Has anybody used Auto Europe for a car rental in Germany? Any problems? You prepay, which we have never done before. Any suggestions for picking up in downtown Munich and driving to Salzburg returning to Munich airport. Appreciate the help.

I, too, had reservations two years ago about prepaying (Frankfurt, 3 weeks, including Czech Rep).
As it turned out, the dollar/euro exchange worsened for us during the 3 weeks (altho not as bad as last year), and I expected to be hit with an exchange rate surcharge when turning it in, but that was not the case.

tomboy, if you prepaid in dollars that were equal to the total due in euro, there would be no reason for them to add a surcharge even if the exchange rate had doubled in the time between prepaying and your getting the car. You paid the full amount and they deposited it at that time, when the dollars were equal to the amount due. So you were paid in full even if the dollar completely collapsed.

The only thing that happened to us with a prepaid AutoEurope that ended up being Avis in Garmisch was that we had declined the insurance as it is covered by our credit card. When we picked up the car, they really wanted to sell us the insurance and add it to our prepaid bill, but we remained firm. Then when we brought the car back, two men went over it with a fine tooth comb before they would sign it off. It was as if, since it wasn't their insurance they were looking for some tiny scratch they could bill us for, and then not fix and pocket the money. At least that was my take on it. Fortunately they couldn't find a thing.

We used Alamo. Picked up in Munich, drove around for a month and dropped off in Dusseldorf. Car was nice and we got a great rate. I prefer landing in Germany just so we can get a German car. Beats driving a Renault for a month.

Once you have made the reservation with Auto Europe, you will learn which auto rental company they are dealing with (they are brokers and have no cars). In my experience it will probably be Avis.

Whichever auto rental company it is, (Avis, Hertz, etc.), if you go to the company's website, they list the various rental locations for the various cities.
Both Avis and Hertz have many locations in Munich making it very easy to pick up the car close to your hotel.

Be aware that when you enter Austria, you are required to purchase a vignette (?) to drive on the highways. As I remember, you can buy a 10 day sticker for around 8 or 9 Euro. You will also find the gasoline is cheaper in Austria.

Curious

We've rented from Sixt in/out of Munich airport. I would contact them thru their 800 U.S. toll free number to make the reservations. When we picked up the car, they gave us a BMW 3-series diesel wagon. I don't remember the cost, but I do remember that it was very reasonable.

We rented thru Auto Europe in Ireland and got a great price (they used Europcar).

Made reservations with them for a car in Italy and got the best deal (they used Avis).

I believe I put down a 20% deposit for the Ireland rental.

AutoEurope used to have 100% full refundability if you did not actually claim your rental (this would allow you to "shop the counters" for unadvertised specials), but I think they have trimmed away that generosity (who can blame them, actually?)

Still, I think you will find that their satisfaction rate is as close to 100% as you can find. I would no fear the pre-pay than I would the pre-paid airline ticket you buy to get to Europe.

Best wishes,

Rex

We used AutoEurope in Germany last Dec. We picked up in Nurnberg and dropped off at Frankdfurt Airport. No problems with anything and like the prepay.

AutoEurope also will match or beat any other offer you receive so hard to beat customer service.

We've used Nova Rentacar twice with good results. Both times the cars were from Alamao. We used Autoeurope once, and it was also fine. It's best to compare prices among a few companies as no one company has the best price every time, everywhere.

We've used AutoEurope many times, and have always had a positive experience. Others have posted that, since they are a broker, you will end up with a "real" company (often Avis). There is one small glitch here. We reserved an inexpensive auto (as we usually do), and did not think we needed air-conditioning. We had the car for 2 days, and we were passing back near the airport where we picked it up.
We decided to stop at the place to see if we could "upgrade" to a car with A/C, but since the deal was done thru autoeurope, they couldn't do anything for us at the Avis counter (or maybe they didn't feel like doing it for us). No big deal....we did fine without the AC. We probably could have made a switch if I called the autoeurope number, but didn't feel like spending the time to do it.

SO...if you talk to autoeurope on the phone, as them what would happen if you might want to make a switch. Would be good to know how to dial autoeurope's American office from europe, if you really need to make a switch.
EK