uday029

For the dates we are travelling, Sixt has the cheapest rates for car rental. Will anyone speak on their experience renting from Sixt? The reviews available online are very mixed (either very good or horrible).

Thanks!

Odin

Sixt are probably one of the best rental companies. Have rented from them recently in Sweden and Denmark. Aside from renting cars in Cyprus, have never had a horrible rental experience with any rental company, and I rent regularly.

cdnyul

Rented from them in London(LHR) last year and in Berlin (TXL) before that.

In London, I did not like the first car (a Skoda Octavia Estate) which was replaced with a VW Polo.

In Berlin, at pick up, I decided to change the drop off to Frankfurt(FRA).

SIXT handled both my requests efficiently, politely, and without any problems.

There were no surprises on my credit card statement afterwards.

Mark

His_Dudeness

I rented from Sixt in Italy and had no problems at all. I now always look at their rates every time we go to Europe.

WWK

We rented from SIXT in Greece, and thought they were very good. The car was a little dinged up, but worked fine.

iris1745

We rented from then in Portugal and Germany with no problems.

I think I used www.carrentals.com and Sixt had the best rates.

I always get a small 4 door car and in Germany they had no small cars and we were upgraded to a BMW 535 at no extra cost.

uday029

Thank you folks. I reserved a car with Sixt.

astein12

We used Sixt in Iceland a few years ago (and have used them in other countries as well). Beat the crap out a little Citroen and it ran like a champ... complete ring road, snow, ice, offroad (don't tell Sixt).

mxm

Rented from them in ICeland last summer. No complaints except for the airport pickup. Get very specific details about
how/when/ who picks you up at the airport to drive you to the rental office. We did have to wait long and were almost losign hope.
But other than that - no compliants ....

xyz99

We used them in Croatia, and they were great. Good little car, almost brand new, automatic, exactly what we reserved. Pick-up and drop-off were easy, without a problem. No hidden fees...the only "problem" was that we could not rent a GPS, because we were dropping off the car in a different town, but this was in 2006, things might be different now.
We would use them again.

BST

Booked a SIXT prepaid rental on a Friday for pick up in FLA. The next day, Saturday, we had to change our plans, so I attempted to cancel the reservation. There is NO ONE in customer service over the weekend. No one. The agent in West Palm was not authorized to cancel the reservation. You can't cancel on line at the website. So you have to email customer service. They take 4-5 days to respond, and do not cancel the reservation...they ask you to rebook for another time and remind you that cancellation fees may or WILL apply. If you call customer service during the week, they tell you to cancel on line or email customer service. Customer service email asks you to call customer service on a toll free line. They all take a moment to remind you that cancellation fees WILL apply. They may have nice cars...don't know as we never saw them, and they may have a good operation in Europe, but the non existent customer service and constant threatening to charge a 3 day cancellation fee is a huge disincentive to use them in the future.

historytraveler

uday029, please ignore the vitriolic response. It seems to have become a regular feature on this forum for people to get upset and nasty over nothing. Wrong side of the bed ? It certainly is not helpful.

In answer to your question, we have rented from them twice. Once was in Nice with no problems, and another time in St. Raphael. We did not like the car they gave us, so they readily refunded our money. I would certainly rent from them again.

iris1745

Wrong side of the bed for me. Not a problem.

Good luck uday029, we had no issues with Sixt.

jamesmachlair

I have lots experienced about them. No doubt that Sixt car rental company is the best and also provide good services. Last Month, when I came in Cyprus, then I booked sure drive car rental company for travel to Larnaca city in Cyprus. I was impressed and satisfied for their services. I highly recommend them and Definitely, I will use next time.

barrie_duffield

Our experience with Sixt Iceland - Be very Aware

Almost 14 months ago we hired a 4x4 from this branch and returned the vehicle undamaged and in perfect running order before returning home to the UK.

Exactly 13 months and 7 days from the hire period we received an email from this office stating they were going to claim against an accident which was logged in my name. But the most concerning part of this notice by Sixt was that they immediately deducted from our credit card (which they had held on record for 13.7 months) a sum over £1100 that was taken without consultation or compromise. Obviously after several fraught days (6) of trying to decipher the "not so friendly report" of the incident in Icelandic, they admitted liability from an internal processing error but nothing more than a short apology.

The shock & horror of finding someone taking money from a credit card without any recourse has made me write within this forum, strongly suggesting that anyone wishing to hire vehicles in Iceland especially from Sixt should be very aware of leaving any record of a credit card with this office and we will always immediately destroy cards upon return in future years as since I have heard this can happen with poor quality hotels as well as rental companies such as Sixt.

mamamia2

I never have rented from Sixt. I can only attest to 2 things:

1. At the Madrid airport this past Summer we were waiting in line at the Europcar desk with 6-7 other couples. The nearby Sixt desk had only a bored agent looking at us.

2. Several years ago we rented a car from Europcar downtown Lucern, Switzerland, traveling to Italy and back to Zurich. The reservation was made thru Auto Europe (an excellent company who we always contact for car rental abroad) and as always, using our Visa CC, utilizing their CDW coverage. We very slightly scratched the side of the car in Italy, and upon return at Kloten we were instructed to simply leave the car at an assigned spot with the keys left in. We were very tight with time, so we elected not to spend the time approaching Europcar's desk.

