I am renting cars during an upcoming trip to Poland and Lithuania. In conducting my research, I have noted that every rental car company, as well as Auto Europe have language in the fine print that states that "if you do not appear at the rental car counter by the time and date that appears on your confirmation, you will be considered a 'no show,' your reservation may be cancelled, and you will lose any money that you have pre-paid on the reservation." I find that this is a common clause in European car rental contracts and it is not unique to any particular company or to just Poland and Lithuania. So my question is how do Europeans deal with this when renting a car at the airport? On any given day, numerous flights are late. In such a case, the language above suggests that if your flight is late and as a result you are not able to appear at the rental car counter at the time on your confirmation, your reservation could be cancelled and you will lose your deposit on the reservation. Is there something I am not understanding here? Am I reading too much into this clause in the contract?
Posted by
Portsmouth
5532 posts
It's no different to car rentals in general the world over. I was a day late to collect a rental at San Francisco airport and I was declared a no show. The agencies aren't going to tie you down to exact times, I've been an hour or two late on many occasions with no problem whatsoever, they understand that flights are often delayed and will often be lenient. There have even been occasions where I've guessed the pick up time because I couldn't be bothered to trawl through my e-mails to find the flight booking reference, that was never an issue but it's not a practice that I would advocate.
Posted by
Portland, Maine
2916 posts
I was actually thinking about this issue a couple of days ago. I generally rent through AutoEurope, and their language reads as follows on my voucher for next month in France: "Should you expect to be delayed for the pickup of the
vehicle, you should also contact us to ensure your vehicle can be confirmed after the scheduled timing." So presumably you can contact AE if you rent through them, or the car rental company or agency if rented directly. The voucher also states: "there
will be no refund in the event of cancellation after the scheduled date and time of pick up." So presumably you can cancel in advance (and pay the $75 fee) if you know you'll be very late, although that will often not be practical nor desirable.
At least through AE, you can also include you flight number on the voucher, so presumably the agency will know if you're delayed. I've done this before, but the problem is that the flight number is only for the last leg of two flight legs, and the problem is more likely to come up if we miss our connection and arrive on a much later flight. We almost faced something similar a few years ago when a French train strike resulted in our train to our final destination being cancelled. At one point it looked like we might be very late for our car pickup, but in the end everything was fine.
I know this doesn't really answer your question, but my answer is that I hope I never have to find out what happens.
Posted by
Peterborough, ON, Canada
1629 posts
We were late picking up our car in Strasbourg and the agent told us he had given it away. And, he said it was the only automatic they had. He tried to talk us into a manual transmission, which we vehemently declined making it clear that neither of us had a clue how to drive it and the transmission would be toast. Magically another automatic was "found" for us.
I think they were using our lateness as a way to get us to take a vehicle that was worth less than the one we had paid for.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
You are probably over-thinking this. It's the same as renting in the US or anywhere.
Consider it from their perspective: you reserved a car, so they can't release it to someone else, and they're holding it for you (well, unless you choose "Worthy Rent A Car"). They expect you to show up, more-or-less when you told them you would. If you just blow them off and don't show up, they lose money (because they would have rented that car to someone else).
If you show up a little later than expected, it's not going to be a big deal. Half a day later? Maybe. A whole day late? Don't expect your car to still be there. Especially at airport locations, they knew all too well about flight delays. At on-airport rental locations, I have had rental agencies ask what my inbound flight was -- so they can put 2+2 together (if my flight is delayed 4 hours, they can predict when I will show up). If you miss your flight, or if you're renting at a non-airport location, you would want to be more pro-active about letting them know if you will be significantly delayed.
BTW, I rented a car in Vilnius last summer (from a non-airport location). Hardest part of the whole driving experience was finding the agency, which was listed in all my paperwork (booked through AuroEurope) as "Thrifty Rent A Car" but which was actually a Hertz agency.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you JC, Robert, Andrea, and David for responding to my question. All of your comments are excellent and have given me the cofidence to move forward with these car rentals. I have never rented a car in the USA with the subject clause in the rental car agreement, but I see now, as David pointed out, that perhaps I am overthinking this. Fortunately, I am adept at driving a manual transmission car, so switching me from an automatic to a manual transmission if I am late arriving is not an issue, although Andrea your point is well taken.