Auto Europe UK Reviews 

easy to make comparisons. shows hidden costs

Honestly such a stressful experience . Paid £244 to hire a car for the week in Spain. That was including the extra insurance. I was expecting to arrive, leave a deposit and take the car. Gold car asked for 1600 euro deposit and then changed their mind Quickly and were asking for another 379 euros. I didn’t want to pay anymore money as I had paid for the rental agreement. The staff were rude and aggressive and showed me the rental agreement in Spanish. I asked for it to be shown in English and they refused. Out of the 379 euro I ended up paying, 140 of that was a refundable deposit. I returned the car with a full tank and no damage and it was checked on arrival. I’ve just reduced a refund from my deposit of only £69?? I don’t understand. I’ve tried contacting auto Europe and they are very unhelpful. Just saying I need to fill out a form. Gold car don’t care either. Between both companies I’ve been completely ripped off. I’ve requested a final invoice from auto Europe to the and understand the charges and why I haven’t been issued my full refund. Please consider other companies when hiring a car. Spend some time reviewing both companies poor reviews. I spent my week away worrying about money and it ruined my time away. Update. I received a message from gold car saying I didn’t return the car full of fuel so I lost some deposit. Absolutely not true. It was checked upon return. Auto europes customer service is appalling also. The reply I got on here originally pretending that they cared and would offer support to look good was just for show. I see no point in booking a hire car through auto Europe. It costs more to hire than going direct to hirer and you receive no support at all. Gold cars reviews are appalling and nearly all customers on trust pilot are saying how they’ve been ripped off autoeurope still offer their service. Shows auto Europe don’t care what happens to customers. As long as they make some money though a booking, then they have no care or responsibility after. Cowboy company

Your website said the car would be in the terminal - it wasn't - it was a shuttle bus ride away from the terminal.

The paperwork you sent after booking and payment then gave us a number to call for a shuttle bus. Unfortunately, this was not correct. The Portuguese mobile phone network does not recognise "+", you have to use "00" instead. It also will refuse any number with spaces in it. So + 351 22 944 86 86 (as you gave us) results in 'number unobtainable' Instead it should be 00351229448686. Not being able to call for a shuttle, we had to walk to the car hire garage - admittedly only 25 minutes, but it was a hot day and we were carrying our luggage.

And the agreement also suggested that there would be no further add-on charges - except there was an extra €10 for the use of the motorway toll tag. Of course I expect to pay for the tolls, but not an extra charge just to use the system.

Site is easy to use, instant results and booking confirmation.....plus great price!

Web site easy to use good choices and prices are good

Just a great service with an even better price

I took out the extra insurance waiver but when we went to collect the car Budget said they did not accept/ recognise this and recommended we should take out their insurance costing us over 170 euros for the week.
We have therefore been properly ripped off and should get a refund from Auto Europe. Not a good way to start the holiday.

Great prices, and easy to use site.

I had to cancel via auto Europe because when I arrived at the rental company I had to pay again. I have sent proof of having to pay the company directly
I paid for the cancellation and was told it was cancelled and with get money back minus £18 which is fine it now been 14 working days this was on 3rd Aug it now 22nd and still no refund.
The worker of the company have refused to let me speak to a manager and told me I have to wait which I have waited the time I was told. I have an email saying was successfully cancelled and will receive a refund but at this point it still hasn't happened
Be very careful using this company trying to speak to them and they don't listen just talk louder over you when your asking questions and just told to wait but was told on 2 other occasions I will have my refund in 10-14 working days that hasn't been the case as it was 14 working days yesterday and now being told I have to wait when asking till when? They will not answer me

The new method to modify/cancel a rental booking is easy and straightforward. However, the revised refund process means that my credit card has been charged for a change but although AE states it sends a refund for the previous sum immediately, it takes my bank seversl days to process. It took me a moment to get to grips with the new booking confirmation form but I quickly came to understand it.

I wrote a review here in early August about a hire car I'd booked for warsaw airport. I was told the booking had been cancelled after the flight was just over an hour late so I had to pay £350 for a car at the desk that autoeurope had charged £110 for. Anyway. I have given them over the 20 days they asked for to confirm what had happened with their local agent and I still have had no refund. I will now go down the route of claiming from the credit card company. The customer service here is almost non existent. It's like they think you're daft enough to accept a bluff. I believe they're a huge rip off and potentially scamming customers. If my reviews can save 1 or 2 others from being ripped off then it's worth my lost money.

Disliked lack of clarity on website, possibly it was an error. Rang helpline but they could not help at all, could not see the web page I could.

Easy to use. Good deals.

We were absolutely happy with the booking process in the UK and also by the small company from whom we hired our car in Barcelona (CLICKRENT) - good, friendly service and they provided us with an almost new Audi A1 when we'd actually only ordered and paid for a Fiat 500 or similar! The only problem was that we twice needed to contact the Spanish company, first because we knew we were going to be late arriving in Barcelona and second because, on arriving at our hotel south of Sitges in the car we discovered we'd left our luggage in the car park in Barcelona! It was impossible to contact the Barcelona office and the number we had only put us in contact with an extremely unhelpful and uncooperatve man at head office in Mallorca. Worth looking into.

Booking Reference: UK5901022-1 (Rhodes, Greece - July/August 2025)

I paid Auto Europe £277.90 for a car rental with full insurance coverage. At the Centauro counter (Auto Europe's partner), I was charged an additional €270 + €111 for what I thought were standard guarantee deposits. Only the €111 fuel deposit was refunded - the €270 was actually duplicate charges for rental and insurance I had already paid AutoEurope for.

Poor Customer Service:
- Sent detailed emails with documentation - no response
- Called customer service, was promised a manager would contact me - never happened
- Now over 2 weeks with no resolution or proper communication
- Having to chase them repeatedly for a clear billing error/ fraud attempt

This isn't just about money - it's about transparency. If Auto Europe's "full coverage" doesn't prevent partner companies from charging customers again for the same services, customers should be clearly warned. Being charged twice for the same rental and having it disguised as a "deposit" feels.

Check your charges at counter carefully if booking through Auto Europe. What appears to be a standard deposit may actually be duplicate charges. Auto Europe seems unwilling or unable to protect customers from this practice.

Still fighting for a €270 refund for services I paid for twice. Will update if resolved, but so far very disappointed with Auto Europe's handling of this clear billing error.

They seam to be amazing replying to bad reviews. Took them less than 1 hour to reply to the review with a AI made reply. I’m still waiting for the reply to my emails.

Next steps will be:
• Today: Start credit card chargeback
• This week: File FOS and Trading Standards complaints
• 30 days: If no resolution, consider small claims court

Booking was easy, but cannot come y on the hire until after the event.