I have found a very good deal at Dollar rent a car in Munich airport. I would like to rent a car while I am in Germany so I don’t have to bother my host in borrowing his car. However I have read some very bad reviews about this particular rental service at MUC airport. This includes not accepting insurance through your credit card, forcing you to buy insurance protection through them which adds for €400 to the price, returning the vehicle and pretending that you scratched the car up and charging you exuberant amounts for that as well.

Does anybody have any experience renting from dollar in Munich? I don’t understand how a scam like this, especially in Germany, can continue to go on without some government agency not stepping in to stop a company’s abuse of its consumers there?

The second merchant I found a fairly reasonable deal on was Alamo Rent A Car. These are in economy/compact class cars which is fine. I’m not going to be driving up in any mountains or anything like that. But I am curious to know if they rent cars at this level out that have automatic transmissions? Because it says it’s a manual, and I cannot drive a manual. I never learned. So I’m just wondering if that may also be a problem?

Any advice anyone can give me about renting a car specifically in Munich would be of great help. According to things I’ve read if you have an American Express platinum card (i do) the rental car agencies will allow it as insurance. Or if you bring a letter from your credit card company explaining your coverage (Like my Citi Prestige that acts as primary insurance outside of the US) they will let you go too.

this is my first time ever renting a car in Europe. So I don’t know if I’m even being quoted correct rates and they’re going to tack on things when I get there. Any advice about renting cars in Europe somebody could give me would be much appreciated.

None of the rental companies in Europe will deal with third party insurer (such as American Express). But that doesn't mean you can't rely on the cover. This is for the excess / deductible - the car has to have base insurance purified by the vehicle owner.
It means that should you have "an event", the rental company will charge your card and you then reclaim that from your card insurer. There a level of faff and form filling to plough through but it works.
Yes, automatics are available, but they're a specific booking class and you need to specifically rent that. This may cost considerably more than the equivalent in manual (or it might not..... There is little rhyme or reason to price levels sometimes).
All rental companies in Europe are strict in damage control. I had the misfortune to scrape an alloy wheel on a hertz rental out of Munich a few months ago. The charge was €480 - which i reclaimed from my amex insurance cover.

A local told me that the big 4 (Sixt, Hertz, Europcar, Avis/Budget) all have automatic cars and will not bug you regarding insurance if you clearly say that your credit card covers every, and anything.

What you say is true, but it doesn't contradict what I said.