Cross-border
 

I'm renting out of Bratislava soon, going to a few neighboring countries.

Why is it that when booking, cross-border restrictions are conspicuously absent ??

I tried to reach Avis BTS with no success - tried Avis UK (I am PP registered UK) who told me that cross-border was possible - but only 3 classes were eligible (A, B and one other). Eventually reached Avis BTS office - they said all classes were eligible.

Absolutely nothing anywhere in writing.

Am hoping for no unpleasant surprises...

From BTS Airport:

Budget: NO CROSS BORDER TRAFFIC ALLOWED.

Avis: NO ENTRY INTO CIS, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, CROATIA, POLAND AND
YUGOSLAVIA.

Hertz: CUSTOMERS MAY NOT DRIVE INTO OR DROP CAR IN THE FOLLOWING
- ALBANIA, ANDORRA, ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, BELARUS, BSN-HZGVNA,
BULGARIA, ESTONIA, FINLAND, GEORGIA, GREECE, IRELAND, KYRGYZSTAN,
LATVIA, LITHIANIA MACENDONIA, MOLDOVA, NORWAY, PORTUGAL,
ROMANIA, RUSSIA, SWEDEN, TURKEY, UK, UKRAINE SERBIA AND
MONTENERGRO, KOSOVO, ANY AFRICAN COUNTRY, ANY ASIAN COUNTRY,
ANY MIDDLE EAST COUNTRY ANY ISLAND. . CARS MAY BE DRIVEN
TO AND DROPPED IN THE FOLLOWING - AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, FRANCE,
GERMANY, ITALY, LUXEMBOURG, MONACO, NETHERLANDS, POLAND,
SLOVENIA, SWITZERLAND. . CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO AND DROPPED
INTO ZAGREB/.RIJEKA IN CROATIA. CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO BUT
NOT DROPPED INTO ANY OTHER LOCATION IN DENMARK. . CARS
MAY BE DRIVEN TO AND DROPPED INTO COPENHAGEN IN DENMARK.
CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO BUT NOT DROPPED INTO ANY OTHER LOCATION
IN DENMARK. CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO AND DROPPED INTO BUDAPEST
IN HUNGARY. CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO BUT NOT DROPPED INTO
ANY OTHER LOCATION IN HUNGARY. . CARS MAY BE DRIVEN TO
AND DROPPED INTO MADRID/BARCELONA IN SPAIN. CARS MAY BE
DRIVEN TO BUT NOT DROPPED INTO ANY OTHER LOCATION IN SPAIN.
IN ADDITION CUSTOMERS MUST NOT TAKE THE CAR BY BOAT OR
OTHERWISE OFF THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT. CUSTOMERS IGNORING
THESE RESTRICTIONS HAVE NO PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE AT
ALL AND CDW,TP,PAI IF ACCEPTED ARE NIL AND VOID. CUSTOMERS
IGNORING THESE RESTRICTIONS ARE FULLY RESPONSIBLE IN CASE
OF ACCIDENTS, LOSTS AND FOR ALL CONSEQUENCES OF ACCIDENTS
INCLUDING THE COSTS OF REPATRIATION OF THE DAMAGED CAR.
PLEASE REFER TO ENVIRONMENTAL ZONES IN THE GERMAN RENTAL
QUALIFICATION AND REQUIREMENTS IF YOU INTEND TO DRIVE TO
OR DROP THE VEHICLE IN GERMANY. . EMISSION STICKERS -----------------
THE GERMAN MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT HAS INTRODUCED ENVIRONMENTAL
ZONES IN CERTAIN GERMAN CITIES. ALL VEHICLES ENTERING THESE
ZONES MUST DISPLAY A STICKER INDICATING THE EMISSION CLASS
OF THE VEHICLE. FOR VEHICLES NOT DISPLAYING SUCH A STICKER
THE DRIVER MAY BE SUBJECT TO A FINE OF EUR 40.00. THIS
APPLIES TO ALL GERMAN LICENCED VEHICLES AND ALSO TO ALL
FOREIGN VEHICLES THAT ARE LICENCED OUTSIDE GERMANY. ALL
HERTZ GERMANY CARS CARRY THIS STICKER. HOWEVER, HERTZ CARS
RENTED OUTSIDE GERMANY DO NOT CARRY A STICKER. . PARKING
AND TRAFFIC FINES -------------------------- AN ADMINISTRATION
FEE WILL BE CHARGED TO CUSTOMER PER EACH PARKING OR TRAFFIC
FINE/PENALTY. THE FOLLOWING AMOUNTS ARE EXCLUSIVE OF TAX
- EUR 12.50

