My experience renting from Hertz at FRA many times (and also some other top tier agencies) is that the vehicles are generally in much better condition than at US airports. I currently have a fairly new (1500 miles) vehicle rented at LAS, and it has more scratches than the avg 10-20k vehicle rented in Germany. That leads me to believe that either renters in Germany generally take better care of their rentals or the rental agencies take better care of them (fixing even small damage… and of course trying to recoup the cost from renters).

As a renter, I am much more careful in Germany about documenting every small scratch. It can be tricky in a dark garage to catch everything, especially after coming off an overnight flight. But my videos and pictures have saved my bacon more than once. Sometimes just the mention of “I have video documenting this scratch was pre-existing damage” stopped a return agent in their tracks. Recently I actually had to submit the photos and video to Sixt after receiving a damage claim, but it was quickly closed as resolved.