Ak_leafs

We are planning 3 weeks to europe last week of May and have been told that Germany is the cheapest place to rent a car and also to rent in Downtown rather than airport.
Is it easy to get automatic and Deisel?

Curious

I don't know about diesel, but you really don't want automatic. It is VERY expensive since it is basically rare.

Do a Google on Auto Europe, Herz, Avis, etc. to get an idea of what is going on with rental cars.

Downtown, not the rail station, is cheaper than the airport (around 20%).

You should also do a Fodors search on driving in Europe (and anything else regarding your trip) as part of your basic research prior to posting questions on this site. Many of your questions will be answered.

Curious

Ak_leafs

Thanks a lot for suggestions.

TuckH

Get a diesel and contact Andy Bestor of Gemut.com -

http://www.gemut.com/Page.asp?ID=304

Betsy

Ditto Tuck's post. Access the website he suggests and either complete the request quote form or use the 800 number to phone. Andy Bestor will get back to you. You might want to get a quote from Sixt, Nova, and Hertz, which you can easily do on the web. Ask for manual and diesel. Andy should be able to beat any of those quotes.

bettyk

Assume you are flying into Frankfurt. I read on gemut.com about picking up rental cars in Kelsterbach instead of the airport to save on the 19% airport tax. (Others here have also noted that it cost about 40 Euros to get into downtown Frankfurt from the airport.)

I know of two car rental locations in Kelsterbach (I'm using AutoEurope) -- one is closed on weekends. Kelsterbach is only about 8 or 10 kilometers from Frankfurt Airport and, according to gemut.com, should cost around 10 Euros for a taxi.

Thru AutoEurope, we will pick up our Economy car in Kelsterbach and return it to Frankfurt Airport when we leave. With their current special, we pay for a manual transmission Compact car (VW Polo) but will be upgraded to an Economy (VW Golf or similar) if paid in full by March 31 in US $. The total cost for this 2 week rental thru AutoEurope is $528.

Automatic cars will cost you more but you can price these at autoeurope.com.

bettyk

I should add that I asked Gemut for a price quote including insurance, but they would only give me the "basic" price, saying that many people use their credit card program to cover insurance. I did not want to do this.

The $528 price I paid thru AutoEurope is the "inclusive" price with taxes and insurance. Although Gemut might have been able to match it, they never would give me the quoted price I asked for.

My actual rental is with Avis.

jeffwill4you

Always check sixt.com (holiday cars!) first for rentals in Europe, they are always cheaper.