Renting a car in Germany

[PussyLiccker]

The first lesson is to read what you sign. Different countries, different rules.

Important thing to read is the terms. The amount of freeze on the credit card for denying their insurance (which you will get back if the car is in the condition they deem no cosmetic issue, in which over the years I found the checkers to be very fair), the premium location tax for airports and train stations (that's something you'd see on the terms, but not in the rate that they will charge at the desk).

If you get the car dinged up, you are covered up to the amount stated on the credit card information packet (if your card provides insurance). That $1k+ freeze on your credit card is for their insurance since you didn't purchase the insurance they offered. It's reasonable since you can get it dinged up, and they want to be assured that they can charge your for the likely damages. I had a situation one time, and I had no issue with Visa paying out the claim.

I can share the details on what Thrify / Dollar did. On their terms, they wrote that I need to provide proof of insurance for my card or I will need to deposit a large sum (I think I recall it being 1200 or 1500 Euros). If you don't have the credit left over for this large deposit, they will give you an alternative option of much greater rate for the rental without being obligated to provide that large sum for insurance. This is how they play the game. I did something similar to Takedown when I was put into the same situation, I just walked over to other rental agencies until I found the rate that was reasonable.

The thing is, other car rental agencies has no such requirement (requirement to show proof of insurance provided by my card). Thrifty/Dollar just drafted up their terms in such a manner for you to be obligated to such term.

Recently, I have rented also in Austria, and I always thought I needed an international driver's permit that you get at AAA. This wasn't the case with 2 rentals so far. Based on what I read around, if the license is in English, it's not necessary. Even my latest rental, the agency provided information on what I need to show at the desk, and international permit wasn't one of them.

[Tiger 888]

No I didn't know. (1) The company I work for has a corporate agreement with Avis that apparently does not extend to Germany I got used to never topping the tank off and (2) even though they charge a premium for filling the tank, it should not be a flat fee. I makes no difference if the tank is 7/8th full or you push the car in because you ran out of gas. Now that's a rip off.

So you are correct. Top it off regardless. That's the lesson here.

The first lesson is to read what you sign. Different countries, different rules.

[HungryStud101]

You know they are going to charge a premium if you don't bring it back full as agreed. There's gas station near or in the airport, and just top it off there.
.

No I didn't know. (1) The company I work for has a corporate agreement with Avis that apparently does not extend to Germany I got used to never topping the tank off and (2) even though they charge a premium for filling the tank, it should not be a flat fee. I makes no difference if the tank is 7/8th full or you push the car in because you ran out of gas. Now that's a rip off.

So you are correct. Top it off regardless. That's the lesson here.

[PussyLiccker]

You know they are going to charge a premium if you don't bring it back full as agreed. There's gas station near or in the airport, and just top it off there.

When I was in Vienna recently my rental tank meter didn't deviate at all even when I was on my way back to return the rental. Still topped it off.

[XXL]

I never got ripped off with tanking because I am carefull to plan a tank stop close to returning the car. It is a hassle though because you want the tanking to be as close as possible to the end line while not leaving it for when it's too late. Sometimes you need to waste time retracing your steps because a tanking station proves elusive (like the one very close to Frankfurt airport). Luckily you can drive 15 km on a full tank until any consumption shows on the dashboard. I'd say on the last day tanking is more of a sress than returning the car.

[HungryStud101]

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.

I just got nailed by this rip-off. I didn't realize that if the tank is not 100% full upon return Avis will charge you as if the tank was empty. I have to admit that I am lax on this one because in the USA, the company I work for has a deal with Avis that they will refill the tank at the market price. This deal does not apparently extend to DE. I am looking at my Avis receipt and it says the following:

Fuel out 8/8.

Fuel in 6/8.

Fuel SVC option 79.27 Euro.

This is a rip-off and even though it is not out of my pocket I am going to make a phone call today. For my second rental later that week, I made sure I didn't make this mistake.

Top off that tank.

[XXL]

Got a scammy practice to report. I booked a cheap rental with Dollar / Thrifty rental, 2 weeks $279. I go to the counter to pick up the car and they informed me that it was mandatory to purchase their overpriced insurance (I usually just use my own.). That almost tripled the rental price to $700!

Luckily I was able to jump on Kayak and found a standard size 2 week rental for $325 at Alamo.

Normally they could require you to buy a partial waiver insurance but if they wanted you to buy the full-waiver package they were overstepping.

[PussyLiccker]

Avoid Threfty / Dollar like a plague in De. I got suckered into their rate one time and they told me I needes to show proof of my credit card insurance. Bullshit! Other rentals don't pull this bullshit.

[Takedown]

Got a scammy practice to report. I booked a cheap rental with Dollar / Thrifty rental, 2 weeks $279. I go to the counter to pick up the car and they informed me that it was mandatory to purchase their overpriced insurance (I usually just use my own.). That almost tripled the rental price to $700!

Luckily I was able to jump on Kayak and found a standard size 2 week rental for $325 at Alamo.

[Chongmal]

I just had a look. Their prices look very good but pay attention to the free mileage. Something like 3700 km for 28 days. If you commute between clubs within the same area (eg Hessen) it may be sufficient, otherwise they screw you over with the extra kilometers. Also, the prices quoted on their 1st page are without insurance package for sure. Have you rented with them? If I'm under 30 euros per day with unlimited or ample mileage and full insurance I regard it as a cheap. There's the added complication that many renters refuse durations of more than one month,. Therefore the 28 days prices here: https://langzeitkracher.de

I get good deals with Europacar, less than 30 per day with insurance and 5 k km per month, but I'm a platinum platinum platinum member with them.

