Driving a rental over the border

There is no problem crossing borders, similar in the U.S. to crossing into a different state. If you decided to drop the car off in a different country there would be a high drop off charge.

When I rented in Zurich (big rental co, I forget) I asked at the counter and was told that I could drive in Germany, and had an Umweltplakette sticker. But I was cautioned not to drive in Poland or Czech Republic. You have to ask, if it's not clear from your online reservation.

The drop-off charge for picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another can be as high as $1,000. You can check rental prices at www.AutoEurope.com

Just make sure your rental company knows that you will be taking the car into France.

I believe Strasbourg is within a French environmental district and I do not know if a German Umweltsplakatte is valid there. Something for you to investigate.

Make no assumptions and do your research. I assume that you plan to return to Germany to return the car. If not the drop off fee to another country can be quite expensive. And don't forget to get an International Driver's Permit at the Auto Club in the US before you go. There's plenty of chatter on here about whether you need it or not, or who will and won't ask to see it; (our rental car agency asked this spring while in France, but I believe it's really for official law enforcement as it translates your US state driver's license.) but for $30ish dollars it seems like why wouldn't you?

Probably should also read through this post, so you're not surprised if it comes up: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/france-to-re-instate-border-controls

1. You need to check with the rental company that you are allowed to cross the border. Read the fine print.
2. You need to get a Crit'Air sticker, as well as make sure the car is equipped with other things required in France.
3. Are you really sure renting a car is the best idea? Colmar and Strasbourg are easy to reach by train and visiting them by car just seems like a way to make things more complicated.

When I rented in The Netherlands in March 2023 (Hertz), I was told specifically that I was not allowed to drive in any other country—including Germany. Too bad because I was only one town away for a while. Not that they would have known...

We've rented cars in Europe frequently. My recollection is that we have crossed borders just a few times. We picked up once in France and drove in Luxembourg and Germany before returning to France. I checked to make sure that the areas we were driving in Germany (Mosel and Rhine) were legal given Germany's environment controls as they pertain to certain roads. I don't believe we told the rental company we were crossing a border, I didn't think we needed to. The second time we crossed borders was when we picked up a car in Bordeaux, drove through the Dordogne and then the Basque areas of France and Spain and Rioja and back to France. Since then I read on the forum, that it was not allowed to drive the car picked up in France into Spain. We just recently rented in Bozen, Italy. It was possible that we would enter Austria, and then eventually chose not to. I noted that we did have a paper clock in the car that is put on the dash for parking in Germany (and I think Austria??)In the future, I'll check with both Autoeurope and the car rental company. I would encourage checking with the rental car company in addition to getting good advice from the forum.

You can drive across the border, as long as you notify the rental company in advance and it is noted on your contract.

The problem is that France has environmental restrictions in place in certain cities, one of which is Strasbourg. It is called Crit Air. Your rental car from Germany will not have the required permit to allow you to drive or park in Strasbourg. Only the registered owner can request a sticker. Tourists cannot get one. They do not want cars in these areas, tourist or other. We discovered this when researching a road trip to the area in 2023. We stayed in Colmar to avoid the issue. I found that all of the park & ride lots around Strasbourg are within the restricted zone. But you can take the train from Colmar to Strasbourg.

Only OK if country is explicitely allowed by contract. Just notifying is not enough if contact does not allow crossing border.

Ensure your rental car has winter tires with alpine symbol (new law).

If you want to drive a car in Germany check the validity of your driving license in Germany and also the likely need for an IDP to have valid driving permission [not license only] in Germany. Violations are expensive and in case of accident a driver without valid permission loses the insurance coverage. Same is valid for France.

I've just recently booked a rental car for use in France. We may drive over to Switzerland for a night or two; the rental docs indicated that I have to pay an extra fee to take the car into Switzerland. I don't know all the exact details at this time but I plan to ask questions when we pick up the car.
And to respond to another poster's statement of "who would know"; I don't know if movement is monitored but cars these days have systems that indicate where you are and where you've been! I'm not risking paying a fine!

if you drive on a highway in Switzerland you need a Vignette, either on the windscreen in an appointed place or a virtual one purchased online. Either way they cost CHF 40 and are valid a calendar year. When you tell the rental you want to go to Switzerland you could ask if any of the cars has a Swiss Vignette. They are tied to the car not the driver or owner. You can look up the number plate to see if it has an virtual one, or look on the windscreen for the 24. It is valid until the end of January of the following year.

To avoid needing the French Crit'Air, we stayed in Colmar and took the train into Strasbourg.

When you reserve your vehicle there should be a place where it says where you can drive the car. We rented at Frankfurt and it wasn’t a problem going into France. As already stated, tell the agent when you pick up the car. There might be a small additional charge for crossing a border.

We reserved through Costco and the rental company was Enterprise. There was an entire paragraph on where we could and couldn’t drive the car.

time crunch issue

Can you expand on this and how much time you believe you will save vs trains?