Car rental- Frankfurt - Munich- Budget or Avis?

You did not say if you have an absolute requirement for an Automatic Transmission, or a particular size or model of car. I would expect all of the companies at FRA to "not have" the exact car you reserved. So the issue is whether any given company has something you can stand. When they offered me a GIANT Transit Van because I'd ordered an Automatic, I refused it in favor of a small hatchback Standard Transmission, but we still had to wait an hour or so for one of those to be turned in, washed, and turned around for us. August is Vacation month in Europe.

I personally would avoid driving in Munich, but do you have a choice of return places?

Both are owned by the same company so which you choose shouldn’t matter. In my experiences Avis tends to have higher rates.

If renting, rent directly through the rental company and not via a 3rd party like Expedia. If you reserve through a 3rd party and there are issues, it’s the 3rd party you will need to resolve it through. Also, if you are a Costco member, check its prices. It usually uses Enterprise and Alamo. Costco doesn’t always offer automatics if that is a must.

We were looking at a mid size SUV - VW T Roc automatic.
Tim- that's disturbing about them swapping for your reserved car in another category car- we had that experience with Enterprise in Florida last January- reserved an SUV and after waiting well over an hour for it to materialize we took a minivan for a week and hated it.
Jaime- thanks I'll check back for a direct booking- on first checking it was alot more expensive. Not happy about our August timing or driving in Munich. We are flying back to NY from Munich and found a drop off right near our hotel in Alstadt-Lehal area. Fearing Munich driving, I was going to drop the car outside the city and take a train in but decided to go for it and just get rid of it immediately.
We are not members of Costco.

If you post on multiple Internet forums parallel it would make sense to metion or link it, so that people can lookup / decide better if their time invest is needed.

As alreadymentioned: same company.

drop off right near our hotel in Alstadt-Lehal area.

I drive in Munich every year (disabled spouse and love a particular biergarten) and I wouldn't try it.

Thank you Mark- I'm new to Rick Steves and have been using Trip Adviser for many years (I'm 70 ) so I posted on TA first, then I remembered Rick. I do not know how to link things... but this shouldn't happen again anyway.

Thank you, Nigel- I will look into another drop off in Munich outside of city center.

it can be done, but you need to be very aware of the tunnel lanes and there are a lot of cameras and you might be surprised by one ways and people driving around you, and the trams. Just take an extra helping of patience at breakfast. (and a good navigator, electronic or human).

Thank you Nigel! That's good to know. I haven't driven in Munich in 50 years! In those days I'm sure it was less busy. Lots of things were simpler. My 26 year old so will be driving and I will help as a look-out. LOL Yes, patience. We will take it slow!

Munich is not an easy city to drive in. Use an app like Waze to show the cameras and the current construction.

Have you considered using Sixt for the rental? They have a drop right at the Hauptbahnhof which makes getting around pretty easy. You can also check and see if they can provide the vignette.

If you need to buy a vignette, stop at the last exit on the autobahn in Germany. It's well marked. If you're traveling secondary roads stop at the first place across the border.

In August, half of Munich is on vacation, so there will be less traffic and perhaps less aggressive traffic than usual. On the other hand, there will also be a lot of roadworks, so a navigation system with real-time traffic information is key.

A vignette for Austria can be easily purchased online once you have the license plate of the rental car.
https://shop.asfinag.at/en/

Thanks Paul- that's good to know! Fingers crossed.