What is an insurance excess?

The excess is the amount you'll only be liable for in case of damage (under Collision Damage Waiver) or theft (under Theft Protection) of the vehicle. Information about the excess will be clearly stated in the price inclusion when you reserve a car on QEEQ.

How can I add an additional driver?

You are advised to make a request upon your arrival at the rental counter. Additional charge per day will incur unless '1 Additional Driver Included' is stipulated on the rental. Please note that the same licence and age requirement applies to the additional driver. The additional driver is supposed to present the required licence document along with the main driver at pickup.

Germany traffic rules and self driving car rental tips

The Complete Germany Driving and Rental Guide

Whether for leisure or daily use, driving is very popular in Germany, which is said to feature the most well-established and fast Autobahns. However, not all motorways in Germany have unlimited speed restrictions. You are allowed to drive as fast as the circumstances allows on 50% of the motorways, while for the other half are limited from 80 to 130 km/h, which are enforced.

Speed Limit and Traffic Signs

Driving in Germany is on the right side of the road. On Autobahns, one must take the right lane and overtake from the left.

Speed Limit

There is a speed limit of 50 km/h in rural areas and 100 km/h in built-up areas. Recommended maximum speed on motorways is 130 km/h.

Traffic Signs

German traffic signs can be classified into 4 types: regulatory, warning, information and direction signs.

Warning Signs

Warning signs are in red triangle shape with a few exceptions.

Bumpy Road

Level Crossing

Pedestrians

Children Crossing

Wild Animals Crossing

Regulatory Signs

German regulatory signs mostly feature circular shape with a red border, with some exceptions.

Give Way

Stop and Give Way

No U-Turn

No Overtaking

No Passenger Car

Information Signs

Information signs normally feature a square shape as well as blue background, with some other exceptions.

First Aid or Hospital

Car Park, Parking Garage

Toll Road

Stop-Customs

Direction Signs

German direction signs mostly feature a blue or yellow background and markings with location signs, route number information and distance.

Motorway Junction Sign to Service Area

Signpost at Junction Leading Onto a Minor Road

Diversion Sign

End of Diversion

Take a further step to read more useful information regarding Germany traffic signs here.

Seatbelt and Child Safety

Seatbelt Laws

The driver and all passengers are required by law to wear seatbelts if the car is underway. Failing to do so will incur an on-the-spot fine of €30.

Booster Seat Laws

Children over 150cm tall can sit in the front of the car. Younger ones will require appropriate restraints in the rear. Note that a baby must be seated in a baby seat facing backwards in the front passenger seat, and the front airbag must be disabled. If the child seat is not set properly, a fine of €60 will be imposed.

Parking, Fuel and Toll

Parking

· Permitted Parking

Drivers are allowed to park when a “Parkschein” can be found, and can pay the related parking fee to a parking machine. Insert coins to pay for the amount of time you wish to keep your parking spot. then place your ticket on the car’s dashboard in plain sight.

Germany Parking Machine Sign (Image from hiveminer.com)

· Permitted Parking

In Germany, you are considered "parked" if you leave your vehicle or if you stop/stand for longer than 3 minutes, unless you are actively boarding or discharging passengers or loading/unloading cargo.

You may not park in the following spots:

- Within 5 metres on either side of an intersection

- In front of driveway entrances or exits, or on the opposite side of the street

- If the roadway is too narrow to allow vehicles to enter or exit the driveway

- If parking will obstruct the use of marked parking places

- Within 15 metres on either side of a bus or streetcar stop marked with a green H-sign with yellow background

Germany_Traffic_Sign_Bus_or_Tram_Stop_15m_Parking_Prohibition_Prior_to_And_Behind_This_Sign_30m_Altogether

- Within 50 metres on either side of a white X-sign with red poles when outside of urban areas or within 5 metres when inside an urban area

Germany_Traffic_Sign_X_Sign_Give_Priority_to_Rail_Transport

- On a priority road outside of urban areas

- In front of a curb-cut or wheelchair ramp

- Adjacent to a traffic island or median

- On the street side of another parked vehicle ("double parked")

- On a marked bike lane - Anywhere there is a “No Parking” sign on the same side of the street

Germany_Traffic_Sign_No_Parking

Parking in forbidden areas will result in a parking fine that generally ranges from €5 to €25.

