Renting an Automatic

My understanding/experience is that in Europe:
1. Automatics are always more expensive to rent than cars with manual transmissions
2. Availability of automatics is more likely at airports and in larger cities than in smaller cities. For example, I've not had difficulty in renting an automatic at London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, or the Marseille airports....although it's been obvious when walking through the car rental parking areas that automatics were in the minority.

Agree with Elizabeth above.

I’ve never had a problem renting an automatic throughout Europe. Even away from airports and large cities. I’ve used europcar, hertz and budget many many times without a single problem. They’ve always had an automatic car ready for me.

When you book the car just make sure it says it’s an automatic.

It can be more expensive depending on what kind of car you get.

It has been our experience that:
1. yes, automatics are more expensive, sometimes hundreds of dollars more than a manual for the same time period, and, of course, depending on the size
2. yes, they are often more difficult to find outside large cities and airports -- we theorize because there are fewer of them, they stay in circulation in the big cities. Who knows?
3. they are larger (even the 'small' and compact) cars than your average manual transmission small/compact. Parking can be a real pain unless you are a (fearless) expert at tiny-space-garage and parallel parking.

It is possible to reserve an automatic; we've done it several times. While not mandatory, I'd say make your reservations well in advance. The office may to have the car delivered from another city. For example, when our first automatic broke down, we had to wait 36 hours for a car to be delivered from Milan to Naples.

I don't think you can reserve an automatic. I think you can request one but I am sure it will strictly be availability. I think automatics are becoming more available as the economy difference narrows but there is mind set that a stick is more economical.

Agree with all the above. Will just add, consider the following:

There's never any 100% iron-clad guarantee that anything you ask for in a rental car will be delivered. Including what kind of transmission. Car rentals are just a squishy business with some things that just get sorted out (or don't) on the fly. That is, you can reserve an automatic, show up, and they don't have an automatic for you. The chance of this happening is lower at major airports and big city rental offices, but could happen at any of them.

Because of #1 above, you might want to have a "Plan B" in your back pocket for what you would do if you get unlucky with the transmission lottery when you show up to pick up your car.

Consider that billions of people around the world have figured out how to drive a car with a manual transmission. It's not very difficult. You could always do a little training and learn to drive a stick at home, before your trip. This would free you from limitations in the future. There are places in the world that you might want to visit someday where an automatic transmission car will simply not be available.

Driving a stick is (or can be) actually fun, and offers a better driving experience in some cases. It's not something to be intimidated or limited by (but does require you to learn how to do before trying it for the first time in a foreign country, where driving is already something of a challenge).

Good luck.

By booking a vehicle with one of the majors (Hertz, Avis, etc.) you can usually be assured that an automatic is what you'll get if that's what you specify on your booking. AutoEurope seems to be pretty reliable too.
Book your pickup from an airport, and follow up with a phone call a week or so before you depart to ensure that you get what you've asked for. Autoeurope customer service was actually pretty responsive during our own trip to Italy last May.

I’ve never had a problem - I’ve rented from airport, train station, big city, and medium city locations. No small town locations, though. Europcar, a few of the big international brands (Hertz, Budget), and a local agency in Athens. Never had any trouble. This has been in Iceland, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Spain. I do always reserve ahead and only from places where transmission type is clearly indicated when reserving the car online. I would be nervous just walking in and hoping one is available.

Manuals are cheaper, but the automatics I’ve rented are small enough to not cause any trouble even in very narrow streets. Of course get the smallest car possible for your needs.

I think this is one of those things that is changing rapidly. Automatics are more common than they used to be, if stories from past travelers are accurate. I don’t know if this is due to more tourists from places with mostly automatic cars or if more Europeans now drive automatic.

I was offered ONLY a 10' Transit Van at FRA as an automatic (Edit: reserved an automatic sedan weeks in advance) a few summers ago. Probably Dollar. When I asked for a subcompact standard instead, I had to wait 40 minutes for a return to be washed and turned around. Airports are not a magic bullet for automatics.

Edit: My wife had similar problems on multiple business trips to Brussels, but that’s not as recent. Even though her Fortune 500 company had an exclusive contract with one of the Big Two, she never once received an automatic.

