Roadtrip in europe - which car (Mercedes CLK?)

    Hi all,


    I hope it is okay that I write this post in English as my German is not very good.


    I am planning a 4 week roadtrip through Germany, Austria, Italy, switzerland, France, Spain and Holland with a friend in about 3 weeks from now. We will be renting the car in germany as Danish car prices are way to high. We are however not quite sure which car to choose and where to rent from. We will be driving through the mountains in france/Austria and also down to Italy where the insurence does not cover some car models/typer (convertible) from some companies (Hertz). We will be driving over 10.000 km so it should be a car with unlimited milage. We would like a convertible.


    At the moment we are thinking about renting a mercedes CLK (or simular...which other types could that be?) from SIXT holidays which is about 2000 Euro for 4 weeks (maximum price we can afford). We were also considering a BMW 3-series from hertz but had to drop to since they were not allowed to drive in Italy.


    Anybody got any suggestions for other cars/rental companies or experience with a Mercedes CLK?


    Also if anybody got any great suggestions for sites/places to visits you are welcome to add.


    Thanks a lot in advance.


    Best regards


    Morten Sørensen

    I am 28, my friend is 29, both have had our driving lincenses since we were 18 (10 years).


    I don´t know if my credit card have got LDW/CDW (don't know what it is). I have got a standard VISA card and a MASTERCARD.


    Hope that helps :)

    Welcome aboard Morten!
    To support you, we need a few information!


    How old are you and do you have a Credit Card?
    In an optimal way you have a Credit Card which includes a rental car insurance.


    And how long you hold your driver's licence?


    Zitat von Active1

    We will be driving over 10.000 km so it should be a car with unlimited milage.


    Over 10.000 km in 3 weeks? That's 500 km per day!
    Wow... that's strange!


    If you consider a rental for one month, normally you get 4.000 km inclusive.


    Zitat von Active1

    At the moment we are thinking about renting a mercedes CLK (or simular...which other types could that be?)


    That's an other problem! The CLK is a special car with special conditions.
    I cannot imagine that you'll get a CLK for one month or 3 weeks incl. 10.000 km.


    Last but not least: It's the same station you get and return your car?


    EDIT: Forget the first questions. I'm slowly. :wacko:

    Thank you for the welcome.


    It will be 4 weeks, and yes it is a lot of kilometer we might cut it down a bit, however it will be in this area.


    See the answer about the creditcard above. We will return the car to the same location as we pick it up (problably Hamburg or Flensburg, we are flexible about pick-up site as long as it is relatively close to Denmark).


    The car we are considering is from SIXT holidays which is including unlimited milage in a CLK (or simular car) and it does not seem to be a plroblem to rent it online for 4 weeks. http://www.sixt.com/holidaycars/ (from hamburg from 28/6 - 26/7)

    -----


    "LDW / CDW means that your credit card covers the insurance of the car, and therefore you do not need to book one at the rental company. For such a period it could save you quite a few Euro's. "


    -----


    I am pretty sure my creditcard does not contain insurence.

    In my opinion It would not be easy to get a Convertible which is in your Budget!
    It is not the Problem to get a nice convertible (for example Mercedes SLK) about 2000 Euro. But they are limited to 4000 km per month. If you rent this car for just 27 Days, the rental price is much higher, but the kilometers are about 9000 (conditions are from SIXT).


    take a look at sixt.com to check the prices. choose a location somewhere in germany but no airports or trainstations (the prices are 19% higher there!).


    Europcar has trouble with the amount of their conertibles in their fleet.


    it would be cheaper if you rent a "normal" car, and all kilometers are included (if you rent max. 27 days) (sixt)!

    If you book on weekly basis at Sixt you will have 10,000km included (2,500km / week). You can book normal rates or special offers. There are also other rates like ADAC (Triple A) or Lufthansa Miles and More Senator (their CC also includes CDW/LDW (Collision Damage Waiver / Loss Damage Waiver). To find the best offer you should invest some hours and check them all ;). It might also be usefull to read more on the internet (if you are also looking for an english forum you should check http://flyertalk.com).

    THank you for all your quick answers, great forum :)


    From your answers it seems that the offer from SIXT holidays are pretty good. I also got a 15% discount code making the price just around 2000 Euros for 28 days (last I checked) for a car as Marvin_0 described above.


    Didn't know that the rates were higher near airports and trainstations, thats very nice to know.


    I didn't know the km would be 9000 istead of 4000 when renting for only 27 days a sixt, that doesn't make much sense? But after seing this a bmw 1-series convertible from sixt is also a pretty good (and cheaper) alternative, only downside is that we might risk getting a VW Beetle convertible :-/


    We have also considered a non-convertible, which gives a lot of choises but driving around in an open car is just such a great feeling in the summer :-)

    Zitat von Active1

    THank you for all your quick answers, great forum :)

    You can use the "Bedanken" ("thanks") button if you like :)


    Zitat von Active1

    We have also considered a non-convertible, which gives a lot of choises but driving around in an open car is just such a great feeling in the summer :-)

    Sure, a convertible has a great feeling if the weather is good. But in case of the amount of kilometers a car such a BMW 3 series (FDMR) or 5 series (PDMR/LDAR) would be much more comfortable! maybe you can make 2 rentals, a convertible for 2 weeks, and a non convertible for the rest. just a thougt.