 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm picking up an Avis car tomorrow from Salzburg, during booking there is no detail about cross border surcharges, it only comes up once you have made the booking, sneaky.
The rental for a Seat Ibiza is £206, not bad.
I plan to drive to Mayrhofen via the motorway through Germany and it seems like Avis want to charge a full surcharge for the full 7 days of the rental, a further £90, despite only being in Germany for an hour or so for two days of the rental.
Does anyone have experience of arguing this charge away or down to a reasonable level with Avis, Salzburg?
Last time I did this trip in a hire car was about 10 years ago with a smaller rental company and they waived the charge as the queue at their desk was so slow. Prior to that I'd never seen that charge despite renting in Germany about 10 times a year for 20 years.
Even the reasonable cross country route still goes through Germany as it has a bit of a pan handle into Austria near Salzburg. If they refuse to reduce the charge I may just go that way and take my chances.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Read terms and conditions for crossing border without paying the fee. I've seen 500-750 fines for doing so. All cars have GPS tracking.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Head south from Salzburg to Bischoshofen and then towards zell am See then further west to Mayrhofen
An extra hour on your journey but remaining in Austria the whole way
If you want another scenic route back and you have time go north to the autobahn to Worgl head towards St Johann then Saalfelden then continue over the Hochkonig to Bischoshofen
Both routes adding time to your journey but no borders crossed
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@JimboS,
You can avoid Germany by going via St. Johann im Pongau. Driving time 3hours 3 mins according to AA routeplanner:
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@JimboS, it is just a way to keep the headline cost of the rental down. Not sure it has any legal basis, the T&Cs usually have a list of allowed countries eg there are often restrictions where you can take high value vehicles.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks guys, I never heard of anyone getting a fine for straying over the border, would like to see any example if it exists.
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@jafa, @JimboS, @Alastair Pink,
DO NOT TAKE THE ROUTE FROM SALZBURG VIA BISCHOFSHOFEN and ST JOHANN IM PONGAU
There are extensive roadworks on the A10/E55 autobahn south of Salzburg. Last weekend the queue from the roadworks at Golling stretched back 25km - past Salzburg and back into Bavaria - and the delays were up to 4 hours. Taking the back road (159) didn't work as that too was clogged up by people trying to get around the queue.
Either take the cut across Germany (via Bad Reichenhall and Lofer) or the autobahn route towards Worgl/Innsbruck. Both involve crossing Germany but there is no way of avoiding this.
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@quinton, it likely will have been worse last weekend because of Whitsun – the whole of south Germany heads to Italy for a fortnight. This weekend will hopefully be better (next will be worse again as they all head home), but check traffic before picking a route.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Typical cross-border charges in the last few years have been €70 per hire, Austria into Germany or Germany into Austria.
If you've booked via an aggregator like Holiday Autos or similar, you can sometimes reduce this to €50 by notifying them in advance.
Don't just wing it - you will be uninsured and the company may hit you with surcharges on return which are in the contract and fairly obvious.
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@Scarlet, "Better" is relative! The queues might not reach 4 hours this weekend, but even on a good day what should be a 40 minute journey is often taking well over 2 hours. Currently listening to Antenne Salzburg and at 10.30 the southbound queue is already at 90 minutes. Traffic is only passing the roadworks in one direction (not a contra-flow) so traffic is stopped on the autobahn and is going through the roadworks in alternate blocks of vehicles.
For @JimboS, home journey - assuming that it is next Sunday, he must definitely NOT do the scenic route over Bischofhofen. There is a public holiday in Austria on Thursday, so many people will be taking a long weekend and driving south to Slovenia, Italy or Croatia and returning on Sunday, when the longest queue will be on the south side (i.e. the Bischofhofen side) of the roadworks.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@quinton, oh absolutely! I'm planning a trip to Italy in the next few weeks, but having sat in the Brenner bank holiday traffic in the past, I will pick a random weekend and hope it's not too bad!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Scarlet, Update - the southbound queue this morning has now already reached 25km (Kronen Zeitung says 30km) and the Traffic Radio bulletins are now saying 3 hours delay - so about one hour per 10km.
