Mazen F.
€600 for no car — then Movly refused a management escalation
I booked at around 16:30 for an 18:00 Munich Airport pickup. Movly confirmed the reservation at approximately 17:00, and I immediately travelled around 45 minutes to collect it. Movly’s OTP system repeatedly failed, preventing me from accessing the app and seeing which rental company had my booking. I arrived at approximately 17:45, before pickup, and even approached Europcar asking if the booking was theirs. Only after calling Movly at around 18:15 did I gain access and discover it was Europcar. Europcar refused the vehicle because I had my valid UAE digital driving licence together with my previous physical licence — recently expired, but carrying the same licence number. I had renewed the licence but had to leave the UAE unexpectedly during the recent regional war before I could collect the replacement physical card. I accept that suppliers can impose physical-document rules. What surprised me was the complete absence of flexibility afterwards. More importantly, I was told on the phone that had I contacted Movly before the 18:00 pickup time, they could have done something with the booking, but their system blocked changes after pickup. The obvious problem? Movly’s own OTP failure prevented me from accessing my booking until around 18:15, despite me already being at the airport before 18:00. I proposed transferring the booking to my wife, who has a valid German physical licence. Rejected. Movly then classified me as a “no-show.” And this wasn’t a reservation held for weeks: Movly had confirmed it approximately one hour before pickup. Final outcome: ~€600 paid. No car received. No cash refund. €300 in Movly Points offered. Management escalation refused. I understand contractual rules. What I don’t accept is a company hiding behind those rules while ignoring the complete circumstances: a last-minute booking, my arrival before pickup, their own technology failure pushing me beyond the cutoff their agent said mattered, my attempts to resolve the problem immediately, my proposed alternative driver, zero rental service being provided, and an escalation request that management would not even entertain. €600 for a car reservation effectively held for around an hour, with no car ever handed over to me. Potential customers can decide for themselves whether they consider that reasonable or customer-focused. I certainly don’t.
Response from MovlyAug 21, 2026
Hi Mazen, We understand how frustrating this situation must have been, especially after travelling to the airport expecting to collect your car. We’re genuinely sorry that the rental could not go ahead. That said, the requirement for a valid physical driving licence is set by the rental provider and was part of the terms agreed to at booking. Unfortunately, neither our support team nor the airport location can make an exception to this requirement, and we cannot release a vehicle without the required documentation. For future customers, we strongly recommend checking the rental provider’s document requirements before travelling to the pick-up location. This can help avoid exactly the kind of situation described here. We’re sorry we couldn’t provide a better outcome in this case, but the document requirement and resulting decision remain unchanged. Milo from Movly