I rented from Autoeurope and they guaranteed me an automatic. Maybe it had something to do with the location I was renting at. They were definitely the cheapest when I rented, as I checked the usual others (Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Kemwel). One of the American ones (Hertz or Avis, I forget which), would not even rent me the kind of car I wanted in the place I wanted--a compact automatic with AC, sounds like maybe it was Hertz from above.