 Poster: A snowHead
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I've just had a (not very helpful) reply from Holiday Autos after my query on hire cars in Austria. My research suggests winter driving in Austria requires snowflake tyres - at a penalty up to 5000 euros. My son is working out there for the season and he suggests that the locals all have snow tyres but that many of the guests do not!
We are considering visiting him and letting him take us to a selection of resorts. We have considered flights to Innsbruck (we are based in South Wales he is near Neiderau) also the long drive. Problem with second option is I don't have snow tyres.
I thought we could fly. Hire a car but thought I had better check that there wouldn't be all the add on extras for example .... cost of adding snow tyres ! Holiday Autos were prompt with their reply but said they had many providers at the location and each would have different T & C's.
Has anyone any experience and any other considerations/tips would be warmly welcomed.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We are flying into Salzburg and hiring a car and all the car hire companies we looked at had winter tyres as standard on there cars.
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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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Alun Williams, the Austrian airport hire cars will have winter tyres with snowflake symbol. If you chose Munich Airport you should select them as an option (although, in all likelyhood, they might already be shod appropriately).
And your son is right, the vast majority of visitors who drive to Austria are on summer tyres and are blissfully unaware of the regs. Your main fear is if you are involved in a prang - it'll be your fault whether it's your fault or not if you get my drift.
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| Quote: |
We are flying into Salzburg and hiring a car and all the car hire companies we looked at had winter tyres as standard on there cars.
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Did you find a competitive deal in Salzburg airport ?
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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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We fly into Munich for Austria as all the German hire cars have winter tyres fitted as standard so you don't pay extra. We gave up with Innsbruck as they couldn't guarantee winter tyres, then quoted a fortune. I hope you have better luck than we did.
Munich airport drop off for the car hire at the end of the holiday is superb. Really easy to drive to Austria from there and Niederau is off the main motorway, so it is a straightforward trip. Plus when the weather is bad the Innsbruck flights get diverted to Munich (which was how we first came across the airport for skiing). However, appreciate that Bristol/Cardiff airport unlikely to have direct flights to Munich.
You definitely need the snow tyres if you will be driving between resorts. We also had to use the snow chains on the last part of the drive into Obergurgl earlier this season and we were lucky to get out of Solden before they shut the road - we wouldn't have done so without chains on the front tyres. We passed cars that were unable to do more than pull into the side of the road and wheel spin (tourists with summer tyres perhaps??).
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| Alun Williams wrote: |
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We are flying into Salzburg and hiring a car and all the car hire companies we looked at had winter tyres as standard on there cars.
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Did you find a competitive deal in Salzburg airport ? |
We were specifically looking at 7 and 9 seaters so probably don't meet your requirements. A 7 seater for the week (VW Sharan etc) was coming in around £370. In the end we found a 9 seater (VW Caravelle, Mercedes Vito etc) for £380 so took that instead.
A quick search on the europcar website shows weekly car hire from Salzburg airport starting at around £185 for a VW Polo or £235 for a VW Golf and all their hire cars come with Winter Tyres as standard. We didn't spend any time looking at smaller hire cars so couldn't say whether thats competitive or not.
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[quote="pc"]We fly into Munich for Austria as all the German hire cars have winter tyres fitted as standard so you don't pay extra. We gave up with Innsbruck as they couldn't guarantee winter tyres, then quoted a fortune. I hope you have better luck than we did.
Are you sure you havent got that the wrong way round?
Its the law in Austria. So any rental from Nov to April automatically come with W Tyres. You should never have to pay extra for them.
Certainly not the case in Munich. You Have to ask for them. Yes, most of the cars come with Winter tyres as standard, but they usually ask you if you are going into Austria. If you say no, they are liable to give you one of their few cars that dont have Winter tyres then your F.......ed.
Best to book in advance with soemone that gives WT as aprt of the package.
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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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In my experience rental cars from an Austrian airport always have winter tyres as its a legal requirement during the winter months.
In contrast I hired a car from Munich Airport and paid extra for winter tyres at the desk. The cost for the tyres was more than the hire of the car and I'm sure we would have got the same car if I had declined the winter tyre option.
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Many thanks to all for the "pointers". Still not decided what to do! It is interesting that the "all included price" does not seem to include winter tyres with some companies. for Example rhinocar give all things included until you go for the list .... CDW; third party; tax etc all green ticks then bottom of the list Tyres - a red cross (turns out 2.5euro a day .... hope that's not per wheel!!!)
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