MotorcyclesOpinions

Motorcycle Rental Mileage Limit

A year ago, I woke up early in the morning in Leuven in Belgium, took a high-speed train to Paris where I rented a BMW G310GS and rode 800+ kms to Berne in Switzerland. The next day I rode across seven Alpine passes, hopped into Lichtenstein for a coffee and spend the night in Zurich. The third day I rode another 800+ kms through southern Germany back to Paris, returned to motorcycle and took a train back to Leuven.

I didn’t realize that the motorcycle rental had a limit on the number of kilometers I could ride per day. I had exceeded the limit by more than three times over and they were actually wondering how I could have possibly ridden that much. They cross checked the odometer reading and calculated that as per the rental agreement I would need to pay a huge amount as a fee. I pointed out that although the mileage limit was mentioned in the fine print, they hadn’t alerted me to the fact when renting the motorcycle. We finally settled on a smaller fee and closed the matter.

From that day onward I always make it a point to check for a mileage limit when renting a car or a motorcycle abroad.