Discover Cars

1 star. The deposit here operates like a scam, and there is no customer service to speak of. The timeline: • I booked a vehicle and paid a USD 400 deposit plus the rental fees up front. • The vehicle handed to me was in very poor condition – nothing like what was advertised. • I returned it in early August 2026. • They kept the entire USD 400… Read more

deposit and applied further charges on top. • I lodged a ticket on 7 August 2026.

One month later I have received: no inspection report, no damage report, no photographs, no itemised breakdown of the charges, no reply to my ticket, and no name of any person handling my case. Not one email. Not one phone call. The support channel is a black hole – you lodge a ticket and nothing comes back, ever.

That is the part people should understand before booking. Any legitimate rental company that withholds a deposit sends you the evidence the same day, because they have it ready. This one has had a full month and has not produced a single page. In my opinion that is not an admin backlog, it is a business model: hand over a worn-out vehicle, keep the deposit on unspecified "damage", then simply stop replying and wait for the customer to give up. It feels like a deliberate scam, and the complete absence of customer service is what makes it work.

I am not giving up. I am pursuing a chargeback through my card issuer and filing a complaint with the relevant consumer protection authority, with the full timeline and payment records attached.

If you book here anyway: photograph and video every panel, wheel, and the interior at pickup and return, with timestamps, get a signed condition report in your hand before you drive off, and never pay a deposit by any method you cannot reverse. Better yet, book with a company that answers its emails.

Very disappointing experience. I paid through this platform for what was advertised as “full coverage” before picking up the rental car. The information and receipts made it seem like this was the coverage for my rental. However, when I arrived to pick up the car, the rental company said they had received no payment from the platform and charged… Read more

me separately for their own full coverage.

When I contacted the platform to clarify, I still couldn’t get a clear explanation of what their “full coverage” actually covered or why I had to pay for coverage again. Instead of taking responsibility and helping resolve the issue with the rental company, they left me to deal with it myself.

The whole process was unclear and misleading, and I ended up paying for coverage twice. Based on my experience, I would strongly recommend booking directly with the rental company rather than going through this platform.

Terrible experience and very poor customer service.

Good coverage of rental car suppliers across Australia and New Zealand. With this wide spread you get decent priced deals for rentals. I have used Discover Cars for about 4 bookings with various car rental agencies and I have had no issues. The booking experience is easy and quick. Show reply

Questions covered almost everything and for a novice on the computer, very easy to follow. My only suggestion would be that you state what currency the monetary value is in at the very beginning Show 7 replies

Customer service was very professional and courteous. I am very glad with my dealings. Show reply

Great and easy to use website as for their rates can not be beaten. Show reply

I rented a car through Discover Cars in August 2026 for a week-long trip to Tasmania. Fortunately, I decided to purchase the Full Protection insurance from Rental Cover, which cost AUD $132.05 for 8 days, rather than purchasing the rental company’s insurance, which would have cost AUD $359.92 for the same period. At the time, I chose the cheaper… Read more ·  1

option simply because I didn’t expect anything to happen during the trip. Unfortunately, we did have a minor incident that resulted in approximately AUD $1,800 in excess charges for damage to the rental car.

I submitted all the required documentation to Rental Cover, and the entire amount was covered. The claims process was incredibly straightforward, and the team was very easy to deal with throughout the process.

Looking back, the Full Protection cover was absolutely worth it and saved me a significant amount of money. I’m extremely happy with the service and would highly recommend Rental Cover to anyone hiring a car.

One of the best companies I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

Update to below: after posting these reviews, Discover cars stepped up and helped resolve the situation. It turned out to be a billing issue at enterprise cars. Discover Cars were the only ones who bothered to respond which I give them great credit for. So … it was still a very disappointing and frustrating experience and I was left hanging for… Read more

a long time … but I would comfortably use discover again.

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I paid Discover Cars in full for a prepaid rental. The Voucher issued by Discover Cars expressly stated that the rental was prepaid, that nothing was payable at collection, and that the relevant location, registration and tax charges were included.

Months later, I was pursued by Enterprise and a debt collector for payment of the rental period and those same charges.

I provided Discover Cars with the Voucher and clear evidence of my payment. Initially, Discover Cars appeared to be investigating what I assumed was an honest administrative mistake between it and Enterprise. However, when I pointed out that Discover Cars had accepted my money and was responsible for ensuring that the services it sold were honoured, its representative simply sought to dismiss the matter by referring to a 90-day complaints provision buried in its Terms and Conditions.

