Rental Car - Europe
 

We will be visiting Europe for the first time this fall and can not decide between the eurail or a rental car. Any thoughts... <BR> <BR>We will arrive in Frankfurt, with trips to Prague, Austria, Switzerland, and then Fly out of Paris. <BR> <BR>We prefer a rental car, but not sure about: <BR>-Gas Prices <BR>-Liability / Theft Waivers <BR>-Security on the Highways <BR> <BR>Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

The last time in Europe, my friends and I rented a car. The gas costs about 4+ a gallon in Germany depending on where you get it. Stations are open 8am-8pm in most towns, on the autobahn and in major cities they have 24hr stations. As far as liability and theft waivers go you must buy liability, at the point of rental they will include this, standard in Germany is 1.3 million in third party coverage and fire loss is part of this. A Collision Damage Waiver is not a bad idea, usually a theft waiver is included in the fee for the CDW. German, Austrian, and Swiss highway systems are well developed and as good in many ways as those in the US. French highways are not bad on the main roads, I have never driven through the Czech Republic so I can't tell you about that. <BR>I wish to inform you that if you rent a car in Germany, technically you will not be permitted to drive it into the following countries: Albania, Bosnia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Luxury cars are not allowed into Italy. <BR> <BR>I am sorry if this is information overload but I thought that too much is better than not enough. Have a great trip. <BR>

This is just a P.S. to my previous post. You can arrange travel to most of those countries I listed for an addional fee.

I rented a car in France in March to travel though Burgandy, Champage, and Normandy. I also rented a car when in Spain last November to travel throughout the southwest side. In both cases I had the car for no more than 5 days, but it offered great flexibility and let us get to some beautiful spots off the main path. <BR>Regarding gas prices, they are high. It was about $20-$25 to fill the tank of the most economy car you can get. Regarding liability, usually your credit card has insurance that covers everything. Check to be sure. You want to rent the car in the states (if that's where you're from) before you leave in order to get the best deal and take advantage of the credit card insurance. Beware of the price they quote you. Ask about country specific fees and any other possible fees. Also, they often don't include the tax in the quote, which in france was about 20%. <BR>I didn't find driving to be a problem on the highways or backroads. <BR>If you're looking for transportation to simply get you from one spot to another, then the eurail is fine. I'd recommend the rental car if you want to do exploring out of the main cities. I wouldn't recommend having a car in any of the major cities, especially Paris.

Steve- <BR>I recently reserved an auto for a trip to Europe in October. We went through Auto Europe and found there prices to be good. Try them at www.autoeurope.com/ <BR>We opted to get a CDW through Travel Guard which is only $6/day compared to $25/day(Auto Europe). <BR>I also know that there are extra fees for picking up and dropping off in different countries. We are taking a train from Brugge, Belgium to Maastricht, Netherlands picking up a car there. Then driving through Germany up the Rhine and dropping the car off in Amsterdam, thus maintaing p-u and drop-off in the same country. There may also be extra fees for p-u and drop-off at airports and some train stations. <BR>For general information about driving in Europe try: <BR>www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa <BR>I found this site extremely helpful.

Elizabeth, <BR>Where and how did you contact Travel Guard to purchase their CDW offering. <BR>Feel free to e-mail me directly with your response. Thanks, Bill.