Europe Car Rental Mistakes That Will RUIN Your Trip (Driving in Europe)
Avoid wrecking your Europe trip with a car rental disaster. In this video, I share 5 huge mistakes to avoid when renting a car in Europe. Click "Show More" to see Ad Disclosure.
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⏰ Timecodes ⏰
0:00 Avoid These 5 Europe Car Rental Mistakes
0:59 Mistake #1
2:04 Mistake #2
4:26 Mistake #3
5:00 Mistake #4
6:46 Mistake #5
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I found after renting a car in Paris and driving out to Bretagne for several days lots of sneaky fees. I knew about the radar boxes (learned about those in 1992!), but a month after I got home, got TWO speeding fines, one for 10 km above limit, and the other for going TWO KMs over the limit! TWO 40-euro fines for the government, and TWO 35 euro fines for the RENTAL AGENCY (for their effort typing in the license and giving my address to the police!). I should have been watching for/copying when all the traffic slows down! Also, when I returned the car to the Gare de Lyon, there was a hefty Convenience Fee for having picked it up at a big train station, when I had to travel across Paris to get to the location I was told my "discount rental" would be. Non-negotiable! Since 2016, I now use public transportation, which takes me anywhere I care to go. Way cheaper, and no surprise Attack Fees! And sometimes I get lovely meals served to me on the train...
American Express Hilton Honors covers for car damages in a rental. I have used this one in Europe several times, no problem.
All Amex...I alredy recked a car abroad🙄
That's interesting! In Italy and Spain, both cars we rented have a sticker on the gas door cover stating what type of gas you need to use at the pump. I am glad the damages wasn't so bad with your rental. I can imagine how it can ruin a trip worrying about the damages.
The insurance thingy is BIG. I have rented 3 times in Italy and once in France. All those times I booked through AutoEurope which is a consolidator based in the USA. I always got the full insurance package. On one of the Italy trips I managed to smash the right rear side of the car in the in-mountain parking lot in Amalfi (not on the amazingly winding Amalfi coast road!). When we returned the car in Napoli they didn't even ask about the huge dent and I never received a damage bill. On another trip the agent at the Firenze airport SIXT really tried to scare me into buying insurance. I called an AutoEurope agent and they reassured me that it was not necessary, that I was totally covered. Thanks for a very useful video!
A couple years ago, we were refused a car rental on one of the Greek islands because we didn't have an international driving permit. We were told it was the law and that the rental agency would be penalized if it were discovered that they had rented to us. I mention this as Greece was not on the list you showed of countries requiring the permit.
All great advice! Definitely know the rules beforehand, like driving on the 'wrong' side of the road in my country. the UK!
Thank you for sharing these tips Nik!
thanks .. great help for traveler
Not the diesel! 😭 glad you had coverage!
it just depends on which country you pickup and dropoff. We picked up in France and dropped off in Germany and it was only $50 so well worth it. The only issue that was not planned for was the $50 sticker required when we passed briefly into Switzerland.
Oh, the radars in Europe!!!🤑🤑🤑
Yeah, I put a half tank of petrol (gas) in a diesel rental in Scotland. I didn't even get as far as thinking green = diesel, I just completely forgot that the car was a diesel. At least I became aware of it before trying to drive off, so we could get a mobile tank draining service to come out to us and get the petrol out. Still a bit pricey, but glad I didn't drive on it at all.
You don't really need to rent. In cities you don't need and what are you going to do in villages ? There is also a nice trick with temporary speed limits. Those are painful if you are using a navigation and those temporary speed limits don't show up.
We have a trip scheduled in the UK this June and I booked the rental using points through our Chase Sapphire Preferred. Is there anything else that you can recommend that you didn’t cover in the video. I’ve always been nervous renting overseas and fortunately haven’t had any issues. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Malaga radars sound like no joke!
All through France they have that types of radars; one of the things to know about the places we visit- roads & radars...
beware of renting an AVIS hire car in Faro, Portugal. we were tricked into paying fees way beyond what we expected (as all documentation was presented in Portuguese). Then when we finished our car hire, we had so many unexpected charges. Our travel agent tried to remedy our issues when we returned to Australia, but to no avail. AVOID at all costs.