Fuel Prices

The average value for Germany gasoline price is €1.39 in January 2018 while diesel is €1.16.

Toll

Unlike trucks, passenger car can drive the Autobahn without toll fee.

However, cross a border into neighbouring countries such as Austria, Switzerland and Czech Republic will require purchasing a vignette that should be stuck on the car’s windshield. Make sure you let the car hire company know if you are planning to drive your vehicle outside Germany, and double-check at the counter whether the rented vehicle features the relevant vignette.

Traffic Violation

DUI Laws

Drivers with more than 2 years' experience are charged with a fine if found driving with 0.05% BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) or with 0.03% in conjunction with any other traffic offences or accidents.

Traffic Fines

There are traffic signs indicating a speed limit at many street sections. Drivers who are speeding in Germany may be caught by a speed trap and the fine ranges from €15 to €680 in town and €10 to €600 outside towns.

Germany Speed Trap （Image from ksta.de)

Travellers renting a car in Germany may receive billing details from their credit cards indicating that a certain amount has been debited, mainly because they have been found guilty of speed driving or prohibited parking. You can always contact QEEQ' 24/7 customer service team for clarifications on such cases.

Driving Licence and Age Requirements

Foreigners on short-term visit may rent a car and drive with a valid foreign driving licence for up to 6 months in Germany. All licences issued by the European Union are accepted. To drive in Germany, the driver must present a valid national driving licence that has been held for at least 1 or 2 years (according to different car hire companies).

You must be at least 18 years old to hire a car in Germany, and age may vary by car category.

Guest reviews

1 /

Anonymous

November 4, 2026

Destination: Frankfurt

10Excellent

Processing was really quick.

November 2, 2026

Destination: Essen

Service was great overall, picking up and returning the car was really easy. Just be careful with your speed—Germany doesn’t really give you that comfortable 20% buffer on limits.

October 28, 2026

Super happy with the whole experience, they even upgraded me to a bigger car.

Destination: Munich

Fantastic experience. At pickup they asked if I wanted any extra services, I told them to stick strictly to the original booking, and they processed everything right away with no upselling.

October 27, 2026

Destination: Dusseldorf

The guy who helped me before was really dragging things out and taking forever.

October 26, 2026

The staff were really friendly and easy to talk to, everything went smoothly.

The counter was easy to find, no line at all, and once I told them I already had insurance through the platform, they didn’t try to upsell anything else.

October 25, 2026

Pickup was quick and hassle-free.

Super satisfied with everything.

October 24, 2026

Super friendly staff. I originally got a VW instead of the BMW 3 Series I’d booked, told them it wasn’t what I reserved, and they immediately switched me to a BMW 4 Series—convertible, too. Loved it.

October 23, 2026

Destination: Berlin

Service was excellent.

Destination: Bremen

8Very good

Super quiet in the morning, hardly anyone there.

Destination: Erding

The staff member who helped me was a lady and she was incredibly careful. She even spotted that I’d typed an extra “i” in my email address and fixed it for me. She also cleared up a wrong message in the QEEQ app about cross-border rentals and overtime service fees, which I really appreciated.

October 22, 2026

Everything was great.

Everything went pretty smoothly, no real hassle at all.

October 20, 2026

Awesome overall experience, everything went really smoothly.

October 18, 2026

The staff were really friendly and helpful the whole way through.

The staff were really friendly and everything on the bill was clear and easy to understand.

October 17, 2026

Pretty good overall, I’d be happy to come back next time.

The wait in line was way too long.

October 16, 2026

Service was excellent and everything went really smoothly.

October 15, 2026

With the big rental companies you don’t really have to wait in line.

Overall pretty satisfied with the experience.

