 Poster: A snowHead
|
Can anyone offer any advice here?
The latest scam for next season is that car hire companies are now charging for winter tyres at 14-20 Euros per day (depending on compoany chosen) as "additional items". I am wanting to hire a car from Munich airport for an 8 day duration in January which equates to a £100 premium over and above the quoted price for an "additional item" when it is mandatory in Germany to have them fitted anyway during winter months (and rightly so by the way). I guess all cars are sat there in rows with them fitted as standard and they charge you a premium t the desk if you havent pre-ordered them??
My question is - has anyone bluffed it, and gone without pre-booking them, ie do they come at you for payment or is it possible they ignore it at collection and you get them as standard anyway?
I'd welcome any feedback, has anyone experienced similar?.............................. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
If you look at the Avis Switzerland website it says the following:
| Quote: |
| Avis cars in Switzerland will be equipped with winter tyres, snow chains and ice scrapers during the winter months. An amount per day will be charged together with the Registration Fee. The amount is already included in the total charge if booked online. |
I suppose that implies that the exact same car costs less in summer. 20 euros for winter tyres seems steep, though not as steep as Avis Switzerland's extra charge of 43 Swiss francs for a child's booster seat. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Its not yet a legal requirement in Germany. When i picked up a car last year they said they had brought cars for those who had pre-ordered without winter tyres...
But there is a thread on here somewhere about the posibillity of a new German law mandating them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
pam w, yeah I was  I know waht you mean though.
Unfortunately there won't be a next time, as she is married with 2 kids now and back home in Sydney.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The law in Germany is probably going to be ratified on 1st November. This means the car hire companies are going to have to fit winter tyres and will not be able to bill you this as an optional extra.
I'm watching the news and listening to the radio for a report as to exactly when it is enforced. When I know I'll post an update.
Sue 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks Sue, I'll hold off booking until I hear from you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Quote: |
This means the car hire companies are going to have to fit winter tyres and will not be able to bill you this as an optional extra.
|
They'll bill it as a compulsory extra, probably, as in Switzerland.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
This means the car hire companies are going to have to fit winter tyres and will not be able to bill you this as an optional extra.
|
They'll bill it as a compulsory extra, probably, as in Switzerland. |
Yes exactly 
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Does anyone know if winter tyres are standard on Austrian hire cars - or do they charge extra as well?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
zellmaniac, Markymark29, they will be as required by law, so no extras
pam w, the Swiss will rip-off any dumb punter daft enough to cough up without question
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samerberg Sue, Quote from Holiday Autos T&Cs:
| Quote: |
additional information for Switzerland rentals
Winter tyres are mandatory for all Switzerland rentals from 01 November 2009 - 15 April 2010. As result, the pre-bookable ski package option will be automatically selected for all Switzerland bookings. You can deselect this product but if you do so you will be charged locally.
|
There have been many, many threads on this. I am not a 'dumb punter daft enough to cough up without question' and have indeed questioned it very thoroughly, but the fact is that even though the tyres are mandatory and already fitted on the car, you will very likely be charged for them. If you do not pre-pay it they will slap the charge on afterwards. Just because they are mandatory by law does not necessarily mean they are without extra charge. My bad experience was with Sixt via Holiday Autos but I suspect the practice is widespread now and it is in the small print.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
sarah, nothing personal but fact - law says they must be on - why pay extra unless you choose to have them removed? The Swiss are infamous on my side of the border for taking the pi§§ out of everyone. You just have to stand up to them. It's what the Germans do and what I have done - sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. Play the game and see what happens. They count on blind acceptance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| sarah, nothing personal but fact - law says they must be on - why pay extra unless you choose to have them removed? The Swiss are infamous on my side of the border for taking the pi§§ out of everyone. You just have to stand up to them. It's what the Germans do and what I have done - sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. Play the game and see what happens. They count on blind acceptance. |
Totally agree with you and this issue of charging for an extra for something that is mandatory and is already fitted on the car drives me nuts However I did really question it and followed it up with HA afterwards, I didn't win this one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
sarah, Moral is don't use HA - they'll change their tune fast enough when people vote to hire with the opposition.
Question all the car hire people in advance and choose the one that provides a car that meets the criteria with regard to price, law and weather! I was out at Munich Airport today and asked at all the car hire counters and they all said that they will comply with the law when it changes (that was Hertz, Europcar, Sixt, and a couple of others I've forgotten the names of). I had time on my hands and thought I would use it purposefully for a change 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
I did a similar thing in Geneva some time ago, picking up leaflets and getting prices. all the lists had specified additional costs of snow tyres but a couple of the desks I spoke to said that for bookings made from the UK that price would be included anyway. Maybe some of the "consolidators" didn't include them - hence the problems. But having to pay up on the day probably only brought the price up to what you'd have had to pay direct with Europcar, or whoever. There are no free lunches, above all in Switzerland.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
Thanks for doing that Sue, very good of you - they obviously know there's an issue coming eh? Maybe you could post early November once the German law is ratified, as above. One thing is for sure I guess, all the prices will go up and it will be included then rather than being a optional not optional extra........!! Might just be worth booking b4 the law change then they might come as standard!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
was in the very situation you are asking about and we said we would brave it out. we were getting an audi a6 for a week in munich and when we got to the desk the lady says " I see sir you have not booked winter tyres" so i asked if the tyres were already on and she said definitely not and she would be giving an audi without the winter tyres as she had 1car with and 1 without so pay up or go without!! did'nt push it any further so dont know if she was bluffing or not, but i dont think she was. the differing prices from hire companies is unreal and im with you in thinking its a magor rip off. will be interesting to see what happens when the law changes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Hi Marky
We deal with a few of the major Car Brokers so I have posed the question of them and will let you know!
