Auto Europe UK Reviews 

Easy booking and rental was seamless. Good communications. Would definitely use again

Do not use this company they are scamming you out of money and not providing what you have asked for when renting car on arrival at the airport paid 80 pounds for collection at the airport but found out that sixth charged an extra 80 pounds as they said we had to pay more they also said that auto Europe are terrible company and mislead customers.

Do not book a car through this company

I was unexpectedly in hospital this week and unable to attend our planned trip. The booking was in my name which I’d tried to change online but there was no ability to do this. I needed another person in our group to take over so they could still continue the booking.

At the airport the agent said we should call Auto Europe to change the name on the booking as they could not do it themselves. I waited 15 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. When they did they told me they cannot change the name because it was outside 48 hours. Having checked the small print again, there is no wording that states this, it only mentions potential fees may apply. I have never known a car rental company be so inflexible with extenuating circumstances. Avoid and book with a reputable agent or direct with the rental company. I will be pursuing a refund through other channels.

The company advertises 24/7 support. However, this wasn’t our experience. Flying from Stansted to Carcassonne, on the day we were informed of a 1 hour delay. I was about to get through to the helpline and update them. They provided me with the number of the office we were due to collect the car from and I also updated them. Our airline got us boarded and then the aircraft sat on the runway for another 90 minutes. During this time I was repeatedly trying to get through to the AutoEurope number and the local number. When I eventually got through to AutoEurope they told me to just update locally. No answer on the phone.

Our flight finally left, and we arrived in Carcassonne. I immediately informed the local agent that we would be arriving hopefully around 1930. The lady responded ‘I will not waiting any longer than to 1940. At that point we were sure we would make it. Unfortunately the train was then late. From 1700 to 1930 I was trying both numbers to beg for a few minutes. Once I did get through and the AutoEurope agent said ‘nothing to do with us, I can’t do anything’. No response at all from the local agent. We arrived at 1945 to a definitely closed shop and were stranded.

Not that it’s relevant as clearly all customers should be important, but I have a serious cardiac condition, which is exacerbated in the heat. So this was an awful experience for us,

The next day we made our way back to the office, having managed to speak to AutoEurope who again refused to help in any way. The local agent told us we had missed our car and it was nothing to do with them.

I’ve written to AutoEurope Customer Service but haven’t even had the courtesy of an acknowledgment. I understand that there is insurance you can take out at an extra cost to be ‘covered’. I am assuming that’s why their phone system is so poorly run, to prevent customers from updating them in a timely manner and thus them and the local company taking money for absolutely nothing. I have all the calls logged and will be escalating once I am back in the UK.

AVOID!!! THEY REFUSE TO REFUND!!

We booked with this company for a two week hire in Majorca but cancelled over a month before the Rental as we found a cheaper price elsewhere.
One month later and still no refund despite multiple attempts to contact the company.

I made a booking with Auto Europe and, somehow, the pickup time changed without me noticing. My flight details later changed, so I contacted the car rental company, who advised me that any booking amendments had to be made through Auto Europe.

I emailed Auto Europe and was told I could simply amend the pickup time to a later time online. As I wasn't adding any extra hours or days to the rental, I was told this would not affect the price and would not trigger a repricing.

Unfortunately, there was no option on the Auto Europe website to amend just the pickup time. The only option was to start a completely new booking, which immediately repriced the rental.

After spending hours trying to get through by phone, I finally spoke to someone, only to be told the rental would now cost over £300 more because the system treated it as a different booking.

The booking showed a pickup time of 10:00 AM, when it should have been 10:00 PM (my original intended pickup time was around 20:50, based on my flight arrival). Auto Europe even had my flight number when the booking was made, so it should have been obvious that a 10:00 AM pickup didn't match my arrival.

Overall, this was a very frustrating experience with poor customer service and an inflexible booking system. I won't be using Auto Europe again.

