My daughter and I are planning a trip to Germany in September, and will be renting a car. We need help with a few questions.

- In another topic, I learned about the 19% surcharge for renting cars at airports or train stations. We will be flying into Frankfurt then going to Wurzburg for our first night. Would it be better to pick up our car in Frankfurt, or take a train to Wurzburg and get the car in Wurzburg?

- If the answer is to get the car in Frankfurt, where can we pick it up to avoid the 19% surcharge?

- What is the best car rental company to use?

- We're planning to buy a card for our Garmin for Germany. Is that the best way to have access to a GPS?

- What is the best way to buy gas in Germany? I've heard that most gas stations in Europe require a credit card with chip & pin. I don't have one of those (are they even available in US?) so I suppose cash is the only remaining option?

Thanks as always for the invaluable advice you all provide.

About the buying gas--my husband has had no trouble buying gas (BE SURE TO GET DIESEL IF THAT'S WHAT MOTOR THE CAR HAS!!) with both corporate and personal cards, neither of which have pins, but I think he always pays at a register, not at the pump like in the US.

Some cars will have GPS already; might check; but we take our Garmin making sure we have German maps loaded. Is that what you mean by "buy a card"? He loads them off the internet and updates before leaving the states. He likes having a device he's familiar with, with correct maps, even if the car also has one.

I strongly suggest you rent through Gemut.com
They're well recommended on this site, have VERY competitive rates, and well versed in German travel. The owner's son, Andy, handles the rental part of their business, and gives personal service.
I've used them a number of times, never had an issue, and found them helpful.
We once flew into Frankfurt and avoided the charge by renting at a close but offsite agency. Gemut can help with that.

Concerning the car rental I made good experience with europcar.
I think that it might be cheaper to rent the car in Frankfurt, because the train can be quite expensive in Germany and if you have to rent a car anyways...
Garmin is good. I also had one until someone stole it out of my luggage on the airport (so take care to out it into you handluggage)

@texasbookworm (we're also Texans) - yes, that's what I meant by cards. And you make a very good point about being familiar with our own Garmin.

@tomboy, I have an excellent document from Gemut.com about renting cars in Europe so I called them when we went to Scotland but never got a call back. I did call them yesterday & left a message, but again didn't get a call back. I'll request a quote online & go from there.

@VikBee - good advice on the Garmin - sorry about your bad experience!

We have used both AutoEurpe.com and Gemut.com. Both are fine and will help you find the car you require.

We discovered through the g3mut.com website, that if we pick up our rental car at the Avis in Kelsterbach, about a 15-20 Euro taxi ride from Frankfurt Airport, we can avoid the airport tax altogether. Then we simply return the car to the airport upon our departure. This has worked well for us on every recent trip we've taken to Germany.

If you go to the AutoEurope.com website and specify your car rental pick up as Kelsterbach, you will see what cars are available and at what price for your time frame. Just be sure to specify that you will return the car to Frankfurt Airport.

ah yes, Kelsterbach. Spending 15 euro to avoid 75 euro airport fee is a no brainer.

my only proviso would be, take a Google map/directions with you for the taxi driver. Our driver probably passed it 3 times, since it's a pretty innocuous location, easily missed. Probably cost us 2-5 extra euro because we lacked same, and driver was clueless.

I would contact Gemut.com. They have done right by us on a number of car rentals. They can also make recommendations on pickup points away from the airport or train station to avoid the surtax. Sometimes it makes more sends to take a taxi to a lot that is not at the airport to save the 19%.

tomboy, you're right, it's probably a good idea to have the directions. A couple of the taxi drivers did know where to go but I remember one who consulted his Tom Tom gps and we ended up in a field somewhere out of town! My husband dug our Garmin out of the carryon bag and we finally got there!

AisleSeat, Gemut.com is where I read about picking up the car in Kelsterbach.

I called Gemut day before yesterday & left a message, then sent a request for quote through their website yesterday, but haven't heard from them. Am I missing something?

<i>Car rental and buying gas in Germany
Posted by: CarolynAnn on Jul 9, 13 at 10:16am
My daughter and I are planning a trip to Germany in September, and will be renting a car. </i>

If this is your first time driving in Europe see an illustrated introduction at http://tinyurl.com/3bc2ax. While Gemut.com is a favored company among Fodorites it doesn't hurt to shop around to make sure you are not leaving money on the table. Also, recent posts on Fodor's mention the importance of thoroughly inspecting the car before driving off the lot. A tiny speck can become a major hole in your bank account if it is not noted on the rental agreement.

There is nothing wrong with using cash when buying gasoline, or anything else in Europe. The less exposure your credit card receives the less the chance of it being compromised.

Thanks for the link, Spaarne. A lot of really good information, and I like his suggestion to make pictures of every side of the car. My husband & I lived in Germany for a couple of years in the 70's and I drove everywhere - hopefully, things haven't changed too much. I've also been a passenger on recent trips to Italy and Scotland, for what that's worth. I'm planning to stay on the back roads for the scenery and slower pace.

We were in Germany in April and rented a car from Sixt.com We made all our reservations online, without a problem. We reserved a VW Golf, and were pleasantly surprised when we showed up and they directed us to an Audi A3, with built in GPS.

Previously we had rented a car from Autoeurope for travels through France, and would have no problem renting from them again.

FYI, I've attached a link to a thread about the benefits of using your American Express card when renting a car.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-or-kemwel.cfm

And yes, do inspect the car when you pick it up, and notate any dents, nicks, scrapes, burn holes on your rental agreement. I also take photos of the car before we drive off the lot.

Robyn

I spent may in Germany and as usual gemut. was my choice for rental. Have always been happy with them. john

Last January I contacted Bob and Andy Bestor, owners of Gemut.com, about an upcoming trip to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. I spoke to Bob who suggested, since I could cancel at any time, that I book early to take advantage of the low Jan-March prices for summer. He pointed out that I could always cancel. If rates went up (which they did) I would keep my low price. If they went down I could cancel and re-book at the new, lower rates. Though my itinerary started and ended in Zürich, Gemut.com recommended renting in Germany, where rental cars are much cheaper than in Switzerland. (I don't think you're going to get that kind of advice if you contact rental companies directly...and certainly not online.) So we took a short train ride from St. Gallen to Lindau, Germany. From there we toured Germany and Austria and then, at the end of the rental, dropped the car in Freiburg and took the train to Zürich airport. Once I left the U.S. I knew if I had a rental car problem I could get assistance 24/7 via their toll-free-from-Europe help line. Gemut.com's free car rental booklet; “What You Should Know About Renting a Car in Europe,” was also a great source of info. Bottom line: Gemut.com provides personal service and, since they specialize in European car rental, are just a lot more knowledgeable and professional than the scripted operators at the phone banks of the big rental companies. And, if you book online, where do you get your questions answered? I communicated several times by phone and email with Bob and he responded every time. If you call, you may have to leave a message but they always called me back...usually within an hour.

I was not charged an Frankfurt airport pick-up fee in addition to my basic rental, but I was charge a €13 one-way fee this past May.