In our opinion, Auto Europe is the best online car rental comparison site. We tried so many sites looking for the one that would give us the best service at the best price before finding out that Auto Europe has no rivals.
For what reasons?
- Free cancellation,
- Customer service available 24 hours a day,
- Both app and website are easy to use,
- Lowest guarantee price on the market,
- No credit card fees, cancellations/changes up to 48 hours from collection.
These are the reasons why during our travels we always rely on this site.
Do you need a car for your holidays? Then, book now by clicking here, or enter your travel details down below and Auto Europe will immediately show you the best solutions available.
Or do you want to understand how the site works and know all the functions? Keep reading.
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Quick summary, what is Auto Europe?
Auto Europe is an online comparison site for car/camper/luxury car rental and it works pretty like Skyscanner.
You just have to make a search by entering you holiday data and the site will show you all the available cars (of all the affiliated car rental companies -which are practically all of them-) in your specific pick-up location.
⚠️ Please note!
Auto Europe does not directly rent cars but it has the function of facilitating the link between the customer and the rental company. Long story short, it works as an intermediary in booking. You book on the website and the reservation goes directly to the car rental company.
In addition, as well as a simple market place for car rental, Auto Europe also offers some additional services that are completely beyond the partner rental companies, such as insurance.
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How to sign up in a few steps
To rent a car on Auto Europe you don’t necessarily have to sign up (in the “Manage booking” section – that you can find at the top right of the home page – in fact you can manage your rental without requiring a login) but if you sign up, you’ll have some advantages like:
- Already filled personal data,
- Custom Search Preferences…
This way you will save up to half the time while booking your car for the next trip.
How to sign up?
Go to this link -> Click here.
In the home page you have to click on “My account” and then click on “Create an account“.
When the new window opens, enter your personal data and then click on the yellow “Sign up“ button.
You will receive an email confirming the registration, and you’re done.
If you don’t want to sign up but only book a rental car, once all the operations have been completed, you’ll have to click on the top right on “Manage booking“ and enter the Voucher number that will be provided to you together with your name and surname for manage your booking.
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How to search for a car through the search engine
First of all, you have to go to the website by clicking here to visit Auto Europe Home page.
Enter your holiday data in the “Search and compare car hire rates” box, then in detail:
- Country of collection of the car,
- City of withdrawal
- Collection office: there may be multiple places in the same city where you can collect the car,
- Withdrawal date and time,
- Delivery date and time,
- Remove the check in the box below if the driver’s age is NOT between 25 and 69 years and enter the age.
Once you have entered these data, you have to click on the yellow “Get your quote” button.
Auto Europe will show you all the possible solutions divided by rental company and type of car.
At this point, just select the car that best meets your needs by clicking on the price and go to the bottom of the page to find the actual rental costs and the insurance solutions available.
Here is an example.
As you can see, you generally have two options available (which change depending on the location of the rental and the company selected):
- Basic option with minimum insurance coverage,
- More expensive option with additional coverage.
By clicking on the blue dot (with the “i”) next to the rental features, you can get more information on what the selected option covers.
⚠️ ATTENTION!
A very important function is the “+ Rate details“ button which allows you to have a full overview of all the costs associated with the rental, what is covered and what is not, the amount that will be blocked on your credit card on site etc.
As you can see from the pic, clicking on each item, you will have a detailed explanation.
| ??Pro tip!
We always read this info especially to know how much money the on-site car rental locks on the card (sometimes it can be €1500, so be careful of the credit card plafond!) and what we are covered for. |
After having an idea on which is the best option for you and having read all the additional information, you have to click on the yellow “Book now” button to go to the next window.
If you choose the basic rate, Auto Europe will show you the difference with the insurance that can be taken out with them, both in terms of coverage and the associated increased cost.
You will therefore select the insurance method you think is most appropriate and you’ll have to go to the additional services section.
Here you have to choose whether to add some extra services to your rental or not: select from the drop-down menus what is right for you and you’re good to go. Then you will have to click the yellow “Continue“.
Sometimes, after this option Auto Europe may offer you the possibility to upgrade to a higher category car with a discount; you decide whether to proceed or not (:
By clicking on “Continue without upgrade” you’ll continue with the car selected at the beginning, “Yes, upgrade me” will make you switch to the car of a category higher than the indicated price.
At this point, the only thing missing in order to proceed with the payment are driver’s personal data.
Scrolling down the page you’ll find the fields to fill in to pay for your car rental.
