Hello,
We are planning a trip to Switzerland in late August/early September. Because the Swiss portion of our trip is only a portion of our overall travels, we are planning on renting a car. While I know that Switzerland has great public transit, we will need a car for other countries in our road trip loop, and have heard that picking up/dropping off in different locations is very pricey, therefore we need to rent a car the whole time. Luckily, it looks like the hotels we've selected all offer free parking. I do have a few questions about driving in Switzerland:
Should we anticipate any snow on the roads at this time of year when entering the Lauterbrunnen area from Zurich, or exiting it towards Geneva? Not sure how high of elevation the roads are at, but we are planning to just get a basic compact car, so wanted to make sure this would be appropriate.
We will read up on the rules of the road (I know the laws are strict) and our rental comes with the Swiss Highway toll sticker. Any other big need-to-knows about driving in this area (Zurich --> Lauterbrunnen --> Geneva, then later from the Italian border, possibly to Zermatt, to Lucerne, to Zurich)?
Will we need exact change for tolls? Or does the toll sticker mean we don't have to pay any extra tolls? If we do need to pay extra tolls, do they make change for you or do you need exact change?
What is the road between Lauterbrunnen and Geneva like? Safe to drive at night (not sure how early it gets dark there), or windy mountain road? The reason I ask is because it would work best for our itinerary to have our last day in the valley be spent enjoying the valley area, but then sleep in Geneva so that we can be there bright and early the next morning.
Lastly, a few general questions about renting a car abroad. We are renting from Europcar through AutoEurope. Their fine print says we will be charged:
* Traffic Administration fee of approximately CHF 38 in the
event of a traffic fine (in addition to the fine).
* Administration Fee of approx. CHF 85 will be charged in the
event of damage/theft of the rental vehicle (if an excess
applies this is charged in addition to that amount).
Is this typical for what I'll get with any rental? Also, last time we drove in Europe we just relied on our credit card's auto insurance, but just now I realized that the fine print says it only covers the rental car, not damages to another car. How do people typically insure themselves against having to pay for another car's damages in the unfortunate event that you're in an accident and hit someone?
Thanks!