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DEAR GEMüTLICHKEIT SUBSCRIBER The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria, Switzerland & the New Europe Avoiding Car Rental Problems The proper position to assume at European rental car counters these THE SAALACH days is “on your toes.” More than ever, renters need to be aware of a Small villages, big valleys, mighty mountains, affordable hotels, simple cuisine, and a tradi- few tricky elements in the rental tional way of life are the main attractions of this quiet river valley southwest of Salzburg. process. Substantial inconvenience arely 45 minutes from and extra costs may be the penalty the Salzach Valley Vacation Re- Salzburg, the Saalach Valley for inattention. gion — take admirable advantage B offers a quiet, rural escape. of the Saalach’s diversity and draw. Seemingly minor items that The Saalach River is the lesser- By representing most towns, hotels many renters pay scant attention to known sister of the Salzach, the river and attractions in the area, they can create major problems. that divides Salzburg’s Old and New make things easy for visitors. A spare tire, for example. Does Cities. The two streams al- There are few large towns in the your car have one? It’s a question By Jim most touch near Zell am See, Johnson region, part of Salzburg’s Pinzgau you need to answer before leaving then merge about 100 kilo- district; smaller villages are more the rental station. There is a thriving meters (62 miles) down-river just past typical. Many farmers still plant black market in Europe for auto Salzburg. During its flight of inde- and harvest by hand, and village parts, and rental cars are sometimes pendence, the Saalach expresses its life revolves around the church and returned without a spare wheel and own personality, and its valley has the market square. Towns seem tire. It’s an absence easily over- great charm. ‘lived in’ and not focused only on looked when rental stations are un- Except for a brief sojourn in Ger- tourism. Through the centuries, der pressure to fuel, vacuum and many, the Saalach spends its entire much of the region’s income has wash cars as quickly as possible in life in Salzburg Province, where two come from the salt trade, a fact order to return them to service. This major tourism consortia — the Saal- reflected in the prefixes “Saal” and year two customers of Gemütlich- felden-Leogang Holiday Region and Continued on page 3… keit’s car rental booking service found out the hard way that they didn’t have a spare tire. In one case, the customer was in a remote part of Readers’ Forum Italy and the inconvenience was (Readers’ Forum is one of this publi- Happy With Current Mix major; instead of discovering the cation’s most popular features. This It seems to me that over the Tuscan countryside, she found her- month we’ll try to make up for the scant years you have maintained a very self dealing with tow trucks, auto amount of space devoted to it in the past good balance with respect to value dealerships, car rental companies few issues.) of accommodations. I am a little and shelling out substantial taxi Less Expensive Hotels, Please concerned about the Aim Higher fares. The money, of course, is reim- folks. Perhaps they should rent an I would like to see more reviews bursable, but lost vacation time can apartment on the Queen Mary and of lesser-priced lodgings. Definitely! never be adequately compensated. leave the rest of us in misery. 99% of your picks are way out of MAYNARD WOOD Unbelievable Fuel Prices bounds for me. I like to be more like VIA EMAIL Here’s a relatively minor item the natives over there. Closer to aver- that can cost you $50 to $225. It’s age citizens. A Little Luxury is O.K. early morning and you’re in your We are original subscribers, and Your article on Austria’s Lungau rental car headed for the Munich I just want to tell you to keep up the is a perfect example! I love it. I leave Airport to catch a flight home. Run- great job. More specifically, we trav- April 19 for three weeks in Germany, ning just a few minutes late you eled to Italy last month, and seeing Continued on page 2… Austria and der Suisse. I expect I will your repeated comments that it is so spend many days in the Lungau area! much better to forget taking Ameri- in this issue Especially at the Hansalhof. This is can Express traveler’s checks, but p1 The Saalach Valley exactly what I look for. Continued on page 6… p1 Car Rental Dangers PETER ANDRESHAK Exchange rates as of 11/22/04 p1 Readers’ Forum WASUAU, WI 1 euro = $1.30 P4 Key Websites 1 Swiss franc = $0.86 http://www.gemut.com December 04/January 05 http://www.gemut.com DEAR SUBSCRIBER al cost and you need to know precise- hundred dollars. In any case, our ly how much. advice is to rely on a credit card for Continued from page 1 Some rental agents are quick to collision and theft coverage — it’s decide to let Avis top off the gas offer a larger, better car but soft-pedal free and there’s no deductible. tank. You filled up yesterday in the added cost. In some instances we Smart Renter Strategies Garmisch-Partenkirchen and can’t are aware of, customers have been have used more than four gallons. offered upgrades for “only an addi- Here’s a short check-list that It’ll cost a few extra bucks but it’s tional €5 per day.” Figuring it would should help smooth your European worth it for the convenience, right? cost them less than $50 per week, rental car experience. Well, yes, provided you consider $60 several said O.K. Much later, back in • When booking a car in Europe, or $70 a “few extra bucks.” You see, the U.S., they were shocked when find out if the rate is guaranteed in € Avis is currently charging 3.19 per their credit card bills arrived and euros or U.S. dollars. Many compa- liter if they have to fill your tank they found the charge to be much nies guarantee their overseas book- when you return your car to the Mu- higher than anticipated. When they ings in foreign currency. If you re- nich Airport. Four gallons equals heard “€5 per day,” these customers served a car guaranteed in euros on € about 15.14 liters. At 3.19 per liter understandably assumed it meant €5 August 1 for pickup on November 6 € that’s 48 or approximately $62 at more than what their voucher called you will pay about 8% more in U.S. today’s exchange rate — approxi- for. What the not-so-bright (or not-so- dollars than on the booking date. In mately $15.50 per gallon. If you want forthright) rental agent meant, how- addition, when issuing a quote in to let them fill up a 14-gallon tank ever, was that the upgrade was only foreign currency, most companies figure on about $218. €5 higher than the company’s walk- estimate the price in dollars using a Don’t Like Your Car? in counter rate — a price much high- very favorable exchange rate. When it Sometimes the car offered at the er than the discounted rate specified comes time to pay, however, it is very rental car counter doesn’t suit the by these customers’ vouchers. likely you won’t get such a friendly customer’s needs. It’s too big, too Extra Driver Charges Vary rate of exchange. small, doesn’t have automatic trans- Need a passenger to share driving • If you need to change a Gemütli- mission, doesn’t have a stick shift, Continued on page 8… duties? The counter agent will be isn’t a diesel, is a diesel, and so on. If happy to add another name to the Using Gemütlichkeit the voucher specifies a feature not on contract and then charge you as • Hotel prices listed are for one night. Discounts are the car offered — automatic trans- often available for longer stays. much as $135 per rental. Exactly how mission, for example — bringing the • All hotel prices include breakfast unless otherwise much each additional driver will cost discrepancy to the attention of the noted. is probably something you’ll want to • Local European telephone area codes carry the “0” rental agent usually solves the prob- know before committing to do so. required for in-country dialing. To phone establish- lem. (If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you what ments from outside the country, such as from the USA, to do a bit later in this article.) But Insurance Problems do not dial the first “0”. let’s say your voucher/reservation Of course, the classic rental-car- Logging on to our Website and what you’re being offered are in surprise-charge-on-the-credit-card- Back issues in text format from January 1993, except for sync; you simply want something bill involves the purchase of the op- the most recent 12, are available free to subscribers only at better. At this point the agent may tional theft and collision insurance. If http://www.gemut.com (click on “Members”). To ac- offer an upgrade. Do not assume it’s your initials appear on the contract in cess the issues enter the user name and password pub- lished in this space each month. The new codes are: out of the goodness of his heart.