Enterprise/National/Alamo: CROSS BORDER TRAVEL - ALL RENTERS INTENDING TO DRIVE THE
RENTAL VEHICLE CROSS BORDER MUST ADVISE CZECHOCAR-ALAMO
AT THE TIME OF RENTAL. A CROSS BORDER FEE OF 30.00 EUR
PLUS VAT PER RENTAL APPLIES. PAYMENT OF THIS FEE GUARANTEES
ASSISTANCE SERVICES ABROAD. THE RENTAL COMPANY PROHIBITS
TRAVEL OUTSIDE OF THE SLOVAKIA BORDERS WITH THE RENTED
VEHICLE WITHOUT THE PAYMENT OF THE CROSS BORDER FEE. SHOULD
RENTERS DRIVE THE RENTAL VEHICLE OUTSIDE OF SLOVAKIA HAVING
NOT DISCLOSED THEIR INTENTIONS TO DO SO AND HAVING NOT
PAID THE CROSS BORDER FEE THEY WILL BE LIABLE FOR ALL ADDITIONAL
ASSISTANCE AND VEHICLE RECOVERY FEES. CROSS BORDER TRAVEL
IS NOT PERMITTED INTO- ALBANIA, BULGARIA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA,
BELARUS, CYPRUS, ESTONIA, ISRAEL, IRAN, ICELAND, LITHUANIA,
LATVIA, MONTENEGRO, MOLDOVA, MACEDONIA, ROMANIA, RUSSIAN
FEDERATION, SERBIA, TURKEY AND UKRAINE. CROSS BORDER TRAVEL
IS PERMITTED INTO - ANDORRA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, GERMANY,
DENMARK, SPAIN, FRANCE, FINLAND, UNITED KINGDOM, GREECE,
HUNGARY, CROATIA, ITALY, IRELAND, LIECHTENSTEIN, LUXEMBOURG,
NORWAY, NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL, POLAND, SWEDEN, SLOVENIA,
SWIZTERLAND AND CZECH REPUBLIC.

Europcar: * CROSS BORDER RESTRICTION * . NOT ALLOWED TO DRIVE TO BELARUS,
RUSSIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, ALBANIA, MACEDONIA, GREECE,
CROATIA, SERBIA, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA, ESTONIA, MONTENEGRO,
MOLDOVA, UKRAINE, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, MALTA, CYPRUS, TURKEY
FOR ALL CAR GROUPS. POLAND AND CROATIA ALLOWED ONLY FOR
EDMR, CDMR, CDMD, IDMR, IDAR, IWMR, IWAR.

Sixt: --- CROSS BORDER RENTALS --- ARE ALLOWED TO THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIRES - AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH
REPUBLIC, DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN,
HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, LIECHTENSTEIN, LUXEMBOURG, NETHERLANDS,
NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, SLOVENIA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND,
SPAIN.

Thanks -

Is this information available anywhere ? Or is it just industry that has it .... ?

NB it's a little bit different to what Avis at the airport told me
Also, I considered Budget first, and called them (well, Budget US) - I went through the booking process and was quoted EUR 30 cross-border fee.

Edit: found this (eventually) on the Avis.sk website - in Slovak, I presume (google translate)
"Entry is not permitted to countries: Albania, Bulgaria, the countries of former Yugoslavia (except Croatia), Russia, Ukraine, Romania.
Entry is allowed only for Gr. Vehicle P, A, B, C 1, C 2, C 3, C 4 to countries Hungary, Poland."

So now I have 4 sets of differing information to work with :-)

I pulled this out of Sabre, but if you do a test booking on Expedia there is a link for Rules and Restrictions during the checkout process which has links to show you this info. It's definitely buried, and honestly, I just pulled up Budget as an example and it had different info than Sabre:

CROSS BORDER TRAVEL - ALLOWED FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE (20.00 EUR PER RENTAL PLUS TAX INOT AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, CR)OATIA, DENMARK, FRANCE. FINLAND, GERMANY, GILBRALTAR, HOLLAND, HUNGARY, ITALY, LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, PORTUGAL, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENJA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND AND POLAND. . NO CROSS BORDER PERMITTED TO GREECE, MACEDONIA, BOSNIA, TURKEY, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, ALBANIA AND ALL COUNTRIES OF FORMER RUSSIA.

Bottom line, I would call the rental company directly to confirm anything you see online. The bigger/better companies often have dedicated international desks that are better versed in this stuff than the general agents.

... and reporting back.

I have now rented and gone cross-border from both Budget and Avis at BTS.

Avis - no charge, few exceptions in Europe. Budget - EUR 42, after tax, flat rate, to all of Europe.

Renting with Avis in Germany next week, and noticed this as I am planning on driving into France also:

I guess there is no need to reserve a premium vehicle, and let's hope there is a Volvo or something else available...

Any issues or you just told them at the counter that you will cross the border?

I called them ahead of time and they assigned me a Volvo that I could drive to France

I ignorantly rented in Germany earlier this year and never told them I'd be going to other countries. I drove to France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Belgium. There was no issue at any border crossings (no agents/etc between these countries; it's more like driving between states in the US). I did pre-register the car for Belgium, Antwerp and Ghent as they have limitations on what vehicles can enter the city without facing penalties.

Re: Avis and the Baltics...p/u, d/o Tallin - so Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

Most of the rental car companies are clear about cross border polices - about $100/border.

Avis' local policy states: Cross boarder rentals outside from Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) is not allowed. Driving the vehicle outside of the Baltic States is available on a request basis only. We do not permit our vehicles to travel to the following counties: Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States CIS. Cross Border charge of EUR 0.19 per kilometer is applied for driving outside of The Baltic States

I am reading this as no additional charge as long as I am staying in those 3 countries. Just verifying because Avis would now be my go to.

TIA!