If your stay in Germany may only be temporary, arranging for temporary transportation may not be a bad idea. If you just need a car for a day or a week, you’ll want to rent. If you’ll need a car regularly, you should look into leasing. In a lease, you usually make a one-time payment to get a car and then have set monthly payments over the term of your lease. At the end, you turn in the car and, provided it’s in good shape, you go on to your next assignment – or sign another lease. Because the new car market in general has become so competitive, leasing agencies have stepped up their products and now may include insurance or maintenance to help win your business.

If you’re only planning on driving around Berlin, anything larger than a Volkswagen Golf or an Audi A3 may become unwieldy. Since leases are structured like financing, it’s hard to say what you’ll pay, but Sixt Leasing offers a VW Golf for around €120 a month on a 24 month lease. You’ll have to pay €4,700 up front and limit your driving to 20,000 kilometres over the term of the lease. Insurance will be included for an additional €90 a month. There’s a similar deal on an Audi A3 – same initial payment, mileage and insurance offer – for €126 a month. Most leases run between 24 and 36 months. 

To lease, check with several companies and then show up with your passport, driving licence and piece of paper that shows you’ve registered your address. There’s no limit on who can lease, but some agencies may want you to have a residency permit to prove you won’t abscond with their car.