@ Digbydog: Sorry I wasn't sufficiently clear! As yestravel noted (thanks!), gemut works with AutoEurope, which is a consolidator. The rental company with which I dealt in Paris was EuropCar, and I don't actually know whether the snafu was with EuropCar or AutoEurope -- all I know is that it wasn't me and it wasn't gemut and gemut engineered the solution. The rental in Istria was also with EuropCar; in that case, I know I was on the phone with both gemut and AutoEurope as they sought a solution, and although the solution they finally found also involved EuropCar, I was told that they explored options with other car rental agencies with whom they work, too.