Sara

This is my 1st experience with renting a car abroad. Just wondering if that is typical of car rental agencies in Europe.

Betsy

Totally normal for AutoEurope, Sara. Not sure about other agencies. If there are adjustments, such as if you turn your car in early or extend your rental, your credit card will be credited or billed accordingly. Not to worry.

Bill

A couple of other agencies to try--when we rented in Germany and Austria this past summer, their prices were lower than autoeurope:

http://www.rentacar-worldwide.com

http://www.ofran.com

StCirq

AutoEurope has typically charged me one-third upon booking, the rest upon delivering the car in good condition at the end of the rental.

David

I just checked a 3-day, one-way rental in France for May with www.rentacar-worldwide.com. It was about 100USD cheaper than autoeurope and about 80USD cheaper than kemwel.

Does anyone else have good or bad things to say about rentacar-worldwide? And thanks for the tip Bill.

Maribel

Sara,
My experience has been similat to St. Cirq's.
AutoEurope has never charged me full payment in advance, only a rather low partial payment as a deposit, which I understand to be fully refundable.
I just checked my records. For example, for a rental costing $289, they took a c.c. partial-payment of only $63.20, the rest to be paid upon delivery.

renter

i'm a repeat renter with autoeurope. in the past they charged a "deposit" to the credit card immediately...however the last rental (9/02) they charged the entire amount in june. i called them on it and they advised it is the current procedure. there was an additional charge later that they billed after the fact. they are reliable.

Maribel

renter,
I'm surprised to hear about your experience. My last rental was 11/02, and the agent I spoke with charged me only a small advanced deposit for our 7 day rental, Madrid airport pick up and return. I wasn't aware of a change in policy. Did your agent explain why?

Maribel

I misspoke a bit about our mid Nov. '02 rental-just found the AutoEurope voucher. This time we were charged $80, a 40% deposit. The pre-payment indeed had gone up, not as small as it had been in the summer, but we still paid the balance upon return.

StCirq

I just checked my records, too. I rented a 7-passenger van for 10 days in September/October 02. I was charged $300 upon booking and $600 upon return of the vehicle. (Also, for what it's worth, AutoEurope originally quoted me a price of $1400 for the 10-day rental, but matched American Express's price of $900 for me when asked).

Patrick

I just tried to deal with www.rentacar-worldwide. What a user-unfriendly site! They ask you to click the type of car, but the list and pictures that they show don't match the list you have to click! For example they show Air Conditioned 3 door compact Opel Astra, but there are no types of cars in the list that say 3 door compact. Anyway, I'm looking to rent and drop off in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and they don't even have a location there.

andy

Sara--

I have used Auto Europe for the past 18 years- SUPER reliable-- and will meet anyone's quote on an apple for apple basis....

Depends on which city and country you rent from-- it can be a Hertz,Avis,etc pick up---

BUt definitely go with them and take FULL coverage on the insurance as your insurance does NOT cover you abroad--

AX , if I remember correctly does, with a gold card-- but it is a major hassle if you have problems , ie.with an accident...etc...

Your HOME (US) CAR Insurance policy does NOT cover you in EUROPE....

Eric

Andy

I used my credit card for coverage on the rental car, I didn't have a accident but I would like to hear from someone that has had a accident and had to deal with the credit card company.

Patrick

Once when we rented through AutoEurope we got a good sized dent in the side of the car (don't ask). When we turned in the car, the agent looked at it, got out a huge stack of forms and said he'd have to call an appraiser to come look and we'd need to wait to fill out the paperwork for our insurance company to handle. He suggested this would take a couple of hours and we went into panic because we had a train to catch. But we asked why this was necessary since we had taken their full insurance. He looked at our contract again and apologized. He didn't realize we had. So all I know is, I wouldn't want to be in the position of having a problem and not having their insurance!!! We always take the AutoEurope full package and have never regretted it. Worth the peace of mind to me.

StCirq

I used to use a gold Amex to cover CDW. A few years ago, they stopped covering overseas rentals. I do have a gold VISA that does cover it, however, and unless I am escorting people on a tour (in which case I pay for every conceivable type of insurance up front), that's what I use for coverage.

I have twice had small "accidents." Once, a car passed me going too close on a narrow lane and ripped off my side mirror. Another time, I came out of the supermarket to find that someone must have bounnced up and down on top of the hood of my car (!) and had dented it in so that it wouldn't close properly. Oh, and once I backed into a rock and messed up a rear taillight. In all cases, I pointed out the problems, it was duly noted, and the credit card took care of it with absolutely no problem. All three rentals were with AutoEurope.

Sara

Thanks for all the replies! I was informed for my rental in Sicily I had to take full insurance. The agreement they faxed me states that $0 is due on delivery. Seems like everyone has had different experiences.

Sherry

Hi Sara. I have rented several times with Auto Europe and other companies. I will be using them again for Ireland late May. They beat a very low rate I had with Thrifty, on the condition that I prepay.
I took them up on the offer because they are very good to deal with.

elle

Just booked a car through AutoEurope for France in May and was offered a choice of partial payment or paying the whole thing up front.

I've booked through them in the past and don't remember having that option.

I decided to pay the whole thing up front--it's one less bill to worry about when I come back.

Now I'm bracing myself for all the comments about why I shouldn't have done this. . .

Angela_m

Maybe it depends what country you are renting your car in, but we rented with Autoeurope twice in Italy and were told the insurance is included in all its' rentals. And we were charged the full amount up front both times. I remember this because the rates had gone down after we had booked and been charged and when I called them, they issued me a credit on my charge card for the difference.

Chatmandu

We are going to Europe for the month of May. I am leasing through Auto Europe a new Peugeot for the entire time and have paid the full amount up front which includes all insurance and taxes. The cost is the same as a rental with full insurance.