Renting a Car in Europe, Things You Don't know

What eight years of road tripping, border crossings, and one golden retriever taught me.

The short answer:

• Know your distance.

• Know your border.

• Know your parking.

• Know what you are getting.

Almost every European road trip that goes sideways fails on one of those three. Most people fly in without realizing how big Germany is, how easy it is to cross a border, or that the rental car they just picked up is contractually prohibited from leaving the country. That last one strands more visitors than anything else. So map the journey first.

Distance and Borders

Germany is larger than it looks on a map with no state lines. From Southwest Germany, near my home base, I can be in France in under an hour and in Luxembourg not much later, which makes the border feel like a formality.

I love a tri-border. Running cross-country between three countries in the morning never gets old.

However, crossing borders is not a formality in your rental agreement.

• Ask the rental company, in writing, which countries the car may enter. Cross-border restrictions are common and are usually strictest for Eastern Europe.

• Check the equipment. A German rental will not automatically carry an Austrian or Swiss vignette, and it may not have the emissions sticker you need.

• Plan the day around the driving, not the other way around. Two hundred kilometers of Autobahn is not fun, even if you do get to drive fast (sometimes). And two hundred kilometers of Ferienstraße is a completely different day.

Papers & Money

• Keep passports on you, not in the car. My husband prefers the locked glovebox or the trunk. I do not. It is a real disagreement in our house and there is no single right answer, but decide before you park, not after.

• Carry cash. A surprising number of village bakeries, ‘Hofläden’, parking machines, and small museums along these routes still want coins or notes.

• Carry change specifically. ‘Parkscheine’, toilets, and honesty boxes. So much here still runs on the honor system. Respect it.

What is in the car?

A Parkscheibe (parking disc) for timed free parking. Non-negotiable in German towns.

• The emissions sticker for your windscreen if you plan to enter a town center. Many are low-emission ‘Umweltzonen’ and require one. Ask the rental company about this before you drive off the lot.

On the road…the rules that catch Americans out

• Keep right except to pass. On the Autobahn this is not a suggestion. The left lane is for passing, and someone is coming up behind you faster than you think.

• Form the ‘Rettungsgasse’. When traffic slows to a crawl, drivers pull apart to open a corridor for emergency vehicles between the leftmost lane and the rest. Do it before you are asked, not once you hear the sirens.

• Right of way is signed, not assumed. In villages, unmarked intersections often mean traffic from the right has priority. Slow down.

• Speed cameras are everywhere and unapologetic. The ticket will find your rental company, and then it will find you.

• Do NOT drink and drive. This is the one I will not be casual about. Germany and much of Europe have a real drinking culture and a much lower legal blood alcohol limit than most Americans expect.

  • Plan the stay before you plan the tasting. Book a room in the village, or take a train.

  • Designate a driver who is actually not drinking. Not even a little.

  • Know that the limit is lower still, effectively zero, for new drivers and drivers under a certain age. Check the current figure for the country you are in.

  We do staycations in Bad Dürkheim or up on the Rhine all the time. Both are drivable and both are trainable, though the return trains do not always work in our favor. So I make the staycation part of the fun. A spa stay. A castle stay. A foodie highlight. Something worth splurging on, because we are lucky enough to be here and not paying for the flight. Sometimes the hotel is the destination, even when it is twenty minutes from home.

  Read more about Parking, Sundays, Road Tripping with a Dog, and Apps Needed for Driving in Europe.
  

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