Terrible rental experience in Mazatlan

Really great experience, everything was awesome. The counter is right inside the airport, you see it as soon as you walk out after landing, just a few dozen meters away on foot. They’re open 24/7, always staffed, so no need to worry about picking up the car in the middle of the night.

The service was quite good, with no upselling whatsoever. We simply paid the deposit and took the car. However, the vehicle was a bit old and worn out. I always thought Mexicans might be inefficient, but it turned out to be fine. Our car tire got punctured by a nail in Guanajuato. We contacted the local car rental office at 11 a.m., and since none of the local staff spoke English, we communicated via WhatsApp. By 1 p.m., they arrived at our parking spot, inflated the tire, then drove to a nearby repair shop for inspection and patched the tire. By 2 p.m., the car was returned to us. Considering the complete language barrier, the entire process was handled very satisfactorily.

No hidden charges.

Europcar is very efficient. The entire pick-up process is quick and transparent, with information entered on a tablet.

Initially wanted to charge a "safety deposit" of 12,000 USD on our American Express Platinum card. No kidding. Then want to charge us $140 extra for LIA coverage. Lists displayed publicly were showing a different price (lol). Agent told us listings were outdated just to have us pay more. We found the listings were perfectly valid, so he made up another excuse (lol). After showing detailed coverage included with the card and losing almost one hour, agent "mysteriously" discovered an insurance package for half the price (he entered manually a 60% discount... which means he knew exactly what he was doing). Borderline scammy. Drop off went super well with a nice lady but pickup left a bitter taste.

Loved it!