extra each day for insurance against the deposit. We have our own annual excess insurance, but this was not seen as acceptable: the 18 GBP daily additional charge was not for excess insurance. Almost every other rental company does accept debit cards with no extra charges. But we have a credit card also, just in case. However it is Green Motion’s policy only to accept credit cards more than TWO MONTHS away from their expiration date (our bank sends new ones two weeks before expiration). Therefore we could not use our valid credit card to avoid their doubling of the rental cost. We called our bank, a subsidiary of HSBC, and they were incredulous about Green Motion’s policy. We are in contact with their VISA department to learn if it is even legal for Green Motion to claim to accept credit cards when they do not honor the expiration date.

Beware Green Motion car hire!

We wasted half a day because of our booking with these clowns. They wouldn’t take a French credit card for some reason. The man at the desk said it’s because they have trouble getting money back for scratches and damages, having looked at the reviews I can see that that’s a huge problem as they seem to want to take a lot of money for very small or imagined damages.

having gone through Expedia in the USA many times before we booked a car with them at Greenmotion, for are next 24day trip to the UK. Along with the car rental I also got the insurance package offered at $288. On are arrival we were picked up by their van and were transported a mile or two, to their rental facility, which reminded me more like a junk yard. I presented my prepaid voucher along with the insurance coverage, and drivers license, I was then told that they did not accept my insurance coverage, and that I would need to purchase it from them. We have a Preferred Client Chase card which will cover my insurance, so I gave them that, only to be told they do not accept them, or American Ex. So unfortunately I finished up having to purchase their insurance.

So after about 1 hour we were ready to go, with a grand total of $751, with $550 deductible on are policy. not a good start for something that I thought was all prepaid for in the US. A very bad experience, I have been in touch with Expedia and they are investigating. The rest of the trip was uneventful

JAN 2018

I booked a car using their website for 3 days (Fri-Sat-Sun) and paid 96 pounds with full insurance. On the collection day at Birmingham Airport branch, there was a warning regarding weather so I sent them an email inquiring that if I collect the car on Sat, Is there a possibility of a refund for 1 day (Friday only). My query was forwarded to the rental agents and they said I will be notified via email or call. Tried calling few time but no answer. So I went to collect the car on Friday evening.

Upon presenting the booking, I was told that my whole booking has been cancelled and processed for a refund as requested. I was baffled as I never asked for a refund I only inquire about the refund and refund was for 1 day only. I was never sent a notification or expected to be refunded. The advisor and Store Manager assured me that the 96 pounds will be 100% refunded to my account within 14 days.

I needed the car so I made a new booking this time for 2 days (Sat and Sun). I asked for similar price and similar car I paid for my first booking but with additional driver this time. They upgraded the car with no extra charge and quoted me 125 pounds with full insurance. I took the car, used and return with no issue.

After 2 weeks I checked my statement, there was no refund for the 1st booking made. So I called customer service for a follow up. Customer service would take note and promise to get back to me but never. I emailed the customer service. After series of calls and emails, they told me that there is nothing to be refunded as the money from my 1st online booking (96 pounds) was used on my 2nd booking made in store. I was shocked as that was not as agreed by the Store Manager and the advisor. Customer service said that they cannot do anything what have been said in store. All they can see in their system is that the money from 1st booking was used in 2nd and as the 2nd booking was paid in store using chip and pin method, it automatically validates the sale and their terms and conditions. When I checked the rental agreement they did sneakly added the 1st booking voucher onto my 2nd booking and made me pay extra 125 pounds. So in total, I paid 221 pounds for 2 days. Unbelievable. Never using them again.

Completely misguided and mislead by the Store Manager and the Advisor.