Has anyone experience of renting cars in eastern Europe and renting in one country, driving to maybe a few others and dropping off in another one?
Am thinking of starting in Poland perhaps Katowice then visiting Czech Republic, Slovakia and perhaps dropping car off finally in Budapest, Hungary in July 08.
Have been given a quote of a Euro 100 drop off fee with holiday autos on top of normal hire charges. Are there any cos that charge nothing for this?
Any other tips on what is needed paperwork wise to do this? Anyone have any problems with a car rental broker arranging this sort of non-standard use and finding the local rental agent won't accept the deal?
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A 100 euro cross border drop off fee sounds seriously cheap and I would be very suspicious of it, as I think you are! I have seen figures of £250 mentioned. Basically the car will 'belong' to some organisation in the coutry where you pick it up and if you don't return it there, they will have to pay to get it back plus they can't re-rent after you drop it off and before they get it back.
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Just found this in a Q & A section of a newspaper travel site (Daily Telegraph - PU). Quote
Kenneth Smith from London wrote
Is it possible to rent a car in one European country and drop it off in another? Ideally, I would like to hire in Prague and drop off in southern Portugal.
Gill's response
I asked Hertz (0870 848 4848, www.hertz.co.uk), which is well represented all over Europe, to advise on this one. In terms of cross-border car hire, Europe splits into east and west. Starting in Prague is tricky because different rules apply. A one-way rental from Prague to Nuremburg in Germany would cost £226 if the journey was done in a day (£109 of this charge is for the one-way drop-off fee).
It would be much cheaper to hire a car to tour the Czech Republic (from £209 per week) and then cross into Germany by train and pick up another car to continue your journey to Portugal.
A week's rental in Germany costs £185, including taxes and insurance, or £510 for three weeks. But the one-way drop-off charge is a hefty ?1,160 (£811), which is to cover someone taking the German-registered car back to Germany from Portugal.
Edited by Pugugly on 20/04/2008 at 23:35
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Well the Euro 100 charge plus the rest of the quote was done on the telephone with Holiday Autos so the reservation agent was fully aware of what was requested. When I looked on the internet the main companies were either not offering country to country bookings on their intenet booking systems or were offering what seemed to be £500 fees. Holiday autos gave specific FAQ advice saying call their call centre to arrange.
It sounds like a good deal plus their top up insurance is pretty cheap too. I just wonder if there is any problem when you get to the rental station in Poland ? ie that they object to their car not "coming back".
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Well good luck with a 100 euro drop off! I'd get it in writing or at least the name of the person you spoke to plus date and time of the call. Top up insurance (CDW XS waiver) is likely to be much cheaper thru www.insurance4carhire. I pay £49 a year for all car hires I do in Europe; Hertz in Germany wanted £150 for a week!
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You also need to ensure any breakdown cover crosses the border with you. I noitced this was specifically excluded when I hired a car in Portugal with permission to go into Spain.
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Thanks for the advice. Will get everything if possible written into the quotation plus will check specifically on the breakdown cover.
Any tips on driving in Poland/Eastern Europe?
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