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Auto Europe Rental

Posted by on

I just wanted to pass on a clause I had missed in the the rental agreement terms, and just wanted to bring to you attention if you didn't realize this could happen. Note - not complaining, just a little life lesson I wanted to share so it won't happen to others.
I had rented and paid in full, a compact elite car for 5 days with pickup in Siena at their office close to the train station. Unfortunately a train delay made me miss the 10am pickup, and because of their office hours, I then had to wait to pickup the car at 3:30, since they close from 12:30-3:30.
Upon arrival - they informed me since I missed my 10am pickup - they cancelled my agreement (even though I had paid in full), and they didn't have a car for me.
They had an "upgrade" that cost me close to what I had originally spent - so my costs for the contract almost doubled.
Lesson - if you are going to be late - contact them via phone and let them know the time you will pickup or you may be in the same situation I was.

Cheers.

Posted by
7057 posts

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for sharing

Which agency was this? (AutoEurope is a broker, not the agency)

Have you asked AutoEurope to help? You paid them for the original rental.

Read the fine print
Pick up at 10 am means pick up at 10 am

Posted by
4836 posts

They really need to get this system more customer friendly and reasonable. I booked Europcar via AutoEurope in May at Pisa and had a flight delay. While sitting on the tarmac, I had to repeatedly call the office and say "we're delayed again" and they would not just note that we were coming, a repeat call was necessary every time. It was kind of ridiculous and made a stressful situation even more so--and they were not even dealing with closing hours!
I'll go with Hertz next time--they ask for the flight number and seemed competent enough to pay attention to it. I realize that does not help at a non-airport office, but many people are picking up at airports, and many flights are delayed!

Posted by
7683 posts

Always call Auto Europe if there is a problem with the car rental. They are very clear about that when you rent it through them. And as noted above, they are a broker, not the agency. However, they can fix problems caused by the agency but you have to let them know about it.

Posted by
2 posts

Like I said, life lesson - I'm sure everyone reads the small print, actually what the documentation did say is they will not hold the car indefinitely, open to interpretation.

As mentioned - this is for those who are about to rent and might be late (PSA) and not trying to solve a problem after it happened since I have accepted responsibility.

Posted by
7683 posts

rmtrentini, I understand what you are saying and definitely appreciate you posting to help other travelers.

But we also post responses that might help as well. They are not designed to say "You should have done THIS!" but rather, to let newer travelers know that if this situation comes up, there are potential actions they could take.

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