Berlin Germany Car Rental Options

MT930 · 08-02-2018, 08:40 AM

Headed to Berlin mid September driving to Austria and Switzerland. Flying back out of Berlin 10 days later. Looking for something sporty but not exotic. There will be three of us with bags so a German sedan is the best option BMW, Mercedes ?? .

Anyone have experance with Berlin car rental companies ? What’s a reasonable car to rent for autobahn travel. Comfort, safety, performance. In that order. And what will I be paying?

LakeCleElum · 12:19 PM

A friend rented a 700 series BMW thru SIXT in Munich......Since he also rented a motorcycle the same week, I had the duty to return the BMW to the airport from Austria in 2014. It was a great car on the Autobahn.......

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

Sixt! I use them in the US as much as I can as well.

Don

Craig T · 08-02-2018, 11:59 AM

Since you're heading south toward Switzerland, might as well rent one of these. It's not that far out of the way...

https://www.ringtaxi.com/en/trackday-rental-en/toyota-gt86/

bleucamaro · 08-02-2018, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

Sixt! I use them in the US as much as I can as well.

Don

I clicked this thread to say just this.

SIXT!

pro-tip: their prices and selection are based off of pickup & drop-off location. Play around with those on the website and you can save a ton of money.

Driving in austria, you have to buy a sticker when you enter the country. I think it was about 7 eurobucks when I had to do it.

Audi A6 wagon, $36/day https://www.sixt.com/php/reservation/offerconfig?tab_identifier=1533238328&change=1

MT930 · 08-03-2018, 10:26 AM

Thanks you can always count on Pelicans !

wayne robson · wayne robson's Garage

We use Auto Europe, every second year when we go
to Germany and France------really great,but we use a normal 5 door hatch.

aigel · aigel's Garage

I recently rented and went through the airline website. It was cheaper than direct through rental car company or Costco.

Note that the size of the car tops out at the C class Audi A5 level and only some offer E class MBs.

We ended up with an E class 220d which was a great cruiser and fantastic on gas (keep this in mind with fuel at $8+ a gallon). It also had good power and there was a lot of cruising at 100 mph and bursts up to 140. In the french countryside, it sipped gas, going 110 km/h.

It was with Avis and $65 a day with unlimited mileage. I think booking and paying ahead from the US is cheaper.

G

MT930 · 08-21-2018, 10:06 PM

Ended up with Sixt. Audi A-5 coupe $44.00 per day 2700 K per week unlimited.

Should be fun very similar to my SQ5. So I will at least know how it works.

Ayles · 08-21-2018, 10:14 PM

Timely stuff!! I’ll be in Berlin and Stuttgart the last two weeks of October. Been toying with how to travel between the two, planes trains or automobiles.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayles

Timely stuff!! I’ll be in Berlin and Stuttgart the last two weeks of October. Been toying with how to travel between the two, planes trains or automobiles.

That's a long drive and traffic around Stuttgart is about as much fun as Los Angeles. I'm in Germany now and renting from Europcar at Frankfurt airport on Saturday. Driving here is not like it used to be. We got a few bursts of 245 km/h in on Sunday on the way to Straubing, but it was mostly traffic and construction zones - again on a Sunday. Figure much worse during the week and around big cities.

304065 · 08-23-2018, 08:50 PM

About a hundred years ago I rented a car from Hertz to go from the Munich airport to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. My flight was delayed so my ski buddies ended up getting the car. I decided to take the DB. . . unfortunately I ended up going WEST from the airport instead of SOUTH to GAP. . . I discovered the mistake after about an hour and half. I distinctly remember going through the town of Buchloe, which I recognized as the home of ALPINA-- this jogged my memory that it was West, not South, causing me to recognize my error and change trains to go south. It was one of the most memorable train rides I have ever taken, on old DB rolling stock, through the alps on twisting tracks between houses covered in snow. . . looked like a real life model railroad.

FINALLY I get to the Posthotel Partenkirchen and see our "car" from Hertz in the parking lot. My friends had picked up a JEEP LIBERTY which made me want to explode. We go to GERMANY and they rent a mini-Jeep?

Then we put the skis in the car, there was no ski rack. To fit them in we had to put them between the front seats. I got up the next day and drove to the base of the cogwheel train up to Zugspitze. Got out of the car, in a blizzard, and noticed that while the entire jeep was covered in snow, the rear wheels and wheel wells were completely clear of moisture and steaming a bit.

I had driven up the piste with the PARKING BRAKE engaged, I couldn't see it because the skis were in the way. No wonder the thing didn't have any zip.

Anyway, rent a good car and be sure it's what you want. And stay off the DB if you don't have good German.