Monthly car rental for Storck Barracks: Illesheim, where everything except Bad Windsheim is a drive.
Storck Barracks is the deep-rural end of USAG Ansbach: a helicopter base in the Franconian countryside, about 40 km northwest of Ansbach and 5 km from Bad Windsheim, the nearest town. Beyond Bad Windsheim, the stretch to anywhere - the garrison, the big shop, the autobahn - is two-lane road through farm villages. Of the twelve communities we serve, this is the one where "you need a car here" is closest to simply being true.
In short: SubYourCar is a long-term car rental (a car subscription) for the U.S. military community at Storck Barracks in Illesheim. You take a car for six months or for 30 days, from €1,229 a month on the 6-month plan (30 days from €1,229 incl. VAT, or from €1,033 VAT-free with a VAT form), with insurance, registration, maintenance, seasonal tyres and 3,000 km a month included. There is no down payment; the deposit is three months' rent, due on site at handover, not online. You get the deposit back immediately at the return, as soon as the return report shows no damage. Free pickup in Weiden, or delivery for €399.
Closest - not quite. There's an hourly train that is easy to miss, and a town 5 km away with a station and a registration counter, and we'll get to both, because you deserve the full picture. But the practical answer stays the same: a fully insured car on our German plates with all the paperwork handled, six months at a time. When you PCS, you hand it back instead of trying to sell it from a Franconian village.
The drive: WeidenA93, A6, A73Illesheimabout 173 km, just under two hours
Storck Barracks in three facts
- From our pickup point in Weiden
- About 173 km, measured from our pickup point in Weiden to Storck Barracks (OSRM/OpenStreetMap, no traffic, 22 September 2026: 172.5 km, 116 minutes). The fast route is A93, A6, A73 and the Nuremberg south-west tangent, then B 8, St 2252 and B 470 – it does not run through Ansbach. Plan more than two hours with traffic.
- Where the garrison is
- USAG Ansbach puts Storck Barracks about 40 km (25 miles) from Ansbach, next to Illesheim (USAG Ansbach, checked 17 September 2026).
- Vehicle registration
- The garrison’s registration page lists its office at Katterbach Kaserne; we found no separate office listed for Storck (USAG Ansbach, checked 17 September 2026). If you buy a car, plan that drive.
- Pickup and delivery
- Free pickup in Weiden, or delivery for €399.
The cars
Pick your car. From €1,229 a month, all-in.
For two-lane country roads and long weekend drives: two diesel wagons with room for a household and an economical diesel coupé. Insurance, registration, maintenance, seasonal tyres and 3,000 km a month are in the price. No setup fee. VAT forms accepted on the 30-day option. You add fuel.
BMWBookable now
5 Series Touring 520d xDrive M Sport Pro
197 hp, diesel, automatic, 5 seats
€1,799 / month, incl. VAT
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Mercedes-BenzBookable now
C-Class Estate AMG Line
200 hp, diesel, automatic, 5 seats
€1,499 / month, incl. VAT
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BMWBookable now
2 Series Gran Coupé 218d M Sport
150 hp, diesel, automatic, 5 seats
€1,299 / month, incl. VAT
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How it works from Illesheim
Four steps, and the only one that needs your time is the handover.
Book online
Pick your car, choose a start date at least three days out and upload your licence. Add your VAT form if you have one.
We confirm by email
We confirm the date and the place. Pickup in Weiden is free; delivery costs €399, paid with the first payment, and we confirm the time by email.
Pick up and drive
Bring your USAREUR licence and your home-country licence, sign, and pay the deposit of three months' rent on the spot. The car is registered, insured and taxed in our name.
Hand it back
After six months, or after 30 days on the VAT-form plan, you hand the car back in Weiden. Nothing renews automatically; a new subscription with another car is always possible.
Getting the car to you
Weiden to Illesheim is about 173 km.
Mostly autobahn - and the character of the trip changes once you leave it.
A routing engine gives 172.5 km and 116 minutes from our pickup point in Weiden to Storck Barracks (OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, no traffic, checked 22 September 2026). The fast way is A93 south out of Weiden, onto the A6 west at Kreuz Oberpfälzer Wald - the Paris–Prague freight corridor, with all the rolling truck traffic that implies - then the A73 and the Nuremberg south-west tangent, and finally B 8, St 2252 and the B 470 in towards Bad Windsheim and Illesheim. Note what it does not do: it doesn't go through Ansbach, and it doesn't use the B13.
So we'll give you a range, labelled as one: call it just under two hours without traffic and more than two with it. You book online, we confirm the date by email, and we'd rather commit to a window we can hold than promise a time we can't.
The last leg runs on two-lane roads through villages, and Franconian Bundesstraßen are dug up somewhere most summers. Which stretch is closed in any given week we can't tell you from Weiden, so look it up on the day rather than trusting a figure on a website - including ours.
If you're reading this from the States with orders in hand, the timing math of the whole arrival - POV drop-off, the sea crossing, the gap - is in our guide to getting a car before your POV arrives in Germany.
Know before you go
What's actually true at Illesheim.
Including the train that exists, the registration office that's in a different town than you'd guess, and a postcode trap.
