Good Point. Many cars will have them installed, regardless of whether you actually pay the fee. You can also examine the tires; if there is a raised snowflake on the tire sidewall, you have winter tires. Your rental might also have all season tires, which are not as good in the snow as winter tires, but they meet the legal requirements and are better than summer tires.

Confused yet?

Many cities in Germany do not get much, if any snowfall as has been pointed out. Even when they do, the public works departments tend to be very aggressive in clearing the roads (of course the autobahn and bundestrasse highways are first priority). It might not make sense to rent a car with snow tires if you are going to be doing all city driving in Frankfurt or Dusseldorf, or Berlin. However, surprise snowstorms do happen and as stated, the law requires you to have the proper tires for the weather conditions. I can think of people all over Europe right now who probably wish they had winter tires on their cars. If you are going to be around the mountains, or driving in the states of Bavaria or Baden-Wurtemburg, it would probably be a good idea to get the snow tires for peace of mind.