Has anyone rented a car from Sixt at Boston Logan airport?

September 2, 2015 7:52 AM

Need feedback on renting a car from Sixt at BOS...

Flying into Boston in a couple of weeks, five day trip up through New England for a wedding, 4 adults, arriving Wednesday on an afternoon around 4 PM and dropping off around the same time on the following Monday. Looking at prices online with Orbitz and Kayak, Sixt rental car is quite a bit less expensive for premium vehicles (just considering stepping up given all the driving we have ahead of us), but do not want to hassle with a frustrating trek to a distant off-site facility or lousy customer service. Has anyone used them? Any advice? Thank-you.

posted by docpops to Travel & Transportation around Boston, MA (7 answers total)

You can find lots of stories on the Sixt forum on Flyertalk. Just skimming it is enough to make me want to avoid it. Especially for a premium vehicle, which might be inspected a little bit more carefully on return.
posted by grouse at 8:17 AM on September 2, 2015

I almost used Sixt in another city and then read more closely and realized there was a huge charge per day for extra drivers, even my spouse, which negated the savings entirely. Most rental car companies give you a spouse for free, so if you are planning on doing that look into the charges. I figured nickel and dining on that was probably indicative of other stuff, so I went with another company.
posted by charmedimsure at 8:18 AM on September 2, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks - this pretty much solves my dilemma.
posted by docpops at 8:36 AM on September 2, 2015

We've rented from Sixt many times in LAX and never had a problem. Never been accused of damage, never been charged for it, the check-in time is always quick. About half the rentals we've had had less than 50 miles on them when we rented. All our rentals have been driven back and forth from LAX and Santa Barbara so we are definitely the people putting on the miles.

My husband does all the driving so I've never been added as an additional driver. They have tried to sell us additional stuff but we just say no, that isn't really any different than other car rentals though.

The last time we rented was for our wedding and we ended up returning the car with about 200 small heart shaped balloons in it, nobody batted an eye, no additional charge.

I was surprised to see other people having issues, we will absolutely continue to rent from them.
posted by magnetsphere at 9:06 AM on September 2, 2015

I rent from SIXT almost exclusively in Europe. I have seen some bad feedback about their service at SeaTac, however.

I will also continue to use them.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:44 AM on September 2, 2015

Response by poster: Thank-you.
posted by docpops at 10:20 AM on September 2, 2015

Be aware that renting from an off airport location can save a ridiculous amount in taxes and fees, if there is one that stays open late enough for you to get there before they close. Avis has a couple of locations in downtown Boston that are open past 6PM.

For Avis on the days you specified a couple of weeks from now it's about $150 difference for a premium.
posted by wierdo at 9:24 PM on September 3, 2015