I thought that I should share my last summer experience with Auto Europe, especially for those who intend to rent a car in Germany and travel to EU countries, including East Europe.

Last summer I was looking to rent a car in Europe for our family vacation. I’ve rented cars in Germany each year since the early ’90’s and since in the last 10 years I rented with Auto Europe it was their website that I checked first. Maybe they did not always have the best rates but they had a good to excellent (level 1) service.

I went on their website, requested a quote and received an email with a quotation voucher. As usual, the total cost was the price on the website plus the 30% fee for traveling to East Europe. Two days later I made another request with different dates and surprise … the total cost was the price on the website plus the 30% fee plus $300. In the voucher, the description field for the $300 was empty so I asked for clarification but the email response that I got did not have any reference to the $300 charge.

Since I was going nowhere with this gentleman, I sent another request and voila, the total cost was the price on the web plus the 30% fee. No $300 charge! Later, on an unrelated issue, I had the “pleasure” to speak with a manager about the $300 charge and this is what I was told: If you are traveling to East Europe it is at the discretion of a manager to add ANY amount to the total price, and that the amount can differ even if you make the requests in the same day.

On their website, Auto Europe clearly states that travel to East Europe countries may add an additional fee of 20% to 30% of the web price. But there’s no mention, not even in the fine print, that the manager can add ANY amount on the top of it based on how s/he feels at that particular time of day. This is what I would call a hidden charge, an arbitrary amount that may be added to the total price that Auto Europe has chosen not to disclose to the consumer.

In my next post I’ll describe my experience with Auto Europe which in my opinion is false advertising on their website.

Thank you for going to the trouble of registering at this major travel site which you have never before posted on just so you could tell us about this problem. Forgive me for being a little "skeptical" of your motives. What made you come here for this reason?

This happened last summer and you are posting in February? Why?

It took him that long to figure out how to register here?

If they honor the voucher which clearly contains a fee (fully explained or not) and there are no additional fees at the point of rental, how are these charges hidden? If they don't honor the agreement and the fees are unexpectedly added later, then I can understand the problem.

So, are you saying the charges were added later?

I've never had a problem with Auto Europe not honoring the pre-paid voucher in all respects. In fact, on one occasion, we were given a vehicle upgrade for no additional charge.

Jean, you are right, they honored the voucher, but the amount on the voucher had an additional $300 over the price on their web site, and it was not a fee.

I may be wrong but this is how I see it: if the rental price on the web site is $1000 and on the web there is also a 30% fee, I would expect to pay $1300 not $1600.

Like you, during the last ten years, we also never had problems with Auto Europe, only good to excellent service

Hmmm...I wonder if anyone at AE monitors this board and would care to reply?

I got overcharged by Hertz last summer and AE got me a $50 credit on my Visa card from Hertz. I was making zero progress in Switzerland before leaving, but when I got home I took it up with AE via the telephone. I sent in a copy of my rental agreement as actually billed and paid when I turned in the car, and in a few days a credit appeared.

Why is this so confusing to me?

You say you got a voucher with that extra $300 then "Since I was going nowhere with this gentleman, I sent another request and voila, the total cost was the price on the web plus the 30% fee. No $300 charge!"

So what happened next? You didn't have that guy send you a new voucher with that amount, but instead went off to Europe with your voucher that had the $300 added? You expected that since someone had told you there wouldn't be an extra $300 that even though the voucher showed it they would somehow remove it for you? And somehow you're surprised because they did charge you what the voucher said?

What part of this am I not following?

Dear O,

I don't understand your problem.

You found an additional $300 charge.

You called about it.

You got a new rate without the $300 charge.

Is it not possible that someone made an error?

Ira, otto seems to be saying that they honored the voucher that had the extra $300 on it. My question still stands. If someone after you got the voucher had quoted you a different price -- minus the $300 -- then why on earth would you still use the old voucher with the mistake (the extra $300) on it?

I must be thick. The otto got 3 quotes? 2 had no $300 fee? He used the one with the fee? Maybe the fee was cause he was wasting their time with all these quotes?
You get a quote (each one has a different number on it)... you confirm it and pay the amount on the bottom... where is the surprise?
I have had AE refund an extra charge that the particular agency (National) added.
The only extra I have had to pay is the France road tax and everyone is up front on that.

Many times AE has refunded me fees that EuropeCar/Avis/Hertz erroneously added to my final invoice. Once, EuropeCar processed someone elses return papers against my rental - and the other person returned the car with an empty tank of gas & also purchased CDW (which I did not). AutoEurope refunded everything to me without me having to provide any proof - they just took my word for it, after they failed to get correspondence from EuropCar.

