Comments on: No one does fees like a European car rental company — no one

By: Reik Red

Reik Red — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:44:48 +0000

Final report:

The final outcome of the whole deal was that Avis charged me 140euro extra, which was less than the 1330*20%/1.30=204euro that the contract had hinted at.

I was not real happy that I had to pay more than 65euro, but perhaps I should at least be pleased that it wasn’t 204euro.

The employee at Avis told me that it was “only” 140euro because they charged the 20% for the first 30 days and not the remainder of the 6 weeks. That calculates about right. In fact, I may have just gotten slightly lucky because the rental company said it isn’t set up to handle rentals in excess of 30 days.

The conclusion is that I did “OK”, but I’m not very pleased with the general principle of having fine-print fees on the order of 20% on a pre-paod car rental.

I think AutoEurope needs to improve their disclosure practices, and also find a way to calculate these surcharges into the quoted price.

By: Reik Red

Reik Red — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:17:56 +0000

Another data point about AutoEurope:

I worked up a quote for Amsterdam Schipol Air port for a long-term rental (6 weeks), and it came out to about $1400.

In the fine print, it says

* Vehicle Registration Fee of approximately $5 USD/day with a maximum of 5 days per rental, paid locally.

* Airport surcharge of 20% with a minimum of approx. $80 USD (incl VAT) for rentals commencing at an airport location.

* Premium Location surcharge of approx. $39 USD (incl VAT) for rentals commencing at an Amsterdam city office.

Here’s the problem: Clearly 20% on top of the $1400 is a big deal, but I think AutoEurope actually OVERESTIMATED the airport surcharge in the fine print! I called AutoEurope twice and so far they haven’t gotten back top me with any usable information. But they did tell me the car was from Avis.

So I called Avis at Schipol and they said the airport surcharge is 55euro + tax(19%) = 65.45 euro FLAT rate. Not 20% of the total rental.

For me, the 65.45euro is better. But I have some trepidation that someone will find a way to screw me for 20%, although I think Autoeurope is just wrong in their own fine print.

I have used AutoEurope 3 times before, and never had more than $30 in airport fees, most of the time it was $0.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:22:29 +0000

I had an inflated bill from National Car Rental in Costa Rica. The local company, ANC, used an inflated exchange rate which raised my bill over $80.00 USD, which did not appear until my credit card statement.
National International Customer Care said it is the law in Costa Rica to use a “crawling band” of currency exchange. Shame, shame on National.
Next time I’ll pay in cash, USD.

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:47:00 +0000

I’ve been scrolling through these columns, just waiting for the inevitable entry on AutoEurope. While I don’t hold a lot of love for the company, I have to say — based on prior experience with AE — that these extra charges that the client was so unhappy about in this case were almost certainly noted on her invoice. If she booked via internet, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the fact that she didn’t read her voucher. If she booked via phone, the agent she spoke to should have informed her of the exact names and prices of all of those extra charges, and then she *still* would have received an email copy of the voucher with a written record of the extra local fees.

Just seeing the local fees listed is enough to give me nightmares; I used to be able to recite them in my sleep. For the record, I do think that all of those extra charges are heinous.

P.S. – I doubt the desk agent who told the customer that he was not authorized to let her call AutoEurope from his phone, as I received calls from that very desk in that particular airport while working for AE. If he’d allowed her to contact the company (there were 24/7 toll-free lines available), she would have been able to speak to an agent and get some answers far more quickly than what occurred.

By: Joel Wechsler

Joel Wechsler — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:25:13 +0000

I have used Auto Europe for my clients for over 20 years and rarely have a problem. In one case where a client was offered an upgrade which he accepted although he didn’t really want it, not thinking (or understanding) that he would be charged, Auto Europe accepted his word and refunded the additional charges. The biggest problem I have had recently was with an online booking made directly with Hertz.Neither the car nor the rate were as booked when my client picked up the car and the local office didn’t seem to know what to do about it.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:32:13 +0000

I have rented from Auto Europe twice and read my Terms and Conditions both times..any and all additional charges have been itemized clearly in them. Whose fault is it if you don’t read the terms and conditions?? NOT Auto Europes..additionally, it seems that there is probably a GOOD reason if the credit card company is standing by Auto Europe. READ YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IT’S ALWAYS THERE.

By: Caitlin (Roaming Tales)

Caitlin (Roaming Tales) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:19:41 +0000

I’m surprised by this as we rented from AutoEurope in Spain and we did not occur any additional charges. The amount we were quoted was the amount we paid, except for the credit card foreign currency fee.

