Frankfurt - Cologne - Bickenfield - Luxembourg

Booked a Volvo and paid, but was given a rear-wheel-drive Opel. The steering wheel struggled occasionally on the highway. Why not offer a free upgrade when the car is unavailable?

This was the worst car rental experience I've had in many years. They gave us a car that already had scratches. Thankfully, we had full insurance and took photos when we picked up the car. We returned the car in Salzburg, and the rental company staff there asked for a damage report from when we rented the car. No one had given us or reminded us to take such a report earlier, but they said it was fine since we had full insurance and we wouldn't need to pay extra. In the end, we found out they charged us an additional 140 euros, and we have no idea what for. We contacted the rental car service to inquire. It's been over a week now, and we still haven't received a response. Very dissatisfied.

We chose Hertz because it was a family trip and we had kids with us, so we always rent an 8-seater from them. This time, the car was in excellent condition, and the built-in navigation system was very useful. It was a very satisfying trip.

Service was decent and efficient.

When picking up the car at Hertz, they said only an automatic Ford Fiesta 1.0 was available. It didn't seem like the car I reserved, so I paid an extra 140 euros to upgrade to a Volvo V60 Diesel D4 and accepted it. This was because the three major German brands don't allow their cars to leave Germany. At the Vienna airport return counter, a female clerk took the car back without giving any receipt and had a very poor attitude. To avoid complications, I called the Berlin airport rental counter right away. A man named Daniel answered and said he would handle it the next day and send me an email (which I never received). I even had him confirm with the Vienna counter. In the end, the bill showed the return time three days later than the actual return, and I was charged significantly more. Additionally, they charged me in dollars instead of euros using an unfair exchange rate (the receipt showed euros, but they charged 1.14 when the actual rate was 1.10). Always insist on being billed in euros.