Sixt car rental now offering winter tires

Sixt has reacted to the new regulation on "tires appropriate to the weather conditions", not necessarily meaning that winter tires are mandatory during the winter season but stating that drivers of vehicles without appropriate tires can be fined between €20 and €40 (including a point in the Central Register).
So Sixt is now offering the option of equipping your rental car with winter tires against a surcharge of €15.50/day (maximum €120/month). Their internet booking site comes up with a window if you do not click the option "winter tires" asking you if you expressly want a car without winter tires. However, the winter tire option is subject to availabilty. So if you know when you'll be renting a car to go skiing or just into the snowy mountains, reserve early.

All car hire companies offer winter tyres on the vehicle for a surcharge. But as with Sixt, this is subject to availability.

It's always been the case that winter tyres were an option with almost all the rental companies, but since the change in law last year the rental offices now have you sign a disclaimer if you don't take winter tyres in winter conditions...

This is not true. I booked a car with Budget last year, and just before I was due to pick it up we had that first big snowfall of the winter (around the 20th of November). So before picking it up, I thought I would ring up and make sure that the car was going to have winter tyres on it. The guy was incredible abrupt and rude, and the conversation went basically like this:

Me: "Its been snowing hard, will my car have winter tyres on it?"
Him: "No"
Me: "So are they all weather tyres?"
Him: "No, they are summer tyres"
Me: "Well, thats crazy, its snowing and its freezing, can you make sure my car has winter tyres on it when I come to pick it up, I'll pay the surchage"
Him: "No, we don't do winter tyres"
Me: "You don't do them at all? How do you expect me to drive safely out there in this weather with summer tyres? What about all the people going to the Alps on ski trips"
Him: "Well, its up to you, its 700 euros excess if you crash. We can cancel your booking if you like"
Me: "Can I pick the car up from another branch who do have winter tyres"
Him: "No, Budget doesn't do winter tyres."
Me: "You'd better cancel the booking then"

Crazy.. anyway.. I won't go back to Budget just on the conversation I had with this guy even if I'm renting in the Summer. I actually managed to get just as good a last minute deal with Sixt luckily, who did give me winter tyres at the surcharge price. I really think its amazing that these companies in Munich, seeing as we are so close to the Alps where people holiday, give out cars with Summer tyres on them.

Further to that, charging 15 euros a day for them is a joke. When November comes, they should swap the tyres on all of their cars. Its not costing them 15 a day to do that, they must be making a fortune off it. Its not as if its costing them anymore than the swapping and storage fee of the summer/winter tyres in the off months.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

The surcharge is way over the top and there's no reason not to have their entire fleet on winter tyres for 6 months of the year and summer tyres for the rest.

In fact, it would be preferable to just have all weather tyres on all year around than summer tyres - if the switch really did cost that much. That would be safer.

Coming from Australia, I didn't even know about the concept of winter tyres before I moved here. So if I was on holidays here in winter and intended to hire a car in Munich to go to the snow, I would not even know to ask for tyres suitable for the road conditions. As the customer, I would assume that a car I hired to be roadworthy for the road conditions of the majority of roads of that country.

A few years ago, I hired a car and specified that I wanted ski racks. I did this over the phone and it wasn't until someone pointed out to me that winter tyres are not standard, that I called back and had to ask for them specifically. If I want ski racks, than they should have a pretty good idea of what I intend to do and at least ask. As far as I'm concerned, not asking is neglecting their duty of care. They know that winter tyres aren't standard and a lot of customers do not - so they should have to make people aware of this.

Odd, I got my rental car from SIXT last winter (end of January) and it came with winter tyres without me even asking.

Sixt used to - grudgingly - offer rental chains if the car had summer tires. Of course, subject to availability.

There probably is, actually. The cars are purchased new with summer tyres and are usually sold on within 15-20,000km, so the tyres nmever need replacing. To add winter tyres would add to the capital outlay, and would have to be reflected in generally higher rental charge. It's better from a business perspective to offer cheaper prices and winter tyres as a chargeable option.

In that case it would be their best deal to equip the new cars with "Ganzjahresreifen" (all-season tyres). Personally I'm no friend of them b/c it basically means that no matter what time of the year, your tyres are always inferior compared to the appropriate season tyres, but most of them do fulfil the legal requirements in winter (they need to have a snowflake molded on the side of the tyre) and in winter are certainly better than summer tyres. And, they're not really more expensive than summer tyres.

Indeed it would, but that assumes such tyres are available as an option from the manufacturer in the first place. Most rental vehicles are not built to order in any case, but are simply the manufacturer disposing of unsold stock (hence there are often unusual mixes of options)

That was last year, this year it is different for the car hire companies as the laws have changed regarding winter tyres.

What I know from some other car hire companies is -
National - 90% of their German fleet will be fitted with winter tyres.
Budget - 100% of their German fleet will be fitted with winter tyres.

But with both you need to start when booking you want winter tyres, and you will be charges something upto 15euro per day + tax for them.

Check out travel agencies and car rental brokers such as Holiday Autos and FTI as they have special deals with certain car hire companies and have (for some categories) the winter tyres included in the price.

Surely if they're fitting them all with winter tyres you don't need to state that you want them, they'll be on anyway. This sounds like they're just trying to get you to pay for something that's already included,a bit like when they try to sell you an upgrade when they haven't actually got the car you reserved, so you get a better car anyway. This has happened to me several times.

i don't know of any manufacturers in Europe that equip any of their cars ex-factory with anythig other than summer tyres. The cost of replacing the fleet's tyres would fall on the hire-car company and result, as YL6 pointed out, in higher rental charges for all customers.