My rental experience at this location was mixed but overall did not meet my expectations. I…read morereserved an Audi A6 automatic (premium class car) at this enterprise location in Freiburg. I was instead given a Nissan Qashqai SUV that reeked of smoke and I was told it is in the same premium class (and that all their cars are non smoking).
For reference, a new A6 costs in excess of 35k euro while a Qashqai is about 18k euro (prices are from autoprice.eu for lowest class car of the respective type with an automatic). While all rental companies play games with the rental car class, I find the enterprise definition of "comparable class" to be unreasonable. I'm sure if I were to take an A6 and return the Qashqai they would (suddenly) agree. I was told that the Nissan was the only automatic on the lot but an Infinity might be available the next day. I wouldn't get an A6 as they never rent them at that location.
Needing a car, I took the Qashqai and hoped for a change out the following day. No such luck. The manager did call to follow up as promised, which I appreciated, but the car was not available. On the third day, they found me an Audi Q3 diesel. The Q3 automatic diesel cost about 28k euro new and they explained that it is an "upgrade" form the standard SUV. That might indeed be but it isn't I the A6 class in my opinion. Moreover, the car had not been serviced -- it wasn't washed and he tank wasn't full. Again, I needed the car and was glad to be rid of the smoky Nissan. So I took it.
The manager was apologetic about the smoke in the Nissan but explained that they just didn't notice it. Fair enough. Mistakes happen and he owned up to it and did try to get us a different car. But if you are like my family and have serious allergies, it was a bad situation while we had it.
I ended up needing to extend my rental for a day and the manager was happy to accommodate the request. On the one hand that was nice of him. On the other, why would t he? I was paying for premium car and instead getting a car that was not nearly in the same class in most people's opinions (including that of the manufacturer, who prices it very differently). Also, the manager was willing to reduce the out of country fee (of 5 euro per day which wasn't apparent to me when I rented the) by three days. That was a nice gesture but didn't really seem to be comparable to the class reduction.
Overall, they delivered a rental car of a lower class for which they charged the premium rate. I would not recommend renting a premium car at this location. If you rent any car here, be very sure to check it for smoking.