Autoeurope at St. Pierre-des-Corps ?

Old Jun 5th, 2016, 08:54 PM
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Autoeurope at St. Pierre-des-Corps ?

I'd like to rent from Autoeurope but am confused as to their location. On their website you need to put in Tours, but I seem to rember they are actually located at TGV station St. Pierre-des-Corps. We have tickets on TGV arriving at St. Pierre -des-Corps and don't want to travel any further than a couple hundred feet. Off the train, out the door and around the corner is far enough for me.

Can anyone verify this or tell me what agencies are actually located at St. Pierre station?
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Old Jun 5th, 2016, 09:00 PM
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Europcar, Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Enterprise...

Google is your friend.
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Old Jun 5th, 2016, 09:18 PM
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autoeurope doesn't have any 'locations'. It is a broker the deals w/ most of the majors.

On the website if you select Tours you get the options 'airport', 'station', or 'all locations'.

If you want to be sure to get the closest location -- call them. Autoeurope has some of the best customer service anywhere.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 01:20 AM
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Better do not use Autoeurope to avoid confusions. Autoeurope is a broker and sometimes they mix up information which is second-hand for them. I recently had a very bad experience with them.

Better book directly with Europcar, Avis, Hertz, Sixt or Enterprise to avoid unpleasant surprises. BTW, Europcar is a French company, so it would be my first choice in France.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 05:13 AM
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I have heard of Autoeurope customers becoming confused and mixed-up; usually because they do not read the terms & conditions of their rental vouchers but over that last 30 years or so, I have rented scores of cars from Autoeurope and would use them again if the need arose.

Their prices are very competitive and their customer service is excellent. AE has a toll-free number from France. If you ever run into a problem, they are there to help you and help you in English.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 05:38 AM
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I have never (ever) known Autoeurope to 'mix up' anything. Been renting through them for over 20 years.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 05:41 AM
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AutoEurope is based in Maine. They are a broker and hence have no offices at all overseas. I have used them for well more than 200 rentals over 35+ years and have never had a problem with them. The only problems I've heard of have come from people who failed to read the AE voucher and the accompanying contract from the affiliate's rental company, or failed to understand it. They have the best customer service I've ever encountered with a rental outfit, and they are available 24/7 on a free English telephone line for renters who can't deal in the local language with rental companies.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 05:52 AM
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AutoEurope was actually a German company before relocating to Maine, but it left excellent customer service staff in Europe who seem to be able to solve just about any problem.

Their website has improved because they used to not reveal the name of the rental company until the transaction was nearly completed. Now they show all of the possibilities with the company logos, just like the airline booking sites. Often there is less than 5 euros difference among a variety of companies, so it is easy to pick your favorite, if you have one (mine is Europcar).

I'm sure that most of you already know this, but whenever there is a subject posted with a title like "STAY AWAY FROM HERTZ - THEY'RE ALL CROOKS" or "DON'T USE EUROPCAR - WORST SERVICE EVER!!!" in 99.9% of the cases, the generally self-inflicted problems concern just one agency and one employee yet these people feel the need to condemn every single agency and 50,000 employees. And of course these are the same people who become outraged if somebody has the nerve to issue a blanket statement about their own country.

Ah, the joys of travel...
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 06:08 AM
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My long experience is as St Cirq describes. We have always used the toll free number, never the website.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 06:11 AM
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Oh yes, CALL them, don't ever, ever just use the website (for them or anyone else, IMO).
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 06:40 AM
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For straightforward rentals the website has always been fine for me. But if I have any special requirements I book on the phone.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 06:51 AM
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Several Fodorites write here so enthusiatically about AutoEurope as if they were shareholders of this company.

Well, because of the good reviews here on this forum, I recently tried AutoEurope for the first time in my life. And exactly this first time several things went wrong.

Problem # 1: AutoEurope advertised on their website a "full-size SUV, Toyota Prado or similar". I checked the Toyota Prado and found it large enough for 5 persons plus baggage.

However, I got from AutoEurope a voucher for a local Moroccon company called "Aircar" and when I presented the voucher with a picture of a Toyota Prado at the Aircar office in Casablanca Airport, the agent said he had never seen a vehicle like this. Instead, they gave me a Kia Sportage which is not "similar" but a much smaller car and we did wonders that all of us and our baggage fit in. Our trip was on the edge of being ruined if one of our bags had been one inch larger.

So, why did AutoEurope advertise with a photo of a (nice) car that the actual car rental company never had in their program? I meant such things when I wrote that AutoEurope sometimes mixes things up.

Problem # 2: If I book directly with a rental car company I get all necessary information from this company. When I booked with AutoEurope I was not informed about special fees of this rental car agency. E.g. they required that the car was returned cleaned from the outside and from the inside, otherwise they would charge a cleaning fee. AutoEurope never mentioned this requirement and this hidden fee for cleaning. Of course, I returned the car dirty because it had rained and I paid the fee.

And please, dear Fodorites, don't write that I did not read the terms and conditions and that it was all my fault. I did read everything and printed everything and it was not my fault and such things never happened to me when I booked directly with Europcar, Sixt, Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Alamo or Citer.

I did not make a big deal with these two unpleasant surprises and I am not the type who starts one of the usual "Beware of AutoEurope" threads! But when other Fodorites write here about AutoEurope in a tone as if they deserve receiving the Nobel Prize, I feel obliged to put things right back in perspective.

BTW, I wrote a review with my complaints to AutoEurope and never received a reaction from them. So much for their praised customer service.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 07:41 AM
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I'm sorry, but anybody who compares events in Morocco with events in Europe is extremely naive if they thought that things are the same on other continents.