Hi Pam W - Have you come across the Bubblebum - its an inflatable car seat for children - we featured it in article on beating the car hire firms we wrote last summer - http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/articles/cheapest-car-hire-package.htm and it went down really well!
We also launched a car hire insurance comparison service and its gone down really well - Martin Lewis was pushing us on GMTV! It slashes the costs of that 'would you like to pay €15 a day to protect the €700 excess' to £1.90 a day
Now I need to find a way around the snow tyre / snow chain issue - but to date am flummuxed - any ideas?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| Quote: |
Moral is don't use HA
|
I came across the following sharp practice from Holiday Autos in Cyprus this summer: At the car hire desk I was told I owed them an extra 70 Euros for the full tank of fuel (and that this only applied to cars booked via Holiday Autos). Evidently this detail was somewhere in the small print, but I had understandably missed it. It was positioned to me at the desk as a benefit to me, in that I didn't have to worry about returning the car with a full tank. (I didn't see it that way...I felt I had been conned)
Of course, no one returns a car with a totally empty tank (who in their right mind would risk running out of fuel on the way to the airport?), so they are making a killing out of reselling unused fuel (probably at least a quarter of a tank a time) to the next unsuspecting punter who has booked through them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks skimark - look forward to hearing more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Julian T, easycar used to do that - they didn't last very long. It was always a bit nerve-wracking, running it down before you got to the airport.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Hi Markymark29,
Right - the answer I have been given is that if you do not book them up front through the car hire company or broker you are using you will be charged at the desk when you collect the car. I posed the turn up and blag question and they felt it would not hold water (although I guess they would say that!) - and I have been through a number of T&Cs for German hires (all of which I have found say the cost of winter tyres are excluded - most also say additional charges will be made if necessary at pick up - although many do not say how much).
It does mean a lot of reading T&Cs though - and I will talk to the brokers again about this - so far they are saying that it does depend on the individual car rental companies policy and that they are not given enough information to package it in - even in Switzerland some companies still add on an extra rather than packaging - here is a quote from Auto Europe for a car rented there: Not included: Mandatory Winterization Fee of approx. 7.90 CHF day (max charge of approx. 79 CHF per rental) for rentals commencing between 15th November and 30th April
The price also varies massively - worst I have found so far! - Again from Auto Europe: Rentals commencing in Chamonix, Morzine or Megeve Nov. 1st - Apr. 30th mandatory snow tire (sic) fee of approx. EUR 35 per day, maximum of EUR 175 per month.
We are trying to reduce the cost of car hires in a number of ways (car hire excess comparison was our first) - so I will look to undertake a survey and look to highlight this - we got good pickup from many National Papers earlier in the year on a similar subject so will try again here!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With this new German Legislation I can predict a massive shortage in Winter Tyres. Demand will outstrip Supplies.
There is no way the Tyre company's can supply the millions of motorists here in Holland who need them for this winter to travel through Germany.
I would imagine Car Hire company will have difficulty sourcing new Tyres for all the re vehicles?
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Markymark29 wrote: |
| The latest scam for next season is that ...... |
That’s not a loaded statement is it?
When you supply something that costs an extra amount to provide how is this going to be paid for. Remember that car hire is an extremely competitive market and so you'll have reduced your prices to an industry/regional structure anyway.
You're not just paying for the cost of the tyres. You're paying for the fitting of the tyres, storage of the summer/winter tyres whilst not used, administration, logistic chains, etc, etc.
If winter tyres are supplied then you'll have to pay extra for them "unless" all companies agree to include them within the cost. Or, if this becomes illegal, then the added cost will obviously be simply loaded onto the basic hire charge to cover the extra supply costs.
The world is not always out to get you or scam you. Sometimes stuff just has to be paid for and you, as the final income source, will have to dig a little deeper if you want the product supplied.
| skimark wrote: |
| It does mean a lot of reading T&Cs though |
Almost all T&C's will have an exclusion which refers to changes in the law that the supplier has no control over - so you're on a loser there. Sorry
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wayne, that's how I see it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
Wayne,  Yes, I had to fit chains last week too, and they weren't even quite the right ones. Had to lash them up with my snow and rock powder traces - most useful they've ever been!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
I have checked this out with the Swiss Embassy in London who have confirmed that although winter tyres are desirable they are NOT,repeat NOT mandatory in Switzerland.Therefore Holiday Autos'claim that they are is false and no doubt just another way of fleecing we punters.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
. I can recommend the old road, late on a Friday night with heavy snow fall, drifting across the road, I thought it was brilliant 
. my girl friend wasn't loving it so much 
