Renting a car can be a great way to explore Europe independently and cost effectively – depending on your itinerary and how many people you are traveling with.
What to look for when deciding on car rentals:
Outstanding prices, a variety of options, strong customer support and a proven reputation. Both of our affiliate partners listed below provide that, but we’ll give you a couple more thoughts before you decide.
Looking for the best deal and already have Europe travel experience?
We’d recommend:
Rentalcars.com (a part of Booking.com) is the world’s largest platform for making online car rental reservations. They offer a wide selection of low rates and specially negotiated deals with top rental car companies. In our limited comparisons, Rentalcars.com’s prices seemed to come out a bit lower than other competitors. They offer a price-match guarantee, no hidden fees, and free cancellations on most bookings.
New to Europe and looking for more customer support?
We’d recommend:
Auto Europe is similar to Rentalcars.com but a bit smaller and focused on Europe. They compare companies for the best rates, have a free cancellation policy (at least 48 hours before pickup), have no credit card or booking fees, and offer a 24/7 support hotline throughout the duration of your rental. Their website and support hotline is tailored to European car rental and driving questions you may have including: planning a trip to Europe, driving permit requirements, and other FAQ. In other words, they frequently assist customers who haven’t traveled to Europe or rented cars in Europe and know how to answers the questions you may have. They also make specific vehicle selection (vans, luxury cars, motorhomes, etc.) a bit easier on their site.
Regardless of which rental company you go with, we’d recommend browsing Auto Europe’s articles on driving in Europe (found in the footer of their webpages). They provide a lot of great European and country-specific travel information for you to plan your trip. We’ll bet you’ll come across a few important things (When are gas stations open in Greece? Are their toll roads? How do their highway systems work?) that you hadn’t thought of previously. Regardless, best of luck on your rental and exploration adventures!