Hire a Car in Berlin to drive into Poland - can I cross the border driving it?

Help. I am flying into Berlin and hoping to hire a car at the airport. I am then driving up to the Baltic coast of Poland then spending ten days before driving back to Berlin.....In general terms does anyone know if it is 'allowed' to cross over into Poland with a German hire car? I assummed there would be no issues as it is one EU country to another....thoughts....

I once traveled by train from Berlin to Szczecin, not far from the German border, and we were stopped for the customary passport check. This was in around 1995 or thenabouts, but renting a car and driving ought to be no different in procedure.

After 9/11 though, all bets are off:-)

Incidentally, If you have a Polish-German-English phrasebook handy, it might help (more on the Polish than the German end, however)!

Only unless it's allowed by the particular car hire service. You need to check with them.


The problem is that the insurance with hire cars doesn't always allow it.

In a worst case scenario the driver could be accused of car theft.

True some 20yrs ago - I would be surprised if that's the case these days.

It was very much so back then, and more recently too. In theory, EU membership should have changed things, but I'd still strongly suggest the OP checks just to be safe about taking hire cars cross border.

So far it's slow going with hire company- Poland in fact the whole of Eastern Europe is not on the approved list for German car hire companies

I have to make special request -

Yes - I honestly thought that given that it's ment to be one "EU open market" that this would not be an issue.

How wrong I was

What's wrong with car rental companies? My company is providing AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) service to customers in Poland, based on GPS / GLONASS. There are many rent-a-car companies among them. Most of them allow their cars to cross the bordres, but they charge extra for that.

Can anyone suggest a car hire company in Germany that might support cross border travel into Pokand

Some of the big international ones will do it, provided you inform them in advance about which countries you plan to visit.

Have a look at Indigocarhire who do cross border hire as well as the biggies like Hertz and Avis.

Sometimes there's an extra fee involved.

Hi Greg,

Did you manage to find a car hire company which allowed you take the hire car across the border?

I am planning a similar trip flying into Berlin and crossing over to Poland for a few days before returning to Berlin. Thanks in advance.

It's strange - a car rented in Poland cannot drive within the Schengen zone (or in the EU in general)? If so, the borders are not really open (unless the issue is car theft from Poland to the East). If anything, the easiest solution would be to leave the car in Germany, take a taxi to the nearest town/city to Poland and hire a car there.

It depends on the company. For instance, cars rented in Spain tend to be limited to the Iberian peninsula only, while Polish car hire companies can be funny about Romania and Bulgaria.

Usually you can drive it in the schengen zone for an extra fee (usually 50 zloty paid on time no matter the duration of the rent ), there is even a local renting company in Poznan which allows border crossing without charging extra

*paid one time

It depends on the company and the car brand and the car class.

Some Companies like the Redish Logo won't allow a few brands to be driven into East Europe. Audi, BMW, Mercedes and so on ...

Check their TOS or contact them, if you are unsure :)