hailbuzzy

Hi all,
We are looking to rent a car for possibly the entire 2-2.5 week vacation we're planning. We are going to be primarily in Germany, but are considering side trips one or more of the following - Austria, Switzerland, Czech. or Denmark.

I've been browsing car companies to try and get an idea of cost. I checked Hertz, Europcar & Sixt, and it seems like base car rental is about USD$550-650 for unlimited mileage. My questions are...
1) is that reasonable? I read in the Rick Steves book that you should expect to pay $800 per person for 3 weeks which I was kind of shocked at.
2) what are the key additional insurances we should consider buying? Collision Damage Waiver? Anything else? I will also be researching our credit cards to see what they offer.
3) are there any rental companies you used that you would recommend and what was the approximate cost of your rentals?
4) would anyone recommend switching between car and train? Potentially getting one of those Rail-Car passes? My only problem is that I'm travelling 2 weeks for work prior to the vacation so I'm going to have my laptop and more luggage than my usual vacation stuff!

Thanks everyone! I just want to make sure we make the right decision and don't get cheated along the way
- Sharon

ourjetboat

You'll see favorable posts for Auto Europe (autoeurope.com) Be careful when you call your credit card co. You;ll have to buy a special plan for Europe. I found out (only by being specific) that the plan thru my credit card co. excluded Italy ( American Express). Thus my 'warning'

don76

Sharon
The $550-650 car rental price seems to be right.
I am renting a basic car from Nova Rent a Car in Munich on 13 April for 19 days at a cost of 442 euros.
Read the fine print as you need an International Driving Permit,obtain at AAA,for rental with Nova.
I opt't for the supplemental insurance for peace of mind.
The optional insurance will not provide 100% coverage but it is wise to carry it.
If you rent a car for more than 15 days MasterCard WILL NOT cover you for Collision damage.
Visa WILL cover you for rentals over 15 days. Phone your credit card company to obtain the details of their coverage as you need a Gold Card or better to take advantage of their C D coverage.
Be sure you have more than one credit card as when I went to pick up a rental car in Manchester in October 2004 and my Wells Fargo card was rejected by the rental company computer. Fortunately I had a BofA card that was accepted.
Be sure to purchase the "stickers" at the borders when you enter Switz and Austria otherwise you are subject to a fine.
I am not sure whether you need them for entry into Czech or Denmark.

nancytoon

Traveling in Europe we have always just relied on the "gold or platinum credit card insurance.
One thing you may want to check: friends had a rental car and were not able to drive it into the Czech Republic!They were told they would have to rent a Czech car to travel there!They lost a reservation at a special place and were very upset!

treplow

Your best bet is probably AutoEurope. When you rent through them, you will be actually rentings from one of the big rental agencies - Herzs , Avis, etc. - at a discount.

Taking a car to any of the former Eastern countries can present a problem. Some renta agencies refuse to rent you a car, others will limit your to certain makes. Check with the the company before you leave the States

The same applies to whether the CDW offered by you credit card will suffice. For example, AMEXCO won't handle rental cars piked up in Italy. In fact,if you rents a car in Italy you will always have to buy the CDW as an add-on.

If you pick up your car in Germany or Switzerland (and return it there agan), your credit card CDW is very lilely to be sufficient insurance

Patrick

It sounds like you'll need the car for 17 days or more, which makes you eligible for a taxfree lease plan (I'm assuming you're not from Europe?)
You might want to check on a lease plan from Auto Europe, or from AutoFrance. Once advantage is that the car comes with total coverage and a zero deductible automatically.
There are some pick up or drop off fees for the Puegeot and Renault plans if not in France, but as I recall they are pretty minimal for Frankfurt, for example.

MaureenB

When you pick up your rental car, bring your original passports along. At the Munich train station, we were denied our car rental, which had been paid in advance, because we only had color Xerox copies of our passports on us. (The originals were stored at the hotel-- didn't think we needed them on a daily basis)
We had never heard of such a rule, and neither had AutoEurope, from whom we rented the car. None of the three rental agencies at the train station would give us a car without our original passports. Good thing a Bayern train pass made more sense in the long run!
Once we'd returned to the states, AutoEurope was very apologetic about it and credited my card for the original rental charge. Lesson learned. Pain in the neck, though.

hailbuzzy

Everyone,
Thanks for all your comments and tips. We browsed all the vendors you suggested and ended up going with Auto Europe.
- We researched our credit cards and found that we are covered under Amex so we are able to decline CDW & theft.
- We'll also have our backup Visa in case anything goes awry - good advice!
- It looks like we will be driving into Austria and will be getting the required Intl Driver's Permit & the 'stickers'.
- And finally, we did look into the lease but since it was more expensive than our rental quote, we didn't go with that - good to know of that option though!

We're getting an Economy car (VW Polo, etc) from Avis, but with a free upgrade to a mid-size - woo hoo! For 16 days, we're paying USD$478.

So thanks everyone again for the help!