A rotational aviation base, and a simulator that draws pilots in
Storck Barracks - named for Col. Louis J. Storck of the WWII 4th Armored Division, and yes, it's Storck with a c, whatever half the internet types - is a site of USAG Ansbach with Illesheim Army Heliport as its airfield. Since 2017 it has been a main base for rotational aviation units: the Gemeinde Illesheim describes roughly nine-month rotations from the United States, on the order of 80 helicopters, 2,000 soldiers and 1,000 vehicles, and the Army's own news service has covered unit after unit arriving and leaving. Which unit is here when you are is a question for your sponsor, not for a website.
Storck also has a U.S. Army helicopter flight simulator, built in the second half of the 1980s and repeatedly renovated; pilots travel here to use it. You'll read that it is the only one in Europe and also that it is one of only two - the sources disagree, so we're not picking one for you.
Day to day, plan for less on post than you might expect: the elementary school closed in 2015 and the commissary in 2016, with the nearest commissary at Ansbach, roughly 35 minutes away. Whatever else is open on post, it's everything off the installation that assumes you drive.
The train at Illesheim - and its honest limits
Here's the fact that surprises people, including people who've lived at Storck for a year: Illesheim has a working passenger station. The RB 81 "Aischtalbahn" stops there daily, hourly - a DB Regio two-car diesel running Steinach (bei Rothenburg) to Bad Windsheim and through to Neustadt an der Aisch, with connections onward toward Nuremberg, Würzburg, Ansbach and Rothenburg. That's not a rumour; the Gemeinde Illesheim says it plainly on its own website. (Pedantry corner: the station sits on the Steinach–Bad Windsheim line, not the Neustadt–Bad Windsheim line as often claimed - the two are simply run as one through service.)
Because one hourly branch line is a lifeline, not a transport system. It connects you to Bad Windsheim (two stops, the nearest substantial station, about 5 km away by road) and, with changes, to the bigger cities - useful for a Nuremberg Saturday. It does not get you to Ansbach's kasernes for a fixed report time, to a Katterbach appointment, to the big-box shopping, or anywhere at all when the timetable and your duty day disagree. On the map the station sits right against the installation boundary, but how far the platform is from the gate we couldn't verify at a source we trust, so we're not printing a walking time. The garrison does run two shuttle routes that include Storck and Katterbach, with the timetable given out by phone rather than published. The Gemeinde also lists an on-demand service, NEA Mobil (booked via its app), and local taxi firms. They exist. They're what you use until the car arrives, not instead of one.
Registration: your German office is in Neustadt an der Aisch, not Ansbach
Storck sits in Gemeinde Illesheim, which belongs to Landkreis Neustadt a.d. Aisch-Bad Windsheim - so if you buy a car on the economy, your Zulassungsstelle is not in Ansbach and not in Illesheim:
- Kfz-Zulassungsstelle, Landratsamt Neustadt a.d. Aisch-Bad Windsheim
Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 1, 91413 Neustadt an der Aisch
Plates here are NEA, not AN. There are branch offices in Bad Windsheim, Scheinfeld and Uffenheim, and the Bad Windsheim one is the close one: Berliner Str. 16, 91438 Bad Windsheim, about 5 km from Storck, where new registrations and transfers are possible and an appointment is not strictly required (official page, checked 22 September 2026). (Main office)
Watch the postcode when you fill in forms: Illesheim is 91471, Neustadt a.d. Aisch is 91413 - two different places 20-plus minutes apart, and mixing them up sends your paperwork (or your GPS) to the wrong one.
USAG Ansbach's vehicle registration page lists exactly one office: the VRO on Katterbach Kaserne, outside Ansbach - about 40 km from Storck, and the last stretch of that drive is two-lane road as well. Some community sources suggest registration services have existed at Storck too, but the official garrison page mentions no Illesheim location at all, and we won't state as fact something we couldn't verify. If U.S. registration is on your to-do list, call the Katterbach VRO before you drive over - and read our plain-English overview of how vehicle registration works for U.S. Forces in Germany first.
The car is registered to us in Weiden on WEN plates and stays that way. You're not the Halter - no Neustadt appointment, no Katterbach appointment, no NEA plates, no deregistration when you PCS. You drive it and hand it back. Every office in this section matters if you're buying, and out here that is an errand marathon across three towns - exactly the one we exist to let you skip. The full picture is in our guide to long-term car rental in Germany for the U.S. military community.
Winter tyres: the law names weather, not months
Rural Franconia gets real winters, and the rule that governs them is §2 Abs. 3a StVO: winter tyres are required whenever there's black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost. The statute contains no dates - "October to Easter" is a tyre-shop mnemonic, not law. And since 1 October 2024, only tyres with the Alpine symbol (three-peak mountain and snowflake) count; an M+S marking alone no longer does, whatever older U.S. Forces material says. On an unlit B470 in January, this is not theoretical. On our cars it's also not your problem: legal tyres are our responsibility as Halter.
