(I created a separate post about taking the train for this journey; this post explores the car rental option).
We arrive in Frankfurt around 9:30am on a Friday in Oct. Our first three nights are in Rothenburg odT where we already have a hotel booked. We were planning to take the train from Frankfurt airport to Rothenburg, but the trains involve a minimum of 2 transfers, and further, it seems like using a train to make day-trips from Rothenburg is less than ideal - a car could be useful - and on our final day in the area, we need to get to Koblenz, which is another 'difficult' train journey from Rothenburg (multiple transfers).
So I'm reluctantly considering renting a car. Is the rental car pickup situation relatively easy in Frankfurt airport, and is the drive to Rothenburg relatively straight-forward (assuming the use of Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc)? Our hotel in Rothenburg does have limited free parking, and if full, there's apparently plenty of parking lots nearby (we are just outside the wall).
I'm an experienced driver in the US, familiar with renting cars in UK and Italy, but never Germany. I assume Germany won't be unusually difficult (compared to UK, driving 'on the other side'). Are there any 'quirks' about renting a car in Germany I should be aware of? And is dropping a car off in Koblenz going to be straight-forward?
We're actually joining a Rick Steves tour in Koblenz.
Thanks!
PS - is there any one obvious car rental company to look at, assuming we want a basic car for 4-5 days, and less chance of being gouged / nickle-and-dimed when returning the car? I'm going to assume it's like everywhere else - a bit of a crap shoot!