Alles gut

Overall, it was okay. The car was new, having just over 10,000 kilometers on it. The vehicle was in good condition. However, the customer service insisted on adding insurance when we picked up the car. We initially chose the secondary insurance, but they said German roads are narrow and that even if we didn't hit someone, others might hit us. We had to add an extra €198 for insurance. They also recommended more expensive cars like BMW, even though we repeatedly declined. This was quite uncomfortable. The car pickup process took almost two hours, likely because the rental company is small. It might be considered big in Germany. Returning the car took a long time as well since it was hard to find the return location. Most major rental companies are at the train station, but this company's prices were reasonable. In the US, we never encounter such issues. After landing, rental companies are inside the airport, and you can get the car quickly. Germany's process is slightly more complicated. However, returning the car was quick. After handing over the keys, they checked the car inside and out, including the fuel. It was a fast process. Thumbs up for that.

Hidden insurance terms. A car that originally cost 300 per day ended up costing over 700. Truly the worst experience.

Long waiting time in line, they changed the car model without permission, giving me a 1.6 Jeep Renegade (which starts at 110,000 RMB in China). I had reserved a BMW X1, but they claimed both cars are in the same category. The 1.6-liter engine's acceleration was terrible, and the driving experience was very poor. Complaints were useless; they said if I wanted to change the car, I had to pay more, and they kept pushing insurance. This rental company is very small, has few vehicles, and the car we got wasn't even German-plated; it had Slovakian plates. Be cautious when choosing a rental company. Don't do what I did, choosing a cheap option and regretting it later. Beware of foreign scams.

The store was terrible; they seemed to give Chinese customers a hard time. The Chinese person in front of me also had to pay extra. They refused to accept Chinese translations, KIDA international driving permits, and the international permits provided by the rental platform. It wasn't an issue with the translations but rather their way of forcing you to buy full insurance. If the license was not valid, they shouldn't have rented the car to us. However, they required us to buy insurance after renting the car, indicating that they lure customers with low car prices on the website and create various issues during pickup. I often rent cars with an international license in Europe and the US without problems. In Germany, I've never had issues with other companies, but this store caused trouble the first time I tried to rent.

They charged an extra €20 a day for using a MasterCard with UnionPay, which is unfair! Last year, the same card was not required to pay extra.