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travelcat48: DCC is Dynamic Currency Conversion.
They charge you in your home currency when it would be to your advantage to use the currency of the country you are visiting. Say something costs €100 but they charge you in $. You lose twice - they use an inflated (bad) exchange rate, and your credit card charges you a 'foreign conversion' fee even though they didn't have to 'convert' anything. Always pay in the local currency -- never fall for "<i>We can run this in US$ for you - as a service/courtesy</i>" |
AE is a broker who has contracts with different rental companies in various contries---like Hertz, Avis, and Europcar. They will put you with the best option for you, which will vary by model and by country. So, the above generalities are not valid. Their customer service is legendary, and they will match any other valid quote. That said, my best quotes in the past year have all been from their sister company----Kemwel.
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Sorry to slightly sidetrack - do most car companies charge you for a full tank of fuel and expect you to bring it back empty? Its just when I am on a short break I find they charge you an extortionate price for the fuel and they then get it back half full - seems like a rip off.
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If people are rattling on about my generalisations regarding AE referrals of my business. It isn't a generalisation it is an observed fact. They have never contracted my business out to Hertz or Avis.
An AE employee told me that Hertz are not competitive with quotes to UK customers on European rentals. I have no idea or interest why, I do know that after much research they, and Argus Hire, consistently provide the best deals and I have rarely had an issue with the service. Clearly, you can't generalise as AE will offer the best deal possible and there preferred partner will change hourly. |
>>Sorry to slightly sidetrack - do most car companies charge you for a full tank of fuel and expect you to bring it back empty? Its just when I am on a short break I find they charge you an extortionate price for the fuel and they then get it back half full - seems like a rip off.<<
My experience is that they don't charge you at all for fuel if you bring it back full (which is what it is when you collect the car). If you fail to top up the tank on return, then they will charge you for the refuel, plus maybe a service charge. Either way, it's always more than what you pay if you top up yourself. BTW, I always use Auto Europe for hires over 3 days (normally in Italy). I find Hertz expensive, plus they have a link up with Ryanair, so when I land from a Ryanair flight there's always a huge queue for cars at the Hertz desk. Through AutoEurope I've had Avis and Europcar mostly. |
As another U.K. poster, my experience is the same as Dickie's. I have booked through both AutoEurope and other consolidators for cars in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. The actual supplier has usually been a local company and not one of the major U.S.-owned companies like Hertz or Avis. When I have compared prices, the major international companies are invariably substantially more expensive.
I have always booked through the website and not by phone. When I did phone a company once, I was surprised to be told "Press 1 to speak in English; Press 2 for German". I have no idea where the companies are actually based. My choice is for the best vehicle insurance that is available, bought from the consolidator. The cars are picked up and returned to the same place, which is usually the airport. There seems little advantage in getting a taxi into town, to an office with restricted hours, in order to make some small saving. That is particularly true when returning the car and time is short. All prices quoted by U.K. consolidators are complete and include all taxes and charges. There is sometimes a charge for an additional driver, which can make a big difference between companies. The other variable is whether the depot is off airport and how good the connecting transport is. That is something that is difficult to predict. Dickie is correct that you simply cannot generalise about the deals available in different countries. |
"Hertz have a link up with Ryanair."
That explains a lot. The reason why we were quite happy not to be referred to Hertz was the size of their queues. I always thought it odd that so many people wanted to pay so much. |
My experience is that they don't charge you at all for fuel if you bring it back full (which is what it is when you collect the car). If you fail to top up the tank on return, then they will charge you for the refuel, plus maybe a service charge. Either way, it's always more than what you pay if you top up yourself.>>
a new quirk experienced on a recent trip to the Netherlands was that when we returned the car [with a full tank] they wanted the receipt from the petrol station where we had just filled up. After we had argued the toss about whether we'd been told about this when we picked up the car [me saying no, them saying yes in the manner of a UK pantomime] I eventually handed it over, but not before they had told me why they wanted it - which was to check that we hadn't put in the wrong sort of fuel. i forbore to tell them that a) we'd driven it in so presumably we hadn't as it was still going and b) this was not the only time we'd put petrol into it during our trip so presumably they ought to ask for all our petrol receipts. anyone else come across this? PS - this was a small car hire company based "at" Schipol, the "at" turning out to be a 20 min bus-ride away. this was not made clear when we rented and as we had my 80 year old mother in tow, was not very convenient, to say the least. yet another thing to check for! |
Ann
Over the years I have had every Pantomime in the book. In Sardinia I had them trying to charge me 130 e for a car seat for week, that on a 120e car hire. In the end after much "bog offing" the clerk stuck 30 e cash in his pocket and that was that. Again in Sardinia we returned the car with sand on the carpets, the island does have the best beaches in Europe and our son was then 3. They tried to charge us 100e for cleaning the car, again after telling them to bog off many times, I have the carpets a quick shake and the 100e bill was removed. Since those stressed out times, we always take a zero access deal with a return the car empty deal. That way as long as the car is full at the start it is difficult to get into trouble. Last year in Mallorca we were given the car empty of fuel!!! Particularly with the open credit card swipe, we feel very exposed and may as well wear please abuse us T shirts when signing up for anything but a zero excess deal. Have to say our best car hire experiences have always been in the US. Never trusted those shady Italians. |
"they wanted the receipt from the petrol station where we had just filled up."
