hookshot

Hi everyone!

I'm going to be renting an ILMR car from MUC from October 14th to 29th. When making the booking, I know they charge almost 10 Euro a day for winter tires (!!!) but I've read a lot of postings around about some of their vehicles automatically being loaded with the winter tires.

Should I keep the reservation asking for the winter tires, or should I just roll the dice and hope that the car I end up with has the winter tires already installed?

Thanks!

MSPeconomist

Few Europeans use winter tires and it would be unusual to need them in October.

Exactly where are you planning to drive and under what conditions? Will your vehicle have rear wheel drive?

hookshot

I'll be driving to the Austrian alps. It's one of those it'll be early enough that I might not need the winter tires, but mother nature is unpredictable enough that you never know. Ask me about driving in Colorado in 12" of fresh snow on summer tires!

The BMW 2series touer, the example car, doesn't have RWD (for whatever reason) but I don't know what the other options in the class are and whether they do.

Cargoguy

Sorry but that's just plain wrong when speaking about Germany.

It would not really be unusual, as we all start changing our tires these days since the temperatures start dropping. By the end of Ocotber almost everyone who doesn't drive all year tires will be on winter ones.



@OP, while 10EUR a day really are a ripoff - if the money doesn't hurt you, go for them. Especially since you'll be driving in the mountains.
FWD or RWD will not make a difference when there is no snow or steep climbs which you most likely won't encounter.
With low temperatures around the freezing point the tires however will make a big difference in your braking distance.

GUWonder

Unless on a prepaid rate or during a high demand period, you could gamble on the picked up car having winter tires. That's one way around the 10EUR/day fee. The alternative is to pay for the winter tires and hope that Sixt gets its right. Either way, double check to make sure the tires are what you want.

A significant part of Europe has mandated that their drivers' cars are subjected to tire changes for "winter".

At the very least, many millions of Europeans and various others with cars registered in Europe are legally required to use winter tires if/when driving at least part of the year. For October in most of Europe, winter tires are not really needed legally. But as a practical matter, depending on where you are driving, it may make good sense to get them.

LondonElite

In Germany it is a requirement to have winter tires when driving in snow, slush, icy conditions, etc, and you risk a fine if you are driving with summer tires.

hookshot

Thanks guys!

I know that under 4 degrees is when winter tires become more useful (I live in the mountains myself) and so I'm just going to stick with the reservation for them. The temps where I'm going look to be around the 5-7 degree range, so I think for peace of mind I'll pay the extra, in case it drops.

pdsuk

Some friends in Munich told me that their insurance policies also have clauses about winter tyres which result in the policy being invalid if there is an accident when winter tyres should have been on the car.