Has anyone had experience renting a car through Auto Europe? I need to rent a car for three people to use for four days in southern Spain (pick up in Sevilla). Any insight you could provide regarding your experience (good and bad) would be appreciated. Thanks!

Robyn, That topic has been rehashed dozens of times. Search above under that name and you will find tons of info, mostly positive.

Robyn,<BR><BR>I have used Auto Europe twice. Both experieces were very good. The cars came from Avis and there were no extra charges. It is usually just two of us, but I won't go with the smallest car. The little cars are VERY little and I like having a trunk to hide stuff in.<BR><BR>I understand why people don't search. It is not the best feature on this site even when it is working. Don't worry about the 100 responses you will receive telling you to do a search.<BR><BR>

Robyn,<BR>We used Auto Europe in Italy last year, and had a good experience. Price was right, location and service as well.<BR>Have a good trip.

I seldom tell people to do a search and answer as many questions on this board as anyone. But, the Auto Europe question is not a simple answer. The whole discussion of insurance options with competitors and their matching of quotes etc etc is a 2 paragraph answer done well. I have used them about 20 times and and am a big fan. But, she needs to read the whole story and that takes time--why reinvent the wheel?

We've used Auto Europe in Perugia Italy at the airport and were very satisfied. When the desk wasn't open, a call was made and they supplied us with a vehicle from a vendor that was--at no additional cost. We were completely satisfied. M.

<BR>Don't knock Bob. He's a legend. BTW, do any Australians know if I can use Autoeurope from here, or have they used it?

Hi Robyn, We were in Spain 2 months ago. We rented a car from auto europe, it turned out to be avis. We picked the car up at the Malaga airport and dropped it off at the train station in Seville. We had no problems, the car worked fine and the price was better then any other rental option we tried.

I didn't yet use my rental, but sharing my experience might of value to others.

I am planning a one week trip for February to Malaga-the White Villages - Granada-Sevilla-Cadiz- Cordoba- Malaga.

I want to rent a car. My initial investigation led me to Auto Europe. Since my platinum Master Card covers CDW and theft, I did reserve a car with Auto Europe without the optional CDW &amp; car theft insurance. Then I started looking into all the details. I learned the following (some of it the hard way):

1) Since my car insurance policy doesn't offer coverage in Spain, the CDW from Master Card would be the primary and only insurance in case of a collision, theft, etc.

2) Numerous calls to MasterCard about this &quot;beneficial&quot; feature of the card led to information I didn't know about:

a)In case of an accident/theft, MC has a long list of expectations in terms of documentation in specified formats to be delivered by set timeframes, in order for a claim to be considered at all. The specific details are NOT provided in any written material that MC sends to cardholders. MC's reps told me that I can ask for this info only if I have an actual claim. The burden of getting all of this is obviously on the cardholder, while all estimated expenses (for damage, theft and any loss of rental income for the time the car sits in a shop) are charged to and have to be paid by the cardholder.

b) Assuming that the cardholder can somehow gather all the required documentation in proper format by the specified dates, the card company assigns an adjuster to determine if the car company's estimates are &quot;FAIR&quot; or not. If not, the cardholder pays for any difference.

3) I went back to Auto Europe to see how their CDW/theft policies work. They do cover mostly everything but they do have a $720 deductible for accidents and $720 for theft. Also they refused to provide a copy of the Rental Agreement that I would have to sign when I pick the car.

4) I started shopping around with more questions than initially. The prices I got were better and terms more favorable.

5) I called Auto Europe again. They do have a statement on their site according to which they supposedly match lower quotes for comparable rentals from reputable companies. I gave them information I had and I was told that I will be contacted via Email in a day or two. This was about 10 days ago and nobody contacted me.

6) I made another reservation with CarJet. The cost is much lower (with CDW included and zero deductibles) than Auto Europe's and they confirmed in many different ways that their CDW covers EVERYTHING (except tire, undercar damage &amp; key loss). Their supplier (Crown Cars) faxed me their 1 page Rental Agreement.

I hope not to have bad surprises there, but at least I got all the information that I asked for.

When you make similar decisions look into the insurance. Hopefully you will not need it but with everything one reads re. narrow streets, pushy drivers, theft, etc. it's better to know what you can count on and what you are paying for.

Any info re. experiences w. CarJet/Crown Cars would be appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

It is true that MasterCard (and Visa) require you to obtain and submit quite a bit of paperwork if you need to file a claim when using their CDW insurance. Some people feel they don't want the hassel of having to do this should they have an accident and so go with the AutoEurope (or whatever company)'s insurance. But when you consider the daily extra expense to get the insurance, plus the deductible you are very easily in the $1000 range (or higher).

