I am considering using Auto Europe for my car rental on my future trip to England and Scotland. Has anyone in the forum used this firm previously and were you happy with their vehicles and service? Thanks in advance, Craig.

Hi
If you try doing a search right here on Auto Europe (one word or two?) you should find many past comments.
good luck

I have used them a couple of times with no problems. But you should be aware that they do not have any cars of their own; they are brokers who try to find you the best deal for your particular rental needs. In one case the rental was with Budget; the other case it was EuropCar.

We used them in 2000 w/ no problem. Seems like everytime I called them to check the reservations theycame down on their prices. We rented from Avis in Florence.

I have used them twice in the past year and had great luck!

I have rented somewhere between 45 and 50 cars from AutoEurope and got a great car and great service every time but one (got some old Renault station wagon at the airport in Marseille that wouldn't go more than about 100 kph)- As soon as I arrived at my destination in France, AutoEurope arranged for a replacement car.

while I have not had as much experience as St. Cirq ),
I have rented through them twice for Italy.
Both times I have been very pleased, our last time was Avis through AutoEurope.

One more satisfied customer. We used AE in both France and Italy (within the past two years), with no problems and great service.

I had a positive experience with AutoEurope in Germany last year. I reserved a very basic car and was upgraded to a Mercedes because they were short of the type I requested. Also, a few days before I returned the car, I hit a curb, causing a flat tire and the loss of the hubcap. I reported this at the time and mentioned it again when I returned the car. They did not try to charge me any additional amount for fixing the flat or replacing the hubcap.

One note of caution, however, the place where you pick up the car may not have a sign with "AutoEurope." I couldn't find the Frankfurt office, so I went to a nearby EuropeCar office to see if they could tell me where AutoEurope was located. It turns out that the same people ran both companies.

You shouldn't have a problem locating your auto pickup site. We reserved through AE online and downloaded a voucher (on Adobe Acrobat) which we printed several copies of. It clearly stated on the voucher which company we would be doing business with: Hertz in Paris and Europecar in Rome. The Hertz location was only a few blocks from our hotel on Rue Renne and the Europecar location was in Termini. We had no trouble finding either.

We rent from them all the time. It is my understanding that they have an agreement with the auto companies that the cars given to Auto Europe customers must be low mileage. We always get very low mileage cars. Wouldn't rent from anyone else. They also give you more insurance included with the rental.

In fact, the place where you pick up/drop off the car will NEVER have a sign saying " AutoEurope." There is no rental company called AutoEurope. As has been mentioned, it is a broker for several affiliates in Europe. You may pick up your car from EuropCar, Cités, or other companies. But the name, address, and telephone no. of the affiliate are always specified very clearly on the voucher, which AutoEurope will mail and fax or e-mail to you.

We used them and they were good, except they did quote me 298 euros for 1 week and when we dropped the car off, they said it would be 298 euros, but when I received my charge card, they charged me 350 euros.

Donnabee: Did you fill your gas tank all the way to the top before returning the car? If not, any car rental company will charge you to do so.

Yes I did fill it to the top. I have to call them to find out why the difference.

Just in case you need to hear from another satisfied customer...we've used AutoEurope 6 or 7 times with no problems. My husband says he thinks we'd get the same reception from them if we returned the vehicle in several buckets instead of intact. When we tried to describe minor damage on two occasions (when, I have to say, I was not the driver)they just took the keys and thanked us....didn't seem to care about dings and dangling mirrors.

I've used them three times (the actual car rental has always been from Europcar each time), and have been extremely pleased with their service and the vehicles.

My second time, when picking up a compact car at the Nice airport, it lacked a cassette deck and, since they didn't have another compact car available with a deck, we were upgraded to a Renault Scenic minivan, with a deck, at no extra charge...very nice.

Judy--it wasn't autoeurope you returned the car to, it was the actual car rental company. Neither autoeurope or any other broker (e.g., Nova Rentacar) has any say about damage to the car. So it was Hertz, or Avis, or Europcar, or National, or Alamo, etc. that was kind about the minor damage.

Thanks for the valuable advice and alleviating my fears. Craig

Rufus, you are right. I worded that poorly. The agencies with which Auto Europe arranged our rentals were always easy to deal with.