Europe hire car

[RooFlyer]

Any tips/suggestions for economically hiring a small car in Switzerland (ZRH to ZRH) for 10 days for mostly in France & Germany? Abt 1200km. No AMEX.

I can obviously price the majors - any other reliable ones?

Book from particular country's web sites?

Petrol or diesel?

Thanks

 

[drron]

On our last trip to Europe we used economy bookings and had no problems in either Spain or the UK. both those rentals turned out to be with Alamo and were probably the 2 best car rental experiences I have ever had.

Cheap Car Rentals Worldwide

Choose your best offer from more than 175,000 cars in 20,000 locations around the world! New high-quality vehicles meeting your needs and your budget.

www.economybookings.com

For our next trip to Portugal I have used Auto Europe car rentals which seem to be able to arrange cars anywhere and were the cheapest when I looked. of course not used them yet.

Worldwide Car Hire, Motorhomes & Euro-Leasing | AutoEurope

Looking for your next road trip? Find car hire deals worldwide and savings for your next holiday from the most trusted suppliers with AutoEurope.

www.autoeurope.com.au

 

[jase05]

Have used Hertz and Europcar many times before in that neck of the woods. Had a run in with Europcar a few years back but since then everything has been fine. I’ve normally had a diesel vehicle such as a Renault and the mileage was great and a pretty comfy ride. I always try to get a manual vehicle if possible too. Seem to be a lot more EV‘s available now but I’ve never checked out the charging maps to see if it’s feasible or not but I’d love to try it one day.
The major chains charge significantly for one way rentals to other countries, Europcar for instance wanted nearly $700 extra for a pick up in Germany and drop off in Switzerland whereas it was only $50 to other points within Germany so we found a agency right on the border and dropped the car off there and then caught a train across the border and picked up another one.
As a rule I’ve always found Switzerland far more expensive for rental cars and love their rail network so that is our preferred method of travel internally in Switzerland

 

[lovestotravel]

sixt is pretty good these days

 

[TheRealTMA]

Any tips/suggestions for economically hiring a small car in Switzerland (ZRH to ZRH) for 10 days for mostly in France & Germany? Abt 1200km. No AMEX.

I can obviously price the majors - any other reliable ones?

Book from particular country's web sites?

Petrol or diesel?

Thanks

We’ve used Sixt very successfully in Europe several times and are my first place to check, but also try some of the groups such as auto europe and booking.com.

 

[VPS]

I’ll chat to you later when I’m back with better internet

 

[michaeljm]

What did you end up choosing?

I have used SIXT whilst driving from Rome to Milan (before COVID), and the experience was good.

I am now looking at options for a 7 day trip Amsterdam to Paris...

 

[RooFlyer]

What did you end up choosing?

I have used SIXT whilst driving from Rome to Milan (before COVID), and the experience was good.

I am now looking at options for a 7 day trip Amsterdam to Paris...

Nothing yet . Going to look hard at Sixt, soon!

 

[Jacques Vert]

I generally use either Cheap Car Hire. Save up to 40%. arguscarhire.com or ŵww.qeeq.com

If renting in Switzerland, prices can be expensive. I booked from the French side of GVA and saved hundreds of € on a 10 day rental. Only qeeq offered this option.

Don't forget to get a vignette for Switzerland.

 

[VPS]

Nothing yet . Going to look hard at Sixt, soon!

Not sure if I mentioned but I had a booking at BHX with Sixt a few weeks ago and they wanted me to insure the whole cost of the car not just an excess so I was forced to take out insurance so my cheap car hire cost me more than others,

 

[TheRealTMA]

Not sure if I mentioned but I had a booking at BHX with Sixt a few weeks ago and they wanted me to insure the whole cost of the car not just an excess so I was forced to take out insurance so my cheap car hire cost me more than others,

Most strange. Car comanies sometimes try that but usually excess is all that's required and generally covered by CC insurance.

 

[Simsy85]

Okay, keen to piggy back on this - looking to do a one way rental, hire from france and return to Germany - anyone know if its doable? who to use?

 

[ausfox]

On our last trip to Europe we used economy bookings and had no problems in either Spain or the UK. both those rentals turned out to be with Alamo and were probably the 2 best car rental experiences I have ever had.

Cheap Car Rentals Worldwide

Choose your best offer from more than 175,000 cars in 20,000 locations around the world! New high-quality vehicles meeting your needs and your budget.

www.economybookings.com

For our next trip to Portugal I have used Auto Europe car rentals which seem to be able to arrange cars anywhere and were the cheapest when I looked. of course not used them yet.

Worldwide Car Hire, Motorhomes & Euro-Leasing | AutoEurope

Looking for your next road trip? Find car hire deals worldwide and savings for your next holiday from the most trusted suppliers with AutoEurope.

www.autoeurope.com.au

I have used autoeurope for many years in Europe as well as the USA.
I am always open to suggestions and will check out your economy site. Thanks

 

[RooFlyer]

Okay, keen to piggy back on this - looking to do a one way rental, hire from france and return to Germany - anyone know if its doable? who to use?

Its doable, but 'one ways' usually incur a $$ penalty, and the amount depends on how much the rental company wants to discourage it.

Many years ago, I discovered a that Avis hire in Germany, leave in Italy had such a big penalty that, notwithstanding it was a business hire (I was CEO), I drove from Florence to Zurich to drop the car there, and changed flights! Reason why the high cost was that it seems everyone wanted to do this (resulting in a glut of cars in Italy), so they made damn sure it was worthwhile for people to turn around and head north again!!

At the moment, I've booked Avis, which surprisingly has quite attractive rates for my several hires coming up (ZRH-ZRH and LHR-LHR).

 

[Simsy85]

Its doable, but 'one ways' usually incur a $$ penalty, and the amount depends on how much the rental company wants to discourage it.

Many years ago, I discovered a that Avis hire in Germany, leave in Italy had such a big penalty that, notwithstanding it was a business hire (I was CEO), I drove from Florence to Zurich to drop the car there, and changed flights! Reason why the high cost was that it seems everyone wanted to do this (resulting in a glut of cars in Italy), so they made damn sure it was worthwhile for people to turn around and head north again!!

At the moment, I've booked Avis, which surprisingly has quite attractive rates for my several hires coming up (ZRH-ZRH and LHR-LHR).

fair call - I wonder if there is a border town that has a car hire place in each country? that would be ideal

 

[jase05]

fair call - I wonder if there is a border town that has a car hire place in each country? that would be ideal

On our last big road trip in Europe we wanted to grab the car at FRA and drop of in Zurich but it was going to cost $1200 extra so we drove around Europe and dropped it off at a small German town called Singen which was just over the Swiss border and then caught the train to Zurich which was under an hour away. The rental agent even dropped us off at the Train station.
I would look at doing something similar and see if that works out cheaper for you

 

[Simsy85]

On our last big road trip in Europe we wanted to grab the car at FRA and drop of in Zurich but it was going to cost $1200 extra so we drove around Europe and dropped it off at a small German town called Singen which was just over the Swiss border and then caught the train to Zurich which was under an hour away. The rental agent even dropped us off at the Train station.
I would look at doing something similar and see if that works out cheaper for you

nice thanks for the heads up - what rental co?

 

[jase05]

nice thanks for the heads up - what rental co?

That was Europcar.
Plenty of border towns that would suit your needs and I’d look at ones that have a rail link.
Something like Strasbourg drop off, catch a train to Offenburg which is only 20 minutes away and then pick up another car