Blessed with a wonderful climate and some of the best beaches in the USA, the laid-back city of San Diego is one of the oldest and most charming places in California. There's much to see in this sun-drenched seaside paradise, with an abundance of museums, verdant gardens and Spanish Colonial-style buildings scattered right across the city. Covering over 1,400 acres, Balboa Park is the first port of call for most visitors and always a hive of fun-filled tourist activity with several on-site museums and the famous San Diego Zoo to savour. With its restored 19th-century Victorian buildings, the Gaslamp Quarter National Historic District is one of the main hubs of downtown San Diego and a great place to dine out and soak up the city's fantastic atmosphere. Located right on the waterfront, Seaport Village is another delightful place to take a stroll and dine al fresco at any time of the year. Don't miss the amazing Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, one of the US military's largest ships decommissioned in 1992 and now a fascinating tourist attraction. After that, why not pay a visit to the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, one of the most visited parks in the USA where you can travel back in time to the mid-19th century when San Diego was a small settlement. With your car hire in San Diego you'll also have access to some of California's best beaches, most notably Mission Beach and Ocean Beach just a short drive from the city centre.
With over 65 years of international car hire experience, Auto Europe is the right company to find you the best deal for your car hire in San Diego and all other parts of California. By collaborating with all the world’s leading car hire providers, as well as the most reliable local suppliers, we are able to offer the best selection of vehicles at the lowest-possible prices. You can pick up your car in downtown San Diego or from San Diego Airport located a short drive north-west of the centre. Check out our car hire reviews in San Diego section below to see the ratings and opinions posted by some of our previous customers regarding their recent Auto Europe car rental experience in southern California.
" Very satisfied "
" Courteous, friendly, helpful and great service "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" . "
" . "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" I always receive a good price and selection of vehicles from AutoEurope and they've never let me down. My experience with Thrifty does not affect my view of AutoEurope. "
" The counter staff member was a bit unprofessional. The car seats were stained and the volume knob on the radio/audio was missing and had sharp edges! Also, when I returned the car there was only one staff member checking the vehicles. There was about seven vehicles waiting to return! "
Value for Money: 7 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 6 Expediency of Drop-off: 3 Condition of the Vehicle: 3
" The experience has always been good. However I was disappointed with the mix up in the vehicle type with Hertz and when I raised this with AutoEuro I was told it is an issue with Hertz and to speak with them about any compensation due to the delayed start. "
" I booked a convertible but when we arrive to pick it up we were told one was not available. The agent suggest we could come back the following day as a convertible may have been returned by another customer. We came back to the airport car hire centre only to be told a convertible was still not available. This process delay the start of our road trip and we ended up extending our rental period. "
Value for Money: 8 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Everything was great; only negative (not Dollar) is location of car rental centre at San Diego airport on other side of airfield to terminals - resulting in fairly long shuttle ride. "
" Staff made effort to locate and provide requested vehicle. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Auto Europe did everything as expected. Lots of email comms to ensure I was well prepared for a good experience. The experience falls flat when Avis "forgets" to return my deposit. "
" I have been charged $105.234 to my Amex account. This was supposed to be a security deposit that has yet to be nullified when the car was returned (intact,,,,which it was). Please have Avis return this "security" deposit "
Value for Money: 2 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8 Expediency of Drop-off: 8 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Car was what I ordered "
" Easy to use, reasonable queue to obtain car and to return "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" The overall experience was good although we didn't get the model of vehicle that we expected. The choice was very limited "
" A good experience although we didn't get the exact model we had hoped for. The choice of available vehicles was very limited. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 8
" Car smelt of smoke, also had a 30 mins wait due to lack of vehicles "
" Not as good as usual, had to wait for 30 mins for rlcar "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 7
" As above "
" Very friendly and helpful staff. Very easy pick up and delivery. Only disappointment was no Satnav in car "
Value for Money: 9 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Very efficient pick up and drop off. The rental car terminal is a little bit far from the San Diego terminal, but this is not the rental companies fault. "
" Very efficient pick up and drop off completed within minutes. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Auto Europe was a good experience "
" The vehicle was rather old (over 50k miles) and had some faults, mainly the panoramic roof blind was not working and hung down to partly obscure the rear view. It would have been impossible to carry passengers without fixing it, but we could live with it. The drop off at LAX was a disaster, there were almost no signs to the new car rental center and the bus transfer back to the airport was terrible, they missed our stop and had to go around again. "
