ADAC service station test: You better not take a break here

Anyone who embarks on a long journey by car sometimes dreads the breaks. German service stations do not have the best reputation. Quite unlike in Italy, for example, where you can almost look forward to grabbing a damn good coffee and Italian food at a fair price at the first available autogrill.

But not everything is bad here either, as the new report shows. The club examined 40 service stations across Germany and evaluated them according to various criteria, including catering options, the condition of the sanitary facilities, pricing and infrastructure.

The bad news: none of the rest areas tested achieved a “very good” rating. The good news: there was no complete failure and thus no “very poor” rating. Otherwise, the situation is mixed: eight rest areas achieved a “good” rating, six received a “poor” rating, and the rest were somewhere in between.

Mostly good toilets – but everything has its price

Unlike unmanaged rest areas with those unspeakable toilet blocks whose smell warns you not to enter them from afar, you can at least rely on one thing at the larger rest areas: the sanitary facilities, which are usually run by Sanifair, usually have a “modern, well-equipped and intact” toilet, according to the testers. However, despite the high entrance fee of one euro, some facilities were not always immaculately clean.

The conclusion about the food may seem a little surprising. The ADAC writes that the testers were “almost entirely satisfied” with the food on offer at the service stations. However, only three of the 40 tested establishments offered fair prices. The testers found the range of the other offerings to be too expensive, and the shops were apparently cheeky. The club believes that the price-performance ratio there was “often overpriced”, especially in comparison to truck stops behind the motorway.

The best rest areas according to ADAC – and the worst

The three best rest areas from the current ADAC test can be found in “Fürholzen West” in Bavaria on the A9, in “Demminer Land” in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the A20 and in “Sindelfinger Wald Süd” in Baden-Württemberg on the A8.

The three tail lights can be found on the A20 in “Fuchsberg Süd” in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in “Münsterland West” in North Rhine-Westphalia on the A1 and in “Eisenach Nord” in Thuringia along the A4.

In general, the ADAC advises against filling up at service stations. In another test, the club analyzed prices and came to the conclusion that you pay up to 54 cents more per liter along the motorway than at gas stations near the exits.

The test also identified major deficiencies in terms of child-friendliness and accessibility, and most rest areas offered far too few fast charging stations for electric cars. What was not included in the test: very few charging stations are covered. In very bad weather, traveling with an electric car at such charging stops is really a test of endurance.