Hertz vs Europcar vs Avis: Comparing Deposits and Fuel Policy in Europe

Generic “best car rental company” rankings are almost always useless, because the honest answer depends on your specific country, your card type, and your age — not a single winner. Here’s an objective look at Hertz, Europcar and Avis in Europe, with real sourced policies instead of a made-up ranking.

Security deposits: no single number tells the whole story

This is the area where a simple comparison table would actually mislead you, so it’s worth being upfront: none of the three companies publishes one flat deposit figure that applies across all of Europe.

• Europcar is the most transparent of the three, with an actual published tiered deposit table covering several European markets: around €300 (or £250) for prepaid rentals, rising to €800 for its commercial/Keddy/FUN vehicle range, and €1,000 for premium categories.
• Hertz calculates the deposit as estimated rental cost plus excess in most markets, though some countries specify a mandatory flat figure in their local terms (for example, Ireland’s Hertz terms cite €250, and the UK cites £200).
• Avis is explicit that the deposit amount is “dependent on country” in its own location-specific terms, without a published EU-wide figure.

The takeaway: whichever number you see quoted anywhere — including in this article — check it against the specific country and location page for your actual pickup, because a figure that’s accurate for Germany won’t necessarily apply to Spain or Ireland.

Fuel policy: this one’s actually identical

All three companies default to full-to-full in Europe: you get the car with a full tank, and you’re expected to return it full or pay a refueling surcharge. All three also sell a paid prepaid-fuel option under their own branded name, letting you skip the return-it-full requirement for a flat fee. If fuel policy is your deciding factor between these three, it isn’t one — they’re functionally the same here.

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Young driver surcharges: real, but country-specific

All three charge a surcharge for drivers under 25, and none of them has one single EU-wide rate:

• Hertz examples found: around €21.95/day (capped near €201.51 per rental) in Germany, with other markets closer to €10-12/day.
• Europcar confirms a surcharge exists for under-26 drivers, disclosed through country-specific “Specific Rental Terms” at booking rather than one published figure.
• Avis examples found: around €12.10/day (capped near €121/rental) in some markets, and £36/day for ages 23-25 in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

If you’re under 25, budget for a surcharge with any of the three, and confirm the exact rate for your specific country before you book — the range between examples above is wide enough to change your total cost meaningfully.

Debit cards: genuinely inconsistent, worth confirming directly

This is a common source of counter-day surprises, and the three companies aren’t aligned:

• Hertz appears the most permissive of the three, generally accepting major debit cards alongside credit cards, with some location-specific restrictions.
• Europcar explicitly excludes some debit card types, including Maestro, and its broader debit policy isn’t consistently documented by country.
• Avis has genuinely mixed information available — some sources describe debit acceptance at select locations, others describe a credit-card-only policy in Europe.

If you’re planning to pay with a debit card, confirm directly with your specific pickup location before booking rather than assuming any general policy applies.

Loyalty programs: a real point of difference

• Hertz Gold Plus Rewards — even the free tier lets you skip the counter and go straight to your car at many locations.
• Avis Preferred — offers line-skipping and priority pickup.
• Europcar Privilege — a mid-tier program for frequent renters.

If you rent often with one of these companies, the loyalty program is a genuine, tangible reason to stick with it, separate from the deposit and fuel comparisons above.

What’s actually documented about each company

To be clear about the evidence level here: all three companies, along with other major operators, were named in a UK Competition and Markets Authority enforcement action over misleading pricing and hidden charges, with a follow-up compliance review — a real, attributable regulatory action that covers the sector, not evidence against one company specifically.

Beyond that shared history, each has its own documented complaint pattern: Europcar shows a Trustpilot pattern around post-return damage charges without repair proof; Hertz shows a pattern around held or duplicated deposits and slow refunds; Avis shows a pattern around a low complaint-resolution rate and fees that differ from the quoted price. None of these patterns is proof that one company is worse overall than the others — they’re different kinds of friction, not a ranking.

The honest bottom line

There’s no single winner here, and that’s the point: your actual deposit, surcharge and card requirements depend on your specific country and pickup location more than on which of these three logos is on the counter. Check the exact terms for your booking before you travel, regardless of which company you choose.

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