autoeurope.com

Its been awhile, but you need to know that they are a third-party middleman, so your car will actually come from another company.

Chris, Our family used autoeurope.com in 2012. There were no extra charges when we picked up our vehicle. The big shock to me was our CC was charged when we completed the rental agreement. On a side note, Even though we opted for the Super CDW, we were informed that Tires, Loss of Key and putting the wrong type of Petrol in the vehicle were not covered.

that Tires, Loss of Key and putting the wrong type of Petrol in the
vehicle were not covered.

That is fairly common because for the most part the latter two are not accidents and tires can be both accidents and not accidents. But just addresses the point that it it very important to read the fine print and understand insurance limits. You cannot assume that US practices are the same in Europe.

We've used AutoEurope many times, including last May, in Italy; and I have no complaints about them They are a consolidator, so you actually get your car from another company. And, yes, as someone noted, you prepay. However, cancellation is easy.
The only additional fees we've run into are some small local taxes. However, you'll sometimes run into intense pressure or outright falsehoods from local agents to add on their insurance. Not only is this not an AE problem; but they have agents available 24/7 to run interference for you.
The poster above who noted the exclusions on the insurance is correct. This is a common practice, also with the insurance offered by the rental companies. That's why we use our AMEX Premium rental car insurance, or, in Italy, rely on our Chase cc coverage.
You should also check out Kemwel. They and AE are related companies, operating in the same manner. Sometimes one or the other will have better prices.

We have rented with Autoeurope many times and I will continue to use them. I don't think they have hidden charges, but there are some charges that might be incurred with the rental company. As you are booking, be sure you click on "Terms and conditions" and read the part about "what is included, what is not included". Many countries have a road tax that is charged to your account after you return the car. There can also be some other things as well. The terms and conditions spell these out so they should never come as a surprise. Autoeurope cannot collect for these additional fees up front, and that is why they are charged by the rental company after the fact.

I had one negative experience with a rental car agent at Heathrow Airport. He was a little too aggressive in trying to upsell us to more expensive features and cars. (He was really amazingly shady about it). I kept telling him I was not going to pay more than the agreed upon amount and he kept refusing to finish up the deal. (We probably went round and round for 30 minutes). I finally realized I could call the Autoeurope toll free number for help. They talked to him and I was out of there in 5 minutes with a great rental car that worked well for us. It was all terribly confusing, but I really appreciated Autoeurope's help.

We have rented through Autoeurope at least seven or eight times and it's always worked for us. This includes on our 2013 trip to England.

I found prices online to be accurate. I was told over the phone by Auto Europe that there would be (two or three?) extra charges which would be applied and collected at time of rental, and this is exactly how it went. Road tax/fee, and train station pickup/drop off were two of the charges, there may have been a third-but there were no surprises.

What Connie points out about being able to call Auto Europe for help if there is a hassle is an important distinction. If you rent directly from "ABC Rent a Car", you have only them to argue with, whereas AE can become your advocate. You can arm yourself with the appropriate 24/7 phone numbers before you leave here: http://www.autoeurope.com/go/contact/

Auto Europe will send you a voucher (invoice) to read and confirm. Since they reformatted it a few years back, I have found the "fine print" on these to be very easy to read. If there is anything written there that you don't understand or agree with, discuss it with the agent. Once you get to Europe, what's on paper is what counts.

Why do I always find a lower price going directly through Budget or Sixt ? In 20 trips to Europe, we have never found that Autoeurope can beat their prices.

We've used AutoEurope twice for car rentals in France. There are local fees charged by the car company separate from what A/E charges - both our rentals were with Europcar. There were two 'daily' fees charges (and ecological fee and not sure how the other translates to English) - which are dependent on how many days we had the car plus a fee charged for picking up the car at the TGV station. Not sure what kind (if any) of daily fees they may charge in England. I did check with Europcar before booked via A/E and knew that there would be a fee for picking up at the TGV. There was also a fee to drop at the airport (in Nice) or at the TGV. We opted to drop it at a downtown location. (And what a headache that was - we should have paid the extra fee and dropped at the airport).

And we never had any extra fees added by AutoEurope.

I start with autoeurope.com and europcar.com. I compare autoeurope's quotes with the rental companies and chose the cheapest, sometimes autoeurope, sometimes not. My last rental was from Chamonix. Autoeurope's quote for a Europcar rental was significantly lower than the Europcar quote - until I read the "fine print." There are high surcharges for high altitude rentals in France. By the time I added in all the surcharges, Europcar's quote turned out to be significantly lower than autoeurope's.

No experience with AutoEurope. When I went with a friend to Sicily in 2014, we rented via Kemwel, as they had by far the best price for the car we needed (an automatic with no deductable). Our actual car was from Hertz. We didn't have "hidden" fees, but did have extra charges - for the second driver, for windshield coverage, and something else (don't remember now). Again, these items were not covered in the initial agreement, so I don't consider it a rip-off - but someone who wasn't prepared might.

In 2015, my friend went back to Sicily and used Kemwel again; that time, his car was from Europcar instead of Hertz, but it also worked out fine.

I have used Auto Europe several times and have never run into hidden fees. When in England two years ago, we had a car accident, much damage to the car, all of us were fine. Auto Europe could not have been easier or nicer to deal with. They made all arrangements for towing of damaged car, getting us back to our rental cottage and delivering a new rental car the next morning. Another trip, we cancelled two rental cars (prior to pick up in a different country) in the middle of our trip and there were no questions asked and cc was promptly credited. I would not use any other company, they've been too good to me!!