DO NOT RENT FROM SIXT/AUTO EUROPE
 

I paid up front $410.79 for a 3 day car rental pick up in Zagreb, Croatia, drop off in Dubrovnik. They sent me an email shortly before I left re-confirming. I called the day before the pick up to reconfirm. The person who answered the phone said they do not have a car for me. The front desk personnel of the hotel I stayed at and I searched for 1/2 day for an auto that would seat 5 adults comfortably. There was one auto left---through Dollar--but I couldn't pick up until the next day. This ruined our plans for a leisurely trip through Plitivice National Park. We raced through it. The charge from Dollar for a 2 day car rental was $785.00. I fought with Auto Europe from the day I returned to the states - 9/19/09 to date. They finally put my rental money back on my charge card (on 11/9), but not for $410.79. They held back approx. $29. because they charge in Pounds and the dollar had dropped since I paid for it. I've also been arguiing with them too give me the difference between $785. and the $410.79 I paid. Hah! "They are doing their best to hear back from Sixt".
DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! I expended approximately $1200. and so far, they returned around $380.

Hi Mar,

Sorry to hear of your problem.

Have you contacted your CC company to contest the charge?

((I))

I take it you rented through the AutoEurope UK site and not the AutoEurope US site. That is the only reason I can think of that you would get a refund in dollars, but have a differential in pounds. That being the case, I can understand a fluctuation in currency exchange, it could have just as easily gone the other way.

Now, if the car was not available, then AutoEurope should have refunded the full amount, which it seems they did. I do not think they should be liable for you paying $785, but they should have tried to do something to arrange for a car for you.

However, remember that AutoEurope is only a broker. Sixt is the car company and that is who I'd be raising H*** with.

Did you telephone AutoEurope from Croatia as soon as you found out that no cars were available????

Stu Dudley

Yes, I contacted my c.c. co. and I'm faxing documentation to them on Monday.
I did not know when I booked that I was booking through an England company. I went to Auto Europe web site and searched and that is what I came up with.
Auto Europe has tried, they said, repeatedly to get an answer out of Sixt. They are not responding.
Stu, we telephoned Auto Europe the day before the car was to be available to us. They said, "sorry, we have no car for you". I have the agent's name.
It is because of Sixt's negligence that I had to pay an additional $400. to rent a car, miss 1 day of my vacation, and put up with a lot of aggravation.

My comment is this. Auto Europe has some responsibility to place people with companies that can be relied on.
After all, when you rent through them, you have certain expectations of service.
They should be able to sanction Sixt for breaking the contract. If they do not than Sixt could continue to over sell rentals with no concern that someone will call them on it.
Everyone is aware that last minute rentals are usually more expensive and difficult to obtain when you are in a foreign country.
But when you arrive and are depending on a car then it should be there.
With the clout that Auto Europe is supposed to have, I would think that they could negotiate with another company to be able to obtain a car at a more reasonable price for you.
I do not think that their responsibility should end with the reservation because they should be more able to negotiate on your behave, being the giant company they are, than you could do in this situation.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. We used Sixt in France last December after years of AutoEurope/Europcar and were very pleased with the service. AutoEurope should certainly have been able to get you a car at another agency.

I have no experience renting a car let me say up front. But aren't there some documents from your original rental agreement? If so, they might specify AE's responsibility....forgive me if this is really stupid. Sometimes the small print rules.
Good luck!

Sorry for your experience. Here is ours.

We just used Sixt in Holland, picking up at Schiphol and dropping in Sneek. We had absolutely no problems from booking on line to drop off. We would use them again.

I'm don't completely understand WHO you called to confirm the day before you were to pick up the car.

- AutoEurope in Portland Maine (no England office - unless they have opened one up in the last 9 months)???

- Sixt in Zagreb Croatia???

- Both ???

I've rented from AutoEurope for over 30 years. Perhaps 75 different cars. I've had lots of problems with the actual car rental companies (Avis, Hertz, EuropCar) charging me for stuff that they should not charge me for. AutoEurope has always resolved things in my favor when the problem was not an "error" by me. Sometimes, however, you have to be persistant and I've had to write up long expanations that I've FAXed to them (FAXes seem to work better than e-mails).

My wife worked for Visa for around 20 years, and she's said that car rentals are the most "disputed" commodity. I would not hold out too much hope that your CC company will solve your problem.

Let me know what info you obtained from who, & perhaps I can offer some "avenues".

Stu Dudley

Hi Stu, daveesl & Others
Thank you all for your comments. Stu, I called the local Auto Europe office the day before I was to pick up the car to verify that it would be there, waiting for me.

Last Friday, I took "daveesl's" suggestion of raising *&^%$$^^* with Sixt, not Auto Europe. I never thought of that---thinking they were one and the same company and Auto Europe could handle it. Auto Europe could not get a response from them, but I did--this morning. They offered to pay me the difference between what we paid Dollar $765.84 and what they charged us - $410.79.

The outcome was great and I want to thank you all for your comments, support and input. I hope this never happens to any of you.

