Car Hire at Stuttgart Airport: The Best Companies

Located in southwest Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state, Stuttgart is one of the nation’s most important cities for business and commerce. Little surprise, therefore, that the city has a steady stream of business travellers passing through it, many of whom choose the convenience of a rental car during their stay. But whether it’s for business or pleasure, there are plenty of good reasons for having your own transport while in Stuttgart.

An aircraft taxiing at Stuttgart Airport (Photo: Michael Frank Franz via Flickr)

Stuttgart Airport has a total of 9 car hire companies serving its visitors, all of which can be found in Terminal 3 on Level 2. Once you’ve picked up your car, the journey time from the airport to the city centre is around 30 minutes. At the end of your stay, all rental cars should be returned to the parking lot specified by the individual car hire company.

Our car rental company search results

To help you find the best car rental deal for your specific preferences and needs, TravelMag.com have researched pricing, fleet of cars, previous customer reviews and company policies of all 9 car rental companies at Stuttgart Airport to determine the best options for you. We’ve divided our findings into three separate categories: Most affordable, Best for families and Best for luxury. You’ll find the results below.

Most Affordable: Buchbinder

Book at RentalCars.com

It’s always nice to give a shout out to a local company and happily we are able to do so in the category of most affordable rental cars at Stuttgart Airport. Based on our numerous searches, we found that German rental agency Buchbinder offer the best value. Among their cheaper options are reliable models such as the Volkswagen Polo and Opel Astra, both of which we found can usually be hired for around £130 per week. Located on level 2 at Terminal 3, their offices are open from 7am to 11pm every day apart from Saturday, when they close at 8pm.

Best for families: Thrifty

Book at RentalCars.com

For larger cars with more space and comfort, we recommend Thrifty. If you go with them, you’ll have access to an excellent choice of sizeable models such as the Seat Leon Estate and Opel Insignia Estate. According to our searches, you can usually snap up these cars for around the £200 per week mark. Thrifty come with excellent customer reviews too, ranging between ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ for all of our searches. Their excess fee is €850 but if you book online you can buy an “excess insurance” that will allow you to reduce costs by 30-60% while retaining all the benefits of standard insurance policies.

Best for luxury cars: Hertz

Book at RentalCars.com

You’ll have to pay for the privilege, but for travellers keen to explore Stuttgart in a luxury car hire, Hertz is our pick of the bunch. We searched several dates and lengths of stay and for each one Hertz offered at least one top-of-the-range Mercedes– even during peak months of the year. Some other companies may offer lower rates, but their choice is invariably inferior. For example, the most luxurious car offered by Budget is a Nissan Pathfinder – not a sports car to be seen. This, together with impressive customer reviews, should make Hertz your rental company of choice for luxury cars at Stuttgart Airport.