Life in Germany: New Drivers 👶 🚗
So you just got your license and now thinking the world belongs to you and you will start driving Ferrari in Autobahns 🏎️? Well no. Unfortunately no one is going to trust you 🙅 and you need a plan to still be able to drive or at least find options.
Things that Driving lessons don’t teach
There are many practical things Driving lessons/schools don’t teach that you learn by just pure experience. Just mentioning few here.
How to park 🅿
Yes I know you can park and thats part of the lessons. But what about finding a location to park for the night 🌚. Specially if this is a rented car where do you need to park? For shared cars there are very strict areas where you may park please first confirm those places. It might happen that the car parking spot from where you took your car is not available when you return it. So make sure you mark some backup plans for that.
How to Refill Fuel ⛽
Try it few times while at school. Then while renting cars you need to understand different kind of cars and their Fuel types💧. If renting electric cars make sure to look for charging stations.
Check before getting into a rented Car 🗑️
Check for all kind of scratches. Dirt inside the car. And also any damage to wheels and inside of the cars.
Learn automatic gears ⚙️
I got my license in Manual Gear and was not confident to drive an automatic geared car. So I tried with a friend first and then got comfortable.
Quality of Cars ⭐
Different cars has different kind of quality. Bad quality manual geared can be detected with Clutch. It’s very difficult to increase speed and car makes lots of noise.
Phone accessories 📱
Phone stand ☎️
You need to keep your phone in a place where you can see. Most rented cars won’t come with a Phone holder. Never Take a phone call while in a car.
Charging cables🔌
In car you don’t want your poor phone to run out of battery. While navigating battery goes out very fast. So just make sure you buy special in car charging wires.
Navigation Apps 🧭
Google Map is definitely preferred by many people. There is another maps app that I follow which is called Waze. This shows also all(or most of) the cameras in Roads.
Where to Rent Cars 💰
Finally the most important one. Probably you are searching all around internet about exact this point.
Here are some good options I found on internet:
Miles
- 👍 Lots of available Cars. Find Auto geared/electric/all sizes cars. Very good for testing out different cars
- 👍 Very good website and app
- 👍 The L size cars are amazing for Moving furnitures and Moving from apartments.
- 😞 Trips are a little Expensive comparing to Greenwheels
- 😞 Pay around 9EUR/month for first year of your driving license. 1 EUR for unlocking fee.
ShareNow
- 👍 After 1 year this is now my favourite. Amazing price with discounts. For me the best one is the per minute offer where 200KM is included.
- 👍 Car quality very good
- 👍 Very good website and app
- 👍 Get 5 EUR bonus each time you refuel.
- 😞 Trips are a little Expensive for the daily offers.
- 😞 Only available if your license is more than 1 year old.
GreenWheels
- 👍 Hourly rent service. Just book and go. Day/weekend passes are also good priced
- 👍 Very good Price for hourly renting or short trips less than 100KM
- 👍 Perfect for intercity Roaming. Best beginner practice car
- 😞 Not much cars are available if you are living a little far from city center.
- 😞 In weekend hard to get available cars
- 😞 Don’t expect very good quality cars
- 😞 Not super automated, you often need to call Customer support.
Cambio
- 👍 A little better Price than Greewheels
- 👍 If you are BVG Abo customer you save some money during Registration.
- 😞 The websites look very old school.
Rentalcars
- 👍 Very good if you are planning weekend Far away Trips (400KM+)
- 👍 Very good car quality
- 😞 Registration is a little expensive as you need to put deposit.
- 😞 The insurance amount might be around 40% of the price of rent
