I've been to Europe several times and each time involved car rental. Our experiences have been pretty much uneventful - we've had good luck (except for the time our car was towed in Rome and that was interesting). We're going back this Fall and for some reason I'm getting nervous...afraid our luck will run out. I want to be prepared for things such as...driving through Provence countryside and having car trouble or being involved in a collision of some sort... I know it's just a bit of anxiety creeping up on me but I've not given it a lot of thought until now for some reason. Any experiences out there that might help prepare me in the event we have less than smooth sailing?

If you're getting a manual, just be sure you know how to put it into reverse...

I've rented well over 100 cars in Europe and the only mishap I've ever experienced was when ex-H put unleaded gas in a diesel car. Actually, he did it twice. Some people never learn.

Due to a train strike affecting the Thalys line between Brussels and Paris, DH rented a Renault Clio to drive me down to CDG, where we were meeting a friend flying in from the U.S.

He picked up the car at the Gare du Midi in Brussels and was on his way back to get me for the drive to Paris when the car burst into flames--in one of the tunnels of the inner ring leading to the Place Louise. Black smoke poured out of the tunnel and traffic was backed up a long way.

The only mishap we had was when I decided to save money and rent a manual transmission car. Now I did learn to drive using a stick shift, and drove manual transmission cars for many years. But the first time I drove an AT car, I was hooked. So I had not used a manual transmission in almost 20 years.

Egads--that 2 weeks reminded me of why I like ATs so much! We survived it, and it was just an irritation as opposed to a disaster, but I'm sure Avis had to have that manual transmission rebuilt after I was done with it.

Most embarrassing had nothing to do with the car, but me!

French countryside, sleepy Sunday afternoon, desperately hungry, seeking open restaurant. My navigator spied a place---all glass--- and guided me in. At the end of the drive one could either park or continue on a gravel path with high hedge on each side.

Of course, we took the gravel path. Once in, there was no turning around...one could only go forward. To my horror we had soon driven right to the door stoop. The proprietor came out and found us in the throes of mad laughter. "Crazy Americans". But she smiled.

We had no option but to continue on the path. We were no more than 3 feet from the big glass windows and all the French patrons...all laughing hysterically as we passed. Even small children had their noses pressed to the window.

It was most humiliating. To make matters worse, this was the only open restaurant we'd seen all day. If we hadn't been so desperate I certainly would have kept on driving. But in we went. Can't say much about the food, but I felt the cook would have been justified in bringing us a plate of crow. Most embarrassing thing I've ever done.

caroltis, being the kind of person who easily imagines what can go wrong, I occasionally suffer the same kind of nervousness you are experiencing.

TuckH's advice is very apt, as I discovered in Apt (sorry, that was a terrible pun) that I didn't know how to put my rented Renault in reverse. I avoided the embarrassment of having to ask a passerby by fiddling with the shift lever until I discovered the little ring.

Other than that, we had a flat tire on the side of a mountain in Languedoc. That was in a Citroen, which has a strange suspension that needs to be set in a certain position when you jack the car. On that occasion a man driving by stopped and helped me with the wheel nuts, although by that time I was well on my way to solving the problem.

Anselm, busily touching wood

Just returned from 3 weeks in Italy, one w/a rental car in Sicily.
Good idea to have agent go over car with you. We did not and also had embarassing moment trying to get it into reverse and also couldn't find horn for awhile-and needed it! Very different driving w/narrow roads, crazily passing cars, and directional signs that suddenly disappear so you no longer have any idea which way to go at the rotary.
But it did have wonderful moments, like when we stopped at gas station and asked two men in a car for help.
They got out of the car and started arguing (in Italian)with each other about what to tell us. Then a truck pulls up and the driver eavesdrops awhile then he gets out and starts arguing w/the other two.
We are standing there trying to understand ANYthing that will get us going in the right direction. Now that it's over and we had a great trip it all seems like part of the fun, but at the time, driving was pretty stressful.

Experiences? A few.