Once you have filled in all the fields, by clicking on the yellow button “Submit payment“, you’ll be done with booking.
By email you will receive the voucher to be printed and shown (if required) to the car rental company where you booked the car.
The voucher is similar to the one in the pic below.
It is very important to always know how to communicate both the Auto Europe voucher number and the car rental company booking number.
With these two numbers (you just have to print the voucher) you will have no problems.
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What are the advantages of booking a rental car with Auto Europe?
We so far (and we hope to continue!), we have always had a good time renting a car with Auto Europe.
The main advantages that we have found in relying on their service are:
- Free cancellation,
- Customer service available 24/7,
- Super easy to use site and app,
- Lowest guarantee price on the market,
- No credit card fees, cancellations/changes up to 48 hours from collection.
➕ Best price guarantee
A couple more things, this service deserves it. What is it about?
In a nutshell, if you find, on any other site, a better offer for the same car rental that you saw on Auto Europe, the company will refund the difference in price after making a check.
How to report it?
Fill in all the fields relating to the offer of Auto Europe and the one of the other sites at this link, after that click on the yellow button “Send” at the bottom.
Auto Europe will take care of your request and let you know in no time.
⚠️ ATTENTION!
The procedure described above is valid only if you haven’t booked with Auto Europe yet but you are comparing offers from multiple sites!
If you have already booked and found a better offer on another site, you’ll have to call +39 06 948 045 37 or send an email to itres@autoeurope.de
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Additional explanation about the deductible: a difficult topic
The deductible is something very difficult for those who are not used to renting cars; we were the first to struggle to understand how it works.
In a nutshell, the deductible is the amount that the driver must pay to the car rental company (not Auto Europe) in case of damage or theft with the basic coverage.
Let’s make an example:
If your deductible is € 600 and you do a damage of € 1000, the rental car company will have to pay only € 600 and not € 1000. The remainder will be covered by the insurance.
Auto Europe (but also other online companies and the car rental companies themselves) offer a Deductible Refund service:
By paying a little more while booking, you’ll just have to anticipate the deductible but this – if proven that it was used for damage to the car with the various documents (police report, receipt of deductible payment etc.) – you will be fully refunded.
As regards the deductible refund, there may be various options to choose from.
For the detailed explanation we link you to a very clear Auto Europe page with all the explanations of the case given by professionals in the sector.
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What to do once you arrive at your destination: our advice
Once you arrive at your destination, go to the Collection Office that you selected while booking.
And then?
Then follow these simple steps:
- Show the Auto Europe voucher to the rental company employee (even if, sometimes, Name and Surname are enough). The company will have already prepared everything for your arrival and will have the keys in hand (or they’ll get them ASAP. We lived both situations).
- The employee will print the forms for the collection of the car so that you can sign it: these are documents that certify that it is you who collected the car + relief from various responsibilities.
- Sign the documents and pay the deposit (which will be returned to you if you don’t break anything inside the car) ONLY with a credit card.
- Ask what number you can call if you have problems with the car (essential! We used it twice!)
- Go to the parking lot to collect the car.
What we wrote above is the bureaucratic process that you will necessarily follow, below instead there are a couple steps to keep in mind and that change from car rental company to another and that we preferred to separate to give them the right attention.
– Supplementary insurance offered on site
Almost certainly (let’s say almost because a couple times we have not been asked) the assistant who will support you in the practices will offer you, at the cost of quota euros, an insurance to cover various things.
⚠️ ATTENTION!
These insurances have a cost and most of the time they are like the ones you already take out with Auto Europe… long story short: they are a useless expense.
Always remember that with Auto Europe you are already insured (at various levels based on what you choose while booking), therefore you are well protected.
Check if there’s anything you are not covered for and that you prefer to integrate.
– Check for car damage before leaving
This step is very important in order to not have problems when returning the car.
The possibilities are two:
- An employee will accompany you to the car and check the car with you. In this case together you will check the car and report on a special sheet any damage already present (scratches, chippings…);
- The vehicle inspection has already been done by the rental company and you will be given the form to sign without seeing the vehicle.
While in the first case the whole situation is crystal clear, in the second, before signing, we recommend you to check the car yourself and take photos of the damage that may not have been reported as proof.
This is the only way to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
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Ready to go on an adventure? Book here your car
We suppose you’re ready to go on an adventure, aren’t you?
If you need a car, rent it with Auto Europe, just click here or on the image below and follow the steps we have just explained to you (:
