Mietwagen in Salzburg

Excellent car but terrible support service

Positiv: The car was very good. A recent model, with low mileage on the clock and a high level of equipment.

Negativ: The car was booked with Alamo. The details advised me to pick up the car at the Enterprise desk at Salzburg Airport and when I arrived the car was provided by Buchbinder - confusing isn't it. The car was very good. However, I had a minor incident on the road which caused irreparable damage to a tyre . I was able to fit the spare wheel - with a "spacesaver" tyre that had a maximum speed limit of 80kph (50 mph) - and I continued my journey to my hotel. From my hotel I tried to contact the hirer, using the number given on their scanty information pack. Seeing that it was a toll-free number, which can sometimes be difficult from a cellphone, I called from the landline in my hotel room. The number did not work. I asked the hotel receptionist to try the number for me and it did not work. I even tried calling from a public telephone in the street - it did not work! From the internet I obtained the rental desk number for Enterprise and was able to get through. I had hoped to be able to arrange a local replacement of the damaged tyre. However, with my limited German and the desk clerk's limited English and even more limited knowledge of cars I had the greatest difficulty getting her to understand that I had a burst tyre. She suggested I return the car to Salzburg Airport and pick up a replacement (a round trip of about 300km) but finally offered to get someone else to call me back. A man did call, about an hour and a half later, but his English was even worse and we finally agreed that I would just return the car at the end of my stay, using the spare tyre. The journey back to Salzburg on the Austrian autobahn at speeds limited to 80kph was very harrowing, with heavy lorries frequently coming up close behind, flashing lights and sounding horns for me to speed up or get out of the way. Overall I felt very isolated and vulnerable and completely let down by the lack of service from the hire company. Thankfully the burst tyre was only a minor incident. I dread to think of the problems if the incident had been serious. This was the worst level of service I have ever experienced and I will never use Alamo/Enterprise or their associates again.