I have done numerous quotes in the process of trying to figure this all out, and now that I'm ready to do it, the price is higher than a week or two ago. Is this just an upward trend as we get closer to the summer?

...or the spiralling decline of the dollar?

My experience with car rentals is that they often get more expensive the closer you get to the rental date. We booked our car for May/June last November. I see it is $ 125 more expensive now.

Because AutoEurope quotes in dollars, and lives with the quote, I am guessing that the rising value of the Euro is what's driving up the price. Also, there is some seasonality in their pricing, just like the hotels. So, as we near summer, we're seeing the prices edge up.

I just booked on autoeurope.ca, confident that I'll have my tax rebate before the credit card payment is due, and was quoted the same price as in early March. This site, which quotes in Canadian dollars but allows booking as U.S. residents, offers a better rate with zero deductible insurance.

When pulling up the car I want here are the quotes:
Autoeurope in USA $2400. Autoeurope in Canada after exchange rate is $2215. Autoeurope in England after exchange rate is $2015.

Can I just book this car on the England site?

You can book on the UK site. It is important to be sure that you are comparing "apples to apples" on all the terms of the rental. I have also used the Avis.co.uk site to book several times with no problems.

We just had an experience which I don't know may be commonplace. I booked through AutoEurope, where it appears you pay for a certain specific model of car, as opposed to US companies, where you rent a class of car, then you get a model within the class. I received an e-mail confirmation right after booking from them, with the quote and car model as stated on their website. I also received a second confirmation shortly before departure (which I didn't look at too carefully, just put it in with my other papers. When we got to Rome, I went to Auto Europe, gave my papers, etc. to the woman at the counter and after staring at the papers and the computer for a long time told me I was at the wrong place and I needed to go across to EuropeCar, which I found was the company listed in the second e-mail. I went to EuropeCar, and sure enough, they had my reservation. Different car ( a Fiat rather than the Alfa Romeo I requested, but no problem-turned out to be a great car). I haven't, however, compared the original quoted rates versus what we were charged. I'm hoping they're the same. On the flight back, I requested an Italian newspaper for language practice and noticed a comparative car rental ad, listing different rates, kilometer allowances, etc. and it showed AutoEurope at the top (it was their ad, afterall) and EuropeCar at the bottom. Anyone else have a similar experience and how did it work out?

quote:

You can book on the UK site. It is important to be sure that you are comparing "apples to apples"

This is true. We have saved a good bit of money on several occasions by booking through Auto Europe UK. However, the terms are somewhat different. I'm not sure whether the insurance would cover exactly the same thing, even if you take the higher "refundable excess" option, which I think means about the same as our zero deductible.

We did find one big difference when we had to return our UK-rented car early on a recent trip because I broke my arm. The UK rental site does not normally refund any of the advance payment if you return the car before the agreed time. Apparently the US rental site would have refunded the money with no problems. I was eventually able to get most of my payment refunded because someone with special influence intervened, but normally I would have been out of luck.

I don't know what the story is on early returns via Canadian rentals.

- Roz

P.S. Don't forget to figure the currency conversion rate when booking through another country's site. Some credit cards charge up to 3% for this; others such as Capital One don't tack on anything.

quote:

Anyone else have a similar experience and how did it work out?

AutoEurope - car rental broker located in Portland ME. They book cars through a number of companies that operate in Italy--including Hertz, Avis and Europcar.

Less frequently they use an Italian company--AutoEuropa (note the final "a"), which is a subsidiary of Sicily by Car. AutoEuropa also uses similar graphics to AutoEurope but they are not related.

In addition, it is very clear on AutoEurope vouchers that you book a car class--midsize, economy, compact, etc., not a specific model. The phrasing is always "Alfa Romeo or similar".

In order to get a specific model, it is necessary to contact the local renting office directly to make such an arrangement.

Thanks for the information and insight into the process. As mentioned, the car we got worked out great; not much of an issue. More of a concern was that the original quote from one company remained the same if the reservation was handed off to another company and it appeared it did. Thanks again.