I also believe that somewhere on their web site, it says that the prices displayed are not final prices - you must get a firm quote from them and a voucher. I've rented over 30 cars through them, and I always call - I've never used the web site to actually process the reservation.

Stu Dudley

Otto's analysis of events might be flawed but that doesn't mean his experience is automatically invalid or his motives suspect, simply because this is his or her first post. This is not the OJ trial, not to mention we don't even have a bloody glove.

Otto, I can see you were rattled by an unexplained proposed charge (I say proposed, since you weren't actually charged: these were quotes, not vouchers.) I agree that a reply about the authority of the manager to institute a fee in no way constitutes a relevant, let alone a satisfactory explanation as to what a given item actually is for. It was a stupid answer, but one that in all fairness does not appear to be the norm at AE. (It is likely that they have more than one employee and or manager at that place.) Even in your own experience, the proposed charge appeared on only 1 out of 3 quotes. As for what might have happened in the final analysis, that's impossible to say since you didn't immediately follow up with a phone call after their first email response failed to mention, let alone address, your concerns.

Next time, phone and patiently explain that you can't accept the quote without either a written explanation as to what the charge is for, or the item being dropped entirely. Since you didn't do this, you don't really have sufficient evidence on which to base your analysis that AE's motives and/or practices are suspect. You, too, have not so much as an ill-fitting bloody glove in the evidence bag!!

I do apologize for the controversy that my post has created. Ira was right. I found the additional $300 charge, I called (email) about it and then I got a new rate without the $300 charge, and yes, I knew that it must have been a mistake. Ira (and I suppose many others) did not understand what is my problem. The answer is that I do not have any problem,. I just shared my experience. I did not try to persuade, advice, or even suggest to anyone not to use their services any more. I suppose that there are hundreds of positive posts about AE. If I may ask, without being or sounding confrontational, did all those who posted their positive experience with AE have a problem? It’s just information, some is positive some is negative.

Bob Brown, Stu Dudley: I have also been overcharged by the rental companies and AE has always refunded those fees. Last time it was in September and AE has refunded the charges. Could this or should this change my above posted experience?

Sue_xx_yy, You were right, it’s not the norm at AE, it was a proposed charge and I did not follow up this matter.

Here’s the second part: We spent the first part of our vacation in Northern Italy. Next we planed to go to Eastern Europe for a couple of days so I went on AE’s website. I made my selections and I got to the page with the cars and the prices. The content of the page, at the top, “Cars available for pick-up in Munich, Germany at Munich Downtown Office” (National), then a note “Travel into eastern European countries may require additional fees” then the cars and prices and near the end “All rates shown on this site are guaranteed in the currency shown at the time of quoting”. I called AE to make the reservation and pay, but I was told that I cannot pick up the car from the downtown location (as it was shown the web site) because National does not rent cars for traveling east from any downtown location in Germany, and that I have to pick it up from the airport. The difference between downtown and airport pickup was the airport fee which in my case was about $280. I paid and picked up the car in the airport. Once I got back home, I contacted AE associates, a supervisor and then a manager but without any results (no refund of the airport fee and no explanation).

Boy, am I confused. The original post is titled "hidden charges and false advertising", but by the time we get to that last post, we find the poster had "no problem". The charges had been adjusted and a mistake was admitted. Big Deal. Why the title?

I think I'll post a thread titled "American Airlines rips off their passengers big time" and then wait a few posts to say that what happened was, I paid for my $399.98 ticket in cash and the clerk forgot to give me back my 2 cents change, but when I went back and asked she gave it to me.

otto, I appreciate the heads up advice on watching your invoices and verifying charges prior to accepting services. Good idea for any transaction really.

In this case, yes - AE does, or at least could, have additional fees for some activities, such as taking the car into more "risky" areas or in fact, dropping the car in a country other than where it was picked up. As I recall, drop and usage *fees* (as opposed to rental *rates*) are in most cases quoted after the on-line process, but before the final voucher. Usually depends on the costs passed along by the actual rental company, whether it's Avis, Hertz, Europcar, etc.

But if they're (even inadvertantly) adding unlabeled fees to the final, it's wise to question and fair to share, so that others remember to watch and question as well.

Patrick - LOL - Glad you put in your two cents worth.
I thought I understood. Now I am just going to nod my head and say, "Uh huh."

Why does this board sometimes remind me of an altercation between a line judge at Wimbledon and John McEnroe?

Is it because when the ball is clearly in and the line judge calls it out, even though the majority of the crowd is sitting on its collective hands, John McEnroe is going to hold the line judge accountable?
Sorry sue - I just couldn't help playing with your analogy.