Cannot fault the booking or the hand over. We asked for an automatic, which is what we got. When hiring car is is always fairly new but our car was a 2006 Ford Fiesta with several parts missing from it. The staff told me that the car I was meant to get had not been handed back and this was all they had that was automatic. My wife was so tired that we just accepted it. Could have been more helpful!

I just booked a car with Autoeurope, and it remains to be seen weather they follow through on their promises of good service etc. I booked *after* reading the bad reviews on this page, however, after doing some more reading online, I found quite a few good reviews as well. I must admit that I do feel like I am taking a bit of a chance, though I do feel that this page paints this service provider in a rather one sided view. The reason I am writing this review is to encourage other visitors to look further in other places and read other reviews (I found mine on "trip advisor" and they were written by genuine contributors with thousands of comments on that site).

Hired through Auto Europe as they were £15 cheaper than the other quotes I received for a 3 day hire. Contact via email to customer service department was good, prompt responses well within 24 hours. They waived any cancellation fee due to the Iceland volcano but luckily we didn't have to cancel in the end.

You are instructed to meet the courtesy shuttle outside the terminal, but this is confusing as the new terminal has now opened so we waited 15 mins here only to discover after a call to the office and seeing the shuttle zoom past us that you need to be at a bus stop outside the OLD terminal just where the new and old terminals meet.

Instead of waiting for the bus (one couple we met had waited 30 mins and were not happy), you can walk to the car hire depot if you wish as it's on the main roundabout outside the airport opposite the San Miguel brewery. There's a walkway that takes you over to the right side of the road and it's about a 10 minute walk (not good if you have cases/golf clubs though I guess!).

Overall not a terrible experience but it could have been made a whole lot easier by some signs at the airport. I will probably not use Niza again as we do not get value out of the '50 of petrol that you have to use before you return the car (no refund for any petrol left) and I prefer the convenience of just walking down the ramp in arrivals and collecting the car from there.

Having read other reviews I was very vary of Europa Gold Cars. All went well at pick-up EXCEPT I was given a screen to sign without knowing what I was signing. Cost was as estimated BUT my signature was also against a statement saying I had agreed to pay in Pounds (not true, I was not asked!) I have a Nationwide credit card which does not load for european purchases and I always intended to pay in euros). I understand from friends that it is illegal is Spain to charge other than in euros without asking. Naughty!
Customer Services in the parking garage were very helpful in working out how to start the car and set the options in english (Picasso auto) - very dark in the garage. However, although we checked the body work for any damage we did not notice a deep scratch along both offside windows - could not have seen that in the dark. We wait to here if this was noticed on return - we do have insurance to cover this but are a bit anxiousin view of others comments. Would rather NOT have used Europa Gold Cars but the 3 agents we tried all used this company and we did want an auto.

watch the small print on Auto Europe voucher
a) will not permit return of car with full tank. Sixt rentals chargesd for 39 litres in a car with tank capacity 35 litres
b) unlike most other rental companies auto europe charge doe not include airport location fee (15 euro in cyprus)
car was fine but charges a surprise.

After two or three hiring experiences, it is clear that Auto-Europe achieve keen prices by sub-contracting end-of-life cars from hire operators.

The cars are sometimes a bit tatty, but I have not yet had one that was undrivable. The hire contract is based on the rental company's usual terms, which should, of course, be checked carefully.

On balance, I will continue to use Auto-Europe until I hit a problem that they don't seem willing to resolve for me.