# Rental cars in Europe question



## Harmina (May 27, 2008)

Would anyone know whether rental cars in Europe are equipped with GPS.
We have a Volvo station wagon booked for our upcoming trip & wondered if it might be standard equipment or do they try to rent you a GPS at the airport?


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## Jimster (May 28, 2008)

*GPS*

It depends on the country you are renting in and from whom you rent.  Some of them are lucky to rent cars that even run.  A/c is even rare in some countries and, of course, manual transmissions are the norm.   You can rent GPs units from some companies who do that kind of thing and who rent cell phones as well.  I think often you can find a provider but don't count on it being standard equipment.  Your best bet is with a major provider ( like Hertz) in a modern country like Germany.  OTOH if you are going to Romania and renting from Ivan's Car Rental and Screen Door Company your options may be limited.   To get a better answer, tell us where you want to go and whom you would consider renting from.


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## Harmina (May 28, 2008)

We are renting our car from National @ Schiphol ( Amsterdam airport. ) My husband has a GPS with the North American map & has ordered a European map which is being delivered today by Purolator. These maps are not cheap, now we are wondering if maybe it could be standard equipment, especially, in a Volvo.


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## Conan (May 28, 2008)

Budget/Thrifty at FCO Rome Airport offered GPS for a modest weekly fee.


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## Keitht (May 28, 2008)

If you either take your own GPS or rent a unit, do not leave it in the car unattended.  They are probably the most popular item to steal from cars.


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## abdibile (Jun 2, 2008)

Like in the US, nearly all car rental companies charge you an extra fee for GPS.

I once had a Mercedes in Germany from SIXT that had a GMP built in, but they disabled it (removed maps CD) because I did not want to pay the GPS surcharge.

I often got the impression that it is cheaper to buy a GPS (from € 100) in Europe than buying a map for your GPS or renting one for two weeks.


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## Linda74 (Jun 2, 2008)

We purchased a Tom Tom 920 last January.  It came preloaded with European maps.  It worked great for us in Italy last month.  When I compared the cost of renting the GPS to the cost of purchasing one with EU maps, it was much less expensive to buy the GPS since we needed on anyway.  I believe the rental would have been $250 for the week.


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## CarlK (Jun 9, 2008)

We also bought a TomTom 920 last January, with the European maps loaded, and we just returned from Italy where it worked perfectly.  We picked up a rental car in Perugia and the GPS helped with driving to many of the hill towns of Umbria.  While waiting to pick up the rental car I overheard the people ahead of us who wanted a rental car with a GPS, and they were told that they should have reserved one in advance.

Carl


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## zazz (Jun 9, 2008)

Harmina said:


> Would anyone know whether rental cars in Europe are equipped with GPS.
> We have a Volvo station wagon booked for our upcoming trip & wondered if it might be standard equipment or do they try to rent you a GPS at the airport?



Hertz in Berlin offered us a GPS device.  But since we were returning the car in Munich, they wanted about 20 euro a day for it, so we passed.  Otherwise I think it would have been about 10 euro if we were returning in Berlin.


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## Talent312 (Jun 9, 2008)

Harmina said:


> Would anyone know whether rental cars in Europe are equipped with GPS.
> We have a Volvo station wagon booked for our upcoming trip & wondered if it might be standard equipment or do they try to rent you a GPS at the airport?



The Audi that I rented in Frankfurt last year came with an in-dash GPS.  It kept insisting in German that we follow a route back to the airport (for the benefit of whoever had it last).  There must have been a way to reset it for an English voice, but we didn't bother to ask how, and just turned the volume down.


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