LESSON #1

This is our second car - yes, 2nd car. We learned some things having a rental for the first week. It was nice being able to go where we wanted when we wanted without being dependent on schedules and time tables. It was convenient to have our bags in the back of the car when we moved to a new area and just have to carry them into our new room. It was relaxing as the passenger to be able to recline the seat if you wanted to. BUT, we probably will not rent a car for this time period again, instead opting to rent a car for a day or two at a time. Here's why:
On Saturday, only our second day in country and with the car, we had a flat tire. The newer cars do not come with spare tires. They have an inflater that also injects sealant into the flat tire. Then you are not supposed to drive over 110 kilometers per hour - 70 MPH - on that tire until it is repaired or replaced. (I am imagining at this point that someone out there may be wondering why you would need to drive faster than that.....) So, when we got back to our room, Don called AVIS and they said we would have to have someone from Citrone (the car manufacturer) come out and take care of it. They sent a tow truck just 10-15 minutes later. That guy looked at the tire and said it looked good. Don asked if he was going to replace it. He said no, he didn't have tires to do that. We needed to trade in the car. That little 'tire check' cost 180 Euros. If you know that the exchange rate during our time there was about $1.50 to the Euro, you can do the math. Ouch! So we had to stop in Koln to change cars. This car was missing it's inflater. What are the odds that we would get another flat tire? I don't know, but I wasn't happy and thought they should give us a different car, but.... this is the one we got. They said one of the AVIS offices in Koblenz could give us an inflater - thus the trip to Koblenz. But neither office had one to give us. They told us to just buy an inflater and they would reimburse us. We didn't completely believe THAT statement either. Anyway, we never had another flat tire, but did waste some of our precious time finding an Auto Parts store to buy the thing - we drove for 3 days without one! Someone finally directed us to a store where Don found a one-time use machine that only cost 16 Euro. Anyway, the time and headache - and extra expenses - incurred with the car did not outweigh the convenience. When we returned the car, it sounded like we would NOT be reimbursed for that purchase, so I am glad we found one so cheap. AND, we have disputed the charges - $1,200 - because it should have been more around $500-700. That will take another 2-3 weeks to find out. It looks like they charged us for damage to the car. There was damage that was noted on the contract when we picked the car up. Just more headache.....


Here is another issue with having a car: when you finally figure out how to get around in a foreign country, it is great. And then you come across these signs in Germany (enlarge the picture.) 'Umleitung' means detour and that becomes a most dreaded word when driving in so unfamiliar territory. And we saw these signs in almost every town and city we tried to navigate. It was most humbling, especially in the beginning. Don has a great sense of direction and I am pretty good at reading a map and following directions, but we were absolutely hopeless for the first few days in Germany - beginning in the Frankfurt airport when we were just trying to find the things we needed there. I wanted to blame that on the lack of sleep, but it did not dramatically improve over the next few days. We did finally buy a really good road atlas that helped, but even then we got turned around a few times. Being a fan of The Amazing Race, I had a new appreciation for what those racers face and do! We would have been out of the running the first day if we were on the show! We did improve, but it took longer than I like to remember :)