Sixt car hire experiences?

A snowHead

Hi all,

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Currently looking to book a car in Munich Airport for our trip to Alpbach for New Year, Sixt are coming out quite reasonable (directly, not through a comparison site), however, a quick google shows they have quite bad reviews - has anyone had an experience with them - good or bad?

A snowHead

Bad, to the tune of €600 plus VAT. Avoid.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

No direct experience but do check what type of insurance it comes with for that cheap price.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

We had no issues with them in Iceland. We were very obviously checking car thoroughly on collection and pointed out even the most tiny additional mark.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Always been positive from Munich and Innsbruck so far anyway

If you don’t take their insurance add ons be very careful to take pictures of all scratches and marks on the car, make sure you get them to update their records before driving off. I say this because on return of the car the attendants (whilst being very quick) are paid on commission to find scratches etc. This is for all car hire in Munich airport not just Sixt.

You'll need to Register first of course.

have used them a few times. got great car and service unlike the dollar/thrifty gangsters

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks all - car hire always makes me nervous and I'm determined to not buy any hire company's excess this year but purchase through a standalone provider.

Enterprise are very slightly more expensive, it includes Damage Waiver too - maybe a safer bet?

After all it is free

@BRi87, make sure it is fully comp. There have been reports of cheap Sixt being 3rd party only

Get questor insurance for the excess and go with the cheapest! I use buchbinder or the other rubbish one and haven't been charged extra once. I think car hire is all equally good/bad, just be prepared.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

We took out the questor policy as well when we went to Iceland, though thankfully didn’t need to claim of it. We told them we had it when they were tying to upsell us at the desk.

They also tried to “sell” us a larger car, when we were adamant we were perfectly happy with the tiny car they “gave” it to us any way Very Happy

snow reports

You know it makes sense.

@BRi87, Use Europcar MUC much better, we’ve just booked same time from MUC and I wouldn’t use SIxt.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I always think of Sixt in the same league as Hertz, Avis, Europcar etc as they tend to have a desk at the main car rental areas, rather than the low-price off-airport ones where I’m expecting to be mis-sold stuff and have the vehicle inspected with a magnifying glass on return. I’ve used Sixt in the past for business trips. No better or worse than the others in my experience.

A snowHead

Three things:
1. all rental companies will wee wee you off eventually, or immediately
2. Sixt was the only one that would guaranty me an AWD vehicle, a big deal for me.
3. My two rentals with them have had hair on both of them: first time they charged me for insurance I had declined (and they reversed the charge when I bitched) and the second time the new kid at the return location was basically using a scanning electron microscope to look for damage on their car (admittedly a new A6) until he was eventually and humorously told by his coworkers to back off. BTW the Rome return location is a joke....I had to retract the mirrors just to enter. My wife is still mad at them!

I'll use them as long as I need AWD and no one else will deliver it, and otherwise I've had good experiences with Europecar, though its not a big sample size.

A snowHead

@BRi87, Sixt do have terrible reviews, but to be fair, most of the main, direct hire companies have terrible reviews. Whilst brokers like Holiday Autos have pretty good reviews.

I have use Sixt in the USA with no trouble at all. But with ALL car hire companies, you have to read the small-print, don't sign anything unless you understand and agree to it, make sure you have a copy of everything you sign, take photos of the original documents you sign, take comprehensive photos of all the the exterior and interior of the vehicle before and after you use it, and use a independent insurance company rather than their insurance.

And also book via www.quidco.com to get a nice percentage back snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've used them a few times in France and had no problems at all.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

unless you;re driving a car in some pretty hairy terrain I can't see that it would count as off-piste, so I'm moving this to The Piste

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've used Sixt twice from Bergamo and never had an issue.

I've had issues with some other suppliers systems blocking the 1500e or so from my credit card though and the only way to sort it was to take out their compulsory insurance. A scam if I ever experienced one.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Sixt are easily the best rental car company out there IMO. Premium cars. Great customer service. I'd always choose them ahead of competitors if there weren't so expensive.

After all it is free

I had a bill for 800 eur for a scratch on the bumper from europcar, never again, also it been my fault, always have a excess insurance.
Used budget many times, received few bills for speed cameras police administrations, so better be more careful with speeding.
Paying premium for winter tyres only make sense in countries where its obligatory by legislation (Germany, Swiss), other airports will most likely provide some cheap allseasons.
Im always trying to avoid renting and use public transport if possible.

In general I hire from Sixt as long as the prices are not silly. I have never had a bad experience. Do be careful with insurance, I have excess insurance but the basic Sixt offering does not now include any insurance at all ie if the car is written off you are responsible for replacing the car! You need to make sure you tick the box for the €950 excess (or lower ones if you want to pay the additional daily charges) and include this cost in the overall cost of hiring the vehicle. In general I have had some very good vehicles from Sixt, during the snowmaggedon episode last January I had a 4 wheel drive Skoda estate from Sixt, it was perfect for driving on snowbound roads into and around Davos, no need for chains.

