Carlux

Regarding car rentals in Brive, if you check French yellow pages, there are actually 15 rental agencies in town. Many are small, but certainly Avis and Hertz are there, as well as Europcar.

blh

Thanks, Carlux. I felt like he wasn't telling the truth. And now I am even more skeptical. I checked Hertz & Avis rates - but they are considerably higher than the rate I have with Kemwel - I made the reservation months ago, and the rates are much higher now. It's hard to know what to do. I may end up paying as much or more with Europcar anyway. I think I may call Kemwel again and dispute their information about Europcar being the only rental in Brive. I really don't like being lied to. Perhaps Kemwel only does business with Europcar in Brive - but they should have said that if that is the case.

kerouac

Picked up another car from Europcar in Paris this evening. Same old contract -- pick up car with a full tank, return it with a full tank. No extra charges. Europcar always sends me an invoice within about 5 days of the return of the car, and the amount on it is always 0.00.

blh

kerouac - is this rental for less than five days? Something strange about all this.

kerouac

Yes, it is for less than 5 days. But I know a number of people in France who have rented for 2 or 3 weeks in France, using the AutoEurope sites in France, Spain or Belgium (depending on which one is showing the cheapest rate), and nobody has mentioned this sort of problem. Everybody is delighted with both AutoEurope and Europcar.

The only rental company that ever used to give me 'empty tank to be returned empty' in France was Thrifty.

iris1745

Kerouac; Remember this is a new policy and as far as I know, it only covers France. I checked Europcars policy in Italy and this MANDATORY policy does NOT apply. As you said, you rented for less than 5 days and you would not have any extra charges. We have been to Europe 28 times and rented cars for 24 of those trips. Many times with Europcar. Their policy was always, receive a full tank of gas at the beginning of the trip and return with a full tank of gas. NO EXTRA CHARGES. Recently their policy has changes for rentals in France of 5 days of more. As I have said before, it is now MANDATORY to return the car EMPTY. I can understand paying for the gas, but it all the other salacious charges that accrue that are troubling. In addition. when I talked to Auto Europe, they told me I wasn't informed because I rented the car in February and the new policy only went into affect recently. Lets keep this going until everyone understands Europcars NEW policy. Please, on Auto Europes web site, just apply for a car in France, over 5 days and then read their rental conditions. Make sure it is a Europcar. Or call Auto Europe at 888-2235555 and report back. ENJOY Iris

Underhill

I've just re-read all the fine print in our AutoEurope contract with Europcar, and the information about the full tank of gas policy is clearly stated. However, there's nothing about an extra charge for a diesel--I'm going to call about that. I would love to know why there's a diesel surcharge--must ask our French friends if they've heard of any new policy regarding diesel-powered cars.

iris1745

Underhill; The diesel charge of 41.80 euros is the one charge that Auto Europe is checking for me. When I was talking to the custome service person, she was able to see on line all these charges that I reported in my first post. Once Auto Europe has an answer, I will post the information. What will be interesting, our friends that we met for the last 8 nights, also rented with Europcar. He reported a cracked mirror and was charged almost $600 us dollars with no itemize list for the mirror and any other charges. He stopped payment with American Express until he gets an itemized listing. He was also told to return the car empty. So we know there has to be at least a gas charge. Iris

blh

Iris, will your friend's AMEX car rental insurance cover the damage? I always wonder if the credit card covers such items.

I am trying to decide whether to cancel my paid rental with Kemwel and go with a rental with Hertz which is about $50 more. I will have to pay the Hertz rental in US dollars at the Hertz counter. At least that is what the agent told me. It is not a prepaid rental. So I don't know if I will pay a conversion rate (2% with AMEX).

cigalechanta

unless it's new, we always used diesel with no extra charge.

iris1745

Hi blh; His CC should cover the damage. Credit cards act as 'secondary coverage' for damage. As an extra precaution, we have both taken American Express's 'primary coverage' policy. It cost $19.99 or $25 depending upon the coverage. On AX'S web site you can find an explaination of everything covered. He will be OK. I will post his results too. Iris

Louie_LI

I wonder if this policy is part of the agreement between AutoEurope and Europcar. There is nothing on the French Europcar site that mentions mandatory fuel purchase, just the option.

ekscrunchy

You all probably know this, but when you rent with AutoEurope and talk to them by phone, you can specify the agency who you want to use. For example, you can tell them you want to use AVIS and not EuropCar, if that is the case. If there is an Avis agency in the town, they will steer you to them...or any agency that they deal with in that particular pick-up location.

At least this has been my experience over the years..

nametaken

I know this is a bit off topic, but my husband and I have used Sixt on our last two trips to Europe--in Sicily and Provence. We have always gotten very good rates and reliable cars. They also have the lowest rates.

Underhill

My husband has been reading assorted posts on the full-tank-of-gas out/empty-tank-in issue. Apparently it's in response, at least in some cases, to the problem of people adding water to the gas tank to top it up.

FYI, the Economy Car Rental site says that there are no less than four different policies about gas, one of which is a full tank out and the tank to be returned empty.

iris1745

Hi Underhill;In the past, it was so simple when renting a car with Auto Europe in France. They quoated a price and we accepted, with zero balance. We accepted knowing that when we received the car it would have a full tank of gas and we would return it that way. NO additional charges, except for the price of the gas, say 70EURO. Now Europcar has a recent different policy regarding cars rented for 5 days or more in France. In this instance it is MANDATORY to bring the car back empty. So now what are the charges. 70EURO for gas and an additional 110euro for additional charges or 180EURO. That includes 29.60 euro for VAT on these additional charges. We never had to pay VAT before returning our car. Auto Europe's zero balance meant something. We have all thought Europcar's rental fees were reasonable. However, now In France, with that additional 110EURO charge, added to Auto Europes charge, may make other companies fees much more competable. Some people think my post is a 'gripe'. That's fine, but people should know what they are getting into using Europcar in France. To conclude, our car was almost new. It was a compact station wagon and we had no problems. We drove 4556km. Car ran great and had a wonderful time as usual in France. SORRY about double punching this post. ENJOY Iris

Underhill

We too have used autoeurope.com for our car rentals, nearly always with europcar. Now those extra charges make me stop and think.

I just looked at Sixt rentals, recommended by a London guy on the tripadvisor.com web site. Turns out the Sixt office is right in the hotel Le Meridien and so is even closer to our hotel than the europcar office.

We can save about $170 for approximately the same car that we have booked with autoeurope--and the car comes and must be returned with a full tank of gas. The web site indicates that there is no supplemental charge for a diesel. The one caveat is that unlike autoeurope there's a cancellation charge, but our trip insurance would cover that. So I'm posting a query about Sixt and will see what responses I get.

iris1745

Hi; I too will look at Sixt car rentals for our two oversees trips next year. But, I will price Sixt and Auto Europe and others. [carrentals.com] [novacarhire.com]Keep in mind, Underhill, that you can negotiate with Auto Europe. See if you can get the additional $170 off with them for the same car and then decide what to do. We have worked with Auto Europe before, with them matching a competor price. I do have confidence in AE Iris

Underhill

I will call AE, but my concern is less the price than all the extra charges and the requirement of returning the car with an empty gas tank. I just looked at our last AE rental bill and found that besides the in-advance amount that we paid there was a charge on check-in for another $70. The Sixt charges seem to be more transparent.

iris1745

Hi Underhill; There was an earlier post that suggested you can direct Auto Europe not to consider Europcar. Other car companies in France allow you to fill the tank before returning with no extra charges. Verify with AE. Anyways, good luck. Iris