The queue last weekend on Whitsun Saturday was actually 40km, not "only" 25km as I wrote above.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sat 14-06-25 9:33; edited 2 times in total
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| ousekjarr wrote: |
Don't just wing it - you will be uninsured and the company may hit you with surcharges on return which are in the contract and fairly obvious. |
This varies by operator and location, it’s by no means universally correct.
Hertz Geneva on multiple occasions has told me the surcharge is optional- without it, breakdown cover is Switzerland-only, and a breakdown in France costs CHF750. In this case it was nothing to do with insurance.
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You know it makes sense.
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A friend hired a car in Venice and never left Italy. The clutch cable broke and the car was undrivable. The company not only refused to compensate him for leaving him stranded at start of passo Giao but also charged him the privilege of having them recover their faulty product. You do not have to leave the country for the car hire companies to try it on.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| snowdave wrote: |
| ousekjarr wrote: |
Don't just wing it - you will be uninsured and the company may hit you with surcharges on return which are in the contract and fairly obvious. |
This varies by operator and location, it’s by no means universally correct.
Hertz Geneva on multiple occasions has told me the surcharge is optional- without it, breakdown cover is Switzerland-only, and a breakdown in France costs CHF750. In this case it was nothing to do with insurance. |
I had the same reason given to me in Munich once. She told me a story of how shed gone to Austria, broken down, and therefore had to pay for her own recovery back home.
If you actually check the Insurance it does cover you for all European Countries, as does my own personal Insurance on my car here in Kirchberg.
Same as charge for additional drivers. All our policies here have any driver.
Would be interesting to ask for a copy insurance with purely the named drivers noted. Im meaning " a cover note type of paperwork" not just a certificate I suspect youd be told where to jump.
But I suspect theyd try and get you on the T & Cs saying that your not covered.
The most galling thing for us was hiring in Salzburg literally driving to home, and having to use the short German section on the road from Salzburg towards Lofer. Paying a weeks cross border for literally a total of about 30kms total for both journeys wasnt nice. Hence I always calculated the hire cost and the xcross border charges before deciding the best deal.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Flight is delayed so we won't arrive till about 7pm, I'll check the routes then.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@jafa, did you try to argue the unfairness of their unjustifiable charge with the hire company?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Interesting. My breakdown insurance covers any car I'm driving or am a passenger in
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@jafa, Avis was our go to rental company at Salzburg Airport, though I haven't used them for at least 18 months, I've never been charged a surcharge for driving across the short bit of Germany on my way to Saalbach so it could be something new, prior to switching to Avis we used Buchbinder and Megadrive both at the airport (same company), have a look at Enterprise their cross border surcharge is a max of €49.64, they aren't in the carpark building , https://www.enterpriserentacar.at/en/car-hire-locations/at/salzburg-airport-w-a-mozart-z6e4.html?mcid=yext:245709
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I’ve been hiring cars from Salzburg airport since 2005
For the last 20 years some have some haven’t
And it also depends which company you use ie car rentals, holiday autos, Argus car hire
Ie Avis may charge through one but not the other
I’m just so glad them days have passed and I just live here full time
Apologies for delay in responding I’ve just had another round of golf with the Wilder kaiser mountains as the backdrop and it’s 33 degrees so time for a beer
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| Interesting. My breakdown insurance covers any car I'm driving or am a passenger in |
I'd be wary of using your own breakdown insurance to cover a hired car, as the hire company could then deem you to be in breach of their contract if you did not follow their procedures. They have their own arrangements, and any damage or work done by a different breakdown company is likely to have them charging you for them to "put it right", eg if you had an emergency tyre replacement they'd want to swap the new tyre for one of their spec, and could charge you upwards of €500 for the privilege.
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@ousekjarr, no, I would always pay the cross border charge. Less hassle
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FAQ
I did seem to be holding up the traffic at times though. 
