For many years we have arranged European car rentals through AutoEurope and have always been impressed with their customer service. The local staff who answered the 800 number at this Portland based company has always been easy to deal with and supportive when issues or disputes occurred. Today I needed to modify a reservation. Unable to do so online, I called the 800 number. A few minutes prior to calling, I had requested an online quote for a reservation with the changes I needed and immediately received an email quote from AE. After the agent made the requested changes, she informed me that the additional charge would be $74. Based on the quote I had just received from AE, the additional charge should have been $38. I referred her to the quote and she said she could honor that price. I asked her what accounted for the difference, she explained that the 800 number didn't have the same "deals" and prices as the website. Furthermore, that if she gave me the online quoted price, the cancellation terms would be different: If cancelled less than two days prior to pick-up, the penalty would be $150.

By relating this experience, I do not at all intend to say that AutoEurope has done anything wrong. It just saddens me a little to see what was always a simple, small-ish, customer-service oriented company growing bigger and more complicated in ways that negatively affect the experience of dealing with them. This call was answered by an agent in Jamaica. Pretty remote from home base where every agent I ever spoke with was really knowledgeable about the European car rental market and able to give great help with selecting an appropriate car for our needs. This agent was very helpful with what I needed, but I wonder if agents in remote call centers have much knowledge of those kinds of things.

Bottom line: I will still probably choose to deal with AE or Kemwel over the actual car rental companies. They have a history of dealing with local European companies and resolving problems quickly. That has been very valuable for me.

That is a shame. Thanks for the heads up as I have used AutoEurope and Kemwel several times and likely will again.

Autoeurope has never been a smallish company AFAIK, the problem is that everything is online now but there are many who still want personal service & are a bit left behind, it just doesn't exist anymore. It costs much more to employ staff to answer queries and action things that can be done online and transactions will cost more.

There are many suppliers who offer internet prices only, so when you call, they give you an entirely different price.And I think if staff are employed in places like Jamaica, that is a good thing, great for them where job opportunities like this are probably few and far between. What is there to know about the European car rental market that could not be found on AEs website? I think we all have to get used to being our own travel agents and researching things for ourselves, it is the way things are going/have gone.

Was there a reason why the modification couldn't be done online?

I use AE several times a year in various countries, I have never needed to call them or needed their customer service department, so far.

I guess that's a good heads up, but I am also confused as to how you could be getting online quotes for something and then saying you couldn't do that changes online as that seems contradictory. But in any case, maybe you can only get quotes but can't actually do changes.

I don't really see what difference it makes what the nationality of their CS agents are, to be honest, as long as they are fluent in English and easily understood. I remember getting some Canadian CS agents by one company I use, I can't remember which. I didn't care. I guess if you think companies shouldn't outsource, you could be against that, and I can understand that position. I'm sure if they ever really had local agents (meaning residents of Maine), they weren't world travelers who knew all about European car agencies from actually going there and using them, so doesn't really matter, whatever they learn., they learn from AE experience with them, I imagine.

Autoeurope as a simple smallish local company is funny, given they started in Germany and are a major international corporation and have been for quite a while. The guy who started it was German and then moved to NY. He moved the company's HQs to Portland for reasons I don't know, from NY. Maybe he just wanted to live a less urban life himself, but he retired decades ago. Customer Services IS supposed to be their calling card, though, I guess the current CEO who has also been there decades is maybe cutting agent costs or something, I presume that would be the main reason to switch to Jamaica, but who knows, I know a lot of businesses have been having trouble getting low end workers in all industries, and maybe they just can't find enough local people to do that anymore (if they were local before, I don't know). They would have to do something to get agents.

I don't know why they still keep the Kemwel brand as they bought them about 20 years ago. they also have an airfare and hotel booking service.

https://www.kemwel.com/airfare-deals/

Not intend to hijack a two-year old thread, but has anyone noticed this on AutoEurope lately?
It seems like they no longer offer super coverage for rental car. All I see is Basic and Basic Plus, which has some deductible. They no longer offer an option with zero deductible and coverage for tires, windows, and etc.
I have always purchased maximum coverage that was offered by AutoEurope for peace of mind. And I was never asked to buy any additional coverage when I picked up the car and breeze thru drop-off process with people barely glancing at my returned car. It was so convenient. Now with this latest change, I might have to use other supplier, like Rentalcars.com. Has anyone have any luck with other suppliers?

For rental arrangements, I highly recommend gemut.com
For insurance coverage, I highly recommend Amex's Premium Car Rental insurance.

For what country(s)? Requirements and insurance options do vary country to country.

Thanks, I'll try them out
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Planning for northern spain next year.
Just few months ago when I searched, AutoEurope was offering supercoverage options, but now no more.

I have had good luck booking with the car rental companies,
SIXT in Spain two weeks ago; similar price and much better conditions than AutoEurope.

I am not a lawyer, but, as I understand it, your insurance contract with Amex is not binding on the car rental company.

There appears to be an anomaly between autoeurope.com and autoeurope.eu sites. I always use the latter (.eu) to book cars in Europe and it continues to offer full protection as you proceed in the booking workflow.

For some reason, SIXT almost always has offered me the one of the highest offer.
I have rented mostly from Europcar via AutoEurope.

Yes, you're correct that european site offers full protection, but still no zero CDW option.

Interesting! I'll be sure to check on that next time I rent a car.

Just checked for rental in Florence, Italy in October and full coverage (including glass and towing) is offered for $8.19 a day.

I agree in full that SiXT is excellent. I now use them, rather than AutoEurope, in both Spain and Italy.