AutoEurope location question
 

If you get a rental car through autoeurope, I understand they are a broker, but do you pick up the car at their office, or the office of the company who will actually be providing the car? The reason for my question is that on the website, I am given you hours of operation and locations in the drop off and pickup cities. That is before it has offered any specific cars, so I assume it must be at a AutoEurope office. I have also read though that with AutoEurope you don't actually rent from them, but get a voucher to take to the 'real' rental company. I am looking to pickup and drop off in not huge towns (Arras and Sete) - could it just be that there is only one car rental company in those towns? (Doesn't seem likely...)

Can anyone who has used autoeurope let me know?

thanks!
V

Auto Europe will tell you what airport desk to go to upon arrival.

AutoEurope has no offices in Europe. As far as I know, their only office is in Portland, Maine.

It is quite possible that there is only one car-rental agency in Arras or Sete, but in any case, AutoEurope will give you the name and address of the agency you have to go to.

Canada_V, as I understand it, the list of rental locations you see on the AutoEurope website are the companies that AutoEurope books with. In a place like Arras, there might be two or three firms that rent cars, but AutoEurope may deal with only one (or two) of them.

It will be pretty clear on the on the voucher AutoEurope sends you. For example, my last rental through them has a voucher number and shows that I will get the car at "EuropCar, Reims Downtown Office, 76 boul Lundy." The voucher also shows what kind of car you've booked ("Peugeot 207 or Similar"), amount you've prepaid and balance due when you've finished the rental. Be sure to read the Ts and Cs, which will itemize additional fees you might have to pay, such as a location surcharge for an airport pick-up, etc.

When I have a choice of pick-up locations, I usually plot them on the ViaMichelin map and figure out which will have the easiest access to the highway I'm aiming for.

Arras ... if you don't mind my asking, are you planning to visit Vimy?

Anselm

They don't have offices in every place in Europe, that would be impossible. Those are car rental offices, that's all. In fact, you can even figure out who the rental company would be by the addresses and options offered, if you want. They have regular contracts with only a few car rental companies, so they do know in some cases who it will be if that is the only company in a location. In other cases, it is usually just a rail station or airport, not a specific address, and then they may have a couple possibilities you don't know.

All you have to do is look up in the phonebook the names of car rental companies and their addresses for a city, and you can match that up with the Autoeurope website to figure it out. Most phonebooks are online now for a lot of countries -- definitely in France.

I was just staring at this voucher a bit more and thought of two other things to tell you.

Take note of the car rental agency's hours of operation, which are on the second page of the voucher. As an example, the EuropCar office in Reims was closed noon to 2 pm every day and on Sundays. It was significant for me because I arrived in Reims at 12:30 and had to cool my heels at a café until the rental office re-opened.

Secondly, if you ever need to talk to the AutoEurope people while you're in France, they list a toll-free number on the voucher. The line is staffed 24 hours a day, as I discovered when I called them from France at 3 am Maine time.

AA

I have noticed that when you put in your time and day of pickup on the website, that has an effect on the companies (Avis, National, etc) that are offered. Changing day and time can affect the offeriongs and costs.

AutoEurope is a good company. I have used them many times for extended rentals, 4 to 6 weeks per trip. They will meet any competitors price, and there are no suprises! They do not have offices in rental locations, but you are sent to well known rental outlets. I have picked up cars at Avis and Hertz in Italy. Small towns are not a problem. Last trip, picked up in Pescara, (Abruzzo) and dropped off in Lecce, Puglia).If you need more info let me know.

Interesting, robjame. Hadn't even thought of that. So if I'd wanted a car on Sunday I might have seen different rental agencies and prices offered? I'll remember that for next time.

AA

Oh, one more thing, DOUBLE CHECK the operating hours of the individual rental location. Many close for several hours in the afternoon. I tend to go the day before scheduled pick-up and let them know what time the next day I will be there. Sometimes that helps in getting the car you would like to have.

Thanks to everyone :-)
About the opening times - when I had a time in that was outside the opening times listed, the AutoEurope site showed the location, but 'greyed out' the box to choose that pickup, so it looks like it tries to fit something that works. And the viamichelin is exactly what I was doing :-) I plotted the 'walking distance' from the train station to the car rental place.
Anselm - yes, Vimy is the reason for starting out in Arras. Our plan is after our first week in our Paris apartment, we are going to take the train to Arras, spend the night at the youth hostel (me, my husband and the 2 kids :-)) then visit Vimy; drive to Caen and spend the next day at Juno; then make our way to spend a week in the Dordogne via Oradour-sur-Glane. Those three days are our "lest we forget" portion of our trip...

oops that :-)) smilie wasn't the one I thought would pop in there...

Hi
We've used autoeurope for many years without a problem. You can make a reservation either on line, where it gives the address, phone # and operating hours of the rental co. If you prefer you can use the 800#. They always tell you the name of the auto rental co. I also download my voucher so I can examine it for errors. I've been using them almost 20 yrs. now and am completely satisfied.

Canada_V, thanks for that. Seeing the words "Canada" and "Arras" in the same post just made me think "Vimy." We're looking Ypres and the Somme this fall and we'll make a point of including Vimy and Beaumont-Hamel.

Safe travels.

AA

Avis is in both Arras and in Sete.

Not very likely that you ccan get as good a rate directly from Avis as AutoEurope can get you.

Avis is where you will go.

Their website can list hours and locations "before it has offered any specific cars" - - (probably) because it's the only choice in town.

