Germany in December

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Anyone driven in Germany in December?

Looking at Cologne for a citybreak and I'd like to take the F10. I am aware that in wintry conditions the German authorities will fine you if you cause an obstruction and have a car without winter tyres.

However, what are the roads really like at that time of year? I only need to cover 40 miles or so inside Germany and it will all be Autobahn in daylight hours. Are they generally kept quite clear? I intend to do no driving once we get there.

If we wake up on the morning of the trip and find some sort of horrific snowmaggedon event then as a backup we can take the Mini as it has winter tyres but frankly if that's looking like a high probability thing then I'd sooner just book a train or something.

mjt, I'd imagine your view is particularly useful here.
 
I lived in Sennelager and then Herford, covering a total of around 5 years. When the snow comes, it really comes and you will get stuck without winter tyres, simple as that. Saying that, I managed around for around 2 years before succumbing and buying winters out there. I got stuck in my CTR once and had to get dug out by some friendly locals, and when I had a E60 5 series for a few weeks I had a treacherous drive on the autobahn even with winter tyres. Also had some interesting journeys in my first car (Fiesta) where getting around was more luck than due to grip.
 
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Here's some photo's I took.

Just off the A2 autobahn:

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On the A2:

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Gives you an idea of the conditions.
 
Yea, that's not good. But how often is it like that? There are plenty of pics of the M1 looking like that for example but it's not a regular occurrence. I gather they had almost no snow at all last year.
 
[TW]Fox;26716040 said:
Yea, trying to avoid that :p
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Not really, the Germans put on winter tyres and get on with it. It's when the Brits were driving around with summer tyres on that caused issues.
 
Apparently insurance fails to pay out if you're not on winter tyres, or the accident is automatically your fault if you have one.

Either way, not a risk worth taking IMHO.

Fly and rent a 530d with Hertz or something. Much better idea if you don't want to invest in a set of winter tyres..

Last winter was extremely mild, but you never know what this winter will be like..
 
I've been to Cologne in December, there was a fair amount of snow and the Germans are pretty much as bad as us at dealing with it. I met a Swede at the time and he found it quite amusing.
 
I'd imagine cars on English plates and Police spot checks are a regular occurrence, surely be cheaper and more convenient to rent an F10 than buy winter tyres or worry about getting stopped and fined?
 
I went to Germany last October and although there was no snow at the time 90% of cars had winter tyres on so I'm guessing it is generally considered worthwhile over there due to how the roads get when the snow does come.
 
Hiring etc is rather pointless, as is general road ability - my plan would be literally to drive there, on the Motorway, park in the carpark for 3-4 days, then drive back. I would do about 100 miles in total there and back within Germany itself as Cologne is only just over the border, all on the Motorway. No back roads, no country lanes, nothing - just a straight motorway trip. I was encouraged by the fact it didn't snow at all last year in December over there which implied it wasn't quite like living in Austria or something, especially given how close it is to the coast.

I found it difficult to believe they simply wouldn't bother to clear the Autobahn network, but that certainly seems to be what some of you say happens. Even when it snows over here you are generally ok on a Motorway. Odd, but concerning. Perhaps I'll take the train..
 
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I can only speak for Munich which of course is much further South and has 'proper' snow, but the motorways were always cleared effectively.

Cologne is pretty much like British weather I thought? Why on earth would you want to go there anyway, northern Germany is grim (grim up north seems to be a common theme :p). Go somewhere decent like Bavaria or Austria.
 
shauncr91 said:
I'd imagine cars on English plates and Police spot checks are a regular occurrence, surely be cheaper and more convenient to rent an F10 than buy winter tyres or worry about getting stopped and fined?
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Why would UK care get stopped randomly? I flew past 3 police cars last night on export plates and nothing. Even pulled into a petrol station next to the police. They have better things to do than perform 'spot checks' on UK motorists :p

[TW]Fox;26727001 said:
Hiring etc is rather pointless, as is general road ability - my plan would be literally to drive there, on the Motorway, park in the carpark for 3-4 days, then drive back. I would do about 100 miles in total there and back within Germany itself as Cologne is only just over the border, all on the Motorway. No back roads, no country lanes, nothing - just a straight motorway trip. I was encouraged by the fact it didn't snow at all last year in December over there which implied it wasn't quite like living in Austria or something, especially given how close it is to the coast.

I found it difficult to believe they simply wouldn't bother to clear the Autobahn network, but that certainly seems to be what some of you say happens. Even when it snows over here you are generally ok on a Motorway. Odd, but concerning. Perhaps I'll take the train..
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I know exactly what you mean. Cologne isn't far at all and you have the perfect car for the trip. It's all about the weather really. If there's no snow you're fine. Snow and you *might* have an issue.

I'm personally crossing my fingers for heavy snow, having just acquired a Quattro and want to go snowboarding :p
Wanted to go last year when I was in Denmark but none of the slopes in southern Sweden were shut all season :(

The train is rather painless- Eurostar to Brussels and then ICE direct to Cologne. The ICE is very cheap when booked well in advance. Like €30 cheap.
 
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mjt said:
Why would UK care get stopped randomly? I flew past 3 police cars last night on export plates and nothing. Even pulled into a petrol station next to the police. They have better things to do than perform 'spot checks' on UK motorists :p
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To check what tyres they are running considering how heavily enforced winter tyres are in Germany? A tourist is more likely to disregard the law than a German national...
 
The last I knew is that winter tyres in Germany are not enforced. However if you have an accident in the winter and you have summer tyres on, in all but exceptional circumstances you will get the blame.
 
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