Marge

Auto Europe has a local office in Zaghreb? I think you've got a few loose facts here, marge, though I'm sorry for your trouble. As far as I know, Auto Europe is in Maine.

About a year ago, AutoEurope told me that their only office was in Portland Maine.

Stu Dudley

It is absoltely ridiculous to state "DO NOT HIRE FROM THIS COMPANY" - over 25 years I must have hired 150 plus cars and had run-ins over every conceivable issue I can think of with all of them - I think the idea is cover your back and damage limitation.

I could spend an hour listing all the attempted and achieved scams that I have been subjested to but I am not getting any younger - try

1. Being charged 140 canadian (2 weeks hire) for a bloody childs car seat that cost 80 to buy. Thrifty knew I could not drive out of the airport without one to buy one!

2. Try not being able to have a car seat in Olbia unless I bribed to clerk.

3. Try being hired a car in Palma that did not exist - had sold them at the end of the summer season due to the recession.

4. try..... no I can't be bother most of them are as bad as one another and besides most of them are locally run franchises who are only as good as the people that run them.

5. When Dyson invents a fold up car that I don't have to check in I will be first in the queue.

Folks, HE GOT HIS PROBLEM FIXED!!!

>>Folks, HE GOT HIS PROBLEM FIXED!!!<<

Yep - but he MAY be blaming the wrong company for causing or contributing to the problem. Something still doesn't compute !!

Stu Dudley

Yes, I see that she got the car fixed, but the facts are still skewed. There is no AutoEurope office that she could have called - never has been. So the facts of the story were misrepresented. She may have called her cc company; she may have called Sixt; but unless she called Maine, she did NOT call AutoEurope (a company, by the way, that I have made auto rental arrangements with in Europe more than 100 times and have never had them let me down - but sometimes you DO need to call them in MAINE).

It's useful for future renters to have accurate information.

Everybody,

I rented the auto from Auto Europe. They are a broker for Sixt. I called the phone # listed on my rental car voucher. Auto Europe has responsibility because they rented the car to me. They contracted with Sixt in Zagreb, Croatia to rent a car to me. Neither company lived up to their obligation.
The name on my voucher states: Sixt/Auto Europe. If you want to be picky, you can say that I called Sixt in Zagreb. As far as I am concerned, they are one in the same.
I, too, have rented from Auto Europe in the past and have never had a problem. You all can rent from whomever you want, but after what they put me through, I will NOT rent from them again. Not only did we lose valuable vacation time, but I have spent about 30 hrs. working on this at home.
This case is settled. Thank you all.

mar35-- after more than 20 years renting from AutoEurope (more recently with their Portland, ME office), I started to notice a negative trend in their service. After two times of overcharges, we entered a complaint into the Better Business Bureau process and were compensated after evidence of Bait & Switch practice was presented and confirmed. I was very saddened by this as I had been a very, very loyal customer. I have been using HERTZ for the last three years; they have been great beyond expectations. Just presenting my experience, take it for what is worth to you. If is any consolation, if you travel frequently you will find that NO COMPANY EVER is good all the time to everybody. I am surprised that some people will take a complaint about a company as a personal affrent; dumb beyond belief.

That settles it, from now on I'm putting a pair of pontoons on my Camry and driving to Europe. (I saw the guys from Top Gear try it, sort of)

I can even add a pair to my pop-up camper and tow it along, you know in case I get tired.

Now the only problem is trailing along those 55 gallon barrels of gasoline.

:-)

dave

>>>but unless she called Maine, she did NOT call AutoEurope <<<

Not quite accurate. There is an office in Germany.
http://www.autoeurope.it/contact.cfm
http://www.autoeurope.fr/contact.cfm

Slightly off topic but why use AutoEurope at all? Why not just check what the car hire companies can offer you and choose directly? One less link in the chain to go wrong and an obvious place to complain should something happen.
Are AutoEurope really so much cheaper than dealing direct with a car hire company?

hetismij,

AutoEurope often is less expensive. They are brokers who account for thousands of rentals a year... I might do 2. Who will get the better price?

They also say they will match any lower price... so if true, even if you do find a lower rate elsewhere you won't pay more with AE.

In my case Europcar in Nice tried to foist a Fiat Sedici on me instead of the reserved Passat (or similar) as per the rental agreement. Sorry, but a rebadged Suzuki SX4 ain't in the same class as a Passat. I know a bit about cars.

The only Passat in stock was an automatic and I'd reserved a standard. The clerk wanted an extra 1,000 euros! A call to Maine and AE straightened things out in my favour in minutes... I put it down to the fact that AutoEurope has a lot more clout than I do.

Finally, because of their leverage, AE sometimes can offer deals. In my case it was free zero deductible insurance for the term of the rental. It came in very handy. I've been driving for nearly 40 years and have never so much as scratched a car but in Carcassonne I backeed into a wall in a dim underground garage and put a couple thousand euros of damage on the car. Didn't cost me a dime.

So all things considered... I'm glad to have been dealing with AutoEurope.

