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Auto Europe review

Over the years we have leased cars from Renault but things have changed and to lease a Renault vehicle we had to go through AutoEurope who were good to deal with. During our other leases we never had a problem with the car and we thought leasing was a great deal. Unfortunately, this year we had a problem with the car. Eventually we found we mistakenly put in the wrong gas which caused the car problem but maybe that happens often because it is one of the items covered by the included insurance with the lease.

That is when we realized we should have looked into reviews of the company before leasing. We do not speak French and what happened is from the tow truck driver to the dealer who repaired the car to the taxi driver who took us from one location to another, none spoke English. Decisions were made and we couldn't communicate properly and so we were told a taxi would take us to a city one hour from our location in Sarlat where we would get a rental car we could use to take us to our next location in Beaune which was an 8 hour drive for us. Half way to that location we were notified, ooops there is no car available and we would need to get a hotel but they were reimburse us for all expenses until we could pick up the repaired car.

When the car was repaired we did that whole trip backwards and picked up our leased car. Once we were home we submitted our expenses as directed by both companies. However we received no replies from Auto Europe or Eurodrive. When I tried to call Auto Europe at the number I had for them, no luck. The email given by Eurodrive to submit expenses was not a good email. I have been unable to get a reply from either company.

The pickup and drop off of the car worked great. The car was great. If we hadn't needed the car repaired my review would be so much different. My suggestion is check out reviews to see if others also had problems before committing to Auto Europe.

Posted by
8575 posts

I have always had great luck and great rates with Autoeurope. I've had wonderful customer service using the phone number that USED to be on their webpage. I just went to their website to get the phone number that has always been on the top of the webpage. Surprise, no phone number. When you go to "Contact Us" there is a form to fill out, no phone number. I have to say I was very surprised. Honestly, I've rarely heard any negative reviews of the company, but going forward, if it is really difficult to contact them, it does give me pause. Have you filled out the "contact us form"? Thank you for sharing this disappointing information.

Its hard to fault the tow truck and taxi drivers for speaking French since that is their language. When I get into similar situations, I use google translate, offline.

Posted by
40 posts

Jules, yes I filled out the contact form twice and twice I received error message they were having problems.
You are absolutely correct that the language issue was ours. However, because of that it was difficult to negotiate something different. We had our car filled with groceries etc but if we had just gotten a hotel in Sarlat it would have saved us time and $. We didn’t even know where the taxi was taking us and once we knew we needed a hotel whether the taxi driver was going to drop us on the corner. Looking back it sounds like a comedy.

It doesn’t sound good when I can’t contact them and I get no response from email. Nor that Eurodrive told us to submit expenses to an email address that doesn’t work.

Thanks for your comments.

Posted by
1449 posts

Kemwel is a 3rd party car rental company that is affiliated with Auto Europe. They do have
a customer service phone number for the US: +1-877-820-0668.

I suppose it's possible that they won't be able to help, but it seems like it would be worth
a try.

Posted by
13786 posts

In December 2025, Auto Europe was acquired by Deck2 Capital and a consortium of New York-based credit funds.
As of late 2025 written customer services communication is handled by machines. This results in applications for refunds for services not rendered to not be processed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Europe

The wikipedia page has erroneous info regarding the BBB rating.

Posted by
8575 posts

WOW, so very disappointing. Thanks for the additional information.

Posted by
9098 posts

That is when we realized we should have looked into reviews of the company before leasing

If the changes to AutoEurope have happened in just the last few months, jannsphr, I wonder how
many reports about problems you really would’ve seen if you’d you looked at reviews before booking your lease? With the help of your review here, and undoubtedly other less-than-completely-positive reviews to come as more people do business with the current AutoEurope, that will likely be different in the future.

I hope you get a satisfactory resolution, without unnecessary anguish or conflict.

Posted by
12002 posts

A repair on a lease is always tricky since the brand-new car is in your name as the owner and it's not a rental. However, a Google search of the Renault Eurodrive website gives insurance reimbursement information that contradicts what you were told. Normally since a leased car belongs to lessee it isn't replaced after an accident. The lessee is out of a car until the repair is finished, unlike a rental car. So this is very unusual especially for damage caused by the lessees.

Eurodrive:
"Hotel Coverage DetailsAllowance: Up to €65 per night per person.Condition: Only applies if you stay to wait for on-the-spot repairs. Exclusions: Meals, drinks, phone calls, and other incidental costs are your responsibility. Prior Approval: All arrangements must be organized and agreed upon in advance by Renault Eurodrive Assistance. Unapproved expenses will not be refunded.

Taxi Expenses: General taxi fares for local transit while waiting are generally not covered unless explicitly pre-arranged as part of a specific recovery or alternative transit plan".

It boiled down to what your contract says compared to what the tow-truck driver, the dealer, and the taxi driver said. Changing out the fuel isn't complicated and they should have been able to have the car for you the next working day.

We once replaced a windshield on a leased car, so were out of a car for a day. But we speak French, so it wasn't complicated. What happened to you is a bit of a nightmare, but it could happen to any of us in a country where we don't speak the language and we get bad advice. I hope the rest of the trip was great and thanks for info about the new level of service.

Posted by
1205 posts

I had a similar situation with AutoEurope this summer, although with a regular rental contract, not a lease. Like you, I've always had good experiences with AutoEurope in the past, including returning a leased car with not a single undamaged quarter panel (thank you, Switzerland) and no issues.

This summer was wildly different, starting with no number to call, as you discovered. With help from some Forum members, I finally found a number to call and got a very snarky, no-customer-service rep on the phone. Once I finally got directed to the online form, the issue was resolved and I received a refund for the damage charges I paid to the rental car company. All without ever talking to another human. I found it disconcerting and off-putting, and though I was made whole financially, I'll think twice before using AutoEurope instead of direct rentals.

Thanks joe32f for the explanation of what happened to the company with such formerly great service. I hadn't turned that up during my experience. Another reason to stay away. What a shame.

Posted by
8575 posts

I think Autoeurope's prices have gone up as well. I checked them last fall for England and ended up booking with Arnold Clark, instead (highly recommend them). Then when I was looking for our upcoming trip to Ireland, their rates were higher than my other options, so I'm renting thru Hertz at the Dublin airport.

I know I have recommended Autoeurope thru the years on this forum. If I have some time I may search for some of those posts and provide updated information.

Posted by
40 posts

Thank you all for your extra information and I’ll try those sources.

Elizabeth, I read in our contract that wrong gas was covered.. The person from Eurodrive told us all expenses would be paid but gave us a site to submit them that didn’t work. Auto Europe responded from their site buyback@Autoeurope that we were not responsible for the rental insurance and advised us to “save our receipts and submit them to them at the end of the lease for reimbursement and could also send request for time lost”

Eurodrive arranged car rental and first taxi because car would not even be looked at for a week. Knowing now it was incorrect gas I would have thought they probably have experienced that fairly often. It was unfortunate that we were leaving Sarlat for Beaune when it happened. It was kind of a perfect storm. Interesting though when we called the road assistance number when the car quit they were already talking about getting us a rental.

Thanks again for all of your comments and advice. They are greatly appreciated.