kakijalan

Question to those who have experienced the above:

Is the surcharge already included in the rate quote or will it be charged separately at the point of collection?

FYI I've been comparing prices using the companies' own website eg Europcar, Budget, Sixt

Cowboy1968

If you make a dummy reservation with Sixt for a rental from/to an airport, you will get the "Basic Rental Price" of x Euros, and right below that a remark "Excludes Service Fee" with the of amout of y Euros due for that.

If you picked an off airport or off train station location of Sixt, the remark "Excludes Service Fee" does not pop up.


From time to time, companies advertise airport specials on their own websites for which they waive the service fee. But getting one of those is more a matter of luck.

Gretchen

We have done it, and I don't really remember. But I know I didn't find it so excessive that I would have changed plans. The convenience of the airport was more important than the convoluted possibilities of other methods of getting to a rental office.

Cowboy1968

By the way, I think I was a bit confusing... the ap or train station surcharges only apply when you pick up your car there. If you pick it up elsewhere and return it at the airport, you do not pay the fee.

So if your travels include visiting your city of destinantion and the neighboring countryside, you can save the fee by simply re-arranging your itinerary: arrive airport, take public transportation to city (where a rental car usually does not make much sense anyway), spend x nights in town, pick up car in town, explore countryside for x days, return car at airport.

Michael

The airport surcharge and road tax was not included in the basic rental when we picked up our car at the Glasgow airport. The rental contracts usually specify in fine print that such charges may be added to the basic rental costs. On the other hand, I am considering a rental in Turkey where it is boldly specified that these costs are included in the original quote. So check your contract.

smithmom

We rented a car for our Germany trip earlier this month through www.gemut.com - their rates were reasonable and they are located here in the US. They told us there was a surcharge for picking the car up at the airport (15-20%, I can't remember) so we took a 5 minute cab ride to another location to pick up the car. You can drop the car off at the airport without a surcharge. We had booked a VW Touran for 11 days for $540.00 and then got upgraded to a Mercedes SUV at no extra charge.

ira

Hi K,

It is highly likely that the surcharge, the road tax, extra drive fees, etc will be add ons.

Call the rental agencies.

Also check prices at www.kemwel.com, www.gemut.com and www.autoeurope.com.

kakijalan

THanks all!

Will check with the company