Renting a car in Germany

[XXL]

I now discover that crossing borders is something that should be cleared beforehand and that companies can charge an additional 5 euros / day for it. I never thought this would apply to countries like Austria, Holland etc.

[Takedown]

I keep an extra credit card for the sole purpose of vacationing. After my bimonthly holidays, I always report the card lost so I cannot be automatically charged. Europcar sent me an invoice once but when I called to see what it was about, they just cancelled the charges. Point is, when you make them take an extra step to contact you before trying to scam you, you can usually avoid these false charges.

[Optimist]

Just a couple of added points.

It is essential to take photos before picking up the car and after dropping off, including of the mileometer and the fuel gauge. It helps if you are seen by the staff to be doing so.

It is a normal part of the hire agreement that you pay a fee, maybe 25 euros average, to the car hire company for passing on to the Police your name and address if the car is caught speeding. If you got the charges removed by your agent you did very well HungryStud101.

I have had several run ins with car hire companies and found that the only thing they responded to was threats of complaints to the European Trading Standards Agency (not sure if US citizens, or UK citizens post Brexit will have this option ). Last time I got 1000 euro refund when a company claimed it had to repair a car and in fact quite clearly had no intention of doing so (I caused a minor scratch which was within the company's declared de minimis size), being unable to produce invoices for work done.

No one company is reliably honest. I have had excellent service and appalling service with companies: even paying for a premium company does not guarantee good service.

[HungryStud101]

Renting a car in Germany / Europe is very different from renting in North America.

Make sure you check the car over and if you see anything you call one of the car rental employees over. They put a sticker on a scratch on a bumper prior to leaving the lot. When you turn it in they will give the car the once over again. Very different than the 100's of cars I rented in the USA. And much more expensive for this POS roller skate with a clutch.

The big thing last year was I got flashed twice and tickets were sent to my office. Avis charged a fee. I had a few issues with the damn car and the rental process to begin with so I complained to Avis and they did nothing. So I called the travel agency my company uses and guess what? The fees were removed and I did not pay the tickets. I just go back last week. Let us see how many times I was flashed. Hopefully I wasn't. It is a huge issue there these days. Money hungry bastards.

As for driving in Europe: Yes it is great to get to out of the way clubs but two of the three I went to this time were very convenient by rail. So I used the trains the first part of the trip and I drove the 2nd. I got to say, I like the trains.

[XXL]

I made a booking through Check24 showing, among other things, the insurance package below. It covers everything beside luggage. But how can I be sure that the firm with which I enter the contract (Europcar) will adhere to these clauses? I subsequently got a voucher but on it I don't see theses insurances black and white, just "Vollkasko" which means all-inclusive.

[Downandup]

Get yourself some excess insurance from an independent company, it should cost a small amount per day. It saved my ass on one trip when something hit my car while driving along the autobahn and left a 6 inch scratch. Eurocar car rental charged me over 800 which the insurance paid me back.

[Pistons]

Be aware of the possibility of scams if you don't have a 100% full tank on redelivery, and not just 85-90%. I was tried getting charged for over half a tank at 3.50 e per liter by hertz in Germany. Hertz in Austria told me they were not legally allowed to charge extra for the tank unless they had a deposit on it prior to when I was handed the keys. Much higher integrity I must say although the internet site never mentioned the extra deposit. Maybe they had my history with Hertz, LOL. I did get a settlement with the German Hertz scam in the end. Refunding me about 50% of what they originally charged for the missing fuel.

Normally Europcar or others are cheaper, but Hertz have been very competitive on pricing this year so far.

[BadinSweet]

I find Hertz at FRA location to be very honest and no scam. Good thing about Hertz is you can use any coupon code and they will accept it.

[XXL]

Having wheels makes for a full FKK experience. Reports about good deals and warnings about rip-offs should be gathered in a dedicated thread.