[JB991]

Going to Germany for Thanksgiving, mainly to take my wife and daughter shopping at some of the Christmas markets. I will be no further south than Stuttgart/Munich, and no further north than Frankfurt for the most part.

My question...... Sixt recommends snow tires for my rental. Do those of you who live in germany agree to this considering "normal" conditions for the end of November? I'll be there from the 22nd to the 30th of November.

Thanks for any input in advance. FWIW, I picked the 1er/GTI option for cars, hopefully I won't be disappointed. Last time I had a piece of crap Ford wagon which topped out at 140KPH. I need more speed on the autobahn than that.

[JB991]

^^ It's on our list. Going on Friday for the opening as well.

Maybe I can propose my question in another way for more responses.

How many people living in Germany run winter tires on their car in late November? I'm thinking there might be a little rain, some frost, but not a whole bunch of snow in November. Just don't want to pay double the cost on a rental if I don't need to.

[Aacaron]

Originally Posted by jcmf75

^^ It's on our list. Going on Friday for the opening as well.

Maybe I can propose my question in another way for more responses.

How many people living in Germany run winter tires on their car in late November? I'm thinking there might be a little rain, some frost, but not a whole bunch of snow in November. Just don't want to pay double the cost on a rental if I don't need to.

It depends on weather or not you want to chance it. I was there for a euro delivery 10/17 and in the morning there was some frost on the ground. I had summers. If the rental is coming with all seasons I would not get the winter tires. If it is coming with summer tires I wouldn't chance it and just get the snow tires...

my 2 cents

[Perplex]

Originally Posted by jcmf75

How many people living in Germany run winter tires on their car in late November? I'm thinking there might be a little rain, some frost, but not a whole bunch of snow in November. Just don't want to pay double the cost on a rental if I don't need to.

Well, I'm living between Stuttgart and Munich. At the moment the weather is very good and fine, a little bit foggy and frosty in the morning but always dry and sunny. In Germany you have to run with winter tires as soon as the weather demands it, this means if the police stops you blocking the traffic runing the summer tires, you'll get an expensive ticket...

So, the most people are runing the winter tires as soon as possible. I changed my tires 3 weeks ago. In my opinion you should definitely use the winter tires, safety first. If you're lucky the sun will shining during your trip to Germany and you don't need the winter tires, but that's like playing poker

Wish you a nice stay in Germany! And maybe we'll see us on the Autobahn, hopefully with more than 140kph

[Dackelone]

IMO I would say you HAVE to go to see Nurnberg's Christmas Markt. I also really like Erfurt's (former DDR/GDR) and Dresden's markets. Some other nice Weinnachts markts in the area are: Munich, Salzburg, and Rottenburg.

Perhaps this might get you in the mood...


German Christmas Markets...

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=467893

and here is Nurnberg's Christmas Markt...

http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/english/


And yes... it is wintertime over here... your rental car needs winter tires. Snow or no snow, it is cold out and we have black ice and slippery roads in the mornings. German law says IF you get into an accident and you don't have snow tires on (M+S plus you need the snow-flake symbol!) then you are found at fault. AND... your insurance might not pay for any damage. So... all Germans buy and mount thier snow tires since Oct 15th until April 15th.

Have fun durring your stay.

[JB991]

Well, made the trip there and back, it was a great time.
While in Stuttgart, we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and Nurnberg (not sure if it's spelt the right way) and saw the "Angel" who opens the market. Talk about a huge crowd.
We then pressed on to Munich, and eventually to Frankfurt.

Ended up in an A3 with winter tires. Sixt was great and basically gave them to me, as the price didn't change at all. 230 KPH was way different than anything you'll do here in the US too. Loved it.

Only thing that sucked about the trip was I got some of those Kinder Uberraschung Maxi (chocolate eggs), and the postal service between there and here crushed my box while shipping. They all broke by time it made it here to the US. Needless to say, my daughter was not happy

We are alive, and I appreciate the input everyone gave. Enjoyed every moment of it, and the weather was perfect the whole way through.