experience with "open jawed" car rentals (rent one city, leave in another)

If you pick up and drop in the same country you should not have to pay additional charges. Autoeurope is a great agent to rent through.

I've never encountered a drop charge when renting in one city and dropping off in another in the same country. If you drove to Paris, though, the charge would be significant.

IMO I wouldn't get too hung up about drop fees on principal, just look at the final price. When you get the quote make sure you do it based a one way drop and they'll tell you the final price - see if it falls in your budget.

We rented a car in Zurich and returned it in Munich. The extra drop fee was appprox. $200-I agree with Peter, look at the bottom line. That being said, the freedom the car gave us was well worth the car rental fee!

I have only done it one time but that was when I picked up in Paris and dropped in Barcelona. The drop off charge was 200 euros plus tax (19.6%=$239.20). From Germany to France may incur a different drop off charge than France to Spain. As others suggested just check with the rental company and ask about it. I use gemut.com. Good rates and good customer service.

Last summer, we rented in Marseilles and dropped off in Bordeaux. There was a drop-off charge but it was so small I can't remember the dollar amount. Went through Autoeurope - they were great.

Hi Susan,

Never had (or heard of) a drop off charge for renting and dropping off in the same country. We've rented (and returned) a car in Germany 6 times last 9 years, no drop off fees.

We have also used www.gemut.com for our most recent trips. Excellent rates and very helpful people.

Paul

Just check several providers and compare prices. There can be drop charges if the distance between cities is large, or if it's a drop location where not a lot of people rent from (one way of keeping your inventory evened out easily).

AutoEurope wanted to charge us a drop fee for renting outside Paris and dropping in Nice. We went with Avis, the cheapest at the time. We're just getting ready to pick up in Strasbourg and drop in Nimes or Avignon (haven't decided), and I just run the prices on several sites and pick the best.

"Will it be possible to rent a car for this? Or does it cost an arm and a leg more?"

Maybe not an arm and a leg, but it will cost more. ViaMichelin estimates the time from Munich to Heidelberg at just over 3 hours, on the Autobahn, which is about as exciting as driving freeways over here. Their fuel estimate for the trip is over €40. One day car rental is expensive. Everything I found on AutoEurope was well over $100 for 1 day.

The Bahn runs express trains from Munich to Heidelberg in about the same amount of time, 3 hours. If you purchase well in advance, you can get Sparpreis fares of €49 for the two(?) of you. With a Sparpreis fare, as long as part of the trip is by express train (ICE/IC/EC), you can build in stopovers and other legs by regional trains.

For hop on/off train travel for the two of you (up to five, actually), you can use a Bayern-Ticket and a Baden-Württemberg-Ticket for €56, total.