American needs help with German car rental! / Amerikaner braucht Hilfe mit der deutschen Autovermietung!

    Never say no... Over the past year or so, LDAR & SIXT have been quite "entertaining" for me. As the previous speakers state, you can not request and upgrade but they for sure occure.


    My "LDAR" experience so far
    525d, 528i, 530d, 530xd, 530xd GT, A6 quadro 30d, x6 30d, 650xi coupe, 640d coupe, M3 cabrio, 740xd


    I was offered but had to turn down OR chose different
    z4, x5 30d, M3 coupe



    :203:

    Most important: Since you're most certainly not used to 130 mph and more i would advise you to book collision damage waiver with zero deductible for the worst case.


    And yes, diesels are no problem at all performance wise and are sporty enough compared to petrol cars - plus you save a lot of money.


    Current gas prices in germany:


    Diesel:


    1.52 €/liter = 7.21 $/gal


    Gasoline:


    1.72 €/liter = 8.16 $/gal

    Consider to ask your rental agent to assist you with switching the GPS language. I had a Volvo S80 the other day and I for the life of me wasn't able to manage it by myself ... 8| :pinch:

    Just completed our trip. Here's what I did, in case anyone comes across this thread later on and has similar questions.


    We made two reservations - 1 LDAR and 1 SSMR. I only wanted SSMR if I could have a Peugeot RCZ, otherwise my plan was to cancel that reservation and go with the LDAR. Booked both on flexi tariff (bit more expensive, but worth it for flexibility). Arrived at Berlin Europa Center to find no SSMR available and only an A6 Avant (LWAR) for LDAR. There were only 2 of us and we did not want such a large car, so we ended up receiving a BMW 520D for SSMR price, which was quite a bit lower than the LDAR price. Not what I would have preferred but it was well equipped (Navi, xenon, sunroof, no M package) and comfortable for 1500 KM of driving. It only had 5000KM on it when picked up so very new, although the cigarette smell and ashes in the ashtray was not so nice.

    Was able to drive 225 km/h - Polish trucks kept coming into the left lane to pass!


    A friend has a BMW X5 so I was familiar with the navigation/computer, at least enough to change the language to English. No one at the center offered to help me do that. I forgot to change it back when I returned the car to Konstanz, so the next person to drive it will have a little surprise! ;)

    Zitat von dwbf1

    I forgot to change it back when I returned the car to Konstanz, so the next person to drive it will have a little surprise!


    Gnnar-har-har!