Rental Car Prices

Check with several and compare. I have used gemut.com on several trips and have been very happy with the rates and customer service. As with autoeurope they will match or beat rates if you find a better one providing the comparison is apples to apples. You can cancel at no cost if you decide not to use them right before you go. Also, they will quote you rates in U.S. dollars and hold that rate for you in the event the dollar should weaken against the Euro. If the reverse happens call back and get a better rate. If the rates are really good right now you could go ahead and lock it in and if it gets better as time to departure draws closer then you can cancel and go with the better deal.

My guess would be that, if there's any variation at all, it would depend on when you get it and where, not when you reserve it. Based on usually three one-month trips per year, the fact that I travel spur-of-the-moment, the fact that some trips are with no plans (while others are an idea pulled off the stack of potential itineraries) I generally wind up making the car reservation at the departure airport. I've gotten so that I don't even bother to cost out the car rental and always wind up getting one for about twenty-five to thirty bucks per day - - the same figure works for both advance planning and last-minute rentals. Germany seems to run a bit cheaper than other countries. I've never rented in Luxemburg that I remember. A couple of caveats that might skew my experience: I haven't been to europe in the summer for years, I rarely rent anything except the smallest, cheapest car, and I probably get a pretty good rate by renting for several weeks at a time.

I am looking at offers that lock in a price through advance payment. The price on the day of pickup would not matter, but the date of the rental contract does. I don't travel often enough or long enough at a time to follow Ed's strategy, but I wish I could.

What sites are you looking at? I've seen a couple of things like that, but in my experience, the lock-in price (when I've made a note of it) was essentially the same one I wound up getting at the last minute. This is not to imply that the same company would have been used in both cases, just that I found a car for the same price. What I do is use kayak.com (unchecking the expedia and like boxes and checking the carrentals.com box). I've never found a better deal using autoeurope and the other sites touted here or even the lease/buy-back programs. And, believe me, I make random checks periodically since I'm so cheap.

There's virtually no risk in booking a rental car early, because most car rental companies allow no-fee cancellations right up to the last minute. If the price drops signficantly, just cancel and re-book. Autoeurope.com also offers a best price guarantee.

The only thing that would worry me is the advance payment part. Does that mean that if you want to change or cancel, that you're out of luck? If so, I'd keep shopping.

I've had the same experience as Ed, though I don't rent in Europe as often. I don't prepay because a) there's always a chance the trip might not happen, and b) I've not seen a prepay deal better than what I can find elsewhere. The lease numbers have not worked out for me, either. The last few rentals have been with National in the UK and Sixt in France because those companies had the best deal at the time for the car size we wanted and had cancellation without penalty. I've not had the rental rate change from what it was at the time of the reservation, though I suppose that depends upon individual company policy. If you see good prices now and can cancel without penalty, go ahead and reserve then watch prices for better deals.

Hi Roy, We also used www.gemut.com for our last 3 trips, as recently as 2 weeks ago. Renting in Germany is usually the least expensive country to rent a car. We actually booked (and paid for) the car before everything else, since the price was what we considered to be very good and if something happened, we could cancel and get a 100% refund. Any questions or concerns can always be answered by the Bestor's at Gemut. My experienece's with them have been nothing but positive. Paul

I second gemut.com. Have used them twice and no complaints. You reserve a car and if the exchange rate drops to your advantage, you can cancel and re-book.

I've never used gemut.com, and I'm sure they're fine based on their frequent positive mentions on the board, but I think it's an unfair knock on autoeurope.com to describe gemut's customer service as "far superior." I've used autoeurope's customer service more than once and have always found them polite and helpful. In fact, they were instrumental in resolving a tricky disputed charge (with Europcar) in my favor a couple of years ago. So I thought I should come to their defense!

I agree with Tom (hey, it's a Chicago thing) that the customer service of AutoEurope is outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. Gemut is good, too, but I don't think the statement that they have "far superior customer service" is fair, at least not in my experience(s).