I booked a rental car at the airport. Due to family circumstances I couldn’t board the flight. I tried to amend my booking through my auto europe account, it wouldn’t allow it. I looked for any way to contact customer service but all the phone numbers available are not in service anymore. I left a message through the webpage and tried an old customer service email address. There has been no acknowledgment of receipt even. I contacted the actual company that the rental is with, but they cannot alter or cancel the booking as it was not done directly with them.
I am utterly disappointed and lost about what to do next.
If a company is willing to take your money to provide a service, they should be available to support you when something goes wrong.

Disappointed with my experience with Auto Europe. I paid £535.61 for a car hire booking that was cancelled when I arrived later than my scheduled collection time. I have since been informed that there is a one-hour no-show policy and no refund is available.
Having reviewed the booking process and my initial confirmation, I cannot see where this one-hour forfeiture policy was clearly highlighted before payment. The response I received refers me to the voucher that was sent after the booking was completed.
I attended on the same day and did not intentionally abandon the booking. I have asked Auto Europe to show where this policy was clearly disclosed before payment and to reconsider my case. I would welcome a constructive resolution.

I booked a car through this nightmare of company, they will show you the desired supplier on the first page but as you complete the booking the supplier changes in my case it changed from B rent to Surprice which I only realised when I received the voucher. When you try to ring on the weekend it says that they are closed which is not true you need to try over and over again to get through to them. I m now 24hrs after the end of my car hire reservation unable to contact customer service. Please can someone help otherwise I will have no choice to get in touch with my credit card and the Citizens Advice consumer service

Absolutely appalled by the service we received when we collected a 9 seater from Glasgow Airport on24.05.2026. I have rung Auto Europe, emailed and still no one is able to acknowledge the problems with the vehicle. Stay away from Auto Europe and Green Motion.

Auto Europe will cancel your car rental 2h after reservation time, leaving you with no car AND no refund.

Never use this company!!!! They took money off me May 2026 and didn’t pay me back. This company took a payment from me and then did not provide me with a hire car. When I rang up to dispute them taking money later, they refused to pay me back saying I’d used the wrong email address but they would have got an incorrect email sent back if that had happened. They also had my phone number. They took all the money and refused to pay it back despite me having to find another car rental company urgently to get a rental car. I had to dispute this through my bank. Appalling service !!! Don’t use!!

Booked a car through Auto Europe. When I showed up at the airport to pick it up, I was told the booking had been canceled. Turned out it was Auto Europe who canceled the booking, but didn't bother to inform me. They claim they are allowed to do that based on T&C, whereas their T&C actually don't seem to give them a termination right. The customer support is incredibly rude and unhelpful - as is mentioned by other reviews, they pretend to not be able to hear you, talk over you and press random buttons during the conversation to cause beeps in the line. They offered no help, saying I should just not book with them again in the future - I definitely won't, but still leaves me stranded at airport without a rental car

Have used autoeurope just after the dreaded Covid and always gone to plan at Charlotte obviously some of the hire companies are better than others but on the last time we used autoeurope we flew into Washington Dulles
The first issue we had was our flight was delayed slightly but I always do the pick up later than when we land but just to be sure I contacted AE and don’t know why I bothered as the agent I spoke to was no help at all and the answers I got were really negative.
When we landed we were still in the time we had to pick the car up but when we arrived at dollar counter the agent just said ‘no cars’ I showed him my voucher but didn’t even look at it and just said again ‘no cars’ and showed me a list with two names that he had cars for then no more his was at 11.30pm so we were a bit unsure what to do so I called the number that AE have for out of hour ! What a complete waste of time it was just an automated recording saying they are closed !
The dollar agent then found our booking when my wife went back to talk to him and explain we had a booking and he knew we weren’t going away, we eventually got a car half the size we had booked but as it was late we had to take what they gave.
I don’t normally write reviews but feel I have to with how it was dealt with by both AE and dollar it the old saying it’s great till you have to contact them then you realise how bad they are I will be using the car hire company next time even if it costs more.

I booked a Thrifty/Hertz Autohellas rental through Auto Europe. My Auto Europe voucher clearly stated that the rate included “Unlimited Kilometers”, and the terms also listed the mileage policy as “Unlimited mileage”.

