Hal8999

We rented from Europcar last year through AutoEurope. I picked up the car at Brindisi airport, the next day the alternator quit charging. I took the car back to Europcar and they refused to replace it. They told me to drive it until it quit and they would tow me a replacement (I swear that is the exact truth with no exageration).

I called AutoEurope and within ten minutes I had a replacement car. I turned the car in at Perugia and the people were great. Maybe, it's just Brindisi that's the problem but I wouldn't consider using Europcar again unless I rented through AutoEurope. I cannot speak highly enough of them.

john127

Recently, I waited an hour and a half at the Europcar desk at CDG airport. There was no wait at other rental companies. I won't be using them again at CDG.

ira

For those folks unhappy with waits at Europcar:

Are there differences in prices?

Different cars?

john127

I booked through AutoEurope (who used Europcar) and the price was by far the best, however, I'm not sure the wait was worth it. On top of the long wait in line, they didn't have the auto transmission I requested so I had to wait for one to come in (2 hour total wait - the car was an upgrade though) although I'm sure that can happen elsewhere too.

Just my experience at one airport but I was off the plane quickly and there must've been people waiting behind me for a few hours - the line was LONG! There were only two guys working there and they just couldn't handle it at all.

Again, I have no idea how their service is elsewhere, this was just at CDG. Other car rental desks had little or no wait.

Maddy

I've also noticed long lines at Europcar's pickup counters on several of my trips to Italy, arriving at Malpensa. I think they do a large volume of business with the brokers like Kemwel and Auto Europe. I know I've been told by Auto Europe reps that Europcar was their "preferred supplier" in Italy.

RufusTFirefly

We've used www.novarentacar.com, www.gemut.com, and www.autoeurope.com and had no problems with any of them. They are all brokers--they don't have cars themselves, but use other companies; e.g., avis, national, alamo, europcar, etc.

Shop around--no one renter has the best price every place, every time.

mike_b12

I booked with europecar for this October in Cologne. Very happy with the service and price. Budman, I did not think about diesel. I will give them a call. I guess in Europe getting
diesel is no problem?

logos999

> I guess in Europe getting
diesel is no problem?
No problem at all.
Never had a proplem with Europcar either. If you can get the same car for less money through a broker, I would do it.

lizzietom

Hi - I just rented a Minivan in Italy and checked all the companies - here is the run down. I am renting for 9 days.
Europe by car (Europebycar.com) is by far the cheapest and best value -
Rented a minivan with two car seats, with liability/fire/theft(deduc=1600eur)/collision (ded=1500euro) ins. plus two car seats for 1000 US dollars.
Avis/Hertz/AutoEurope were all around 1500 US dollars, however, the collision and theft deductable were only 300-500 US dollars for Auto Europe. To buy down collision and theft (called super collision insurance) for Europe by car it would increase the total by 99 dollars (collision) and 81$ (for theft)- this would make the deductable zero dollars.
There were no minivans available at Budget, Dollar, or National, even though they have rental places in Italy.
Hope this helps!

mike_b12

I called Europecar and they said Diesel is about the same as regular gas. Is that true in Germany?

logos999

about
1.18€ / liter for Diesel
1.38€ / liter gas unleaded

Tuxedocat

We've used Europcar twice and I would avoid them in the future. Always some questions regarding hidden, or unexplained fees. Twice failed to rent us the car which we had reserved, had to settle for something else. I've used Sixxt without any problems. I've used Hertz many times and still find them to be most reliable and the transactions go most smoothly.

Tempelton

I personally can't recommend Europ Car. We were scrambling around trying to get an automatic rental on a recent trip to Scotland and they Europ (our first port of call) had nothing for us for several days.

What really irritated me however was that when I rang them direct to try and get more options, they had me on hold for ages and then when they did eventually answer nobody seemed able to give me a straight answer!

They told me their system was showing an automatic car as being immediately available while, according to the Europ Car website I was looking at, there clearly was nothing available for several days. So, either I had forgotten how to read English (as they seemed to suggest at one point) or else their system and their customer-facing website somehow were out of sync.

Either way we booked with Argus Car Hire in the end which was very affordable, immediate and, most importantly for my wife, automatic. And guess what? I even rang them (after being so disheartened by Europ Car) and actually got to speak to someone who seemed to know what they were talking about and who confirmed that yes indeed, we have an automatic ready for pick up.

Now, is that too much to ask?

daveesl

I've never booked through AutoEurope's telephone system, but I've used their website several times and it works great. Pre-pay for the car, if you need to cancel it is quick and painless with a credit back in a day or two.

I have always been very impressed with AutoEurope's customer service, it is simply excellent whenever I called.

http://www.autoeurope.com

Dave

Gretchen

Call back AutoEurope. The times we have rented from them they have given us EuropCar rentals.

jleonard83

There is no other way to go than Autoeurope. They will guarantee the lowest rates. Any price you find as long as it's apples to apples they will beat the price. They just guarantee it. Also if you have any questions you can call them anytime form the states or europe toll free. After the rental if you were over charged locally they will deal with avis, europcar, hertz etc. Also if you do not like Europcar you can tell them that and they will book you with someone else. They are definitely the best way to go. NO cancel fees and you can change your res as much as you want without incurring any fees.

kerouac

I live in Paris and always go through AutoEurope for local rentals. At the moment, I am getting the cars from National, but have also been supplied through Europcar and Budget at various times this year.

Dennis_Wilson

Ive had my fair share of horror stories with booking carhire online in the past **&@#@ but Ive found arguscarhire.com very good pricewise and straightforward to deal with. With my family i have enough to think about without car hire giving me another headache ;-)