Monica

I'm reposting this with a more "useful" title, feeling a bit paranoid after seeing the post blasting useless titles.<BR><BR><BR>Message: I've read numerous times here that Auto Europe is the cheapest, & even their website guarantees the lowest rates. However, I just pulled quotes for a 2-week rental in October, & theirs was over $800 vs. under $400 for Avis! I'm sure there's a catch, i.e. Avis' quote doesn't include something theirs does? What charges should I be looking for? I guess it's possible it's just a major sale at Avis, but doubt it.

Rex

Car Rental - what am I missing?<BR> <BR> <BR>Author: Monica ([email protected])<BR>Date: 07/03/2002, 03:59 pm<BR>Message: I've read numerous times here that Auto Europe is the cheapest, & even their website guarantees the lowest rates. However, I just pulled quotes for a 2-week rental in October, & theirs was over $800 vs. under $400 for Avis! I'm sure there's a catch, i.e. Avis' quote doesn't include something theirs does? What charges should I be looking for? I guess it's possible it's just a major sale at Avis, but doubt it.<BR><BR><BR>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR> <BR>Author: Rex ([email protected])<BR>Date: 07/03/2002, 04:20 pm<BR>Message: You're right it could be an usually good sale rate from Avis. I oncegot a rate from Hertz that was a good deal better than Autoeurope. They say they will match or beat any published rate. You may have simply gotten lucky. What country? What vehicle? With insurance? Any cancellation penalty? It is unlimited kilometers, right?<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR><BR>======================== =============<BR><BR>Copied your other thread here. Now that I know it to be Italy, the obvious question is, was the Avis quote BEFORE insurance (which is mandatory)?<BR><BR>And one thing to clarify about the guarantee from Autoeurope. They have to know about a rate to match or beat it. I'm not saying you SHOULD call them up and ask them to match or beat, but you can. Of course, they still might put you with Avis. Remember, Autoeurope has no actual cars. They are simply brokers.<BR>

Bob

That was a good point about the insurance. We rent cars in Europe quite a bit and I always take all the insurance coverage in Italy as car theft is a problem there, more so than other countries. Just less hassle if something happens. You will also find rentals more expensive here than other countries because of the problems. Just check out identical car in Germany and Italy and you will see. Bottom line: Get the insurance and don't depend on yours at home.

dean

Auto Europe has been the cheapest rate on 5 out of 6 times I have rented a car. There are actually 3 insurance charges on a rental in Italy-- collision, theft and liability that must all be taken. I have returned cars to Auto Europe in less than pristine conditions and never had a hassle. Funny how those 500 year old walls can do so much damage to a 1 year old car..........

Capo

Hi Monica. You can always ask AutoEurope -- or any other rental agency -- if they'd match a competitor's price. At worst, they can just say no. When we rented from Kemwel (two separate rentals, one in Italy and one in France) back in April, Kemwel matched AutoEurope's price quotes. <BR><BR>We discovered quite a difference when we returned our cars in both countries to the respective Europcar offices. In La Spezia, the woman behind the counter merely asked me "Is it full of gas?", I replied "Yes", and that was it. <BR><BR>At the Nice airport, by contrast, the guy from Europcar checked our car very thoroughly and noticed a tiny scratch on the bumper that we either did, or else failed to notice when we picked the car up. We were billed about $200 for this and are now in the process of, hopefully, recouping this charge from Visa since we used a Visa gold card for the rental, which covered insurance. <BR><BR>I supppose the reason the Europcar rep in La Spezia didn't need to check the car over was because we had already paid mandatory full insurance through Kemwel for the Italy rental, so any scrapes, etc. would be handled through them.

Monica

Thanks everyone. I suspect if there's something missing, it lies in the insurance. The Avis terms did say insurance included, but I'm wondering if it's all those types or just somethign less. This at least helps me ask the right questions!

ukexpat

Make sure the price includes the VAT (I think 20%)and the Airport tax (I think 14%) if you are picking up at the airport. I rented with Thrifty through Expedia.com, and none of these were included. I was prepared for quite an upcharge at the counter in Venice, but the $25.00 per day ($75.00 in total), was a little over $400 when I got to the counter. About $100 of that was because I changed to an automatic (fair enough). $89.00 was the insurance (didn't want to fight if something happened). And truthfully, the rest was itemized for me, but is now a complete blurr. I have dealt with brokers like AutoEurope and Holday Autos, and their prices look steep because they are inclusive of these little items. I would call Hertz, and ask them to itemize for you, the total cost of the rental.<BR>Just another note, a guy behind me in the Thrifty line (which is Italy by Car), cancelled his rental because there were no automatics left. He went to the next counter which was either Hertz or Avis, and he walked over to tell me that his 2 week rental was half the cost of what he was about to pay Thrifty. So it is possible to have a difference that significant.

Tina

For sure ask the agent exactly what to expect in the way of extra charges. Last summer we rented from Avis and the tax/insurance? that came when we checked out added $200 to our bill--from $200 to $400. A bit of a shock.

