2023-10-23 21:12:28
Europe phrasebook
This is what you should know when renting a rental car
When renting a vehicle, there are a lot of details to take care of. If you don’t understand the many technical terms in the contract, you could end up in trouble and end up paying a lot more. We explain the terms of the car rental companies – from rental to additional insurance.
Status: 24.10.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Holidaymakers in a rental car on Mallorca: The so-called “Mallorca policy” is recommended not only here, but generally in other European countries
Quelle: Getty Images/Image Source/RUSS ROHDE
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Anyone who reserves a rental car and signs a handover protocol is confronted with a wealth of unknown terms. Not knowing them can cause trouble and be costly. It is not uncommon for the cryptic abbreviations to hide steep fees or mobility restrictions. So here’s a little phrasebook through rental car Latin.
The language confusion starts with the reservation. The customer wants a car, the car rental company confirms a rental group. This means that the exact type of car is not agreed upon, nor are the equipment details: trailer hitch, sunroof, navigation system – even winter tires are not a given during the season. If you need something like this, it is better to have it confirmed in writing.
The agent calculates the final price. And the cheap basic price from advertising is almost always increased by annoying fees: at airports and train stations, rental stations blatantly charge a 23 percent service fee; They often don’t know what service this is.
At airports, car rental companies are happy to charge an additional service fee
Quelle: Getty Images/Image Source/Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy
Younger customers can easily get confused about the minimum age: depending on the provider, it is 19 to 25 years, and for Mercedes SL and Porsche it can sometimes be 30 years. During the first twelve months after getting your driver’s license, nothing works anyway – unless you pay another fee, the “under age fee”, which can be between five and 22 euros per day.
By the way, only the renter is allowed to drive. Additional drivers should definitely be listed in the rental agreement. There is an “administrative fee for additional driver” of up to 40 euros, but it is worth it. In the event of an accident, the insurance coverage expires.
Which insurance makes sense for a rental car?
Speaking of insurance: They cause the final price to rise further. The car rental often only includes the legally required minimum insurance coverage. The car rental company will recommend fully comprehensive insurance, the CDW (“Collision Damage Waiver”) or the LDW (“Loss and Damage Waiver”) with theft protection. The deductible of usually 250 to well over 1000 euros can also be excluded for an additional charge (SCDW).
Liability coverage amounts abroad are often shockingly low; an LIS (“Liability Insurance Supplement”) can help. And while they’re at it, the agents also like to sell passenger accident insurance PAI (“Personal Accident Insurance”), baggage insurance PEC (“Personal Effects Coverage”) as well as the completely unnecessary UMP (if the other party in the accident is not insured) and SLI (for personal injuries to third parties).
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The only thing that makes sense is fully comprehensive insurance and a “Mallorca policy” for abroad. The clause increases the liability insurance amount for rental cars to the German level not only in Mallorca, but throughout other European countries. It’s better to take it out with your local insurer and it’s almost always cheaper than the protection offered by rental companies. This clause is already included in many vehicle insurance policies, so of course an extra policy no longer makes sense.
Possible costs when returning the car
The price has been calculated and the credit check follows. Anyone who is unknown and pays in cash has to pay a hefty deposit in advance amounting to the estimated rental and additional costs and is often only accepted for the smallest car classes. As a payment method, car rental companies usually only accept a credit card, from which they quickly take out a blank card as a replacement for the deposit, i.e. a card receipt in which no amount is filled out. Abuse is nipped in the bud if you have the blank returned to you when you return it.
With the signature, the rental agreement is concluded and the rental conditions are automatically agreed to. They almost always stipulate that the vehicle cannot be driven off paved roads (even if it is an off-road vehicle). Border crossings are also viewed with suspicion. Trips to other Eastern European countries are almost always prohibited; some providers already have Croatia, Great Britain and Greece on the entry ban list.
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Before returning you have to fill up again. This at least applies to the “full-full” tank regulation, where you as a customer receive a car with a full tank and bring it back with a full tank. Otherwise you could face exorbitant fuel charges of up to 150 euros, even if the rental car was a Fiat 500 and didn’t have a tank volume of more than 35 liters.
“Full-empty” regulations are usually not a good deal: the car rental company then fills up the tank again – for a hefty service fee. In addition, it can easily happen that the tank was not completely empty when you returned it and you unintentionally give the remaining fuel to the rental company.
When you return the car you have to pay again. Anyone who has exceeded their free kilometer will now be charged for each additional kilometer driven. The car rental company charges a wrong return fee of at least 30 euros if the car is returned to a different station than the one agreed – unless you have agreed on a one-way rental from the outset.
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