I am looking to rent a car for a week long trip through italy--and am getting vastly different quotes through the autoeurope usa site vs the UK or Italian site. When I called them I was told that if I booked through one of the other sites there was a significant chance that my rental would not be honored once I arrived. Has anyone had that experience or heard of someone that did?
Thanks

Yes, lots of people. The downside is that I like to TALK to the AutoEurope people when I renta car, so I always call their 800 number here in the States and get the best deal I can. That said, you can save money by using their UK and European websites. What I haven't ever tried is pricing something on their European sites and then calling them here in the States and asking if they can match the price - I bet they would.

I've used AutoEurope a lot, and always book by phone, too. On our last trip, I checked the various AutoEurope websites for the different countries (per info I'd seen here on Fodors). As it turned out, the U.S. rate was better than all of them except the Canadian rate. So I called the usual 800 number, and asked for the Canadian rate. The person I talked to gave me that price with no problem (as I recall, somehow through the Canadian website, as the price on our voucher was in Canadian dollars). We didn't have any problems with the rental.

Yes, no problem to book on any of the sites. Not just AutoEurope either -- I have started booking on the Europcar site listing Germany as my country of residence for my rentals in France -- much cheaper!

At the Europcar desk at Gare du Nord in Paris, one of the employees has told me that he books through the AutoEurope Spanish site when he goes on holiday, because he gets better rates there than his own employee discount.

I did book through one of Autoeurope's other sites last year, I think through the UK one, because it was substantially less. While it wasn't a problem for me, one of their US agents told me later that when you book from a European site, you will not get credit back if you turn in the car early. I'm not sure what happens to the rate if you keep the car beyond the original reservation either. At least last year, if you booked from the US, you could receive a refund if you returned the car before the scheduled date. I did, however, have a smaller or no deductable booking from the European site.

I confirm that the French AutoEurope site states clearly that there is no refund for an early return.

One time I accidentally kept a car an extra day (AutoEurope booking to Europcar), and the additional charge was minimal.

When I booked from the U.S. site several years ago, I also kept the car from AutoEurope for additional days and the charge was the same per day as the previously booked days. Again, I'm not sure how that is handled when booking from one of their other sites.

The car rental places know what side their bread is buttered on. They do not want to annoy AutoEurope or its customers.

Does anyone know who AutoEurope use in Sicily ie the name of the actual car rental company as not see on web site

If you phone AutoEurope, they will tell you. It is true that when you book over the internet, you don't see the name of the actual car rental company until you print your voucher. When you are a "regular," you can often guess just from the car proposed (even though you nearly never get that specific model). In France, for example, generally if the car proposed is a Renault, it will be Europcar, if it is Ford it will be Hertz, if it is Citroën, it will be National, etc.

I asked a similar question last year:


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-resident.cfm

Also try Nova in northern Ireland. We typically find their prices are better than AutoEurope. We've had great luck with Nova on many trips.

If you google maps the address given on the selection page it will usually give you the name of the business at that location.

Except that at train stations and airports, they are all at the same address.