Sue

Monica, just recently I read a thread from someone who took out what they thought was a rental that covered all necessary charges - and only discovered, upon turning the car in, that insurance was mandatory in Italy and they were going to be hit with a mammoth extra amount. So check the insurance carefully, and determine if pre-paying insurance is cheaper than after the fact.<BR><BR>Capo, your story about the tiny scratch is most enlightening, especially since it was a Europcar rental, and you turned it in at the Nice airport.<BR><BR> We picked up our car at the Europcar Nice railway station and insisted on having every tiny scratch documented before we signed out the car, even though the staff insisted that 'such little scratches are nothing to us.'We were almost tempted to believe them, especially since as you know, there aren't many unscratched cars on the roads in France. : - ) <BR><BR>Your story reassures me that zealously documenting everything to the point of being anal retentive is not a bad idea.<BR>

ttt

topping<BR>

Kaaren

Monica, Just returned from Italy June 18. I had a car for four days from AutoEurope that I picked up in Florence. Believe me, I am the kind of person that checks and rechecks to make sure I am getting the best deal. I even had an Entertainment Book that had coupons for rental cars even in Europe for the major American rental companies. AT first they sounded cheaper until I checked all the required insurances, AND what each company is allowed to put on your credit card before you leave, in case of accident. I didn't want to allow anyone to put $600 on my card before I even left. They could say something happened when I had the car that didn't. Autoeurope matched the lowest price I had once I faxed it to them. They were very ,very cooperative. I wasn't sure if I wanted to return the car to Florence or try to drive to Rome. They told me I didn't have to let them know until the day before. I did decide to drive to Rome, so when I picked up the car in Florence, they said sorry we only have one automatic, it's a Mercedes is that ok? HELLO! That was great. The car handled like a dream and when I returned it to the Rome airport, they didn't even want to check it. Asked me if I had any problems, I said no, and that was it. NO hidden charges. Great company. Karen

Ken

We recently rented from Avis in Italy and they were indeed cheaper than AutoEurope (all insurances, taxes, etc. included). We picked up in Sorrento and returned in Siena.

Rex

Karen,<BR><BR>The helpful report you posted of your experience perpetuates the misconeption that too many people have - - that you rented your car FROM AutoEurope. AutoEurope BROKERED your reservation - - but through which car rental company? You don't say. And the decision to upgrade you to a Mercedes is to the credit of THAT company, not (necessarily) AutoEurope.<BR>

Walter

From past posts I've read AutoEurope will "go to bat" for you if you have a problem. Most of them were billing problems after the rental. But the major one that I remember was something like: They paid for say an automatic, a full size or whatever but it was something that they *needed*. They get to the XYZ rental counter at an airport or train station. And they don't have their required car. They called AutoEurope, which cancelled XYZ's contract and told them to go to the ABC rental counter to pick-up the car that they needed. That's the jist of it I just don't recall the exact details. Also Monica you will be asked to pay a "Road Tax Fee?" at the rental office, IIRC (Mar01) it's ~$2.50US per day but capped at I think $45. Regards, Walter

Sherry

Yes, you will pay a road tax fee at the time of pick up. Also, an extra charge might be an extra driver. I know when I rented from Hertz in Italy, my husbandand I would have been covered to drive the car. No extra charge. But since my daughter was with me, it cost us $5 per day for both of us to be able to drive it. With Europcar (through Auto Europe), this last trip, only one driver is covered. It would have been an extra $5 a day for a driver other than my husband to drive the car (even a spouse). So he did all of the driving.<BR>I suppose if you took a car with four people and each would be able to drive the car, you could add quite a bit to the rental cost for a two week period. So $15 a day for the three extra drivers times fourteen days. That would be over $200 on the rental.<BR>Do you think that it isn't clear to people that there is an extra charge for more than one driver at times? <BR>I think the road tax for twelve days ended up being about $25.

Karen

Rex, You are correct. The company I actually picked the car up from was EuropeCar, but I was told by AutoEurope that if I had any problems to call them and they would take care of anything. It was AutoEurope I was talking to when I asked if I could return the car a different day. Karen

Elizabeth

On our most recent trip, we got best rate from Hertz in Florence and I don't remember price being excessively adjusted for insurance some of which will be covered if you bill to gold or platinum credit card. Call your credit card company to find out. The dilemma we did face was that, despite the fact that we had reserved an automatic, there were none available when we arrived. We both know how to drive a stick but my husband had been a bit nervous about it since it was his first time driving in Europe and wanted the automatic. We did fine with the stick, though, even on those windy roads in Cinque Terra.

Tina

I just went back to my rental agreement to recollect where we got into trouble on oir $200 of extra charges. Not comprehending a lot when I signed the form, I had initialed 'accetta' instead of 'rifiuta' in the boxes for extra collision and theft insurance--I believed I was refusing the extra coverage. We did call Avis upon our return and they refunded $100 of the fee. Just don't let the excitment of the moment cloud your faculties and you will be fine.

ttt

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Adrienne

Monica: I can tell you what the problem is. I use Auto Europe because they have every insurance you need in Italy. Hertz and Avis have the mandatory CDW (collision), but they don't have liability, fire, theft, etc. If you look at the bottom of their rate page they list all the insurances they cover. If you call Avis and Hertz and ask for all those coverages, your bill will be astronomical. Personally, I would be afraid not to have liability. Credit card insurance only covers CDW but since Italy requires the rental cars to be covered, the credit card companies don't cover it. I did the research. Just for something like liability they add something like $20 a day and that's not covering the other things. Avis and Hertz hit you with the other insurances when you get to the counter in Italy. They also have a deductable of something like $500. which Auto Europe doesn't have. Auto Europe uses Avis cars. You go to the Avis or Europe Car counter to pick up the car. We had a brand new Alfa Romeo in April for our trip in Tuscany.If you have any questions e-mail me.