car rental/return
 

Does anyone know if a car rented in Munich, Germany can be driven through Innsbruck, Austria and returned (left) in Bolzano, Italy?
Please advise.
Thanks!

You will probably pay a huge fee for renting in one country and dropping off in another.

Check autoeurope.com for one-way rentals.
Extra fees for cross-border drop off can vary a lot - also by location and type of car.

A dummy booking for a one week rental from Munich Airport to Bolzano resulted in quotes from €330 to €1000 for a compact vehicle.
The cheapest offer (€330 incl. the €150 extra drop off fee) was from Buchbinder (maybe not internationally known, but a pretty big regional rental car company in Germany, Austria,..) and it required pick up from Munich Airport, not any city locations.

While I remember times when everybody told you to avoid rentals from airport locations, I find more and more "super saver offers" being valid only for airport locations.
Anyway, when you use autoeurope's tool, you should play around with the pick-up locations.. it can be completely different for your actual rental dates. And when results for a big car are too expensive, try one or two sizes smaller.

edit: And also check if in addition of the extra drop-off fee, driving through whatever countries costs another extra fee. Which again, can be small or steep. Fully reading all the fineprint is even more essential in these cases. When in doubt, ask autoeurope by mail and get confirmation in writing -- not by phone!

I would say it's probably possible but you'd pay a lot more. We hired a car once in Europe and travelled through three different countries with it, returning it to the same place we hired it. We did have to tell the hire car company, ahead of time, which countries we were driving in, for insurance purposes. So make sure to let them know, just in case.

We have had good experiences with Hertz, all over the world. Worth checking their website.

Kay

Drop off fees are not always quoted in the first quote you get especially from a consolidator, so be aware there could be an extra, quite hefty, one way cross border fee added, which you may have to pay when you collect the vehicle. It is important you check that before you book to avoid any nasty surprises.

Don't forget you will need a vignette for driving in Austria.

We have twice needed to rent a car because twice our car was hit, while parked. On the first occasion we took the car (Mercedes) from Vienna into Germany and Munich, and had no cross-border fees or other restrictions. On the second occasion, traveling from Vienna through Slovenia and into Italy we had a cross-border fee through Slovenia (the car was a Volkswagen) because Slovenian drivers are "a little intense," as our rental agent stated. Wherever you book, be upfront about where you're taking the vehicle.

My advice would be to check directly with a car rental company eg Hertz and ask if they have a rent-it-here/leave-it-there option. There is usually a one way drop off fee, however the websites might not quote that so you would need to speak with someone to find out how much it is.

I have used AutoEurope for one way rentals, they had to call me back with a quote for the drop off fee after I made the reservation, but they promised if I was not happy with the fee, my reservation could be cancelled with no penalty. As it happens, the fee was OK. So you could try with a consolidator too.

For information on which countries you can drive your car through, best check the car rental website, for instance, with Hertz, if you check Location information and type in MUC, you can view all the MUC location information ie rental terms, qualifications and requirements and choose from the dropdown which paragraphs you want to read, eg Driving Restrictions Abroad, Cross Border fees (separate fee to the drop off fee )etc plus driving requirements for the countries you are driving through ie Austria and Italy can be checked in the same way..

If going through AutoEurope I find that, after checking all the info on the website, I call them and often get more/better info. I agree never to just accept what someone on the phone tells you but they always email me with the new quote so I have it in writing. There is even a statement on the website that says something about one way drop fees 'may' not be included in the quote. Also, Kemwell is AutoEurope's sister company and sometimes have better rates in certain places. They frequently send customers to each other. They both have their head offices in Portland, Maine.

Obviously the quote has to be backed up in writing as well, and the drop off fee amount appeared on the voucher that AE provides after they told me how much it is.

SIXT- no
Hertz- yes
Avis- yes
Budget-maybe
Europecar- no

We were quoted a 1000€ drop off fee for picking up in Lisbon, dropping off in Barcelona. We took a taxi across the border to Spain from Portugal to eliminate the fee. Check rental locations on AutoEutope.com.

Wow! thank you all for your helpful advice! I will definitely follow through with some of your recommendations!

I think that your "cross-border" fee is not the main item of discussion: a cross-border drop-off fee, which you may have avoided in the first instance but probably not in the second.

The OP should also ask about insurance for taking the car in Italy. Car rentals Italy were higher in my experience because of mandatory insurance not necessarily required in France (as an example).

Well, the OP did indicate they would be driving from Germany through Austria and into Italy. This implies crossing borders; and for some countries there are indeed cross-border fees. Our rentals were circular from Vienna, so we had no drop-off fees.

Another possible fly in the ointment: Most credit cards will cover the insurance/deductible for rental cars . . . But few if any will cover you in Italy. So you would almost definitely have to pay for insurance.

A quick search on Autoeurope indicates that Europcar does have an agency at the Munich airport and the Bolzano airport.

Having a rental office doesn't necessarily mean they accept one-way international drop-off. It depends on the policy of the rental company, and any franchise agreement they may have with individual rental location if it isn't company-owned.

Within Autoeurope's portfolio, these companies allow cross-border drop off from Munich Airport to Bolzano All Locations:
Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Buchbinder.

But: These were the results when I checked Autoeurope with my default settings, i.e. using the German storefront of Autoeurope.
When I switched the website to "USA", the choices became limited to Hertz and Avis.
When I switched to "UK", the choices were again the full list for four mentioned above.

I have no clue if you can complete the reservation with a "wrong" location to get the wider choice.

Because of all the four companies, only Buchbinder offers a cross-border rate with a more or reasonable surcharge for that convenience.
The rates of Hertz, Avis and Europcar are prohibitive, IMO.

The rates for a Ford Focus type of car from Buchbinder for one week in December 2018 would be:

Rental fee including full cover, zero deductible, glass/tires/undercarriage, 2nd driver, winter tires: € 200
International Drop-Off Fee: € 150
Additional fee for driving in Austria and Italy (not the motorway vignette or road tolls, but the administrative fee of the rental car company): € 10
Total costs: € 360

Extras:
Vignette for Austria: € 9
Brenner Pass /A13 Toll: € 9.50

<<I have no clue if you can complete the reservation with a "wrong" location to get the wider choice>>

I've done it, but not since we moved overseas 3.5 years ago. Prices also vary depending on what country you use AutoEurope in.

My experience is that airport sites are company owned rather than franchised; but I admit that I did not pursue the issue to the point of getting a dummy contract.