I confess that I used AutoEurope to book a car in Texas once. I was a bit dismayed to be sent to a company that I had never heard of (I used AutoEurope to book in Florida several times, but at least I had heard of Dollar-Rent-a-Car), but I figured, why not? Well, I quickly got a flat tire, which I changed of course, and the rest of the week went well. Naturally I told the company what had happened and the agent told me "but you're responsible for flat tires! You're going to have to pay a fee of $50 since you did not have the tire repaired." I was not going to argue with her, but I did mildly ask "Isn't your company supposed to provide cars with reliable tires? This tire went flat in the motel parking lot overnight, not by driving over nails." This disturbed her enough to check the conditions of my rental and she said "Oh, I see that you rented through AutoEurope. You are exempt from the flat tire fee."

I will continue to use them, and yes I always book over the internet because I don't have whiny conditions to impose about my luggage or passengers. The sub-compact is fine with me whether it is a Polo, a 500, a Micra, a 108 or anything else. In any case, I am normally automatically upgraded by Europcar and sometimes I have to demand not to be if I am only using the car in Paris, in which case I want the smallest car possible.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 08:00 AM
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Thanks for calling me "naive", Kerouac. I always forget about it when I am not regularly reminded.

Morocco or not, if you book through a broker you have a third party involved, so the probability that errors occur (errors can always occur - this is not a perfect world) increases. Books have been written about this phenomenon, but you may call mathematicians "naive" too if you please.

It is the same with airline tickets. I have read stories here on this forum of people who had not been informed about flight cancellations or changes of flight times because they had booked their ticket through a broker. Such things do not happen when you book directly with the airline and enter your phone number and email adress into the booking form.

The most direct way to handle things is usually the best one.

But everyone has to decide for him- or herself. Pax vobiscum.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 08:07 AM
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I love these threads about cars.
I have rented hundreds of cars and never ever paid attention to the kind of cars I got.
I have hardly ever seen a company much worse than another one.
But I'm ready to stand my ground when in 'strange' countries.
Subletters do try to oversell - last I was in Slovenia, the guys said I had no insurance and wanted me to pay 400 € for one week. When I declined they took 1000+ € of deposit and made me sign papers that I was negligent by refusing the insurance.
So be it, I signed, why would I waste time and energy discussing with them. I did have a crash btw, they took 900 € from my car and I got refunded by the broker (autorentals I think).
This kind of behaviour happens all the time.
I only yelled once when somebody wanted me to take a VW Caddy as similar to a VW Sharan.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 08:46 AM
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All card rental companies have photos on the website of cars you may not actually get, but I agree, Morrocco is just a different discussion.

I use Autoeurope and (gasp), yes, I only use the actually website. I've never had a reason to personally contact them, same as a million other things I reserve on websites.

Their website gives you addresses of locations, and let's you choose. It isn't a mystery, for Tours you can put in the airport, rail station or just choose (all locations) in the initial search box. Why not do that. Then you pick a type of car and it gives you the option to "show all locations", including with a map if you want. This isn't really that difficult.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 08:47 AM
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If you must know, I was a car rental agent at one time in my life, and I will even reveal that it was at Gare de Lyon in Paris, working for Avis. Back then, just about every renter had reserved directly with the company. Guess what? There were dozens of times that we did not have the car that the person had demanded for often very good reasons ("I can't drive stick shift." "It's for my daughter's wedding." "We are a family of 8."). We would spend lots of time on the phone trying to locate an appropriate car. Usually we could find something ("Don't worry, we'll refund your taxi to the airport.") but not always. Sh*t happens.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 10:19 AM
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I have never owned shares in AE but use them all the time.

On the odd occasion their suppliers have let me down, they have fought my corner and informed me that they were prepared to block any further of their business to locations if satisfactory offers to me were not made.

The problem is compounded by the fact that many of the suppliers are not owned by the brand. At many locations the brand such as Avis is franchised to a local operator. Then the fun starts.

If have found Argus Car hire as a broker to be cheaper than AE but I am UK based and the same may not apply for individuals based elsewhere.

In an age of asset tracking, I have never been able to understand why a supplier couldn't ensure you have the model offered ....even the registration number of the car.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 10:48 AM
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Instead, they gave me a Kia Sportage which is not "similar" but a much smaller car

Autoeurope gives you toll free numbers to call if you need help. Because you had a problem a pickup, what did Autoeurope tell you when you called to ask about the size of the rental car you were about to receive?

I was not informed about special fees of this rental car agency. E.g. they required that the car was returned cleaned from the outside and from the inside, otherwise they would charge a cleaning fee. AutoEurope never mentioned this requirement and this hidden fee for cleaning.

What did Autoeurope say when you called about ¨hidden fees¨ though AE is rather specific about what is included in their quotes and what is excluded?

AE has excellent customer service but the service is only as good as you allow it to be. They cannot help you if you do not contact them.
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Old Jun 6th, 2016, 01:49 PM
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Sorry Sarastro, I am European.

In Europe, we have a 2,000-year-old principle which is called "pacta sunt servanda".

In America, you may have customer services. Here in Europe, we have contracts. And we expect our business partners to behave according to contracts.

In our case, AutoEurope did not.

And when I am travelling in a foreign country, and when I struggle with foreign languages, and when I am standing on a burning hot parking lot in front of a terminal building and when I want to enjoy my vacation, the very last thing I want to to is calling a socalled "customer service", waiting endlessly for a free line and getting a half-educated operator eating up my cell phone bill in a foreign country.

When you praise AutoEurope's customer service it is obviously because they do their job so badly that they need a repair division. I do not want repairs, I do want to get the product that I ordered. It is as simple as that.

And my consequence is that I will never again do some business with AutoEurope. And I will never recommend it to anyone.

Sorry, that may be another reason why TTIP will fail.
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