Best car rental to use in Germany

Voodoomelon

Hey folks.
I'm heading to Frankfurt in March and i'm renting a car to drive to Nuremberg.
Any tips on who the best crowd is to go with?

I'm leaning towards Avis or Hertz, both seem to have similar prices and conditions. Gonna go for an E-class or similar spec car.

Anyone have past experience with either company? Thanks.

Antiquo

Did Frankfurt-Hahn and booked a Merc auto with Hertz. I prefer the auto on the continent because they drive on the wrong side of the road especially the Autobahn. Anyway arrived late PM instead of AM thanks to Mr O'Leary and the Merc Auto was gone. Despite the fact I called them from Dub to explain flight delays.

Bit pee'd off about not getting the car I ordered despite being booked big row eventually got a Volvo manual and minor discount was on business and already totally freakin late so to hell with it lets go.
Overall not a happy experience with Hertz. Not happy with the Volvo either there was a funny noise from the gearbox at 200Kmh in 4th gear

One thing I will say the car return at Frankfurt-Hahn which usually does my head in at other airports was well sign posted and easy to find.

taintabird

I use eurocar when ever I need a rental mainly in the UK but I used them once in Germany I find them quite good, I had a similar experiencing of hertz as the previous poster.

coylemj

Antiquo wrote: »

I prefer the auto on the continent because they drive on the wrong side of the road especially the Autobahn.

You mean they drive on the correct side of the road when they're not on the autobahn?

Ok, cynical comment I agree but could you please not repeat the Little Britain attitude that everything we do is correct and if people do things different in other countries that they are 'wrong'.

Germans drive on the correct side of the road, so do we, the rules just happen to be different in each country.

challengemaster

No need to be such a german about things....:pac:

Stinicker

Last time I rented in Germany I used Sixt but had booked through argus car rental saving me nearly €100 over booking directly with Sixt. Argus Car Rental have since got a bad rep by some boardsies here so book at your own discretion. Argus & Sixt however were excellent and my "VW Golf or Equivelent" was a BMW 1 series Auto and made easy work of the Autobahn at 200km/h +.

One thing to note is that driving on the Autobahn at high speed will guzzle fuel and it was the same price there as it is here now back when I rented in 2010 (€1.45/litre). I spent over €100 on Petrol for not an awful lot of high speed driving. My understanding from a German friend is that "Benzene" (Petrol) was around €1.65/Litre there after Christmas anyway. Have you ever driven on the continent before? Do you know about the yellow diamond rules etc.

Tea 1000

Antiquo wrote: »

Did Frankfurt-Hahn and booked a Merc auto with Hertz. I prefer the auto on the continent because they drive on the wrong side of the road especially the Autobahn. Anyway arrived late PM instead of AM thanks to Mr O'Leary and the Merc Auto was gone. Despite the fact I called them from Dub to explain flight delays.

Bit pee'd off about not getting the car I ordered despite being booked big row eventually got a Volvo manual and minor discount was on business and already totally freakin late so to hell with it lets go.
Overall not a happy experience with Hertz. Not happy with the Volvo either there was a funny noise from the gearbox at 200Kmh in 4th gear

One thing I will say the car return at Frankfurt-Hahn which usually does my head in at other airports was well sign posted and easy to find.

I booked a C-Class from Avis before in Italy and when I arrived they had a f**king A4 out for me. I was disgusted. Guy behind the desk seemed surprised at my disgust.
Booked a Corvette with hertz in the US, and got a Corvette! Made up for the sh!tty A4 I had to suffer in Italy (it was the following week).
Are you aware that Avis in Germany have the Porsche 4 door thingy, the Panema or Panemara or whatever they like to call it? Ugly, but quick!

CiniO

I booked an Alfa 159 in Dublin airport once with Hertz, and when I arrived I was offered an Passat or Mondeo. I didn't agree to any of them, so they gave me Kia Sportage.
Generally I wasn't happy.

Other time I used company called traveljigsaw (carhire3000.ie) and booked a cheap car for 10 days in Poland. (renault clio). As they are not car renatal company, they are just an agent, they provided me with car from Budget in Krakow.
And I actually saved over 30% on price comparing to price quoted directly from Budget.

Try them if you can get your C-class cheaper in Frankfurt.

Del2005

None of the big car hire companies reserve a car for you when you book. You reserve a class of vehicle and can get whatever they then lump into this class. I booked an A6 with Sixt and got an A4, they aren't even in the same class from their maker!

The only way to be sure you'll get a better car is to book the lowest and hope that they are all gone by the time you need to collect it.

Antiquo wrote: »

Overall not a happy experience with Hertz. Not happy with the Volvo either there was a funny noise from the gearbox at 200Kmh in 4th gear

Bring it back and get a free upgrade:D

Voodoomelon

Good point about the price of petrol, forgot it was even worse over there.

Good job I just booked an S-class or similar with Avis. :pac:

You only live once.

R.O.R

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Good point about the price of petrol, forgot it was even worse over there.

Good job I just booked an S-class or similar with Avis. :pac:

You only live once.

Sweet!

Have you joined Avis Preferred for the full VIP experience?

Wouln't want to be picking up an S-Class and having to wait in line like the people renting a Focus would you?

Mr.David

Have a look at Elite car hire.......their fleet is superb and we use them all the time. Their customer service is excellent and you can guarantee a specific vehicle (and get all details regarding spec, engine size etc).

They are expensive though.

http://www.eliterent.com/

Bigcheeze

I thought sixt were decent and efficient. Cars have gps as standard. Got a new 3 series. No flapping about at the desk.

People expecting a particular model of car are only setting themselves up for disappointment. I'd say 80% of the cars I've rented have been different than advertised model.

Pkiernan

Rented with Hertz in Memmingen last week.

No issues.

Used to use one of the agencies - Autoeurope, Car3000 etc, but in this case with the Ryanair discount (do not need to fly Ryaniar, just book the car reservation thru the Ryanair website link) Hertz was €12 cheaper.

Depending on which part of Germany you will be driving on (specifically the elevation) you may be required to rent summer tires (at an extra cost). I wasn't but the Irish chap next to me was - he was going up into the mountains. All companies charge extra for the winter tyres, not just Hertz.

On another note, petrol was cheaper there last week than here - for the basic 95 RON stuff - never seen that before.

Bigcheeze

Only thing that puts me off hertz is that both AL and ryanair use them as their car hire partner so there is often a big crowd in hertz all from your aircraft and you have to wait an age.

cianclarke

Used Sixt the last three times now.. Last time, booked a BMW 1 series of similar and they gave us a Meganne Scenic - a big huge people carrier, an absolute balls driving over the alps with all the body roll, and the thing cut out at random because of faulty electrics...
Complained on return and got 60 quid back I think.. Otherwise, very positive experience.

Honey-ec

My company's head office is in Germany and I always use Sixt when people are travelling over, I find them fantastic.

Little tip - always request a diesel, automatic version in whatever class you're booking (which you can do with Sixt at no extra cost). They'll generally have run out of these by the time you're collecting and will upgrade you to the next vehicle class.