OReilly

Hello all:

I am travelling to Portugal on Friday, and booking a car from Porto airport for a few days.

I got onto the autoeurope.com website (http://www.autoeurope.com/) which I used for years, but it has been about 3 years since I booked a car.

Here is my concern.

When I booked through Autoeurope.com before, I recognized the car rental companies (Hertz, Alamo, Thrifty, Euopcar etc.).

Now they are offering me (in addition to above options): Goldcar, Drive4less, Drive&go,, and a couple of others that offer rates at HALF that of Thrifty’s.

I am a little suspicious – too much of a good deal? Have any of your used these companies, or even heard of them?

I have always had good service from Alamo, Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Budget etc. in my many travels, and would prefer reliable service rather than cheap.

Regards Ger

adrienne

DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE.

Robert2533

Auto Europe is very reliable. They are simply offering more options. We typically only go with their Europcar options, but have use AVIS (through AE).

And yes, the website about is spam!

Odin

Just check that the options given are on airport vs off airport. Some of the other vendors might be some way from the airport terminal.

OReilly

Just to follow up.

Reviews on the 'unknowns' (Tripadvisor etc.)were just awful, so I decided to choose the Hertz option. Everything went very well, and we were out of the airport quickly.

One interesting point though, which confused me.

I used autoeurope.co.uk to search originally, and there were about 10 car companies to chose from. When I went to book, I inadvertently used autoeurope.com (the US website) and there were only two companies (Avis and Hertz I think), quoting in US dollars, and the price for the same car was abut 40%-50% more per day than that quoted on autoeurope.co.uk. Luckily, I caught it, and booked through autoeurope.co.uk.

dfourh

I notice that too when I search through the Autoeurope.de (German) website vs. the U.S. - - the German site is cheaper.

I do check the fine print though - - and I have seen instances (particularly for U.S. rentals) where it specifies that people holding U.S. drivers licences may not pick up the car - - so you could get stiffed if the people at the counter actually care, or bother to check things out.

Ultimately I tend to book through billigermietwagen.de which is a German metasearch that will include Autoeurope in the search. Then I Google the lesser-known, usually-cheaper-than-Autoeurope providers to see if they are reliable. I have saved a lot doing this, and have always checked the fine print to see if I am an eligible renter.

Another clue to whose car you will finally get is sometimes hidden in the pick-up/drop-off address - - if the car is offered through a wholesaler called Car Del Mar, but the pick-up place is listed as "Edificio Avis" then it's pretty much a dead giveaway as to who the actual rental agency will be.

lincasanova

Read Goldcar's gasoline/petrol small print. Quite unusual

dfourh

I actually read the manual for my VW Golf. It says not to use the cupholders while the car is in motion. Have I now voided the warranty?

Dickie_Gr

I had the same questions about AE for a Sicily rental.

We have used AE for years, their deals in the US for UK residents are extremely good.

The seem to use use smaller and local hire companies when the coverage by the International operators like Avis is poor.

We had no issues with the hire in Sicily via AE.

bilboburgler

AE great service in Puglia last year, they even spotted a problem on their supplier's webpage and rang me up about it to resolve any possible issue, very impressed.

Do watch out for "return tank empty" suppliers though