This was not a complaint about whether the vehicle was clean or whether I enjoyed the rental experience. It was a claim concerning whether Discover Cars had fulfilled the contractual obligations for which it accepted my payment.

I could not possibly have known that there was a problem with the payment arrangements between Discover Cars and Enterprise until I was later pursued for the supposedly prepaid charges. Once I provided proof that I had paid, this matter should immediately have ceased to involve me.

Instead, Discover Cars left me facing debt collection and attempted to avoid engaging with the obvious issue. What initially appeared to be an honest mistake has developed into a far more serious concern about Discover Cars’ integrity, professionalism and willingness to stand behind the services it sells.

This is one of the most extraordinary, deficient and disgraceful customer service interactions I have ever experienced.

I will update this review if and when Discover Cars confirms that the claim has been withdrawn and that no further recovery action will be taken against me.

Discover Cars offers a wide range of vehicle options at competitive prices. The booking process was straightforward, and both the pick-up and drop-off experiences with Mode Rentals were smooth and hassle-free. We used a Hybrid Toyota RAV4 for 10 days while traveling around the South Island of New Zealand, covering approximately 2,000 km. The… Read more ·  1

vehicle matched our booking, performed very well, and was particularly fuel efficient, which was a significant benefit over the duration of the trip.

The only concern arose after making the reservation. My understanding at the time of booking was that it secured the vehicle with a small deposit, with the remaining balance payable directly to the rental company upon collection. However, shortly afterwards, I received an email from Discover Cars requesting payment of the outstanding balance. The wording of the email suggested that payment was required through them, which created some confusion.

To clarify, I followed up independently and confirmed that full payment was not required at that stage and could instead be made directly to the rental company, in line with the original agreement. This inconsistency was somewhat discouraging, and greater transparency in communication from Discover Cars would be beneficial.

Aside from this issue, the overall rental experience was very positive. I would consider using Discover Cars again in the future.

Happy with the car and also the Lady that help us to booked for another week she was patience and helpfull will recommend OCR car company will rent with them again Show details ·  1

Pick up was very fast, efficient and trouble free. We caught the shuttle service from terminal 3, staff were ready and waiting to assist me with completing the handover of the car and showed me the main things I’d need to know. The car was in good condition and clean. Very happy with our experience so far. Show details ·  1

After checking prices with a number of rental companies, I found Discovery Car Rental site to be easy to navigate and clear with costs. That is why I chose Discovery Show reply

This is total bulls**t!! Scam!! Full terms are only displayed after booking is made, when you receive the email confirmation, saying that your full protection paid to them is only valid if you pay for the CDW with the rental company, so you actually have to double pay for the CDW/protection part. Refund is a joke; it says full refund, but after… Read more

cancelling, the refund is credited to your DiscoverCars account for next booking. Total joke company! Nonsense!

Absolutely terrible experience. Was 2hrs late because of delays in the baggage pick up and when I turned up I was told that my car had been given away. I was then charged £288 (more than the entire price of the original rental) to collect another car. This was with Drivalia. I have never had this experience before with 10-15 other car rentals and… Read more

I think they’re running an absolute scam. The manager was completely unhelpful and seemed to be enjoying the fact I was so put out. Avoid Drivalia at all costs, I’m completely disgusted by their actions.

EDIT: I was kindly contacted by Discover Cars despite the fault being with Drivalia. They offered me a £150 voucher, usable for 3 years. Extremely kindly of them

Avoid DiscoverCars and Bargain Car Rentals Melbourne Airport. My experience with both companies was extremely disappointing. I prepaid for my rental through DiscoverCars, only to be refused the vehicle because Bargain Car Rentals applied documentation requirements that were not clearly disclosed in the booking terms. I had official documents… Read more

proving my residential address, but they refused to accept them, leaving me without the vehicle I had already paid for.

What followed was even worse. Despite numerous attempts to resolve the matter fairly, DiscoverCars offered no meaningful support and simply referred me back to the rental company, while Bargain Car Rentals refused to take responsibility. Rather than addressing the substance of my complaint, they made unfounded allegations about my conduct instead of focusing on resolving the issue.

I was left out of pocket despite making every effort to comply with the published requirements and resolve the matter reasonably. In my experience, neither company stood behind their obligations or their customers. If you value transparent terms, fair treatment and genuine customer support, I’d strongly recommend avoiding both DiscoverCars and Bargain Car Rentals Melbourne Airport. There are far more reputable companies that actually stand behind the services they sell.

The staff was friendly and helpful. They were willing to hear our feedback about the cars when we picked up ours. They were able to find an alternative car that suited our needs. Drop-off was easy too. The car condition was great. Show reply