Couple months later we got a letter from Europcar, stating we damaged the car, but the list of damages exceeded "our" scratch on the side of the car. I wrote back to Europcar, offering to get in touch with Visa for their claim, but mentioning the fact that the list of damages attributed to us was not accurate. A couple weeks later I got Europcar's response, telling me they dropped the claim, because their policy is not to pursue a claim against a renter if the renter is disputing it (which I did not, not the complete list)...

janisj

>> they admitted liability from an internal processing error but nothing more than a short apology.<<

OK -- I guess I don't see the problem. They discovered it was their error and reversed the charge. What more do you want - a silver platter?

But since you registered to post, it is doubtful you'll see this . . .

tglenn3636

I strongly advise against using the rent a car company SIXT. The main reasons are that they tacked on additional fees on the day that we returned the car AND they posted false charges to my debit card.

The whole story is that my boyfriend and I were checking out different rental companies upon landing at SJD airport in Mexico. The guy who is in charge came out of his office up to the fence and told us that the Hertz office was closed but that we should rent with him. For three weeks, with 90% coverage, he offered us a chevy spark manual transition for $780 dollars. It sounded like a slightly better deal than some of the other companies so we chose SIXT.

Red flag #1: we noticed when we left the parking lot that the Hertz company had not closed but had just relocated. That was sign number one of scummy business moves, since the guy had just lied to us in saying that Hertz had closed.

Red flag #2: the "hold" charge to my bank account was higher than it was supposed to be. With taxes and conversion rates accounted for, the charge was supposed to be a flat $800. It was an odd $822 plus change. This was the beginning of this company trying to nickel and dime us.

Red flag #3: they day we returned the car their office was gone. We had to wander around the parking lot with lots of luggage looking for the SIXT office, if there was even one left. Finally some guy came running up to us and pointed out the trailer where the "new" office was temporarily located. The original office was under construction so we did our close out business in a sketchy trailer.

Final and worst red flag #4: when they checked out the car for damage they did so quietly. This was only weird bc apparently they claimed we left the interior too dirty and we must pay for it. I would think they would have pointed out this issue when we were with them doing the car check. Anyway, when we went to finish up paperwork that was when they said the car was too dirty so we had two options 1) go through their system and pay $70 USD for a cleaning or 2) go through the man out back and pay him "about" $40 USD. Yes, they used the vague word of "about" which is never a good word in business to use when money is involved. When I asked what it would cost in pesos they said $600 MXN Pesos which means they used a convenient-for-them conversion rate. Most places multiply by 14, which means it should have cost $560 MXN pesos, at most. Either way, considering that we had the car for 3 weeks and paid for our gas. Isn't that what most (or at least part) of what paying the $38 dollars per day is for? The one and only cleaning at the end of use? And also, to have a "man out back" to do the cleaning for less money to avoid "the costlier system charges" is also sketchy. Why would they do that? Maybe because if they "go through the system" they have to prove that it is dirty with photos, and perhaps they didn't want to do that considering that it wasn't that dirty after all.

I would also like to mention that we left the car with a full tank, when we had rented it out with 5/8 of a tank. You are welcome, SIXT.

Now I just have to wait and see when I get wi-fi again if there is an unjust final charge on the total car price. I expect it.

Do yourself a favor and do not trust this company. I will never use SIXT again nor would I recommend it to anyone, friend or stranger.

Odin

Red flag #1: Renters who turn up at airports without a reservation and think they can negotiate a deal on the spot. Why would you turn up at an airport with no reservation for a 3 week rental?
Red flag #2: Renters who use a debit card for guarantee then complain the "hold" amount has been debited from their bank account. What's wrong with a credit card?
Red flag #3: Renters who do not check the condition of their car before driving off, then complain when they get charged for all sorts of damage they claim was not theirs or that the tank was not full when they picked up the car.
Red flag #4: Renters who register on Fodor's just to complain.

mpaterso

I just had a bad billing experience with them at Dusseldorf Airport in Germany.

I reserved a car for 11 days for 625 euros.

When I turned the car in it was accepted by a 3rd party agency after inspection for damage and that the tank was full.
Unfortunately I was not provided with a receipt. Big mistake.

I was charged 55 euros extra for the nav system I didn't reserve, as well as a 3% currency conversion fee for getting billed in dollars (even though my reservation was purely in euros). Both of these items were on the contract I signed at the airport, bleary eyed with a tired family after a flight from Chicago. Again, my mistake.

Also there was a 100 euro plus 19% vat "cleaning fee" tacked on. The kids cookie crumbs in the back of the car and muddy paws from being in the Netherlands over the holidays. Nothing unusual, nothing that was ever charged for in the US or in the Netherlands, and nothing noted by the 3rd party return agent at the time of car return. No paper turn-in receipt was provided, although I asked, and we needed to go check in for our flight.

When I called customer service to correct these items, I was told, sorry, you signed a contract for the first two items (even though they weren't on the original reservation), and the car was dirty, we have pictures which we will send to you.

As with any rental car company, be careful what you sign. Secondly, it's best to pay in dollars in advance if you can. Finally, insist on a written invoice at the time of car return noting any and all extra charges. Take time stamped photos of the car and license plate before and after.

All told I paid 205 euros more than I should have. Mostly my fault for allowing myself to get overcharged.