Car rentals in Germany
 

We plan to visit Frankfurt in Feb. for 5 days with 2 small children and think it may be better to rent a car and drive around than depend on the trains. We are hoping to rent a bigger car like an SUV or station wagon due to the children, but after checking the rental prices on the internet don't know how feasible this is, prices quoted for such cars( the automatic version) were 800-1000USD for 5 days! Any suggestions on trying to fine cheaper rentals at the airport welcomed.

Do you have to rent an automatic? It is normally quite a bit cheaper to rent a manual. Also, do you belong to any organization such as AAA that will give you a price break on a rental car? I would suggest you go for a compact or intermediate station wagon. There should be plenty of room for the smaller children. We rented a mid-size station wagon for 4 adults and it was fine.

Hi Devina,<BR> I am renting a VW Golf station wagon at Hahn airport (near Frankfurt) for six days starting 3/20/03. We will be dropping it off at General DeGaulle Airport Paris. The total cost will be 436.60 USD and the rental car company is Europcar. This rate is several hundred dollars cheaper than Hertz, Avis, or Budget. I agree with the previous poster who suggest using AAA or also Frequent flyer miles sometimes help reduce cost. Happy trails.

See my recent post about the Renalut Velsatis, rented from Avis - - a "full-size" rental car, and worked quite nicely for four full-sized adults.<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=34372920<BR><BR>Admittedl y, this vehicle was rented in France, but there are no doubt other similar new classes of four door sedans that might fit your family's needs.<BR><BR>On a separate note, I normally recommend Autoeurope or Kemwel or ITS-cars-hotels.com - - but for this, I got my best rate directly from Avis - - and obtained it by having the airline connect me through to them immediately after the air travel reservations were confirmed.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

topping for Devina<BR>

Devina, you've put yourself at the top of the rental car pyramid by saying you want an SUV or minivan type vehicle. However, you still should do better than the prices you've gotten so far. For example, a VW van can be rented through Alamo right now for about $500 for a week. If insurance costs are doubling your rental (very possible), look into the credit cards that will include overseas CDW. It might be worth the cost of the card and then some. However, let me also point out that an intermediate-size station wagon through Alamo is $213 for the week, and you will probably be surprised at how much interior room the smaller European cars have. You would have to have a LOT of stuff for two adults and two children not to be fine in a small station wagon for five days. Good luck...

A few ideas for you -- Try hard not to pick up your car at the airport. If you can take the train into Frankfurt, then pick up the car at another location you'll save big money on taxes.<BR><BR>Also, get on biddingfortravel.com, somewhere on that site is a list of coupon codes for rental car agencies. I used an Avis code, ostensibly for British Airways employees, that saved me about 40 percent, AND included collision insurance.<BR><BR>good luck