I have tried the same dummy booking on two AutoEurope websites: .com and .co.uk for a one week rental from BHX in June.
For identical hires (as near as I can tell) the weekly rate is about $200US higher via the US .com website than via the UK site. I have gotten as far as inputting a US address on the UK site and it was accepted, taking the booking process all the way up to "pay now."
Is there any reason that, as a US resident/US licensed drive I should use the US site and not the UK site?
The autoeurope sites for different countries are related, but operate independently. I once rented a car for Hawaii from autoeurope.ca because it was less than half the price of any other rental company. I telephoned autoeurope to confirm that the deal was legitimate and ask why there was such a disparity even when compared to the general autoeurope.com site. The customer rep advised me that each site is independent and that they often book group deals with local dealers which they market to specific world markets. In my particular case, autoeurope.ca booked a large number of cheap cars to market to Canadians. However, there's nothing to stop anybody to go to the .ca site to take advantage of the same deal. The takeaway is to shop around and look for the best deal, whether it be autoeurope or some other car rental company.
Go with the best deal for the vehicle and dates you want, regardless where the dealer is based. Having said t day, we almost always have booked directly with the car company, not a third party like AutoEurope. We used Hertz.no for Norway last fall, and got a better deal in Ireland with Dollar than with AutoEurope last spring.
In the UK we’ve used Arnold Clark, a British company, for car rental.
I used the UK site for a 30 day rental in 2022. About 1/3 cheaper than.com site, no issues.
Keep checking back, if the price goes down, cancel and rebook. Also sign up for deal alerts. I get weekly emails.
It really depends. Check them all. I used AutoEurope.com for a week's rental in the UK this year, and got a really good price; better than any other. That said, my favorite place to rent cars in the UK is Arnold Clark, which is extremely thorough and has great customer service and good prices. You can rent with them direct, or you can go through Celtic Legend, who are very good to deal with.
I would also suggest that you keep checking back once you've booked something. I did that with both of my rentals (the AutoEurope for one week and the Arnold Clark for 3 weeks) and wound up saving around £400 overall as their prices had gone down.
Thank you.
I am very interested in renting from Arnold Clark but am concerned that the CDW is included in the quoted price (with a 1000GBP excess) and cannot be "declined" so that my credit card would cover me if anything happened. I have called the benefits administrator to ask how it works if the CDW cannot be declined and did not get a coherent answer. I would like to know if the credit card would cover the excess/deductible.
The autoeurope.co.uk also includes CDW coverage. If you look at the basic rate, it includes a$1500 deductible. I have the same concern this would negate my credit card coverage.
I have/had the same concerns, as Arnold Clark also included CDW. Mardee (above) used her credit card to cover the deductible when she had a bit of a ding (see her trip report).
I had an email exchange with the Clark reps who seemed very familiar with the situation: decline their "additional" wavier (for zero excess) and if necessary, file a claim claim with your credit card for the deductible.
I would expect that autoeurope.uk is the same: decline upgrades in CDW, and use your credit card to cover any hiccups.