@John “Everything may not be included” is not the same as inventing clearly bogus charges. I highly doubt this “ecological surcharge” is going to a green cause, for example.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:35:01 +0000

I recently rented a car for 11 days at Barcelona airport. When I reserved the car at the online Hertz site in the US, the site told me that the total price would be € 399. When got the bill at the end the price was € 399. When I looked at my credit card statement later, the amount billed was € 399 (translated to dollars). With my Capital One card, there wasn’t even the dreaded Foreign Transaction Fee.

In addition, when I picked up the car, they walked me around it and pointed out every little ding, which they duly noted on the rental agreement.

I rent in Europe fairly often and, knock on wood, this has been my consistent experience (except the walking around the car, which was new).

Maybe it’s my imagination, but it seems to my that the lion’s share of complaints I see here and elsehwere concern travel booked through resellers. Of course, the actual providers know that the customer booked through a reseller, and that may give some incentives that aren’t so good from the traveler’s point of view.

So, is it my imagination??

Marco

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:17:49 +0000

My wife and I rented through National last September for 12 days in France, picking up at the Montparnasse rail station and returning to CDG. We had no trouble whatsoever. The reservation invoice I received matched up almost exactly (leaving a bit of room for exchange rate fluctuations) with what was billed to my card when we returned the car.

By: Bill K

Bill K — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:36:52 +0000

I have rented from AutoEurope many times and have found their prices less than I would be charged if I rented from the local company. It is true that their voucher excludes local road tax, but the charges I pay upon pickup are always within the rage listed on my voucher.
I did have a problem once when I went to pick up a car in Toledo Spain (with a scheduled drop off in Lisbon Portugal). The local Avis agent wanted to charge me $300-$400 more than my contract with Auto Europe for the drop off fee even though my voucher covered the drop off in Portugal. The Avis agent got AutoEurope on the phone (on its Spanish toll free number), spoke with a Spanish speaking AutoEurope representative and sorted everything out.

I am scheduled to rent with AutoEurope on my October trip to Italy.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:37:44 +0000

I have rented from AutoEurope in the past and have never had an incident until my last rental which was in Slovenia. Our flight landed late in Ljubjana and I arrived at the rental car office approximately 10 minutes before they closed. The rental agent took a bit of time to check me in for pickup, due to the additional complication of the AutoEurope voucher, but we were on our way by 22:05 or 22:10. The agent was very cheerful, process seemed normal, and we had no issues with the car or the dropoff. When we returned to the USA two weeks later, I was surprised to find a 25 euro charge on my credit card bill from Avis. When I called AutoEurope to complain, they contacted Avis who explained that the charge was an “after hours” charge because the car was picked up at 22:02. Apparently, the agent didn’t “check-out” the car in her computer until 2 minutes past the normal closing time, so the computer automatically applied the charge. AutoEurope agreed with me that the fee was not justified, since we had arrived at the office before closing time. They escalated to their contacts within Avis but they would not budge. AutoEurope gave us a credit of 25 dollars (not euros), which was a nice gesture, but obviously not the full amount.

Since then, I haven’t rented from Avis. I have considered AutoEurope, but their prices have now seemed higher than my company’s negotiated rates. In the last year, my company (a huge European-HQ’d conglomerate) renegotated their rental car contracts and narrowed our choices to only two providers – Sixt and Europcar. I have rented from both a few times and have been very happy. Rates, which are inclusive of insurance, are far cheaper than AutoEurope rates. The estimates provided up front were correct and if something was wrong, the companies were fair in handling the situation (and no middleman was involved like AutoEurope). So, if you work for a large company, I would encourage you to explore that option since it might save you some money and headaches.

By: Loraine

Loraine — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:05:56 +0000

The trouble often with booking a car in the USA to use in Europe is that the quoted price is usually the basic charge. It does not include the extras at the time of booking. So it may look like a deal but by the time you pay for the added on bits that the small print usually indicates will be required, the price can go up by at least another third.

I have found it is better to book directly with a hire rental company in the UK for example and ask for the inclusive price. There are quite a lot of car rental brokers who get good deals with all the well known companies.

By: MarkieA

MarkieA — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:36:01 +0000

I’m planning a driving trip through Tuscany this coming Spring, and nothing fills me with more dread than dealing with the rental car. After reading the horro stories on this and other columns, I’m serioulsy considering changing my plans. Besides digitally photographing the car before and after the rental, and fully reading and understanding the rental agreement, are there any other suggesitons to avoid these potential financial nightmares?

By: John

John — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:02:47 +0000

Chris … I rent from AutoEurope all of the time for clients. Every invoice states that there are charges not included and everytime I talk to them on the phone, even though they know that we rent from them repeatedly, I have to sit through the “not everything may be included speech.” I think this is a case of someone not paying attention to what is or isn’t included in the price quote.
BTW the “added” surcharges actually seem low for what we normally have to pay in the UK and Ireland.