[Kuni042]

Admittedly, I haven't rented with them. If you are not in a rush, you get solid long-term rentals with Volkswagen Financial Services (and sure other similar types). I got a large VW Multivan, automatic, 2500 km incl, plus full insurance, for under 1300. And I did this just 1 year ago.

I just had a look. Their prices look very good but pay attention to the free mileage. Something like 3700 km for 28 days. If you commute between clubs within the same area (eg Hessen) it may be sufficient, otherwise they screw you over with the extra kilometers. Also, the prices quoted on their 1st page are without insurance package for sure. Have you rented with them? If I'm under 30 euros per day with unlimited or ample mileage and full insurance I regard it as a cheap. There's the added complication that many renters refuse durations of more than one month,. Therefore the 28 days prices here: https://langzeitkracher.de

[XXL]

This is in my opinion pretty expensive. Have you tried websites like langzeitkracher?

I just had a look. Their prices look very good but pay attention to the free mileage. Something like 3700 km for 28 days. If you commute between clubs within the same area (eg Hessen) it may be sufficient, otherwise they screw you over with the extra kilometers. Also, the prices quoted on their 1st page are without insurance package for sure. Have you rented with them? If I'm under 30 euros per day with unlimited or ample mileage and full insurance I regard it as a cheap. There's the added complication that many renters refuse durations of more than one month,. Therefore the 28 days prices here: https://langzeitkracher.de

[Kuni042]

This is in my opinion pretty expensive. Have you tried websites like langzeitkracher?

Total price 1199 euros for 43 days, or 28 euros / day, automatic transmission, all mileage included, full damage and theft waiver. ,,,,

... about VPNs it may be of interest to mention that I am using SurfEasy. I subscribed to SurfEasy when Opera VPN ceased to exist as a free VPN and the non-free Surfeasy took over. It connects to the Netherlands unless you specify another country. One subscription entitles you to protect 5 devices.

[XXL]

I booked through billiger-mietwagen.de. On the booking form I was asked if I intended to cross borders. The site accepted my booking pending feedback with the car supplier as to border crossing. The go-ahead for border crossing came three days later. This is something you should bear in mind if you plan to cross eg into the Netherlands. There's a one-time border crossing fee. This is to be reminded at pick-up when you sign the actual paper contract.

Apparently the chain of brokers / suppliers went as thus: billiger-mietwagen --->rentalcars.com ---> Global rent ---> Buchbinder, the latter being the car owner. The insurance voucher was from an insurer in Malta. Total price 1199 euros for 43 days, or 28 euros / day, automatic transmission, all mileage included, full damage and theft waiver. Had I been ok with a shift gear I could have saved 5 euros a day on this price.

The pick-up place was Ferdinand-Happ-Strasse in Frankfurt, near Ostbahnhof. The car was a Skoda which you can consider the low-cost version of a VW Golf. A simple car with an interesting feature, namely both a USB and an SD slot. Many cars only have USB or USB + CD (obsolete these days). Radio is crap and listening to my own downloaded stuff is a must during the long hours on the Autobahn.

A rather good-looking female employee jotted down the existing scratches. The car already had quite a few, all the better I thought, the more scratched a car was already, the less conspicuous would be any scratches of my own doing. The radio antenna was also chewed, no big deal. The one thing I was not enthusiastic about was the "SK" number plate (Slovakia). I didn't know car rentals in Germany were allowed to rent out non-German cars. Lucky I was not planning to do things like drink and drive since there was nothing like an Eastern Europe number plate to worsen the odds of getting waved down at police road-blocks.

Off to FKK Oase. Barely driven 20 kilometers (entering Burgholzhausen), tire pressure alert! U-turn and back to Ferdinand-Happ-Strasse where they told me there was nothing wrong with the tires, just the sensors being oversensitive etc. Some fuddling with the electronics. Then back to Oase with the pressure alert off. I believed the story about the misbehaving pressure sensors since the BMW I had rented from Sixt in June had also got me in a sweat with a spurious tire pressure alert. As it turned out everything would be all right on that count from then on. Another thing however: when I inquired about the whereabouts of the car instruction manual, I was shown one in Slovak. That's all they had so that's why it was not in the car. I found this negligent. Surely in such a case a firm could be bothered to print something in German from the web. There were no further mishaps except the next regular servicing was due in 1900 kilometers and I was to drive nearly 6000. When I returned the car they told me this was common and nothing to worry about. Good to know but maybe they should be more proactive in servicing a car they were about to rent long term.

All in all everything went well and I would not hesitate to rent again through billiger-mietwagen. Sure Buchbinder at Ferdinand-Happ-Strasse was not as glamourous as Sixt at Frankfurt airport but this was a business lower down the food-chain with prices to match.

I deleted the previous poster's post by mistake intending to click the "edit" button on my own post. An undo button for such cases would not be amiss. But since it was about VPNs it may be of interest to mention that I am using SurfEasy. I subscribed to SurfEasy when Opera VPN ceased to exist as a free VPN and the non-free Surfeasy took over. It connects to the Netherlands unless you specify another country. One subscription entitles you to protect 5 devices.

[Smoke Light]

Sometimes while I'm in Germany I VPN back to the US and reserve the car from the US site. It's sometimes cheaper that way.

Slightly off top, but which VPN provider is good? I have seen a very long list of comparisons between hundreds of VPN companies, and it's hard to decide. Obviously, my primary VPN need is in US, which becomes more and more of a police state as the days pass.