They’ve moved everything from T1 to T3 now – the rental counter and both pickup and return are all in T3. If you’re arriving at T1, you’ll need to take the little shuttle/train over to T3 to get your car, but it’s fine, there wasn’t much of a line. Returning the car is also at the T3 parking lot (Car Rental Return). When you drive into the garage you’ll see P10, P11, P12 – just follow signs to P12 and that’s where their return area is.

Destination: Dortmund

Service was really friendly and helpful

October 14, 2026

Pickup went smoothly. The staff just asked once if I wanted extra insurance, no hard selling at all. They were polite and got everything done really quickly.

This was my second time choosing Europcar for a self-drive trip in Europe. Their service was great and the car was basically brand new. This time a stone hit the windshield on the German autobahn and left a small hole, but both QEEQ and Europcar responded right away. I had full coverage, so everything was taken care of and I didn’t pay a cent extra. I’ll definitely go with QEEQ and Europcar again for my next Europe trip.

October 13, 2026

The car was basically brand new, with only about 900 km on the odometer. The staff were super friendly and attentive, and both pickup and return were really smooth and hassle‑free.

October 12, 2026

Wait time was really short.

October 11, 2026

Great service, super efficient, and no hard selling at all.

October 10, 2026

Pretty standard overall. They didn’t have my exact car reserved on the spot, but after adding a bit more insurance they upgraded me from an AUDI A3 to a BMW 3 Series, and the rental price was still very reasonable.

October 9, 2026

Super quick queues, hardly any waiting at all.

October 6, 2026

Destination: Schweinfurt

Super fast service and the car was practically brand new.

October 4, 2026

World-famous brand

September 28, 2026

Absolutely amazing!

September 21, 2026

Destination: Bochum

Pickup was really quick, they just tried to upsell some insurance a bit.

September 20, 2026

Pretty decent overall.

September 16, 2026

Destination: Cologne

Very satisfied with the overall service.

September 12, 2026

Destination: Stuttgart

Strongly do NOT recommend Alamo / Enterprise.

The service this time was honestly unbelievable in a bad way. When picking up the car, they kept making things difficult and at one point basically refused to let me take the car. At night when I came back to return it and couldn’t find the drop-off spot, the staff on-site not only refused to help, they immediately started snapping at me with a horrible attitude. There was zero sense of customer service throughout the whole process.

On the other hand, QEEQ’s customer support really deserves praise. As soon as there was an issue, they stayed proactive, helped coordinate everything, even offered to switch me to another rental company and cover the price difference from the higher rate. They were efficient, friendly, and genuinely focused on solving the problem for the customer.

Alamo and Enterprise are the same group, and this experience made me completely blacklist them. If you have a choice, I’d strongly suggest avoiding them. My experiences with Avis, Budget, and Europcar have been much better.

Pretty convenient overall.

September 10, 2026

Pretty good! Service was great—they just asked us to wait a few minutes and then threw in a free upgrade.

September 7, 2026

Overall really happy with the whole experience – I booked a compact but they upgraded me to a small SUV.

September 1, 2026

Really great overall.

August 30, 2026

Destination: gottingen

Easy to find, super friendly staff and very clear explanations.

Overall the service was pretty good. I forgot a file folder and the staff actually took the time to bring it back to me, which I really appreciated. The only downsides were that the car hadn’t been washed, and the drop-off key box was a bit hard to find.

August 28, 2026

Overall their service was pretty good and everything was handled quickly and smoothly. But I wasn’t happy that the model I actually wanted to rent wasn’t available and they just gave me a different one. The other thing is the paint in the trunk area was way too thin—just putting my suitcase in and out a couple of times scratched it up, and I ended up paying a lot for repairs. That part really disappointed me.

Everything was great, really satisfied with the service.

August 27, 2026

Destination: Karlsruhe

Overall the rental process was smooth and communication was easy. The car was in decent condition; it just felt a bit sluggish when accelerating, probably due to the model or its condition. The car was very clean, but the dashboard info was all in German and I couldn’t figure out how to change it.

August 25, 2026

The car was actually an upgraded model, which was great.

August 22, 2026

The staff at the counter explained everything really clearly and patiently. I’ll definitely come back.

Germany Car Rentals