Car Brand Restrictions in Eastern Europe?

Factual Questions
1

I was putting together a travel itinerary for my boss today. For one part of his trip, he will be renting a car in Munich and driving to Vienna. In between, he’s going to go into the Czech Republic. He told me that there are sometimes issues with taking a car from Germany into the Czech Republic, and that I should make sure that everything will be kosher.

My company uses a corporate travel agent and Hertz. I asked the agent to check into the Czech Republic thing. He made a call, and told me that the car could go there, but there were restrictions on the type of car. The car could not be a Mercedes or a VW! Hertz can supply other makes, so it’s no problem, but the big question is why?

Why can’t you take a VW or Mercedes into the Czech Republic?

Does this apply only to rental cars or people’s own cars as well?

Thanks in advance. My boss and I are quite confounded by this.

2

What? I’ve never been to the Czech Republic, but there’s no way this can be true. Both the CR and Germany are EU member states, and I’m pretty sure that that kind of ban would violate about a million EU regulations.

3

There’s no problem from the point of view of Czech law, German law or Austrian law. And, even if there were, there would be no way to enforce the law, since there are no border controls. Plus, as Kyla points out, the EU would go through such a law with a scythe.

This problem arises only in relation to rental cars, and is a restriction imposed by (certain) car rental companies themselves. They consider cars generally, or certain marques of car, to be vulnerable to theft and vandalism in Eastern Europe, and so make it a condition of hire that you not bring their car to Eastern Europe.

Not all car rental companies do this.

4

I’ve heard about this as well; a couple of years ago (after the Czechs joining the EU) some friends rented a car (don’t know which company) to travel east from the Netherlands and they wouldn’t allow them to go to the Czech Republic and Hungary…

On the other hand, I once got a rental car from Avis in austria (after crashing our own car, but that’s a different story) and I was allowed to use it in Slovenia, Hungary, Czech republic and even Croatia and Bosnia (both not EU)… so I guess it depends

5

To agree with all the others, this is a rental insurance issue rather than a legal issue. Following up on **fipwyf’s **mention of Croatia and Bosnia, one of the things to watch when hiring a car in Croatia is whether you are allowed to enter Bosnia. If not, it can be a problem as the road from Split to Dubrovnik actually goes through Bosnia for a few miles!

6

Similarly, if you rent a car in San Diego, they ask you if you’re planning to drive into Mexico. (I assume it affects the insurance rates if you do.)

7

Thanks for the answers, everybody. That makes perfect sense.

But I wonder what kind of cars they do allow into the Czech Republic? I hope he doesn’t end up in a Trabant!!

8

'83 Coupe de Ville. With an 8-track.

9

You’re getting a Skoda.

10

As others have said, this has nothing to do with legislation in any country. In recent years, there’s been a development in which car rental companies refuse to let you take their car to a variety of countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Whether this policy would actually be enforced by border police at the Czech-German border (for instance) I’m not sure (we were warned by the car company that it would) but I hardly think so.

The reasoning behind this policy is that a lot of cars get stolen in CEE countries, and especially foreign cars (i.e. with foreign plates) are somehow often targeted because they’re harder to trace or some such. What I don’t get is that the car rental guys don’t just differentiate the insurance you pay. I mean, they could just say ‘Sure you can drive our car to Albania, but it will quintuple the insurance part of your fee’, right?

11

In 2004, I rented a VW Golf from Europcar in Kaiserslautern (a German city). The rental contract came with a map indicating which countries it was not to be taken into. When I tried to pass the Hungarian border, I was stopped by the border guards, who recognized the car as a rental, and made to prove to them that the contract allowed me to bring it into Hungary. They were extremely suspicious, because, according to them, it’s highly unusual for any rental agency to allow VWs into Hungary.

So yes, the border police may indeed enforce the rental company’s policies. I have no idea why they choose to do so, though.

12

It has been over ten years, but I worked for a major car rental company. The reason why the border police may enforce is to make it easier for the domestic police for of that country. If the car breaks down, is vandalized, or stolen, it becomes a pain for that police force to deal with the rental company who never wanted their car to be there in the future.

13

My guess is that your circumstances put you under suspicion of driving an already-stolen vehicle.

14

Possibly because, if you take the car into the country in breach of your rental agreement, you will be driving without insurance, which is a legal requirement. The insurance policy that comes with the car hire is unlikely to extend to countries where you are not allowed to take the car.