carcassone

Will be in Germany the first 2 weeks of August. Flying in/out of Stuttgart. 4 adults.
Plan to rent a car the 1st week to tour the Rhine, Nurburgring, Rothenburg, Fussen, and end up in Munich.
Plan to do Munich and day trips the 2nd week so I don't think we'll need a car.
Train back to Stuttgart.

Questions:
1) Anyone have a favorite car rental agency? I've used EuroCar in the past.
2) Is there a hefty dropoff charge for returning the car in a different city?
3) Debating whether we should keep the car for the 2nd week.
- I am assuming parking will be a pain in Munich city center.
- Don't expect to use the car much in Munich or day trips (to Salzburg, etc)
- Will the different city dropoff charge offset the extra 1 week rental + parking + train to STR?

Any advice appreciated.

nytraveler

We have never had a drop off fee as long as renting and returning within the same country - and even within some pairs of countries (Belgium/Ger for example). But - this will depend on the rental agency and possibly what type and size of car you rent.

We always use Hertz since we have a discount and as they are US based if there is any problem we can resolve it here once we return. Also they have a very large number of offices and have always given us the type of care requested.
If it were me I would keep the car in Munich. I think it ;s a great way to see the various castles, the sights on Munich outskirts - and even to Salzburg. Just make sure yuo get hotel with a garage.

ira

Hi C,

Both www.kemwell.com and www.autoeurope.com are brokers who will book you through EuropCar at a lower price.

Travelforbeer

More inputs- here is another testimonial for Gemut.com-


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Zeus on Dec 9, 06 at 5:36am


I highly recommend Gemut.com. I've used them almost everytime I've been to Europe in the past 5 years. What I especially like is asking Andy for advice. He'll tell you to shop other companies then show him their e-mail or confirmation. Then he'll beat their price. He also does his best to make sure you get that diesel or GPS you requested and even helped me get an upgrade when things got a bit confused.
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There are many other testimonials for Gemut on this forum. Also, I'm surprised Ira didn't mention Gemut...

Having said this, I have found there is usually a drop fee of around $20 to $30 for open jaw rentals in Germany. In fact, I first ran into this when I made a Frankfurt to Munich rental through Gemut before the days of the Euro. When I contacted the Bestors at Gemut after the trip, they feigned ignorance and offered to "look into it". I have noticed this small drop fee on subsequent open jaw rentals with several companies. It is usually hidden along with some of the other "fees".

Now to the crux of the matter, check the cost difference between keeping the car for an extra week in Munich and using it to return to Stuttgart vs dropping the car in Munich and riding the train back to Stuttgart. In Munich, assume you will have to pay for parking at your hotel. Also there is some cost for fuel between Munich and Stuttgart. If you drop the car in Munich, include the cost of transportation from the hotel to the Bahnhof, train tickets to Stuttgart, transportation costs from the Stuttgart Bahnhof to your hotel, and transportation costs from the hotel to the Stuttgart airport.

I did this cost comparison between these two cities for my upcoming trip this fall and decided to keep the rental car the extra week in Munich. I was surprised at this outcome but decided it would allow a low cost daytrip or 2 from Munich if the weather was bad. (One year it rained for 5 consecutive days during the Oktoberfest.)

You can find good reviews and bad reviews on almost every car rental company in Europe on this forum. The one time I rented at the airport in Stuttgart I got stuck with an automatic for two weeks. And it was a well known international car rental company used exclusively by my employer in the US. (When they didn't have a car for our CEO one weekend they were summarily dismissed, but that is another story...) I have a friend who returned from Germany last week who rented at the Stuttgart airport and was not happy with the car cleanliness and car size (SUV which was way too big for 2 people). Again, the rental was with a large international car rental chain.

So you pay your money and take your chances- most of the time you will be satisfied if you stick with a large international chain , or use Gemut or Autoeurope.

Have a good safe trip, and don't imbibe when you are driving!

carcassone

I think I've used autoeurope before. Never heard of gemut or kemwell but I'll take a look. With 4 adults, it's probably very likely that rental will be cheaper, plus more flexibility.

What about where to pickup/dropoff car in Stuttgart? I know airport is usually more expensive. Would the train station be cheaper? I wouldn't need a car the first/last couple days in Stuttgart, right? (In Europe, I often think of having a car is a hassle ... so anti American! That's why we travel.

sparkchaser

I am a big fan of Sixt, mainly because you can request BMWs and Mercedes. Many times, if you use kayak to book via Sixt's website, you get a rate that is less than on the actual Sixt page.

As far as which is cheaper, the train station will probably be cheaper but then you need to buy tickets to get to the airport and you might not end up saving any money. Price it both ways and if the difference is less than 10 Euro, drop off at the airport.