Yes I have experienced this twice. Both times in South Africa, most recently in Joburg (Hertz) this Xmas and last year in Cape Town (Europcar). Not only did they want receipts, but they told us which petrol stations to fill up at ie the ones right at the airport. "My experience is that they don't charge you at all for fuel if you bring it back full" - I've had car rentals where you bring the car back empty, so it depends, best to check when picking up the car as to what they want. More often though, the car should be brought back full. |
"they wanted the receipt from the petrol station where we had just filled up."
Yes I have experienced this twice. Both times in South Africa, most recently in Joburg (Hertz) this Xmas and last year in Cape Town (Europcar). Not only did they want receipts, but they told us which petrol stations to fill up at ie the ones right at the airport." Had they problems with people putting something in the car besides gas to save money? Why would they want this? I've never rented a car in S. Africa. |
They do that in some places in the US, it's to prove you actually bought gas. Maybe some people do put something else in, but I think it's also to prove you just filled up within a short distance of where you turned it in as some gas gauges can be off by a gallon or more (meaning the full marker isn't that accurate).
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They do that in some places in the US, it's to prove you actually bought gas. Maybe some people do put something else in, but I think it's also to prove you just filled up within a short distance of where you turned it in as some gas gauges can be off by a gallon or more (meaning the full marker isn't that accurate).>>
They definitely told me that it was to check that we'd put the right fuel into the car. |
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Don't waste your time with Auto Europe’s refundable excess policy. I rented a Hertz/Dollar car in Spain and I think rental companies go out of their way to find damage when you don't purchase their own Collision Damage Waiver. I was certainly given the hard sell by Hertz to buy their CDW when I checked the car out. They warned me they would find something when I returned the car and sure enough they found a scratch on the wheel arch by running their fingers over its surface. You would think the policy I purchased from Auto Europe would promptly cover everything Hertz charged for the damage. No way! I submitted a claim on June 9 and had to wait until August 8 to get any kind of refund. Then the refund did not cover the rental company "administrative fee" that I was told by the Auto Europe rep "is always billed in the event of damage". Nowhere on the Auto Europe agreement is this exclusion mentioned even though it is always billed. Skip the refundable excess policy and consider renting from a company that does business in straightforward manner.
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Alexrunner, I have to admit that I am extremely perplexed that you would revive a thread that is more than two and a half years old and tagged 'France' to tell us about a misadventure that you had in Spain.
I have never had any problem at all with AutoEurope, even when I used them to rent a car in the United States a few times. In fact, when I rented a car in Dallas through AutoEurope (I admit that it was some local Texas rental company that I had never heard of), I had a flat tire, which I changed muself, and I obviously informed the company when I returned the car. First they said, "you are liable for the tires, and the minimum charge is $50 is you did not get the tire fixed yourself." I had never heard of such a thing and mentioned that when I rented a car, I expected the tires to be in good condition and not to go flat in a motel parking lot for no reason. Then they checked the AutoEurope voucher and said "oh, there is no charge for you because your voucher covers things like that." Hurray for AutoEurope! |
I wouldn´t waste my time with a rant in the French forums for something that occurred in Spain.
And the Autoeurope pickup voucher clearly states that there will be an administrative fee in the even of a claim. <i>* Administration Fee of approx. EUR 55 (incl VAT) will be charged in the event of damage/theft of the rental vehicle (if an excess applies this is charged in addition to that amount).</i> You did read the Autoeurope pickup voucher? Maybe you didn´t. |
Alex registered to post his rant - he most likely won't be back.
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AUTO EUROPE --> ATTENTION !!!
Need 1600€ deposit on CB !!! If you don't have 1600€ on you CB, you can't rent the car !!!! Be carrefull !! I had to cancel and find an other car with no so much deposit. |
Total BS, FABROSS.
You probably had a credit problem. |
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