After the rental, an additional €31.63 was taken from my bank account. The receipt did not clearly explain what the charge related to.

I contacted Hertz/Autohellas, who told me to contact the booking source because the reservation was made through a travel agent. I then contacted Auto Europe with the voucher, receipt, bank charge and Hertz/Autohellas response, but I they have gone quiet. Their contact number advises you to raise a claim on their website and cuts off.

I am disappointed that I am being passed between the supplier and booking agent with no clear explanation or resolution. Based on this experience, I would be cautious about booking through Auto Europe again and would advise others to check any post-rental charges carefully.

I have used Autoeurope for decades and have considered them a Model for Customer Service .
Having used the company for over 30 years, several times a year, I have found a strong deterioration. have just called to autoeurope.co.uk +44 1233 225114. The current Terms allow for enough ambiguity regarding accepted documentation (what on earth is a Local Driving Permit - different from an IDP?) and as to which credit cards are accepted, disallowing anyone else in your party to step in to get the rental in his/her name should your documentation not be accepted, and in all cases "TREATED AS A NO SHOW". I.e. they allow themselves to keep your money and give you no car!

The agent on the phone was less that polite, overly officious overly verbose with repeating vague rules and not interested in resolving the query which was to specify what happens when a "term" is interpreted unfavourably and the car is declined.

For example the country I want to rent from allows me to rent with an original non-EU driver's licence but the supplier "May" not (or may yes! - up to them to decide on the spot!) and where he couldn't clarify, he robotically kept repeating the vague rules, speaking over us.

A terrible decline in customer service from a previously Model Company.

Booking from Chania Crete airport on arrival at 9.30 pm to be told NO VEHICLE was available. After waiting an hour we were promised a car would be delivered to our hotel next day (Saturday) This did NOT HAPPEN waited all day with excuses and broken promises. Finally received car TWO DAYS late! Received small €40 refund from Monza the rental agent. No apologies from Auto Europe and NO RESPONSE TO MY LOGGED COMPLAINT. Unable to contact by email or phone. Very difficult to register any problems or receive any information. Request for inconvenience compensation not acknowledged or replied to.
Auto Europe appears to abstain from any responsibility once you pay for the voucher even when it goes wrong or the agent does not fulfil it's promised obligated contract.

DO NOT USE! Auto Europe allowed us to book car hire with a Europcar branch which was shut at the time we were meant to collect the car. The support staff were sarcastic on the phone, didn’t want to help, and then pretended to not be able to hear me before hanging up. They now won’t pick up the phone to me.

Auto Europe have taken payment of almost £200 for services they could never deliver - and now they don’t want to hear about it.

Avoid!

Will be lumping these in with Goldcar Majorca as scammers if they don't get my refund from Goldcar sorted due to them not arguing my case at the Goldcar desk that i had valid insurance already booked.

I have booked multiple car rentals with this company via their website. The interface is user-friendly and the booking process is straightforward and efficient.

However, Auto Europe does not appear to be particularly selective about the rental companies (suppliers) it partners with, some of which can be very poor in quality. When something goes wrong, in my experience Auto Europe tends to leave customers dealing directly with the supplier rather than providing meaningful support.

Supplier ratings on the Auto Europe site are often significantly higher than those on external platforms, so I would strongly recommend checking independent reviews before booking.

Customer support was disappointing in my case. My supplier (Ecovia/Autovia — rated 4 on Auto Europe but closer to 1 on Trustpilot) cancelled my booking due to a “late pickup”, despite both myself and Auto Europe notifying them well in advance. While Auto Europe did eventually refund the original booking fee (after several weeks), they refused to reimburse the much higher amount I had to pay on the spot to secure a replacement vehicle, advising me to pursue the matter directly with the supplier.

I was not satisfied with the outcome of my complaint, and Auto Europe did not assist further. They also repeatedly ignored my queries about escalation options and declined to confirm whether they are registered with any European Alternative Dispute Resolution schemes.