MOST of the time you will not have to file a claim and you will save alot of money. If you do, then there will definitly be some degree of paperwork. I've rented with AutoEurope five or six times in the last few years (in 6 different European countries) and have never had a problem. Although I've never filed a claim for car insurance with a credit card company, I have used their Warranty Insurance (for a camera) once and it works in a similar manner. You have to collect and submit a lot of peperwork. But they do pay in the end, and they were quite pleasant to deal with actually.

Auto Europe does not always have the lowest price available. It might save you a little to shop around. Europecar in Interlaken last summer was a better deal for me than Avis/Autoeurope.

We had a Passat diesel with a 6 speed tranmission. Slick car, with good acceleration for a small engine because of the gearing. It was a good curve hugger, which is nice on some of those Swiss mountain roads.

We just rented from Auto Europe in Spain and they were fine. One thing I thought I'd pass on...I also checked out Nova Rent a Car and got a better rate from them, called Auto Europe back, and they (Auto Europe) checked it out and matched the rate. (Except Nova included airport fee and Auto Europe didn't, but when I tried to contact Nova to see if they would, they didn't have a 800 number to reach them through and I wasn't able to recontact them on the Internet, so figured it was worth the extra 30 E. to go with Auto Europe.)

I've rented about 50 cars from AutoEurope and never been disappointed. When I've gotten a lower price from another agency, AutoEurope has always honored it. When I've had scrapes and cracked headlights and minor damage, my Gold Master Card or Visa has always covered it and I've never had to pay a dime up front.

My only complaint was this past fall, when I rented a small car for pickup in P&eacute;rigueux. The car died in the parking lot of the supermarket in the town near where I live in the Dordogne. The number AutoEurope gave me for roadside assistance did offer some help, but instead of bringing the replacement car they promised, they drove me to a garage 25 kms away where I spent all day waiting for the car to be repaired.
Auto Europe did refund me two days worth of car rental, though, so I am still a satisfied customer.

i just rented twice last month from them in germany...it was perfect, except today i noticed that hertz charged me incorrectly for the second rental....i phoned auto europe and they agreed and have begun the recalculation process with hertz...they are excellent...i have used them in the past as well and shall use them in the future

Hi Robyn
We booked a car with Auto Europe while living in Brisbane earlier this year, and have previously used Nova. Have had good experiences with both companies.

Nova gave us the best deal last year on our trip to Germany. No problems.

It's interesting that people get better deals from Nova than from AutoEurope. I keep trying on their website, and although a few times it has LOOKED a little cheaper via Nova than AutoEurope it's only because Nova quotes in euro and AutoEurope quotes in US dollars. When I do the conversion, AutoEurope has always been quite a bit cheaper. I've been playing with this tonight for several rentals for next year and the same thing applies.

AutoEurope is great!
Price, locations, service, cacelation policy...
Last time, in Italy, they gave us Mercedes 240 instead of Nissan Micra (we reserves earlier) without increasing the price, since Nissan was not avaliable. I would definatelly use them again.

If you're worried about auto damage and accident coverage, you can always buy a separate travel insurance policy that gives good coverage for considerably less than the car-rental firms charge.

Suzanna, you are definitely in the 'blue ribbon researcher' category!

There are a few additional things to consider about insurance:

first: if, heaven forbid, the accident is serious enough, you might have to file paperwork anyway. (police report, etc.)

second: almost nobody, rental outfit or third party insurer like a CC, will cover damage to windshield or to tires. Be sure to inspect the windshield when signing out the car for any chips - we once rented a car and luckily noted the chip on the report. When the chip subsequently became a crack, we were not charged. But you can bet we were careful to do the necessary paperwork beforehand (we've also been known to photograph the car before and after, with some proof of place and date in the photo if possible.) Point is, it is sometimes in your best interest to do paperwork, as well as a chore.

third: It isn't unusual for insurers to insist on auditing claims by car rentals for repairs. In the case where you were charged for windshield or tire replacement, you'd be well advised to place a few calls to local repair outfits to determine if the amount you are being charged is fair. It is possible that if you take CC insurance, your CC company will help you with this. Or you could ask AutoEurope for assistance, even though of course you'd still be paying for the repair.

fourth: I've never asked for a copy of the rental agreement prior to the time of rental, but if you wanted a copy I would suggest contacting, directly, the car rental outfit that is brokered by AutoEurope. Remember that AutoEurope is a broker, not a renter of cars per se.

Good luck with Carjet, sorry, no nothing about them.