Italy Forum: Autoeuropa sourced by Car Italy and Tours and Sicily by Car

Thanks for the Info!

The Auto Europe UK website offers WAY better rates in Italy than the Auto Europe USA website. You can also call Auto Europe USA to help with a Auto Europe UK reservation, as I did.

Turns out Auto Europe also sources through Sicily By Car, and the first reservation I was going to make would have been fulfilled by them. I called Auto Europe, and they were able to find a comparable rate from Avis, so I switched the reservation to Avis.

Cheers

My pleasure - That’s all fantastic news.

AutoEurope (Avis) is reliable – A good rate is important, but so too is a reliable company!

It all worked out well for you!

Best Wishes!

Vagabonda

I'd also watch out for Auto-Europe. I booked SBC through Easyterra, which is owned by Auto-Europe. Car was basically OK, but it turns out that I inadvertently drove into a restricted area in Modena and SBC tacked on another $90 (!) for sending me the paperwork from the Modena police. The contract states that if you get a ticket and don't pay when you turn in the car, you get charged $90--that's for SBC to send you the paperwork, mind. However, the ticket for that kind of fine, which you have no way of knowing that you got, isn't sent to the rental company until days later. Hence, SBC gets another $90 out of you. Looking at other rental agency charges for such infractions, most charge 15 to 25 euro. I won't be renting from Auto-Europe anymore.

So how is AutoEurope at fault if you were in error and the contract that you read and signed stated the terms and condition of the rental?

Vagabonda

I think carbugFlorida must be talking about AutoEuropa, because AutoEurope does not itself rent any cars: it is a broker that arranges rental from major companies such as Hertz.

That’s a good point Nick – AutoEurope and AutoEuropa are often confused.

Vagabonda

I see that many concerns have been raised on the Internet on both of these companies. I did some research on car rental rates, and both of the websites (they look alike, but are supposed to be different companies) offered very competitive rates. I booked a Renault Megane convertible at www.autoeuropa.it (Sicily by Car) for a total rental cost of 367,08 Euros. I did not have to pre-pay. I then did some research on this company internet, got suspicious and cancelled (not a problem, since I hadn't paid anything). I proceeded with booking the same car from www.autoeurope.com (a brokerage company) for 466.40 euro (which I had to prepay). More money, but I was hoping this company was also more reliable. But I now just received confirmation from autoeurope.com that my rental will be from ... Sicily by Car!!! The company I had just cancelled with because of all the terrible reviews. Does anybody have any suggestions for me (other than taking pictures of everything - before and after; and saving gas receipts)? Thanks!

-Stephan

We also just booked and paid for a car from Auto Europe for Italy in May. What I noticed was that there are different pick-up sites in Florence where we are renting. Depending on the site you choose, that is the company you get your car from, such as Avis, Hertz, Autoeuropa, etc. Do you have a choice of pickup locations in Sicily? If so, google the addresses and see which dealer is at that address. I'm fairly sure you can change pick-up locations. Maybe that will be an option for you not to rent from Sicily by Car.

BTW, for anyone else looking to rent a car, I just got a much better rate from AutoEurope by finding a cheaper price on the International site and asking the US site to match it. The day after I got the great rate, the price on the International site went up, so maybe they made a mistake that I inadvertently brought to their attention. Anyway it pays to keep checking the rates.

In Feb 2010 we rented an automatic car through Autoeurope UK sourced by Sicily by car. We picked up and dropped off the car at the Palermo airport. We did drop off the car during regular business hours and they came out to the car and inspected it with us present and signed off on the rental agreement before we left for the terminal. I fett better after this. No problems.

I had read some bad reviews online about Sicily by Car and was concerned, but I did not see any other options at the price for me. it was 40% cheaper than everywhere else that I checked.