Taking off the right rear quarter panel while putting the car into one of those small, tight underground parking garages when I was exhausted after a long flight and 5-hour drive. The deductible amounted to $900.

Having a blowout and loosing the wheel cover only to find out that Master Card no longer covered "road damage".

Now everything goes on the Amex card with the special full coverage offered by Amex for a mere $19.95 per rental.

I wish I hadn't read this post because now I'll start obsessing about the rental car we're getting in Dordogne in July! I've had very good luck myself, including a week's road trip in Ireland. Right-hand drive took a while to get used to, with such narrow roads and trucks driving at high speeds right towards us! I did lose a hubcap at some point and chatted with our B&B owner about where to get a new one. He hooked us up with a mechanic friend who gave us one for free. It did have different car's logo on it, but the rental car return didn't notice it!

Oh, and I also put diesel in a gas car in Spain, left it where it stopped running, called the rental place to come get it, and never heard from them again. I'm afraid my luck is going to run out too!

Yikes, I'm with you, tekwriter! Just made arrangements for the tiny car my sister and I will be renting in Castilla y Leon area of Spain later this summer. When I saw the subject line for this thread, I wasn't sure if I should open it ...

We, too, will have a standard shift - I haven't driven one in years, but isn't that a skill that you never forget, kind of like riding a bike? I am making a note on my rental confirmation to ask about putting the car into reverse, though!

I'm a bit curious ... how does the insurance in Europe work? Normally whenever I rent a car in the USA, I don't purchase the insurance, as our personal policy covers us, as well as our credit card. I imagine that's not the case internationally, so should we buy all the rental agency offers? I was looking at the costs, and they practically double the rental price!

The only problem I've ever had was when I hit a dump truck in England. My advice: Never drive on the "wrong" side of the road when you're tired.

I second the advice about asking how to shift to reverse. Once in Germany, I had to stop and ask some road workers where reverse was located.

Though I've had many years' experience driving a standard transmission, I apparently forgot everything I ever learned about standards once when I was going up a long grade in Wales. The car kept going more and more slowly until it almost stopped at the head of a looooong line of cars. That's when I remembered that one has to shift down when going up a grade like that.

The other problem I've encountered is waiting on a steep hill for a light to change. I'm usually okay if I have to wait through only one light, but if there's more that one light change, eventually I'm going to mess up the shift and start rolling back down the hill. I even hate to think about that eventuality.

It's so much easier when one can get an automatic transmission.

Actually, I just remembered...I did get a total dud car once from the AutoEurope office in Périgueux, where I routinely pick up cars. I drove it to Le Bugue and parked it in the parking lot of the Intermarché so I could get some groceries before going to the house. Came out of the Intermarché and car wouldn't start.

Several guys in the parking lot came over to try to help me, but no one could get the car to move. So I called the local garage, a few kms away, and asked them to tow the car and give me a ride home, which they did.

Called Europcar in Perigueux and AutoEurope in the States and together they arranged for a new car to be delivered to me the next day at the garage where the broken car was now residing. I walked to the garage at the appointed time, waited an hour, made some calls, was assured he was on his way, waited another hour, and finally a tow truck showed up - but no new car.

The driver hitched the old car up to the tow and drove me to Sarlat to a garage there, where he said they would fix the car. I said I was told I'd get a replacement car! He said, I was told to take you to get the car fixed. Bummer.

Four hours later the garage announced the car was fixed. I signed a bunch of paperwork, drove out of the garage into Sarlat traffic and three blocks later, at the busiest intersection in town, at rush hour the car died again. I got out and pushed the car over to the side of the intersection as best I could, while drivers all around me honked and jumped out of their cars to yell at me, and ran back to the garage, where I made I'll admit a rather big stink in very loud French. Two guys from the garage ran up and retrieved the car (pushed it back to the garage), while I demanded, and got, a replacement car, which was a MUCH nicer car than the Clio or whatever I'd been driving...or rather, not driving.

It all worked out in the end, and it wasn't a huge deal for me, as all I had plans to do was loll around at the house in the Dordogne for a couple of weeks, but if I'd been on a trip where every minute counted, it would have been a huge inconvenience.

Ours wasn't so much a bad experience...we just didn't get the automatic we reserved. Thank goodness my DH could drive a stick...and it left him to do all the driving. I had learned how to drive a manual but it had been years so there was no way I could help. We're renting a car on our next trip and I'm not sure if I should relearn a manual or not...all my sons drive a manual and love it. I just don't know if they'll want their Mom ruining their clutch!

Our worst experience came about as a result of my not realizing that the cardholder and the primary renter had to be one and the same in order for the AmEx insurance to be valid. (We used my card to rent the car and then listed my husband as primary renter when we picked the car up.) We discovered a couple of days into our trip that we'd been driving around without insurance, and had to go back to the rental station to straighten things out, but I was paranoid for the entire trip that some loophole would apply and AmEx would say we were not insured. Fortunately nothing happened to the car!

Out only major problem was finding that the driver's side windshield wiper didn't work - at all - when we ran into a heavy rainstorm on a mountain road in Switzerland.

Luckily we found a place with room to pull over withing about 10 minutes - of very slow driving with me giving instructions based on the view from my window. (Luckily there was little traffic on the road.)

We got out umbrellas out, unloaded the luggage from the trunk, pulled up the mat and fount out that the car had no tool kit. So - he decided to try to fix it with a swiss army knife - succeeding only in getting the entire blade assembly to come off in his hands. (NOT his fault - it was barely connected.)

We then used a rock from the side of the road to bash the wiper back into place - and it sort of - very jerkily -moved back and forth a little - at least enough off the mountain road. It stopped raining shortly afterward. The next day we took it in to Hertz and traded it for another car - pointing out the "repairs" we had done.

They tried to charge us - but we claimed a defective car on our AmEx card - and got the extra charges reversed - and an apology and several coupons from Avis US. We've used Hertz from then on.

Okay StClerc...your experience is exactly what I'm worried about!

These are so much fun to read through - as one poster said, it's something you can certainly laugh about now but at the time it's a bucketload of stress.

This time I am going to pay close attention to the rental agent and get the numbers of who to call should we have trouble.

I know this is why so many travelers rely on trains, buses and planes but being able to independently drive through these wonderful countries provides one with such an enriching experience!

Much luck to all who are traveling in rental cars soon!

We've had several...

The first: the rental car we picked up at Heathrow and drove to Rutland turned out to be lacking the key for the gas cap. That required driving a fair distance to the nearest car dealership to get another key, by which time we had nearly run out of gas. Petrol, actually.

Then there was the car in France that we had one hot summer. We couldn't turn the heat off.

Another time we rented a Renault Laguna in Lyon, the same make of car we'd had several days earlier in northern France (train trip in between). All the controls looked the same, but my husband couldn't get the car to start. It turned out there was a different security feature, and once the rental agency staff returned from the two-hour lunch we were able to start the car and go on our way rejoicing.

We always bemoan the absence of a car manual in rentals. One time, however, our brand-new car came with a manual. Unfortunately, the manual was in Danish.

scdreamer-

<< I'm a bit curious ... how does the insurance in Europe work? Normally whenever I rent a car in the USA, I don't purchase the insurance, as our personal policy covers us, as well as our credit card. I imagine that's not the case internationally, so should we buy all the rental agency offers? I was looking at the costs, and they practically double the rental price! >>

You'll need to check w/your policy, as well as check w/your CC to make sure either one or both covers the rental car.

Majority of CCs cover most countries but not Ireland, Jamaica and a few others (can't remember anymore).

We had made special arrangements with Hertz to return our car to Orvieto on Sunday before hopping the train back to Rome, paying 10 euros to have someone receive it at the rental place. Of course, no one turned up and after much hootin' and hollerin' at Hertz Italy when they refused to help, I told them I was leaving the key under a big rock at Hertz and the car beside it and good luck! At that point, we had already missed two trains but managed to board the next one, returning late to Rome. We never did get our money back, although Hertz sent a voucher good for two years for a minor amount not equal to the 10 euros.