Best wishes,

Rex

AutoEurope , Portland Maine, has one of the best, helpful customer service and reservation offices. They will tell you everything as to where to pickup, hours of operation etc. They contract with major car rental agencies which varies in different countries, and they try to give you the best "deal".
I never liked their idea of paying a portion before leaving U.S. and the rest on pickup. It's easier, we think, to pay in full and have the complete voucher when walking up to the counter overseas....nothing added (except maybe a little airport tax or something). No questions doing it this way. (and I think AutoEurope will do it this way now if you want.
It also use to be that if there is any problem during the time you have the car you can call the Portland office COLLECT 24/7 and they will assist you.
Anyway......by talkng with them by phone to make your reservation they will answer all your questions.
(The ONLY problem we ever had was the strong attempt to sell us CDW insurance,and threat of thousands of dollars if something happened to the car. (We did not take it)):>)

A little AutoEurope secret. Play around with the different international sites. You will get a completely different list of cars and prices, but you will still be able to enter your local address as a renter.

Yup. Often you can get the same car cheaper by renting through the UK AutoEurope site....though haven't checked it since the dollar tanked against the pound. Still, well worth investigating.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I looked up in the on-line "Pages Jeunes" and it looks like there is a Hertz, an Avis and a EuropCar office in Arras, but there is only an Avis in Sete (there is a Hertz, but it looks like it is just a "Depot" in Sete itself, so maybe AutoEurope doesn't work with that.
Interesting tip on trying other countries sites - I'll give that a try!
Thanks again!

Anselm - have you been to Vimy?

If you go to the Better Business Bureau website you will be able to confirm the many complaints filled against AutoEurope (with main offices in Portland, ME) for Bait & Switch advertisement, specifically by Ireland-bound travel. While the voucher will provide you a quote (Bait), the rental agreement (at time of pick up) will have contain substantial additional charges that could had been included as part of the voucher quote (switch part). It is not that they do not state that additional charges are likely; it is that they COULD include these charges in the original quote and don't (Bait).

After more than 40 trips to Europe, always using car rentals (including many, many times from Auto Europe), I am definitely not using Auto Europe ever again. Not the same company, by far.

My experience, my opinion.

Canada_V, no I haven't yet. We are planning to go this fall. If you decide to write a trip report on your visit, I'll be an avid reader.

AA

Interesting...
You indicate there is a lot in particular around Irish rentals. Is there a comparable "blip" for Bait and Switch complaints for the rental companies themselves?

And this might be of interest (or not :-) ) - I looked up my options on the UK, US and Austrailian sites (Arras - Sete / June 13th pickup - June 28th return / Compact, Midsize or Standard / Manual or Automatic)

The lists of choices from each country were slightly different (there were no Peugouts listed on the UK site for example, but they had different VW options) The Canadian site had much more choice with that same criteria then the other sites; the US site was significantly slower to navigate around. For comparision, one car that was on all lists was a 4 door Renault Megane with ac Manual.

The Canadian site offered a "Basic" (i.e. no CDW) option for $620 CDN but none of the other sites offered a Basic, just an Inclusive. The UK and Australlian didn't offer a basic for any, so many it is just a north american credit card thing to cover CDW.

So the inclusive price for that Renault (with CAD conversion from XE.com) were...
Can = 818 CAD (or 620 CAD no CDW)
UK = 366 GBP = 732 CAD
Aus = 930 Aus$ = 849 CAD
US = 957 USD = 977 CAD

Now obviously, it is unlikely that anyone else is looking for a one way rental between these two cities :-) but it looks like especially if you live in the US you would be able to get a better rate on different country site (it does look like you can change your country of residence after you have chosen your car from a specific international site)

FYI...

After using AutoEurope a couple dozen times and NEVER having even the least little "glitch", I don't even check with other companies any more. They are my first and generally ONLY choice.

But Canada_V, all this discussion of hours and locations listed brings up a very good point. Yes, sometimes there may only be one agency they use in a smaller town -- so that's it. But people often make the mistake of booking on line for bigger cities and either randomly pick one of the pick up locations or pick the one that appears to be the most convenient. What this does is then lock you into a quote based on that particular rental agency, which may be considerably more expensive than if you picked one of the other pickup locations in the same city which would be for a different rental agency. I NEVER book online with AutoEurope, but end up calling and discussing with them. Their phone agents are amazingly well versed. Often you can say "which location will give me the best price?" and in a matter of minutes they can tell you. What's more, once you choose your pickup location, that automatically sets your return location (or at least reduces the choices) since now it will only show the locations of the same agency where you are picking up. Sometimes the return location really might be more of an issue that the pickup location.

My best advice with using AutoEurope is to call them and discuss before booking. Those old fashioned telephones really do come in handy sometimes.

Great input thanks!

Anselm, as an avid trip report reader, I am definitely planning on posting one so now I know I will have at least one reader :-)

Yea NeoPatrick.....I too think is is much better to talk with a live peson when making a car reservation.
and as you said: those old fashioned telephones do come in handy sometimes!
I found this to be true with a lot of travel information and reservations. Often hotels can "dig" around and find a better price than the internet. (of course in some instances the internet "specials" will beat it!)
Try a VARIETY of methods!!

Hmmmm, from reading this I would assume the Gare Montparnassee location in Paris would have a bit of variety of rental companies. ?? I've considered doing this but it does make me nervous as have always prepaid through Hertz to allegedly get exactly what we ordered. We never have gotten exactly what we ordered but it was always better -- without an additional charge.