Be sure that your car has a spare tire before driving away from the rental location.
I have been renting cars in Europe for over 20 years through AutoEurope and usually picking up at Europcar. We have never had a flat tire. But last October we did after driving nearly 3,000 miles through S. France and Spain over a 3-week period we had picked up a BMW automatic diesel at the rail station in Marseille. On the return trip weeks later late in the afternoon on the Auto Route around 100 miles west of Marseille the low tire pressure alarm came on and we drove to a gas station nearby at a rest stop to add air to the tire. The tire was completely flat and would not hold air. After we could not find a spare tire anywhere in the car we checked the owner's manual and learned that the car was not normally equipped with a spare tire, but some kind of compressed air pump which turned out to be missing. My wife, who is French, called the Europcar emergency number that we found on the rental agreement. We expected that Europcar would send somebody with a replacement tire to our location. However, the Europcar representative informed my wife that because the car was on private property they were legally forbidden to help us directly. Instead, we were told to call the police who would send a tow truck. We were astounded! My wife called the police and about an hour later a large tow truck appeared and towed us to their garage near the Marseille airport. We noticed about 30 cars in the garage and the tow truck driver told us that he regularly picks up rental cars. A lady in the office of the towing company informed us that Europcar had called them and had arranged for a replacement car for us at the Marseille airport. The driver of the tow truck drove us to the Europcar office at the airport in his personal vehicle. The Europcar rep then gave us an Audi A4 with automatic as a replacement for the remainder of the trip. While Europcar did take good care of this, a major inconvenience and a lot of stress could have been avoided if we had checked for a spare tire. Further, we had been driving earlier in some remote mountainous areas of Spain in hot weather where a flat tire would have stranded us with possibly dire results. There were no additional charges to us for the tow and for damage to the tire and I had not purchased any insurance from Europcar, relying on my special American Express car insurance rider which I highly recommend. .
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23245 posts
I am guessing but I think you had a run flat tire that could have been drive for some distance at a reduced speed. I always check for a spare tire since there have been more than one report when someone doesn't return with a spare tire and find that it was stolen. That is where I thought you were headed. Flat tires are unforeseeable but it sounds like you receive a high level of service. Inconvenient - YES, but great service.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32709 posts
I'm confused. If you had inspected the car and found that not only is the car not provided with a spare but there is nowhere to stow it, would you have refused the car?
Posted by
OP
Tualatin, Oregon
21 posts
As it turned out, the car did have run flat tires. Still, I felt that the tire should have been promptly replaced or repaired by Europcar. Swapping out the car seems a rather extreme solution for a flat tire. Before driving off the rental lot, we always carefully check for scratches and ensure they are documented on the rental agreement, but never checked for a spare tire, always assuming that one was present. We won't make that mistake again!
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10176 posts
Since you mentioned insurance, I do want to point out that none of the insurances offered by the rental companies, even the high-priced no-deductible insurance covers tires or windshields. It's good that you had the Amex add-on policy.
Posted by
Columbus, OH, USA
2026 posts
It was many years ago in Spain when we got a flat tire on our Hertz rental car. We tore the car apart searching for a spare. Eventually, what was lost now was found. We never dreamed of looking under the hood, where it was neatly stowed atop the carburetor. Who knew?
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
I feel your pain. Thanks for the tip.
After reading hundreds of stories here, over the years, where N. American travelers have been blind-sided by Eropean car rental problems, I can understand why some experienced travelers have decided to no longer rent cars in Europe, too much liability and too much stress.
For these travelers, if the trains, Underground, or Metro don't go there, they don't go there.
These are probably travelers who have been everywhere they want to go to in Europe that requires a rental car.
I'm not recommending this, I'm just sayin'.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8125 posts
And don't forget about the budget European airlines that can get you from point A to point B for $100ish. They allow you to take in two or three completely different regions without breaking the bank.