Green sticker: the whole Landkreis is clear
There is no Umweltzone in Illesheim or anywhere in Landkreis Neustadt a.d. Aisch-Bad Windsheim. Bavaria has exactly three - Munich, Augsburg and Regensburg. Your normal orbit from here - Nuremberg, Würzburg, Rothenburg, Bad Windsheim - never touches one. Our cars carry the green sticker anyway, so a Munich weekend needs no homework.
You need a USAREUR licence - it follows you, not the car
The USAREUR licence requirement attaches to the driver, not the plate, and it explicitly covers German-plated and rental vehicles - so it covers ours. Bring your valid USAREUR licence and your in-date home-country licence; an expired stateside licence next to a valid USAREUR card is a real, documented trap. Our German third-party insurance is by definition "in accordance with German law", which is exactly what the SOFA agreement requires - that part is never your problem.
How long can you rent? Illesheim, thirty days and up
Storck Barracks is small and rural, and the searches reflect it: people look for a car for the whole assignment, not for an afternoon. That suits us, because a day rate is not something we offer. Our shortest term is 30 days and our longest is six months.
This is one of our longer runs, so we agree the handover date by email instead of promising same-day. Six months starts at €1,229 a month and 30 days with a VAT form at €1,033, VAT-free. Without a VAT form, 30 days costs the same figure as the monthly rate, gross. At €1,229 that is about €41 a day with fully comprehensive and partial cover (€1,500 deductible), road tax, registration, maintenance, seasonal tyres and 3,000 km a month already in it. You add fuel. There is no down payment, and the deposit is three months’ rent, due at handover in Weiden, not online.
Prices and the full list are on the cars page; what a VAT form does to the bill is in our guide to using a VAT form for a car rental in Germany.
Illesheim questions
Honestly - do I need a car at Illesheim?
More than almost anywhere else we serve, and we say that as the company that told Ansbach readers the opposite. Bad Windsheim is 5 km away and the garrison offices in Ansbach are about 40, the roads between them are two-lane, and the local transport that exists - one hourly branch line, a dial-a-ride, taxis, a shuttle whose timetable you get by phone - is a stopgap, not a life. If your household has one car and two schedules, it's really a two-car base.
Doesn't Illesheim have a train station?
Yes, and it is easy to miss. The RB 81 Aischtalbahn stops in Illesheim daily and hourly, with connections toward Nuremberg, Würzburg, Ansbach and Rothenburg; the municipality confirms it on its own website. Use it for the city Saturday. Just don't build a duty day around a one-line, one-train-an-hour timetable - and note that while the station sits right against the installation boundary on the map, we couldn't verify how far the platform is from the gate, so plan the first trip with margin.
How fast can you get a car to me?
Illesheim is about 173 km from our pickup point in Weiden - a routing engine gives just under two hours without traffic, and the last leg is two-lane road. Pickup in Weiden is free, and delivery to Illesheim costs €399 (Storck Barracks is inside our 150 km radius, straight-line): book online with your start date and the postcode, and we'll confirm the date by email.
Where would I register a car if I bought one?
Two different systems. German side: the Landratsamt in Neustadt an der Aisch (NEA plates), Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 1, 91413 - with a branch 5 km away in Bad Windsheim, Berliner Str. 16. U.S. side: the garrison lists only the Katterbach VRO outside Ansbach, about 40 km away - whether Storck has any registration service of its own we couldn't confirm, so call before driving. With a subscription from us you go to neither: the car is already registered, to us, in Weiden.
Do I need the green environmental sticker?
No. There's no environmental zone anywhere in this Landkreis, and none in Nuremberg or Würzburg either - Bavaria's three are Munich, Augsburg and Regensburg. Our cars carry the sticker anyway, so it's moot.
Do I need a USAREUR licence for your car?
Yes. The requirement follows the driver, not the plate, and explicitly covers German-plated and rental cars. Bring your valid USAREUR licence and your in-date home-country licence - both. More edge cases are answered in our Q&A.
I'm at Katterbach or Bismarck, not Storck. Same thing?
Same garrison, very different situation - Ansbach has an ICE station, an A6 junction and its own car supply, and its page says so honestly: Ansbach. If Illesheim's isolation feels familiar from a previous assignment, the closest cousin in our network is Grafenwoehr - with the difference that Graf has no passenger trains at all and Illesheim, quietly, does.
Facts on this page were checked against USAG Ansbach (home.army.mil), army.mil, the Gemeinde Illesheim website, the Landratsamt Neustadt a.d. Aisch-Bad Windsheim, the Umweltbundesamt zone register and gesetze-im-internet.de in July 2026; the distances, the route, the Bad Windsheim registration branch, the shuttle and the closures of the school and commissary were re-checked against OSRM (OpenStreetMap routing), kreis-nea.de, home.army.mil/ansbach, illesheim.de and press reports on 22 September 2026. Where we couldn't verify something - the station-to-gate walk, whether Storck has its own registration service, which flight simulator claim is right - we've said so instead of guessing. Offices move and rules change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
Nearby bases, cars and guides
This page is one of 12 U.S. military locations we cover. Pickup is at Nikolaistraße 6b in Weiden, and you can compare all models and prices on the cars page.
Guides that matter at Illesheim: