Caution on renting a car in Germany

North Americans! or anyone renting a car in Germany, business is done differently there.

I just had the most terrible experience at Munich Airport. I took my wife back to Germany for the first time since she emigrated in 1954. I treated us to a 16 day Dollar Rent A Car reservation for "an Audi A4 class" car. 506 euros, what a deal, I used the Visa/Expedia travel rewards site, and then phoned Visa for confirmation my gold card covered the usual insurance waiver issue we normally get scammed on.

On arrival, I got scammed.

Very clever actually. Dollar and Thrifty and Buchbinder are represented by Terstappen GMBH, an agency deal, at least in Munich airport, and Frankfurt maybe. They instantly present contract terms not in your confirmation or on their web site requiring you to have a letter from your credit card's insurer that states your specific card number is covered in Germany. Simple stuff to do from home, but in an airport 6 hours ahead of home, with no German money and no German language help? 5 hours later I rented from Enterprise next door. Great people, 880 euros though. Dollar had lowballed the rate to get ranked high in the search.

So I got them their letter.

Then, the scam starts. Without a Visa logo on the letter they refuse to let you use your gold Visa to insure the car, and they pitch their daily insurance which costs more per day than the vehicle itself. 506 euros became 957 euros. I declined. The insurance company is NOT Visa, so they cannot legally display the Visa logo on the compliance letter. Terstappen GMBH knows this so they sell a lot of insurance to unwary travellers. No logo, no car. You're stuck. They show you plastic covered sample letters from Visa USA and Mastercard USA. I guess Visa self insures, but in Canada the Visa card is insured by a different company totally and cannot use the trademark Visa logo.

My bank branch has supported me 100%, but the bank itself is so fragmented into separate companies which are not allowed to interact that a simple fix to the insurance letter is just impossible to get.

What was most upsetting was I used Visa's own travel rewards site to book with Dollar, but then Dollar refuses the Visa card. Who would have guessed?

So, be forewarned, do not assume you can flash your Visa like at home when travelling in Germany and using Terstappen GMBH for car rentals. Be more clever than me and do something to assure you can use your gold card insurance coverages on the car.

Loved Germany. Great people, great food, fantastic beer, and beautiful country. The driving is a joy since everyone knows how to do it well. Even got :58 in a DG505.

The same scam is being used by US-rental agencies in touristy spots like FL or CA. My brother visiting from Germany got ripped off big time there. They made him pay for the 'CDW' which his insurance company in Germany would have covered.
Next time, check with your own car insurance company if they cover you abroad. Some do.

Uli


On Friday, June 7, 2013 3:05:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:
North Americans! or anyone renting a car in Germany, business is done differently there.



I just had the most terrible experience at Munich Airport. I took my wife back to Germany for the first time since she emigrated in 1954. I treated us to a 16 day Dollar Rent A Car reservation for "an Audi A4 class" car. 506 euros, what a deal, I used the Visa/Expedia travel rewards site, and then phoned Visa for confirmation my gold card covered the usual insurance waiver issue we normally get scammed on.



On arrival, I got scammed.



Very clever actually. Dollar and Thrifty and Buchbinder are represented by Terstappen GMBH, an agency deal, at least in Munich airport, and Frankfurt maybe. They instantly present contract terms not in your confirmation or on their web site requiring you to have a letter from your credit card's insurer that states your specific card number is covered in Germany. Simple stuff to do from home, but in an airport 6 hours ahead of home, with no German money and no German language help? 5 hours later I rented from Enterprise next door. Great people, 880 euros though. Dollar had lowballed the rate to get ranked high in the search.



So I got them their letter.



Then, the scam starts. Without a Visa logo on the letter they refuse to let you use your gold Visa to insure the car, and they pitch their daily insurance which costs more per day than the vehicle itself. 506 euros became 957 euros. I declined. The insurance company is NOT Visa, so they cannot legally display the Visa logo on the compliance letter. Terstappen GMBH knows this so they sell a lot of insurance to unwary travellers. No logo, no car. You're stuck. They show you plastic covered sample letters from Visa USA and Mastercard USA. I guess Visa self insures, but in Canada the Visa card is insured by a different company totally and cannot use the trademark Visa logo.



My bank branch has supported me 100%, but the bank itself is so fragmented into separate companies which are not allowed to interact that a simple fix to the insurance letter is just impossible to get.



What was most upsetting was I used Visa's own travel rewards site to book with Dollar, but then Dollar refuses the Visa card. Who would have guessed?



So, be forewarned, do not assume you can flash your Visa like at home when travelling in Germany and using Terstappen GMBH for car rentals. Be more clever than me and do something to assure you can use your gold card insurance coverages on the car.



Loved Germany. Great people, great food, fantastic beer, and beautiful country. The driving is a joy since everyone knows how to do it well. Even got :58 in a DG505.

On Saturday, June 8, 2013 6:33:40 AM UTC-5, GM wrote:
The same scam is being used by US-rental agencies in touristy spots like FL or CA. My brother visiting from Germany got ripped off big time there. They made him pay for the 'CDW' which his insurance company in Germany would have covered.

Next time, check with your own car insurance company if they cover you abroad. Some do.



Uli





On Friday, June 7, 2013 3:05:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:

North Americans! or anyone renting a car in Germany, business is done differently there.







I just had the most terrible experience at Munich Airport. I took my wife back to Germany for the first time since she emigrated in 1954. I treated us to a 16 day Dollar Rent A Car reservation for "an Audi A4 class" car. 506 euros, what a deal, I used the Visa/Expedia travel rewards site, and then phoned Visa for confirmation my gold card covered the usual insurance waiver issue we normally get scammed on.







On arrival, I got scammed.







Very clever actually. Dollar and Thrifty and Buchbinder are represented by Terstappen GMBH, an agency deal, at least in Munich airport, and Frankfurt maybe. They instantly present contract terms not in your confirmation or on their web site requiring you to have a letter from your credit card's insurer that states your specific card number is covered in Germany. Simple stuff to do from home, but in an airport 6 hours ahead of home, with no German money and no German language help? 5 hours later I rented from Enterprise next door. Great people, 880 euros though. Dollar had lowballed the rate to get ranked high in the search.







So I got them their letter.







Then, the scam starts. Without a Visa logo on the letter they refuse to let you use your gold Visa to insure the car, and they pitch their daily insurance which costs more per day than the vehicle itself. 506 euros became 957 euros. I declined. The insurance company is NOT Visa, so they cannot legally display the Visa logo on the compliance letter. Terstappen GMBH knows this so they sell a lot of insurance to unwary travellers. No logo, no car. You're stuck. They show you plastic covered sample letters from Visa USA and Mastercard USA. I guess Visa self insures, but in Canada the Visa card is insured by a different company totally and cannot use the trademark Visa logo.







My bank branch has supported me 100%, but the bank itself is so fragmented into separate companies which are not allowed to interact that a simple fix to the insurance letter is just impossible to get.







What was most upsetting was I used Visa's own travel rewards site to book with Dollar, but then Dollar refuses the Visa card. Who would have guessed?







So, be forewarned, do not assume you can flash your Visa like at home when travelling in Germany and using Terstappen GMBH for car rentals. Be more clever than me and do something to assure you can use your gold card insurance coverages on the car.







Loved Germany. Great people, great food, fantastic beer, and beautiful country. The driving is a joy since everyone knows how to do it well. Even got :58 in a DG505.

Get a rental car through Kemwel when traveling in Germany. They work with reputable large rental car companies and I never had a problem declining special insurance.
Herb

On Sunday, June 9, 2013 8:55:52 PM UTC-7, 2G wrote:
On Saturday, June 8, 2013 5:30:24 PM UTC-7, wrote:

On Saturday, June 8, 2013 6:33:40 AM UTC-5, GM wrote:



The same scam is being used by US-rental agencies in touristy spots like FL or CA. My brother visiting from Germany got ripped off big time there. They made him pay for the 'CDW' which his insurance company in Germany would have covered.







Next time, check with your own car insurance company if they cover you abroad. Some do.















Uli























On Friday, June 7, 2013 3:05:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:







North Americans! or anyone renting a car in Germany, business is done differently there.































I just had the most terrible experience at Munich Airport. I took my wife back to Germany for the first time since she emigrated in 1954. I treated us to a 16 day Dollar Rent A Car reservation for "an Audi A4 class" car. 506 euros, what a deal, I used the Visa/Expedia travel rewards site, and then phoned Visa for confirmation my gold card covered the usual insurance waiver issue we normally get scammed on.































On arrival, I got scammed.































Very clever actually. Dollar and Thrifty and Buchbinder are represented by Terstappen GMBH, an agency deal, at least in Munich airport, and Frankfurt maybe. They instantly present contract terms not in your confirmation or on their web site requiring you to have a letter from your credit card's insurer that states your specific card number is covered in Germany. Simple stuff to do from home, but in an airport 6 hours ahead of home, with no German money and no German language help? 5 hours later I rented from Enterprise next door. Great people, 880 euros though. Dollar had lowballed the rate to get ranked high in the search.































So I got them their letter.































Then, the scam starts. Without a Visa logo on the letter they refuse to let you use your gold Visa to insure the car, and they pitch their daily insurance which costs more per day than the vehicle itself. 506 euros became 957 euros. I declined. The insurance company is NOT Visa, so they cannot legally display the Visa logo on the compliance letter. Terstappen GMBH knows this so they sell a lot of insurance to unwary travellers. No logo, no car. You're stuck. They show you plastic covered sample letters from Visa USA and Mastercard USA. I guess Visa self insures, but in Canada the Visa card is insured by a different company totally and cannot use the trademark Visa logo.































My bank branch has supported me 100%, but the bank itself is so fragmented into separate companies which are not allowed to interact that a simple fix to the insurance letter is just impossible to get.































What was most upsetting was I used Visa's own travel rewards site to book with Dollar, but then Dollar refuses the Visa card. Who would have guessed?































So, be forewarned, do not assume you can flash your Visa like at home when travelling in Germany and using Terstappen GMBH for car rentals. Be more clever than me and do something to assure you can use your gold card insurance coverages on the car.































Loved Germany. Great people, great food, fantastic beer, and beautiful country. The driving is a joy since everyone knows how to do it well. Even got :58 in a DG505.







Get a rental car through Kemwel when traveling in Germany. They work with reputable large rental car companies and I never had a problem declining special insurance.



Herb



AmEx has an interesting plan where you pay $25 per rental (not per day) for complete coverage, not secondary coverage:



https://www295.americanexpress.com/p...verage/home.do



Tom

But the "complete" coverage does not cover liability.....

On Friday, 7 June 2013 12:05:03 UTC-7, wrote:
North Americans! or anyone renting a car in Germany, business is done differently there.

I just had the most terrible experience at Munich Airport. I took my wife back to Germany for the first time since she emigrated in 1954. I treated us to a 16 day Dollar Rent A Car reservation for "an Audi A4 class" car. 506 euros, what a deal, I used the Visa/Expedia travel rewards site, and then phoned Visa for confirmation my gold card covered the usual insurance waiver issue we normally get scammed on.

On arrival, I got scammed.

Very clever actually. Dollar and Thrifty and Buchbinder are represented by Terstappen GMBH, an agency deal, at least in Munich airport, and Frankfurt maybe. They instantly present contract terms not in your confirmation or on their web site requiring you to have a letter from your credit card's insurer that states your specific card number is covered in Germany. Simple stuff to do from home, but in an airport 6 hours ahead of home, with no German money and no German language help? 5 hours later I rented from Enterprise next door. Great people, 880 euros though. Dollar had lowballed the rate to get ranked high in the search.

So I got them their letter.

Then, the scam starts. Without a Visa logo on the letter they refuse to let you use your gold Visa to insure the car, and they pitch their daily insurance which costs more per day than the vehicle itself. 506 euros became 957 euros. I declined. The insurance company is NOT Visa, so they cannot legally display the Visa logo on the compliance letter. Terstappen GMBH knows this so they sell a lot of insurance to unwary travellers. No logo, no car. You're stuck. They show you plastic covered sample letters from Visa USA and Mastercard USA. I guess Visa self insures, but in Canada the Visa card is insured by a different company totally and cannot use the trademark Visa logo.

My bank branch has supported me 100%, but the bank itself is so fragmented into separate companies which are not allowed to interact that a simple fix to the insurance letter is just impossible to get.

What was most upsetting was I used Visa's own travel rewards site to book with Dollar, but then Dollar refuses the Visa card. Who would have guessed?

So, be forewarned, do not assume you can flash your Visa like at home when travelling in Germany and using Terstappen GMBH for car rentals. Be more clever than me and do something to assure you can use your gold card insurance coverages on the car.

Loved Germany. Great people, great food, fantastic beer, and beautiful country. The driving is a joy since everyone knows how to do it well. Even got :58 in a DG505.

I bought my ID Card and passport from and it arrived safely and i am now using it without any problem.contact him even if you need valid visa sticker.

I've run across the same problem everywhere from the USA, Britain and South Africa -it's still a pretty common sell-up procedure. I now use the American Express program, which seems to cure most problems.

Another technique you can consider is leasing a car in Europe. I believe this program originated in France, but is also available in other countries. It is based on the high sales taxes of new vehicles and low taxes on pre-owned. Car companies lease the car for a couple of weeks, then fix any problems and resell them at a large discount. Several friends have used this program and say it has been free of hassles - insurance or otherwise. Minimum lease periods vary, but usually are around two or three weeks.

Mike

No matter how hard MasterCard and Visa try, you will never get the same service as you will from AmericanExpresss, which has offices around the world to help you navigate these scams, and their insurance policies are well known to these scammers. If you don't want to pay the Amex annual fee, they have cards now,that are free. --bob

At 13:50 10 January 2015, wrote:
No matter how hard MasterCard and Visa try, you will never get the same
ser=
vice as you will from AmericanExpresss, which has offices around the
world
=
to help you navigate these scams, and their insurance policies are well
kno=
wn to these scammers. If you don't want to pay the Amex annual fee, they
ha=
ve cards now,that are free. --bob

Only trouble is a lot of places in europe dont take AMex any more.

Yes but this is about car rentals at the big agencies, which do take it