The return area at Munich airport is very busy, all the companies use the same area with contract staff doing the check in with long lines of vehicles. In typical winter weather it is a pretty grimy and damp spot. I have never noticed any of the (completely bored) staff doing much more than a fairly cursory glance around the vehicles, certainly none of the more detailed checks you sometimes find at the standalone offices. I am sure obvious dents would be noticed but small scratches etc are unlikely to be. Once you get your sign off any unnoticed damage is no longer your problem.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks for all the replies.

I've booked directly with Hertz, Mondeo Estate or similar for a week, £240, winter tyres, CDW, additional driver all included in the price.

They charge €30 for border crossings which we'll need to pay at the desk as we are off to Alpbach.

I'll be sure to get excess cover through a standalone provider. The excess on the policy is £900 so maybe they'll block that on the credit card when I decline their insurance?

I never hire cars but I imagine it's a pretty standard price to pay, let me know what you think.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sounds like a good deal.

Yes they’ll block the money on your card. If you manage to damage the car they will charge you. But call the excess insurer and they’ll tell you what documentation you need to make a claim from them.

snow reports

@BRi87, my experience is that they do not block the entire amount of the excess, it is usually a couple of hundred Euros. The charge for going into Austria is an odd one. I have never had any German hire company try that one on me but it does seem to happen to tourists. I know that over the years the headline cost for actually hiring the car has appeared to go down but various additional charges have crept in, this is just another one of those.

@munich_irish, we have had it with hertz and buchbinder going into Austria for years

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@jafa, Hertz charged us about 3 or 4 years ago. we had booked through Autoeurope or similar.

A snowHead

I cant argue if they did. My experience of them all is they don't. Maybe the involvement of Autoeurope meant a cheaper rental price but with add on charges if needed.

A snowHead

Used Sixt many times, in fact they are the only guys I use nowadays. Alwys a good experiance. winter tyres always included. Cars have always proven reliable. Will be using they again this season.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@jafa, i suspect that is the case, although the OP has booked direct and is being charged

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Just done two quotes directly on the Hertz site. One logged in as a gold card member and without. In both cases a 29.75 euro cross border fee in taking the car out of Germany. This is certainly something new. TBH, I haven't used Munich for at least nine months, as last winter I was only flying in and out of Innsbruck.

Done a quote for Innsbruck, and surprisingly no charges, other than this. Hertz vehicles can only be driven into EU countries (except Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania) and Switzerland.
For driving into Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia, the following fees will apply: 15.75 euros

The only mention of Germany is to be aware of any Environmental charges if driving there.

So Hertz Germany do charge.

Hertz Austria don't unless its Bosnia etc, when it was only 15.75 euros for the week.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Sixt is the best European car rentaler.

Efficient, fair, and priced okay.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Hello
Check if your car hire company offers a "gold/ premium club". I've used Hertz a few times and you just walk up to pick up the car. You need to upload a few details before such as credit card, licence etc, but it's worth it as the queues in Munich can be huge.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hello
Check if your car hire company offers a "gold/ premium club". I've used Hertz a few times and you just walk up to pick up the car. You need to upload a few details before such as credit card, licence etc, but it's worth it as the queues in Munich can be huge.

After all it is free

I used Sixt for a month in the UK this summer. An extra driver was going to cost 300 quid and uprated insurance 350. He said if you take the insurance I can add the extra driver free. Of course we did (had wanted one but not for 40% extra). Car was close to brand new. I carefully filmed it before driving.

Came back, there was a chip in the screen. I had to sign on a PDA.

They then gave me a print of the PDA doc which was actually 3 pages that I hadn’t seen. That really peed me off.

Finally they charged me 60 quid for the chip. I could handle that.

A guy there said always take screen and paint insurance. One woman hired a fancy iPace and while parked nearly every panel was keyed. Cost her a fortune.

I personally find loyalty pays off - I now consistently use Avis and have reasonable status in their loyalty scheme which gives me a different team to call when there are problems, and gets any issues sorted relatively easily.

I also get upgrades, a free thurs-sun weekend a year (usable at Geneva for ski weekends), unlimited extra drivers and usually faster service. I could save a bit of money shopping around on each individual rental, but in aggregate I think I do much better almost exclusively using one provider. I used to use hertz and it was similar there, so it’s not an avis-specific thing, more a counterpoint to the usual “screw the last penny out of every company you use each time” which leads them to treating you the same way.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@BRi87, enterprise are brilliant. We now hire every time through them even if it is more expensive. We used to buy an annual car hire excess protector but now get it through our credit card.

Help!!

Sixt car hire experiences?

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste