Dear SayNo,

I've been trying to phone Europcar and it is hard even getting a number from their site.  The number I found there, and on your site, turned out to be obsolete and they redirected me to this one.

08451202071

It appears to be main number for Europcar, Alamo *and* National Car.

My searching skills have failed me.

Regards,

Economical

economical wrote on Nov 14^th, 2013 at 7:18pm:

I've been trying to phone Europcar and it is hard even getting a number from their site.  The number I found there, and on your site, turned out to be obsolete and they redirected me to this one.

I will have a look at this. You said that the number found on this site is obselete - so what is the number so it can be removed?  :-? ::)

Further to my earlier message, I've retitled the entries for Alamo and National Car Rental so that both are suffixed with "Europcar". This means that doing a search by company name for europcar will return them all.

This is the first step - we can now see the entries for this company all in one search. Now we can go through and weed out non-working numbers and look through to see if there are any that could perhaps be a suitable alternative here.

I've had a clear out and the following geographic numbers all answer with a recording "Thank you for calling Europcar, National and Alamo. The number you have dialled has changed. Please redial using 0871 384 xxxx..." (where the 0871 number quoted is that of the branch):

Alamo (Europcar)       0870 400 4552             023 8065 2059             Southampton
Alamo (Europcar)       0870 400 4552             023 8022 7373             Southampton City
Alamo (Europcar)                   0191 214 5222             Newcastle Airport
Alamo (Europcar)                   01923 488903             Watford
Europcar       0871 384 1087             020 7941 9201             London - Victoria Railway Station
Europcar       0871 384 1087             028 9445 9644             Belfast International Airport
Europcar       0871 384 1087             020 7805 9103             Kennington
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0191 286 5070             Newcastle-upon-Tyne Airport
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0191 451 9504             Gateshead
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01633 281810             Newport, Gwent
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0131 470 6420             Edinburgh Airport
Europcar       0871 384 1087             020 7699 0607             London - Kings Cross
Europcar       0871 384 1087             020 8910 0503             Lewisham
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0114 275 4111             Sheffield
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0161 252 0204             Oldham
Europcar       0871 384 1087             0113 250 9066             Leeds Bradford Airport
Europcar       0871 384 1087             020 8210 0705             Croydon
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01634 813056             Rochester
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01622 701204             Maidstone
Europcar       0871 384 1087             023 8033 2973             Southampton (Ibis Hotel)
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01325 337339             Durham Tees Valley
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01483 700604             Guildford
Europcar       0871 384 1087             01293 531062             London Gatwick Airport
Europcar       0871 384 0238             01752 668004             Plymouth
Europcar       0871 384 5921             01623 421269             Mansfield
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0870 400 4521             0113 277 7997
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0870 240 0759             020 7408 1255
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0871 384 3471             0141 204 1296             Glasgow
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0870 566 6464             020 8446 0194             Central admin - will transfer to local branch
National Car Rental (Europcar)                   01244 588503             Chester
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0871 384 1140             01244 390008             Chester
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0871 384 1140             020 7278 2273             Kings Cross London
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0870 191 6965             01642 218941             Middlesbrough

National Car Rental (Europcar)       0871 384 1140             028 9032 5520             Belfast
National Car Rental (Europcar)       0870 191 0517             01633 246979             Newport, Gwent

There are now far fewer entries, so it is clearer to see what's left. I'll pass the batten to someone else now.

Please report back your findings and I will amend the listings accordingly.

I can't offer much more but it is clear that Europcar has undergone all kinds of transformation webwise and phonewise recently.  Their site is such a mess that even their 404 page points to a "Contact Us" page that doesn't exist.

I only found any Europcar phone numbers by searching via Google and one search, which I can't reproduce now, revealed that all three companies were based at the same site.  One of these entries listed both a 0871 and a geographical number but the geographical number directed you to a 0871.

It does seem that their booking line is not 24 hour any more although some of the damage reporting ones are.

My experiences with Europcar were in fact so bad that I'm planning to use a "rival", Indigo, instead.  This one is a rental broker and they actually publish a geological number.

Thank you for looking into this.  I consider SayNoTo0870 to be one of the classic utility sites and I'll seek to contribute where I can.

The "bad" number was 0871 384 1087, for what it is worth.

With the SayNoTo0870 Database search engine you can search by either company name or phone number.

If you searched by phone number 0871 384 1087 then you will only be shown entries that contain that number. (Spacing isn't required for a number search; I've included it here to make it easier to read.) Where the number listed is a suitable alternative that's all well and good - you have a working alternative.

Where the number (or numbers) is (or aren't) working then we need to be informed so we can remove them from the listings so as to stop others from wasting their time trying them.

Then there is the question of finding a new alternative. One of the places to look is our database. To take stock of what we already have it's best to search by company name because by looking for only entries by 08 phone number you could be missing others for the company which might work.

Some companies go by different names or, as is the case here, it's made up of formerly separate companies. For this reason it's often useful to start by retitling entries so that they carry a common name, which is what I've done - they can all be viewed by entering europcar into the Company Name box.

I've already cleared out quite a few non-working numbers which were for branches, making what's left easier to see. There are several entries with numbers that could perhaps be for head office and/or a main office where central customer services and reservations are based.

As yet we haven't found an address so this suggestion is based purely on what information is in our database. Based on the STD codes, it gives me the impression that the company may have a presence (excluding hire branches) in Leicester (0116) and Watford (01923), or perhaps did previously.

Indeed, a look at UK hire locations for Leicester shows two. One is a branch and the other is called "RMC" which is "Rental Management Centre" whose address is James House, 55 Welford Road, Leicester, LE2 7AR. No phone number (voice or fax), not even a 0871, is listed.

It's not uncommon to find that an alternative is a suitable replacement for different 08 numbers, which is why it is a good idea to widen the search to all entries for the company in question.

I've just finished a tidy up of the entries for Europcar, including those for Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental.

It looks like we have suitable geographic alternatives for reservations and customer services for each brand.

For Europcar, the number 0116 223 3622 answers as "Customer Services" but has two options: 1. Reservations 2. Customer services. Thus, it's suitable for both these enquiries.

The number 01923 811340 answers with the same recording and options, although as there is a short delay before the ringing kicks in I suspect that it is diverted elsewhere. There is no delay in ringing starting on 0116 223 3622 so it could be that the 01923 number diverts to the 0116 one. For this reason I've removed the 01923 number completely.

The main switchboard for Leicester is 0116 256 5656. This is an alternative for 0870 556 5656 and 0871 384 1081. The number 0800 263263 also goes through to the switchboard.

For Alamo Rent A Car, the number for Reservations and Customer Services is 0116 217 3800/86. This is an alternative for 0871 384 1086, 0870 400 4562/64/67. The number for Reservations only is 0870 400 4580 and 0116 217 3885.

National Car Rental options (Reservations and Customer Services) are on 0870 400 4581 and 0116 217 3887. We have no 0871 number for this one, and I haven't managed to find it on the website, so if you know it please post it here and I will add it to the listings.

National Car Rental Reservations only is on 0116 217 3884 and 0116 249 3100. There is no known 08 number for this one so it isn't listed.

The number 01923 811000 was listed unverified as Europcar Customer Services, but is unobtainable after 7pm in the evening. I have removed this number.

All of the above alternative numbers were in our listings, they just needed sorting through.

If you have any further suggestions, including additions (08 numbers or alternatives) and amendments, please post here and I will see to it.