Das Auto... and Weasel Insurance

Germany is a car lovers paradise.  People take great pride in the German car manufacturers-and for good reason!  Mercedes, Porsches, BMWs, and Audis zip past us on the Autobahn as if we are standing still.

 

 

When we first arrived in Germany, we had an Audi A3 rental car for one month.  Since Dan works 30 minutes away, and Ryan had to start school, the kids and I had to drive Dan to work before dropping Ryan off at school.  This ended up being over an hour in the car for me and the kids, plus another hour to pick him up in the evening.  Needless to say, this got old fast, and getting cars leased was a priority.  We assumed this would be a relatively painless process once we found an English-speaking car salesman.  It wasn't. 

We were able to find an English-speaking salesman at the Audi/VW/Skoda dealership.  In our experiences buying cars in the US, you simply go to a car dealer, where they have hundreds of shiny new cars, negotiate hard for the entire day, and drive away breathing in that new car smell.  We were completely exasperated that it took us three weeks of going into the dealership 4x/week, and having to spend hours there each time, all with kids in tow.  German car dealers may have some inventory of used cars, but if you want a new car or to lease a car, you must first place an order, then wait 3-4 months for the order to be fulfilled.  We obviously needed cars quicker than that, which is what made the process so difficult.   

Our very kind, but garrulous car salesman, Jens, finally found us good deals on a VW Passat (for me), and a VW Jetta (for Dan).  Both cars are sedans, and we were able to get good leasing prices on them because apparently Germans do not want to drive sedans.  Wagon/hatchback styles are much more common here than in the US, since they provide a bit more capacity without the fuel requirements of a SUV. 

Many cars in Germany do not have the model identified on the back of the car (it doesn't say Passat).

 Manual transmissions are more common here, as are engines using diesel instead of gas.  Germans are very environmentally conscious, and diesel provides better fuel-efficiency.  Hybrid cars are less popular here than in the US.  With only driving around town, my tank of diesel lasts up to three weeks before I have to fill up again.  The cost of a liter of diesel right now is about 1.43 Euro, which would be equivalent to 5.46 Euro per gallon.  Not cheap.

My favorite features: remote starter and heated seats!

Insurance is also a bit different here, as it is purchased directly from the car dealer, and not a third-party company.  Because of the different makes of our cars, my car required more thorough insurance than Dan's car.  Through out the weeks-long leasing process, we were a bit concerned that maybe we were getting shafted used-car-salesman-style due to our lack of German language skill.  This feeling culminated when Dan went to sign the insurance papers, and Jens was translating all the different types of disasters that my car in insured against. 

Jens:  'You have flood, hail, accident, and blatt insurance.'

Dan: 'Blatt insurance?'

Jens: 'You know, it comes with thunder.'

Dan: 'Lightning?'

Jens: 'Yes! I mean lightning!'

Dan: 'OK' (thinking Jens is a *bit* nuts)

Jens: 'You also have weasel insurance.'

Dan: 'Hold on...weasel insurance?' (thinking we are definitely being scammed)

Jens: 'Weasels are a very big problem here with cars because they chew up the car wires.'

 

Jens then pulls up Google and shows Dan pictures of these adorable but highly destructive animals that are called marders (martens in English), and love to chew through warm wires and hoses, especially in the Spring mating season.

So cute!



Not so cute!

As it turns out, it is a good thing we have this insurance, because almost everyone we ask has had trouble with these critters, and we are pretty sure we have some living in our roof (they also seem to like to use our upstairs balcony as an outhouse. Yuck.)  Our children have become terrified of the idea that there might be marders living in our roof, and are scared to go upstairs if the lights are off, for fear that one might be lurking in their bedrooms!

So, yes, getting cars was extremely challenging.  We are happy with what we ended up with, but I must admit that I miss my minivan!  Our next mission is to get our German drivers licenses, which we will need to take a written test, but luckily not the driving test.   Then come spring we will be on the lookout for pheromone crazed rodents!