Car Rental in Germany with Hertz

[Sciamano]

Hi everyone,

next august I'm going to Germany for one week, and I need to rent a car.

Since Priceline is useless, I tried many European car rental sites, and found out that Hertz is the cheapest for my needs.

FYI my travel is as follows: I'm picking the car up at Luebeck Airport on August 4th, and will leave it at Frankfurt Hahn Airport on August 12th.

I have a few questions:

- I got a "plain" quote from Hertz's website for a total of EUR 258.28 (prepaid)

- Then I tried using CDP #1261109 (which is freely usable, AFAIK), and I got a total of EUR 218.27 (prepaid)

- Then I called Hertz's reservation offices, and they quoted a total of EUR 273 (cancellable)

- Asking them to use the CDP number above resulted in a quote of > EUR 470!

Where's the catch?

How come the operator quoted a rate that is more than double than the website quotes using the same CDP number?

Considering I would get a 20% discount on the quote from the operator, I would like to reserve online using the discount code, but now I'm a little concerned: I wouldn't want to find out any "surprise" fees at the counter (drop-off charges or anything).

In your experience: will the quoted (and prepaid) amount be honored by the rental company, or do I have to expect hidden charges?

Thanks

[thereuare]

It's not uncommon for phone orders to be more expensive than online orders (for all types of merchandise... cheaper for the company to have everything automated vs. paying somebody to answer the phone)... but i would have asked the phone rep of the code 'took' and if it did, why the rate went up since it's a discount code.

[Sciamano]

I tried asking him why it was more expensive, but it sounded like he did not know how to answer, so he simply dropped the subject without really answering!

Also I noticed that in the italian version of Hertz's website, if you insert a CDP number, two more options (to be checked or not) show up. If I check them, I get the same higher rate. If I don't, I get the discount.

In the english version, those two "check" fields don't even show up, and the rate is the lowest... :)

[tenerifesharon]

I don't know if it will help you, but I found a better rate for you at www.billiger-mietwagen.de The website is in German, but is easily understandable and you can probably find a button at the site to read it in English. We rent cars through this consolidator all the time and almost always has the best prices (even for Vancouver last year).

For

[Sciamano]

Hi tenerifesharon!

Yes I know Hahn is not close to Frankfurt, but I'm flying Ryanair so I have to leave the car there.

Thanks for the hint on the rate, I'm going to check it right now. :)

[Sciamano]

Update: I tried the website but apart from the fact that I know nothing of German, and could not understand much, I also could not select Luebeck Airport as a pickup location. If I select Luebeck, I get a lot of rate quotes, but none as cheap as the one reported by tenerifesharon: the cheapest rate (for a Smart, which is not big enough for our needs) was EUR245 at a car rental agency in central Luebeck. A compact/medium car was quoted at EUR280 or so, so the savings were not worth the "candle" as we say in Italy.

Thanks anyway for the suggestion.

[tenerifesharon]

It's now showing up for

[Sciamano]

I had to postpone the return flight, so I'm now getting back on August 13th.

I have a reservation with Hertz for a midsize/compact (Ford Focus or similar) at 309 EUR (cancellable).

I think I will stick with that, considering that:

1) I can pickup/return the car at the airport,

2) I don't understand german, so it's too hard for me to book on that site (and car rentals have a lot of conditions which is best to understand)

3) even if rates are cheaper, the savings are limited, so I'd rather book on a site I can understand. :-)

Thanks for the suggestion though. I really appreciate :)

[happysaver]

IMHO it still makes sense to keep an eye on the prices, since they tend to fluctuate a lot over time. I've checked with National (using Contract ID 5007384 which is posted right on their website) and the total comes to 289 Euro for Compact (Astra or similar). That's fully cancelable, in fact you don't have to give your CC number to reserve.

Both stations are operated by Europcar, however the Luebeck is off-airport. 20 Euro difference may not be a good reason to go to the city to pick up the car. But if the price drops, and it could, the difference may be worth the trip.

[Sciamano]

Thanks for the hint happysaver.

For what I could gather, it looks to me that the only rental companies present at Luebeck Airport are Hertz and Sixt. Anyone can confirm this?

I'm checking their rates every now and then, and of course if I can get a better rate, I will take it. :-)

I'm also renting a car in the States for my parents, and I periodically check rates for their rental too. For the time being rates have only been raising, but in case they drop, I'll jump on them :-)