Value for Money: 8 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 3 Condition of the Vehicle: 4
" See above "
" Having arrived at the car rental facility following a long haul flight, I didn't fully check the invoice and afterwards realised that extras had been added to the final bill that I didn't request or wanted (roadside assistance and personal liability). "
Value for Money: 8 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Considering we paid a lot of money to rent the car for two months you would expect the car to be in top notch condition in pick up and not have to stop off fill up screen wash and wipe down parts inside? "
" The car was dirty inside when we got it. Malaysian coin money was found in door pocket!! Chip in windscreen, front number plate damaged and bent. No windscreen wash in bottle which meant in a dry climate like CA was a great inconvenience- had to stop and get it topped up. "
Value for Money: 4 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 4
" Nice car and good service from Sixt "
" Nice car and good service from Sixt "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Good service overall. "
" Discovered broken rear view mirror whilst travelling. Reported to Alamo. Promised free upgrade e-mail for use on next hire. Not received! "
Value for Money: 8 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 7
" Very competitive rates. No issues on pick up or drop off. No hidden costs. Really happy from start to finish. "
" Easy pick up or drop off. No hidden costs. Modern clean vehicle. Very happy with service and car provided. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Collection and drop off processes were very easy No problems with the booking or details "
" We didn't like the vehicle model (4 Runner). It was in the class we had ordered and the condition was fine eg very clean etc but found it to be difficult to drive, very thirsty and underpowered - seemed very outdated. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 7
" Bad experience with return of car. "
" I returned the car on time and with a full tank of fuel. Nothing was said when I returned the car but i have subsequently received a bill for $250 . I am awaiting a response to my query as to why I was charged extra. "
Value for Money: 1 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 3 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Please let me know why $99 was taken from my deposit. I will be very grateful for the information. "
" Please let me know why $99 was taken from my deposit. I will be very grateful for the information. "
Value for Money: 9 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" One of the best car rental experiences I have ever had. "
" Counter staff very efficient, the thing I liked most was they didn't try to push you into extra's you didn't want and explained the fuel option which I took,and the choice of cars was excellent . "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" As above "
" To be honest, I would of preferred at least a ten minute discussion about eg controls, fuel-cap release, etc etc a car I had never driven. Especially as I was going to be driving on the right. But I was just given the keys. "
Value for Money: 7 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" I do not believe that the issue was with Auto Europe and I am therefore happy to continue to rent through them. In this instance there was no difference in the voucher between having purchased the with GPS included and having pre-booked GPS. I would suggest that the voucher clearly states whether the GPS is included or being pre-booked. As an aside, I was advised that all USA renters are disabling built in GPS navigation units in their fleets so that (a) they could charge for supplying a portable unit and (b) due to the chip shortage and the age of their fleets they were not willing to go to the expense of ongoing updates. "
" I have in the past rented cars from Sixt either direct or through a third party such as Auto Europe and I have always received exactly what was booked plus on occasion an upgrade. This was not the case this time, I thought that I had booked an SUV with GPS included in the price through Auto Europe but the Sixt office in San Diego insisted that the cost of the GPS was not included saying that this was down to renting through a third party as they (Sixt) did not offer such deals and therefore it was the third party who were at fault. At this point I asked to speak with the supervisor who reiterated that Sixt did not offer such deals and that I would have to pay for the GPS and take up the matter with Auto Europe when I returned to the UK. I refused this suggestion stating that I wanted what I had paid for which was a vehicle with GPS, after much discussion he agreed to waive the GPS charge. When I collected the car, I was handed a bag containing a Garmin portable GPS unit and on asking why was informed that all in-car GPS units had been disabled. The use of portable equipment that had to be affixed to the windscreen with only a 4 by 3 inch screen is not exactly conducive to safe driving especially when the unit is so slow that you have passed the turning before it tells you to turn. In addition, the unit I was given had not been updated for some time so that in some instances the directions given were not correct especially where road layouts had changed in respect of one way streets. "
Value for Money: 7 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 8
" Verygood "
" Very good, can not fault "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 7
" Extremely easy at pick up and drop off very pleasant staff at Alamo SD. Booking very easy with Auto Europe with good advice. "