Rob

Thanks for the explanation Rob.
I'm always suspicious of middlemen - they have to be making money too after all.
Being in Europe I just look for the best deal online. I've never had a problem with a rental car yet. Touch wood.

As I've stated many times on this forum, when I've had a problem with the final billing, it has been much easier & I've found it to be a lot more productive to work things out through AutoEurope than to deal with the car rental office in Europe (who often don't speak English). When doing the latter I have been stonewalled, lied to, and have NEVER had my problem resloved (about 3 instances). With AutoEurope about 6 "problems" (which were all not the fault of AutoEurope - they were the rental company's problem like charging me for insurance or refueling costs when I didn' do either) were resolved in may favor - sometimes with a lot of communication with AutoEurope to provide proof when the rental company stonewalled them too. About half of those instances, AutoEurope paid me out of their pocket when the claim dragged on & on.

hetismij AutoEurope has contracts to rent tens of thousands of cars per year from a specific rental coompany. Their volume discount might be more than you can get just renting 1 car.

In my experience (well over 70 rentals) the final AutoEurope price is always at least 10% less than their on-line system displays (like a AAA or AARP discount). This year my flight to Europe was cancelled and I had to leave the next day. I called AutoEurope & they changed my reservation for 1 day later & e-mailed me a new voucher.

Remember - if you have a problem with Hertz, Avis, EuropCar - you'll likely have to negotiate with the company in Europe - not the US.

Stu Dudley

we hired a car from auto Europe for our holiday in Florida. We needed a six seater and received confirmation.  When we got to the airport the car we had hired was not large enough. It was a car we were unfamiliar with so we had assumed it was large enough.  The rental company hertz didn't have any cars large enough so we cancelled and rented elsewhere. Neither auto Europe or hertz will refund us and to add insult to injury they gave just charged us for a tankful of fuel they are refusing to refund.

2 year old thread?

I didn't see this thread originally, but it's funny that I also rented via Auto Europe and Sixt from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, perhaps around the same time the OP did. When I arrived, there was only one car left (and fortunately it had papers to drive through BiH!). But, now I must wonder if I wound up renting the OP's car, due to some mix-up? Multiple reservations via Auto Europe - who knows? Perhaps had I shown up later than first thing, the OP might have snagged my car and I would have started this thread?

I'm renting from Sixt in Slovenia in a couple of weeks - skipping Auto Europe as the middle man this time (Sixt directly was cheaper). My experience last time with Sixt was fine (car was a tad dirty and reeked of smoke), but the car ran fine and did the job. I guess I'd rent from Auto Europe again if the price was right, but if I can do it directly with Sixt for near the same price, why bother with Auto Europe?

Hey Ry,

> When we got to the airport the car we had hired was not large enough. It was a car we were unfamiliar with so we had assumed it was large enough.<

Did you call autoeurope and ask for a six-seater or did you <i>assume</i> that the car was appropriate?

If the latter, it was entirely your fault.

((I))

We rented from Sixt through www.carrentals.com our last trip to Germany. We wanted an economy car, standard shift. We ended up with a BMW 535, automatic with GPS. No extra charge.

Hey Iris,

You poor thing.

Boy, what a rip off.

The cost of gasoline must have been outrageous. :)

((I))

Hey Ira; Actually we could have had a large Mercedes, but wife chose the BMW. Tough decision. I did have a little scratch on the front left fender. Two thousand euros and AX premium insurance paid everything. Cost for the insurance was $19.95.

I rented a car with Sixt through the Hotwire website while i was in Vienna. Upon returning the car and checking out at the front desk, the agency informed us of "scratches under the bumper," which obviously were not visible. But since we were covered by the Hotwire insurance, the agent told us it was fine and sent us off after acquiring my signature on an electronic platform. Months later, after returning back to the states, I got the notice in the mail to fill out an accident report. Since I had been away, it took time before I was able to return the accident report. After which, a bill requesting to pay for the damages of EUR 622 came, which is now escalated to EUR 1,010, and threatened to take further by legal actions. We never saw the alleged damage. If I have not seen picture or any evidence that the car was damaged right after the return, then how could it be possible that someone else did not inflict the alleged damages?

I have had numerous contacts with agents from sixt, but they were not able to articulate or explain why it is the insurance we purchased through Hotwire was not taking care of the alleged damage. Nor proof that i had inflicted the damages. They have one document in german with my signature, which was lifted from the electronic version. i have not signed anything that i did not understand, particularly in german. i have contacted Hotwire about this issue, but due to the fact it was booked outside of the states, they were not able to help me other than rerouting me to their contractor, car crawler in europe, which said that they were not set up to follow up and dispute claims.

I've found numerous accounts of customers with similar experiences of being charged fraudulent damages from Sixt: http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search sixt

This thread is very old and not relevant to your concern. If you have an issue with your rental, your credit card company will handle it for you.

Hi nu,

I think that you will have a wider audience if you repost on your own thread.

Did you contact your CC?

Has Sixt actually charged your CC?

((I))

PS,

How does AutoEurope fit into your problem?