Soest - Ulm part 1: Rent A Car

Deeply amused after knowing that I was accepted as an intern in a Japan headquarter based company which specializes itself in developing safety equipments such as seatbelt and airbag for passenger cars, I started to keep my self occupied by dealing with some official contracts, attending German class in the Fachhochschule and of course organizing a way how to transport myself and all my belongings to the city where I will work. To give you an idea about the whole journey, I will describe a bit about the city. So, this city is called Ulm and it is located in the province of Baden Württemberg. Separated to the well-known Stuttgart about 100km in south east direction, this city is quite special because this is also the city where the founder of relativity theory was born, I assume you know who he is and if you don’t, that is fine because he is not the limelight of this post. Additionally, you will also find here the tallest Gothic church ever built in the world, which is the Ulmer Münster. Please bear in mind that there is another higher historical religious establishment in Cologne, Kölner Dome and yet, it is a cathedral, not a church. So, back to the issue and as far as I was concerned, I had two choices on how I was going to reach this city: using standard public transport which is inevitably train again or I could spend a bit more money and trade it with a driving experience in Europe which I have never had before. The decision was actually quite simple to me because I had sorted some problems already if I took the train to Ulm: I had to drag my unbelievably heavy luggage along the way and it would be unpractical as well if I had to take a connecting train or maybe take a bus; there is also no special compartment in the train to place big suitcases which means I had to place my stuffs near the exit door of the train and it increased the possibility of criminal rip off; and foremost, I have always disliked public transport on land because they are somehow not convenient enough and a bit slow. Well, I supposed I would not say slow, but it is not as fast as driving a car. So the decision had been made: rent a car.

Basically, this was not the first attempt of mine to rent a car. Previously or about one month before this trip to be precise, I had reserved a car as well for a return trip from Ulm back to Soest after a job interview. I looked on-line to find a car rent company and there were some actually, but then I found one which seemed like an international car rent company and it is called Sixt. There are several reasons actually why I chose this company: it is not the cheapest and yet not the most expensive, so the price is presumably quite affordable, especially for a student like me; they provide cars based on your demand: how many days you would like to rent, what kind of car and where will you pick-up and drop-off the car; and lastly, the registration procedure was simple and quick, because it was done by on-line. Sadly, what I had described as simple and quick turned out to be an unpleasant disaster and a massive disappointment in which I was stumbled on the legality of my driving license. It was rejected and Sixt said that it was not an international driving license. Additionally, they said that if I still want to rent a car, I would be required to produce an official document which is the translation of my Indonesian driving license into English version.This was plainly ridiculous, even after I explained to them that my driver license was valid for 185 days after my arrival date in Germany and I did not make this up because I had actually confirmed the validity my driving license in the Soest Führerscheinstelle (some kind of local transport organization). What I found more annoying was that this translation can only be performed by ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V.) which is Europe's largest automobile club and mind this, I had to deliver my driver license to the center office of ADAC all the way to Berlin by myself, it can’t be posted because they might require your signature.. in which case I hope that there will be an invention one day how to transfer your hand signature real time and digitally. What’s more, this translation was biblically expensive, you will be charged for an administration and translation fee of 49 Euro, and that has not been included with transport cost to Berlin itself. Unhappily irritated by the complicated German paper works and the state of not-knowingness of the Sixt personnel, I therefore decided to call off the first car reservation.

"What I had described as simple and quick turned out to be an unpleasant disaster and a massive disappointment in which I was stumbled on the legality of my driving license."

Undoubtedly, the foregoing issue had killed my interest to rent a car from Sixt, but it would certainly not lessen my enthusiasm to drive a car in Germany, so this time I decided to have another go, except I was going native by having assistance from the Fachhochschule to deal with it. The next day I rang up the person in charge for student affair and explained my problems. A few days later, I was told that I could make an arrangement for the car rent company they had appointed and there should no problems at all since I just had to call the company to confirm my reservation. Thrilled by the positive news and loaded with positive thoughts, I went straight to the car rent office in Soest to ask what kind of car I would drive and boy.. I was somehow surprised after arriving at the office, partly because it was not bigger than a Kebab store near the Soest train station which I daily passed by. Meanwhile, there was also a small placated board with orange symbol which I was quite familiar with and it said: Sixt. Anyway, I would not give a damn on it because all I wanted to do was just drive and that was it, I shall put all administration things aside and let the professional in the FH dealt with it. Factually, it worked out! The reservation had been positive and no annoying squabbles or whatsoever about my driving license. On the reservation receipt, I would drive either an outdated Volkswagen Polo or a freshly introduced to the European market Ford Fiesta with an agreeable price of 39 Euro before 19% tax and I think that was quite well priced actually. The rest thing I was looking forward to do: just jammed my stuffs altogether and hit the road!

After a long and wasteful wait, then the day I was looking forward the most came: March, 31^st 2009 at 5 p.m., the pick-up time of the reserved car: the freshly released to the European market Ford Fiesta or the outdated Volkswagen Polo. With the debit card and driving license at the ready, I went on foot to the Sixt office which took about 30 minutes walk from the FH. However, I spotted something strange as I walked though the car park of Sixt: there was neither a Ford Fiesta nor a Volkswagen Polo. Covered with confused thought, I made my way into the office and asked about my reservation. I just had to hand my driving license and the reservation sheet (This will be obtained if the reservation is made directly in the Sixt office. If you make your reservation via internet, you might be required to print the reservation sheet which you will receive via your e-mail). After finishing the administration, then the bill came along. I was initially shocked since the rent had increased to a whopping 139 Euro instead of 46 Euro, but then things went clear because it was included with insurance deposit money in case you didn’t return the car in a proper condition. What I meant here with a proper condition is that the car must be returned in a clean state, I suppose there will be an extra charge if you also transport a dog, a cat or even a hamster along with you and it also must be returned with a full fuel tank, just as you take it on the first place. Having reviewed the rent contract instantly and with a careless sense since I wanted to take a look on the car immediately, I signed the contract. Then I was brought into two choices of cars and they were indeed not a Ford Fiesta or a Volkswagen Polo. Instead, they were a Volkswagen Golf Plus and a Smart Fortwo Coupe. Please be advised that changing ordered car seemed to be a natural habit of Sixt since some of my friends also experienced the same issue where the car they ordered was different with the car provided on the pick-up date. However, the good point was: the car had always come from an upper class or in other way, it was upgraded to a more expensive car. Back to my issue, I was particularly interested in Smart Fortwo since it was a unique and fun-to-drive car, it was also the diesel version and paired with pedal shift semi-automatic gearbox which made it more appealing for me. However, considering the massive size of my suitcase and a midsized handbag, Smart will just not be the perfect choice. So, I headed for the dark blue, dull-looking Golf Plus.