" Extremely easy at pick up and drop off very pleasant staff at Alamo SD "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Use Enterprise, Hertz, or Sixt. Don't go for the cheap options like Europcar and avoid Goldcar like the plague. "
" I always try to use Enterprise as they rate highly for customer service, even if more expensive. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Easy pick up and able to get on my way without delay "
" Very helpful and a good service "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" All seemed fine but when I got back home and checked the receipt I have been charged an extra 112.76 for NON PKG ITEMS. I never requested any extras nor was I told of any extra charges. "
" All seemed fine but when I got back home and checked the receipt I have been charged an extra 112.76 for NON PKG ITEMS. I never requested any extras nor was I told of any extra charges. "
Value for Money: 5 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Not sure that there was anything Auto Europe could have done to assist. "
" Booked a Full size SUV and ended up with a Nissan Maxima sedan. Told to exchange it at Phoenix airport and ended up with Jeep Compass. To small no GPS as paid for. Told by Alamo Customer services that our next stop at SLC they would sort out a Full Size SUV. SLC refused to give us an SUV AWD as we were returning to San Diego with it. So with snow on the ground where we were heading we were grounded in SLC area. Poor experience that ruined certain aspects of our holiday. "
Value for Money: 1 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 4 Expediency of Drop-off: 9 Condition of the Vehicle: 7
" I feel I was not treated well and in future very unlikely to reserve a rental through Dollar "
" I had reserved a Jeep Grand Cherokee but was informed that they were not available. I was offered a GMC Terrain as a substitute. I do not believe the Terrain is in the same classification as the Grand Cherokee. There was no other option not even an upgrade. I declined the GMC and had to take a Cheverolet Impala which was not at all what I wanted. The staff were uncompromising and the whole experience was disappointing as I had paid for something that was not available and the alternative not acceptable "
Value for Money: 2 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 2 Expediency of Drop-off: 7 Condition of the Vehicle: 4
" Good web site and easy to see comparable prices. "
" Very satisfied- nearly new vehicle. 9 score as there was no water in screen wash. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Excellent service, it all went like clockwork. "
" Excellent service. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Quality experience "
" Quality experience "
Value for Money: 7 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" No problems at all "
" no problems what so ever, very smooth and effiecent "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Easy booking, convenient price, already included all the coverages, so I didn't have to worry about them once I arrived at the Alamo desk "
" Very quick check in and check out. Everything was prepaid and, unlike previous renting experiences, the counter staff didn't insist to sell us upgrades or additional items/services. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" See above "
" Very good - as usual "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" I had over three hours and forty minutes on May 28th to make my connection in San Francisco to San Diego. The immigration was so backed up that it took three hours to get through. I then had to go to the domestic terminal, go through more security and in spite of rushing as fast as I could I missed my connection. A friend in San Francisco pick me up and later drove me to Temecula. I called Alamo to cancel and they told me to contact you. I tried several times to call your UK number and was on hold for a long time. This was on my friends phone and was being charged long distance rate. I kept trying and finally got through and was told it was too late to cancel. I am very dissatisfied and want a refund. I did everything I could to resolve this in a responsible manner. "
" Alamo was unable to help me. Referred me back to Auto Europe "
Value for Money: 1 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1 Expediency of Drop-off: 1 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" I was nervous about paying up front but thought in hindsight that I got a very good deal as a result "
" Everything went smoothly "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Auto Europe...Very Good .. will definitely book again.................Alamo OK "
" Counter Staff a Pick up - far from ideal - wanted to implement his own terms and conditions "
Value for Money: 9 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 6 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 8
" Very pleased. Everything went smoothly and vehicle was exactly as described. "
" Courteous, helpful and efficient. Delighted with service. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Good "
" Good, did as asked "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Very easy to search and book online! "
" The two gentlemen were awesome!and made everything so easy for a first time driver in America. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Always easy and reliable "
" Very courteous and efficient "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" No particular comments. "
" Compared to car hire earlier in the trip with Budget, our experience with Enterprise was more paperwork, slower, inefficient pick-up and drop-off, and much more expensive. "
Value for Money: 6 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8 Expediency of Drop-off: 6 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Excellent service, great car and easy quick, hassle free drop off. Minor, tiny issue was the wait/ queuing on pickup. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Everything went smoothly and well. "