Thanks for the information. We are traveling to Croatia in September and plan to rent a car. Are there any other things we should be aware of? Did you use any of the ferries to visit some of the more well known islands? I would assume gas or diesel is readily available. We start in Dubrovnik and we may take a day trip to Montenegro but possibly go on a tour instead of driving.
I'm mostly sure I have enough coverage for rental cars in the US and usually decline outright if we're just in city or suburban areas. I have however in the past used a 3rd party primary policy when travelling in remote areas in the southwest. For Iceland, we bought the rental company insurance for piece of mind given that parking lots and some rural roads (not talking F-roads) are volcanic rocks/gravel and I just wanted to be able to give them back the car without any worries about dings or worse. Upcoming in Madeira for one day I pre-bought the company coverage at a reasonable rate, again for piece of mind that I won't get hassled with any BS damage claims in a place I don't know the language or laws. Hint in any case : Take a video walk around before and after your rental to document any existing damage.
While P2 always relies on her CSR for any rental car I am bit more conservative outside the USA and will purchase coverage. About 10 years ago I essentially totalled a rental in the Wicklow Mountains near Dublin. I managed to limp back to the airport, dropped off the keys, and walked away. Maybe my CC insurance would work, but I had zero interest in fighting this from 3000 miles away. Easily the best 20 euro I ever spent.
There's some real wisdom there - peace of mind. Don't risk too much for too little.
@@awaytogether FWIW some damage is not going to be covered by CC insurance. Thinking specifically about Iceland and things like wind damage when your car door gets blown open or if you encounter lava from a volcano.
I had a terrible experience five years ago with Sixt in France, when I accepted the insurance at the desk and wound up banging into a guard rail on the road to Germany. There were no injuries, but the collision coverage was denied as they claimed I was at fault, and I wound up paying about $5K for the damage. There didn't appear to be much recourse since I was unable to identify a way to dispute the denial of coverage. In general, based on this experience and others, I think it is wise to forego the coverage offered by the rental companies and rely on your Primary collision coverage from Visa through Chase Sapphire or similar cards. Incidentally, I believe liability coverage is mandated by the EU and is included automatically in rental contracts in Europe, although I could be wrong about that. Generally, I don't think US insurance will cover you overseas, at least in my experience with State Farm. Incidentally, I will never rent again from Sixt, so screw them!
Especially for US tourists: don’t rent a car that’s as big as you‘re used too. You might get stuck in a small village. And it’s really annoying to drive behind a big SUV on the Ring of Kerry, who’s driving at a crawling pace. 😉
I got a 5 Kph radar ticket in Italy and a driving in a restricted zone in Madrid. Both times Hertz charged me $45 for providing my info to the police. I never got a ticket from either place.
Interesting, I had a similar experience on a trip to Italy in October of last year. I received an email from Hertz describing the fine (in Italian) but providing no information for how to contact the authorities, simply stating that Hertz would charge an administrative fee and I would be subsequently contacted by the local police. My credit card (Sapphire) refused the payment to Hertz (without my prompting) and I never got the ticket from the Italian authorities. Six months out and I'm still waiting, perhaps like you I will escape punishment!
Diesel/Petrol....very different words?
Things you did not cover. Insurance. Usually the credit card insurance will kick in if other forms of insurance have primary coverage. Perhaps this is what you mean by primary vs. secondary coverage. Also, many of these coverages are not immediate. In other words, you have to cover the costs and the insurance will reimburse you after you p[resenty documentation. Documenting vehicle condition. Always, always, take photos of the exterior and interior of the vehicle both sat the time of rental and when turning the vehicle in, including a time and date stamp on the photo. Finally, when you rent, ask the agent if the vehicle has ever been reported as stolen. This can happen if the previous renter turned it in late. If for any reason, you ares stopped by the police and the rental agency has designated the vehicle as stolen, you have lots of 'splaining to do.