From time to time, people ask about which rental company to use when renting a car in Europe. I normally check 5 sources before deciding, but invariably I use AutoEurope.
(Usually Hertz, Avis, Sixt, Europcar, and AutoEurope are investigated for the best offer.)

For my most recent trip, I accepted AutoEurope's offer for a rental from Hertz.

At the time I returned the car, I noticed that the final charges from Hertz were higher than those quoted on the contract I had with AutoEurope.

Being short on time and getting nowhere fast with Hertz, I dropped the argument in Switzerland and took it up with AutoEurope when I got home. I emailed to AE a copy of my original contract and a scanned copy of my final bill from Hertz.

AE took the case one step further and negotiated a refund for me which has now been posted to my credit card account.

Based on this experience, I concluded that AE honors its contracts. It also reinforces my earlier opinion that car rental final charges need to be reviewed very carefully. Most of these big auto rental companies have such a convoluted and intricate price structure that the same car from the same rental office in the same month can be rented out at widely different prices.

And ohhh! do they like to sell that insurance. Mostly pure profit.

I also had a good experience with AutoEurope. We were denied our car at the rental desk in the Munich train depot, reserved through AutoEurope, because we didn't have our original passports on us. We ended up taking the train instead, which was probably better anyway.

When we returned to the states, I called AutoEurope, and he had never heard of such a requirement (I wish I could remember his name, as he was very helpful). He apologized for our inconvenience, and immediately refunded the rental amount we had paid to them in advance. I would definitely use AutoEurope again.
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Bingo !
I have had them resolve a problem after I got home 3 times now. Their outlets in Europe may not treat you well but AE will always do what is right for the client.

I'm also a big fan of AutoEurope and after wrecking a car in Wales I found that if it weren't for AutoEurope we'd still be trying to deal with Avis over resolving it.

But I'm curious. People used to say that if they had a problem with an Avis or Hertz (or others) in Europe that when they returned home and called the US Hertz or Avis, they would be told that the European ones are separate and no one could get any help from the US offices. Is that still true?

Thanks for posting this bob brown. I just got off the phone with AE to confirm my reservation next week in Germany.

A very good question.

That might explain one aspect of car renting I have experienced. Twice in the past, I called Hertz and Avis to see if I could get a better rate than the one offered by AutoEurope. No dice.

Come to think of it, I have not had any success dealing with Hertz or Avis in the US when I lodged a complaint after the rental.