" Straightforward and easy. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Comparing and booking online with autoeurope was seamless and easy / it's just a shame the Alamo staff let down your service. "
" Your collection counter staff member Keric in San Diego had an apauling attitude towards my wife when asking us questions and when she had questions regarding the insurance and additional protection. He made her feel like he shouldn't be responding to her cause she's a woman and he didn't like her asking questions. As such we took the car with the cover we had paid for online and nothing additional as felt we couldn't enquire properly about the details with him. I think you should have a customer facing member of staff with a pleasant attitude towards both male and female customers - if my wife were on her own, she would have felt very uncomfortable with the details Keric was providing. "
Value for Money: 7 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 8
" Excellent price and great service. "
" Good car and very easy experience to hire it. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" quick and easy "
" quick and easy "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" all good - been using auto europe for many years - feel secure with the service "
" all very smooth! "
Value for Money: 9 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" Great price, easy transaction. "
" Great car, good service, other than slightly over enthusiastic upselling at pickup. Return rapid and smooth. Would definitely use Alamo again. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Pick up (San Diego) and drop off (Santa Monica) literally could not have been any easier. Excellent company. "
" Efficient, courteous, friendly. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 9
" It was very bad service fron autoeurope cause once i arrived san diego i went to alamo and said that no mail confimration send to alamo from you. Very bad experience "
" It was very bad service fron autoeurope cause once i arrived san diego i went to alamo and said that no mail confimration send to alamo from you. "
Value for Money: 1 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1 Expediency of Drop-off: 1 Condition of the Vehicle: 1
" Not the first time I'm using this platform and definitely not the last.. "
" The staff was very nice. In terms of organization - there were no cars at the pickup location when we arrived on scheduled time. We've got a great car though and they gave us a Lift for the location it was at. We were very pleased with the car! "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 8 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" As per usual. You guys seem to make it very confusing to hire a car and try and squeeze every last penny out of the customer with no real care for the customers needs. "
" We're not clear about other expenses to the hire and when the money would be taken from our account. No information at all about driving in America, filling up at petrol stations and general rules of the road. "
Value for Money: 3 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Best deal I could find on all the comparison sites "
" Nothing flashy, just got the paperwork done and we were on our way "
Value for Money: 8 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Very good service "
" We brought the vehicle back 5 days early without problem. "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Para mí es la mejor opción Mi próximo carro de renta será con su compañía "
" Personal amable y atento "
Value for Money: 10 Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10 Expediency of Drop-off: 10 Condition of the Vehicle: 10
" Great service "
" On the plus side it was cheap. On the downside...had to wait AGES for a shuttle bus, queue at desk was enormous (only 4 agents working on a Friday evening) so had over an hour wait (not good after and 11+ hour flight), car quite old plus scratched and dented (collected in dark so thorough inspection was not possible), after a couple of days oil change indicator came on - called customer services and was given option of changing car but this would have been too much hassle as they did not have an office near to where we were. Not great all in all. "
" easy to get comparisons and also to get quotes without ridiculous amounts of excess "
" initial paperwork, and car return were handled very smoothly. The one thing I was a little surprised at was the size of the compact cars - I thought I was getting a Focus size but the choice was rather smaller cars,and we ended up renting a Toyota Yaris - which was a good car but a bit like driving a sewing machine at speed! "
" Excellent service "
" Added additional insurance to rental without discussion or acceptance by me. If discussed they would have been declined. Received a refund of relevant charges after some discussion but they should never have been charged in the first place. "
" Although easy to amend, only the driver booking the car is automatically able to drive it. Maybe an option to add an extra driver on the website would be useful. "
" Although easy to amend, only the driver booking the car is automatically able to drive it. Maybe an option to add an extra driver on the website would be useful. "
" Great price for the car, easy to book. "
" Staff very helpful. Simple process to pick up and drop off car excellent us service to the airport. Excellent choice of cars - overall fantastic. "
" Excellent service, very good price. "
" very friendly and courteous "
" No complaints with AutoEurope ! "
" Location a little awkward ,outside airport and a little difficult for a 6 am flight so left car back early and booked a local hotel for last night !that aside Dollar service was to be fair really quite good,car clean and ready with little delay ! "
" very efficient booking and reasonable rates "