car rental booked via AAA

I almost always use Auto Europe, and they claim they are available by phone 24/7.

Each car company handles these bookings differently. When I booked a rental car in Croatia with EconomyCarRentals in 2015, they booked the car with a Croatian company called Oryx. I was considering a last-minute change and returning the car at a different Oryx office, and the agent where I picked up the car told me I could drop the car at any Oryx office. In other words, I didn't have to contact EconomyCarRentals to change it, whereas you did.

Did you get a better rate with AAA? I booked with EconomyCarRentals only because I got a much better price than booking directly with a company. Otherwise, I don't see the benefit of going through a third party.

I would say your case is a bit unusual - a last-minute change in the drop-off point, right? FYI, I probably would have called the Hertz office in Caen directly instead of the "main Hertz number" to ask about the change. I always put the phone number of the individual rental car offices into my phone so I can contact them directly - and I have had to do so more than once!

When I get an answer from an agent like that, which makes absolutely no sense-think about it, AAA is a travel agent, why would you call them about such a change while the rental is in process?-my next comment is “let me speak to a supervisor”. If I don’t get one I call back hoping I get an agent with a brain next time.

Thanks for these replies! We had no time, we had to get to Cherbourg in a mad rush, so making that one phone call was a much as I could do. I did not have time to ask to speak to a supervisor. I did not know the Hertz local phone number in Caen or Cherbourg, as we had rented out of Paris.

Suppose we had had an accident, or the car was stolen? Calling Hertz would have gotten that same response? Oh, and the reason we rented through AAA is because they are nice people, we went to our local office and dealt with the lady face to face.

I guess what you're saying is, it's the luck of the draw?

What we are saying is that there is always some risk in dealing with a third party re-seller regardless if it is airline ticket, car rental, etc. But you raised an interesting problem.

But, with rental cars in Europe dealing with third party’s is common, Auto Europe being a prime example. Hertz should have made this easy, they are at fault here. I would be sure and let those folks at the AAA office know of this.

Alan, thank you for the validation. When we returned home, we did tell the AAA agent (the exact same individual we'd dealt with before we went to France). She just sort of shrugged and said, "That's weird."

So... next time we rented directly from the rental company.

I would never use AAA to book anything...roadside assistance is probably their strongest (and only) selling point.

The one time I had to change an in-process rental I had rented through AutoEurope; I wanted to extend the rental because we were stuck in France for a few extra days. I called AE, and they were able to extend it for one day (which is all I wanted initially). But they said if I wanted to extend it for any additional days, I would have to call the rental agency directly.
One problem with renting directly is that there's no guarantee you'll get an English speaker when you call. It's likely that you will, but not certain.

I would never use AAA to book anything...roadside assistance is probably their strongest (and only) selling point.

I see no reason not to use AAA to book rental cars. Roadside assistance may be their strong suit but travel is also one of their main services. I booked my rental cars in France through AAA in advance (actually it was cheaper than the Hertz website) and I sometimes like dealing face to face regarding something I'm not familiar with. I had no problems like the OP did so never had to deal with any 3rd party vs rental agent issues. I did have a small accident with my rental car in France and of course had to deal with Hertz directly. I had no issues with that and AAA never was involved - Hertz was wonderful by the way, and it wasn't the Hertz office where I actually picked up the car. I think the OP just got a Hertz representative that didn't know what they were doing.

I guess what you're saying is, it's the luck of the draw?

No, I didn't read anyone writing that. When real-life events happen as yours did, it is best to deal with either the rental car company itself or Auto Europe with 24/7 customer service support.

Let's put it this way. Nancy's comment may be accurate: I happened to get a Hertz representative who didn't know what she was doing. Or perhaps she just didn't feel like taking the trouble to straighten out my Caen-Cherbourg dropoff change, and the fact that AAA was showing on her screen provided a convenient excuse to--as they say--blow me off.

But, just in case something like this were to happen again, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Therefore my preference will be to rent directly from the rental company.

The rest of the story is that when we made it to the Cherbourg ferry port, we still didn't know where the nearest Hertz was and our boat was about to leave. I literally ran into the terminal and told a window agent our predicament, leaving my husband sitting in the car throwing his hands in the air. The agent told me about the dropoff box, which also has a red hotline phone where you can choose which rental company you need to speak with. Two minutes later the car was parked, husband w/luggage hotfooting it to the gangplank, and I called Hertz ("If you want your car, here's where it is!") and dropped the keys & contract into the box.