We've only ever rented cars in Ireland and the U.K. and always reserved (ahead of time) an automatic transmission car. Never had a problem picking it up at arrival. It added to the cost, but worth it when driving on the opposite side of the road and not wanting to try shifting gears left-handed. It was well worth the expense.

Whay gramwalt said about driving on the opposite side of the road (which would also require shifting with the opposite hand) -- when I rented a car in Britain I was advised by friends to rent automatic (even though I drove a manual transmission VW every day) and was very glad I did.
No problem renting an automatic in France or Italy, but we usually pick up from an airport or main train station location.

In June of last year I reserved a manual transmission at the Hannover airport and last month I reserved a manual transmission at the Frankfurt airport. Both times I was given an automatic. In Hannover the woman at the rental counter even asked me if I knew how to drive one. I thought that was a strange question, until I picked up the car in Frankfurt. My German cousin met me at the airport and I decided to add her as a driver. Since I hadn't really slept on the flight I asked her to drive. She had never driven an automatic. I had to explain to her how to drive it. I suspect that any place that deals with a large number of rentals with have an automatic for you if you reserve it it advice.

Just book the right acriss code.
Which size ever you book, the third character of the booked car group shall be an "A".

The percentage of automatic transmission cars in the European fleet is increasingly steady, and it reached 40% of new passenger cars in several countries already.

... or increasing steadily?
Might be an overly broad generalization to lump everything into "Europe", since the specifics can vary by the particular country. On our last trip to Ireland for example the default rental even at airport locations was a stick shift, so we needed to pay particular attention when booking to ensure that we specified (and received) an automatic.
Also, during a trip to Italy a few months ago we found that most of the offers on the AutoEurope website were for manuals - had to be alert and drill down a bit to find an automatic. Once booked = no problem for a pickup in Pisa and a dropoff in Florence.

@Andre L, it would be interesting to know which countries are approaching that 40% of new car sales.

My experience with automatics has been the opposite. I always book a compact manual, but a few times the rental desk decided to “upgrade” me to a too-large automatic. “Well you’re an American and we thought you’d want one”. It felt like they were trying to unload a less popular vehicle. Of course I held out for the smaller manual.

I only rent automatics in the UK, every place else I go with a manual transmission. If you reserve an automatic and the reservation states it, the rental car agency is obligated to give you an automatic. On one business trip to England, Avis had to get an automatic from Hertz or Enterprise since it didn’t have one on the lot.

Tonight we were just laughing about teaching our sons to drive with a stick. It was dreadful...there was some serious clutch killing that happened. My heart stopped everytime the car left the pavement and stalled.
IMHO, everyone should learn to row the gears. An auto is usually an anemic and loathsome shell of a vehicle when you get it in a compact European vehicle. Imagine a Fiat Panda with an auto tranny. Get the manual and learn how to shift it it at the expense of someone else's gearbox.
If you ever need to drive a tractor knowing how to run up and down the gears will come in real handy. Or, if you end up in the in the Amazing Race, you might win a leg.

I only rent an automatic if we are driving in the UK or Ireland where driving on the left.

I have had great results when I rent from US auto rental companies in Europe, like Thrifty or Hertz. They always have the car that I booked and don't try to stiff me into buying an expensive upgrade. Europcar did that to me the last time we rented in the UK.
I will never use them again.

I don't think you can reserve an automatic. I think you can request one but I am sure it will strictly be availability.

That's not really true. If you truly reserve an automatic, and the voucher says so, you're entitled to an automatic. I've rented automatics in France dozens of times, and only had an issue twice. Once, about 35 years ago in Paris, my travel agent (remember those?) apparently forgot to note an automatic in the documentation, and the rental agent said there were none. I told him I'd have to look elsewhere because I can't drive a manual (still can't), and he said if we came back in an hour, he'd get us one. And he did.
The other time was in Lyon, and after I was given the key and went to the car, it was a manual. I went back inside, and told the agent. She asked if I was sure that an automatic was specified, and I said definitely. For some reason the paperwork was in the trash, and she found it and said yes, it does say automatic. So she checked, and there were no automatics on site. But she called the airport office, and there was one. So she had another agent drive us to the airport.
Now, if in the Lyon situation where there is no automatic on site, and also no other nearby office, the rental company has breached the rental contract. But that doesn't help you drive away. Hopefully I'll never be in that situation.