car rental..how to reserve one

Why don't you compare the prices directly through Hertz and through AutoEurope and see which is less expensive?

I did that. Auto Europe changes their prices daily. Last week it was $152, 2 days later $393, 2 days after that $352. Hertz has been consistent at $193. besides the price (auto Europe might come down in 2 days), is it better to book directly through Hertz or the local agent? I read here that often your reserved car is not there when you try to pick it up, and wanted to know the best way to reduce that possibility.

We booked ours through Hertz through AAA. It was easy enough and we got our IDP while there.

I've always gotten the best price through AutoEurope. I've rented through them probably at least 8 times. I always call them and speak to a real person though. I recommend you do that. With any rental company - doesn't matter who - it is very common to get there and they tell you they don't have the exact car you reserved and they offer you something else.. for the same price. Sometimes it's the equivalent and sometimes it's a nicer car. It's never been a worse car.

I do what Susan does.

I found, once from my own experience and twice while traveling with a friend who paid for the rental ahead of time, that you get better results and the car you requested, if you only reserve the car and DON'T pay for it until you arrive. That way they are less likely to do the bait and switch routine-which sadly does happen. Happy travels.
Devra

We went through Hertz and used an online coupon I found through Google. MUCH cheaper that way.

I don't think it's a purposeful "bait and switch." I think in the rental car business, especially when it's a small rental office location, it's difficult to have the exact car you reserved. As I said, we have always gotten the exact equivalent of what we reserved, or a much nicer car for the same price. Getting a nicer car has happened to us many times, in Europe and here in California. On our last driving through Tuscany and Umbria trip, instead of getting a Honda category car we reserved, they gave us a really nice Mercedes. We were very happy.

"I read here that often your reserved car is not there when you try to pick it up" I've never had that happen to me, ever. And I've never read that here on the Helpline.

I easily rent a dozen car a year, most of them internationally. It's not bait and switch and I seldom (maybe never) get the exact car I reserve, but it doesn't matter. Here's how it works: You reserve a category/class. The picture/description might be of a Volkswagen X but you get a Fiat Y - - it's still the same class, no harm done. What can happen is that you reserve an automatic, but they don't have one when you get there - - harm done, maybe - - but there's often nothing you can do about it, especially if you're working through a consolidator like AE. I've seen this happen to the people in front of me more times than I can count - - tough stuff, there's no recourse if you're working through a consolidator. As Susan said, sometimes you get a free upgrade and you're happy, sometimes you don't - - tough stuff. (You'd probably get a better car at the same price, but it might not have the hypothetical automatic.) The same thing could happen with a GPS, they're flat out when you get there. What they don't do is earmark a car for you when you make your reservation, it's impossible to predict what will happen to the inventory in the course of a couple of months, or even overnight. The reservation system doesn't know if they'll even have that automatic when you make the deal.

I don't like consolidators for several reasons, one being that you have to pay up front. Once you do this, you have no leverage to walk over to the next counter to get them to match the offer, which they always will. Also (I've never rented a car in Montepulciano/Chusi and probably never would) you're restricting yourself by renting from a small place - - good luck on getting anything promised. What I'd do is rent one from a place with larger inventory and more agencies - - maybe Florence which is an hour up the road if that's where you're coming from. And the way I'd tackle it is to use Kayak and take the cheapest deal that showed up. If it's AE, I'd take a deep breath before going with them since they've screwed me a couple of times lately and they're on the crap list for a while until the bad taste goes away. Also I don't think you can use an agency coupon discount or loyalty deal if you go through a consolidator. You also need to factor in that you're going to have to choke the cost of insurance since your credit card won't cover you if you rent in Italy.

Four more thoughts: Hertz never seems to have the best deal unless they have the only deal. I can't remember if I've ever done an international rental through them if there were a choice. When you rent through a consolidator, they're done when you pick up the car. If you have problems on the road, you need to get in touch with the agency from which you rented. AE is not an agency for Hettz as I understand the law of agency - - they have too narrow a scope of the functions they perform. They're just somebody who finds customer for the rental firm. You sign a payment agreement with the consolidator, the rental agreement takes place at the counter with the crowd that owns the cars. The reason I don't want an upgrade, and walk to the next counter, is that I don't care about 'nicer' even at the same price, I want my cheapo with the good gas mileage that's also small so you can easily squish it into parking spaces.