Bindery

My wife and I are doing a Europe trip in late May where we will fly into Amsterdam stay a few days, then take a train to Cologne and pickup a rental car and drive down the Rhine. My first plan was to end in Freiburg, drop off the car and take a train to Lucerne where we would stay for 3 days and then take a train to Zurich airport and fly home from there.
I checked and it would be $250 more to keep the car, take it into Switzerland and drop off at Zurich airport. I know the gas would be an extra charge, and you need to get an Auto Vignette in Switzerland.
I am thinking it would be nice to drive around in Switzerland. I also know for the time we would be there we could take a train to most places we would like to go (such as Mt. Pilatus).

I would appreciate any thoughts on this

Michael

Keep the car. It cost me more to go from Lucerne to Zurich by train than it did from Florence to Zurich (admittedly a special rate). Without a pass public transportation is expensive in Switzerland, so it might be a wash between keeping the car or taking the train.

BTW, the vignette is not obligatory if one chooses not to use the limited access highways, but the road signage in Switzerland does not offer an alternative, so that it is difficult to avoid these highways in some locations--for example, taking the autobahn in Freiburg and going to Basel, or driving from Lucerne into the Alps.

dugi_otok

Keep the car. You could return the car in Konstanz which is a one hour train ride direct to the Zurich airport. I know Hertz has a location there. You would save most of the drop off charge.

I also recommend staying or day trip to the Alps, Grindelwald would be good.

neckervd

Many car rental companies have offices at Loerrach (Germany) linked to Basel (1 mile) by commuter trains.
Standard train fares:
Loerrach - Lucerne: 43 USD
Lucerne - Zurich airport: 33 USD

All depends on what you will do at Lucerne.
If you plan to move by Lake Lucerne steamboats and mountain railways, you may never board your car during your Lucerne stay.
If you plan to visit places like Ballenberg, Einsiedeln, Engelberg/Titlis or Berne, you will need your car and car rides will be cheaper than public transport. In this case do what Long Island told you: drop off your car at Konstanz.

WorldTravlr

This is a long shot but worth the effort. Ask your rental car company of the have a car with Swiss plates. If they do, even if it is a different size or class, it could save the cross- border drop fee. It has worked for me in the past.

Ricardo_215

I rented in Switzerland May 2014, from Basel to Chur. The car we rented already had the motorway vignette so we didn't have to pay for it. I don't know if a previous renter had bought it or what.
Pilatus was an option for us, but instead we did Piz Gloria - Schilthorn, a bit south of Pilatus. I hope you have the weather we had last May, it was indeed "Gloria". Glorious, with beautiful views all around