any tips for renting a car (in France)?
Sep 16th, 2015, 04:08 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 37
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
any tips for renting a car (in France)?
We will probably need a rental car in France, looking pick up the car in Paris and drive to Loire Valley and MSM and return the car either to Paris or some a city on the way back. We are not ruling out the possibility to rent the car in Zurich and drop in Paris. Could anyone share your experiences or any tips, especially regarding the insurance? In Australia and New Zealand, you only need to pay the excess fee (which can be waived by extra travelling insurance or your credit card insurance). However as a tourist in the States, we spent quite a while to figure out what types of car insurance we should purchase.Thanks in advance.
Sep 16th, 2015, 04:22 PM
#2
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,890
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Suggest you organize before you leave home since you can often get special rates that include all of the insurance you will need.
Not an issue for this since our AmEx provides full insurance at a minimal cost. Check the drop off charge for Switz to France - it can be several hundred euros - or swissies or whatever
Not an issue for this since our AmEx provides full insurance at a minimal cost. Check the drop off charge for Switz to France - it can be several hundred euros - or swissies or whatever
Sep 16th, 2015, 05:14 PM
#3
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 22,987
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Use autoeurope.com or kemwel.com as brokers which gives you the choice of several rental agencies. They also tend to have specials if renting early in the season. Check to see if your credit card will carry the DMV (this option is nation specific and might not be available to you), if it does, it will reduce the rental price considerably (the "basic" rate on the broker listing reflects this third party insurance), but this assumes that you are comfortable with having to deal with your credit card company in case of damage to the car.
There are stiff cross-border drop-off fees, but both Basel and Geneva have a French section of the airport that allows for a rental and return in France.
Europcar is the predominant rental agency with the above named brokers, and it does not have one-way fees. In my experience, Hertz did have such a fee.
There are stiff cross-border drop-off fees, but both Basel and Geneva have a French section of the airport that allows for a rental and return in France.
Europcar is the predominant rental agency with the above named brokers, and it does not have one-way fees. In my experience, Hertz did have such a fee.
Sep 17th, 2015, 04:37 AM
#5
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I used rentalcars and was very satisfied.
For once I took a full insurance (usually we have a 'deductible' of several hundreds of Euros) and was refunded quite fast.
Ah, often when renting with a third party such as mentioned, you have insurance with them, but the actual rental car company tries to sell you an additional insurance telling you that you are not covered -just tell them no.
CH and F are different countries I'd imagine drop off charges to be very important. CH is not even in European community.
Plus a long driving time unless you make several stops on the way, I'd advise train or plane.
When you rent pay attention that in Europe :
- we largely use manual gears
- we have speeding cameras everywhere and we don't target the tourists but everybody who is 1 km above the limit - no tolerance
- we drive on the furthest right when we have the choice of several lanes
- driving into cities is best avoided : Paris seems to frighten a lot of US drivers, which I can understand when I realize everyone is honking and yelling at me when I drive - perfectly normally for me - in US.
Enjoy !
For once I took a full insurance (usually we have a 'deductible' of several hundreds of Euros) and was refunded quite fast.
Ah, often when renting with a third party such as mentioned, you have insurance with them, but the actual rental car company tries to sell you an additional insurance telling you that you are not covered -just tell them no.
CH and F are different countries I'd imagine drop off charges to be very important. CH is not even in European community.
Plus a long driving time unless you make several stops on the way, I'd advise train or plane.
When you rent pay attention that in Europe :
- we largely use manual gears
- we have speeding cameras everywhere and we don't target the tourists but everybody who is 1 km above the limit - no tolerance
- we drive on the furthest right when we have the choice of several lanes
- driving into cities is best avoided : Paris seems to frighten a lot of US drivers, which I can understand when I realize everyone is honking and yelling at me when I drive - perfectly normally for me - in US.
Enjoy !
Sep 17th, 2015, 08:51 AM
#6
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 8,827
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you pick up a car at Gare Montparnasse, you can be on the E-5/A-68 heading south in no time. Check with Auto Europe (autoeurope.com).
I would consider dropping the car off in Amboise and taking the train back to Paris. The late afternoon train takes about 1-1/2 hours. You can buy your tickets at the station or online (www.voyages-sncf.com).
I would consider dropping the car off in Amboise and taking the train back to Paris. The late afternoon train takes about 1-1/2 hours. You can buy your tickets at the station or online (www.voyages-sncf.com).
Sep 17th, 2015, 09:28 AM
#7
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,876
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Drop off charges can be a LOT, and the driving time will eat up a lot of your vacation time.
As mentioned, and I think on another thread you started, manual shift is more common and less expensive to rent.
Most major credit cards (in the US, which seems to not be your country) have CDW and it isn't necessary to sign up for additional coverage.
AutoEurope is a very reliable agency to rent from.
As mentioned, and I think on another thread you started, manual shift is more common and less expensive to rent.
Most major credit cards (in the US, which seems to not be your country) have CDW and it isn't necessary to sign up for additional coverage.
AutoEurope is a very reliable agency to rent from.
Sep 17th, 2015, 09:41 AM
#8
AutoEurope is the best consolidator for finding cars anywhere in France from all of the major companies, but you most definitely do not want to do an international drop off unless the cost does not matter to you. Gold credit cards will indeed usually exempt you from need to buy any additional insurance although this generally means that you will be debited the full deductible amount immediately anyway in case of an accident and only be refunded once the insurance of the credit card has kicked in.
I always choose Europcar as the rental company whenever possible.
I always choose Europcar as the rental company whenever possible.
Sep 18th, 2015, 06:19 AM
#11
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,541
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Call your credit card companies and inquire as to exactly what, if anything, they will cover you for in Europe.
I did the above and hadn't even realized one of my cards had that feature. The person I spoke with directed me to their site and the section where the coverage was explained.
I recently returned from France where I rented a car through Sixt. I once read of someone who had difficulty because the class of car they rented required one to have x number of years of driving experience. There is nothing on my drivers license to show this. I called my car insurance people and they issued a letter stating my cars head been insured with them for 20 years. In the event, the letter wasn't needed but a good thing to have just in case.
I did the above and hadn't even realized one of my cards had that feature. The person I spoke with directed me to their site and the section where the coverage was explained.
I recently returned from France where I rented a car through Sixt. I once read of someone who had difficulty because the class of car they rented required one to have x number of years of driving experience. There is nothing on my drivers license to show this. I called my car insurance people and they issued a letter stating my cars head been insured with them for 20 years. In the event, the letter wasn't needed but a good thing to have just in case.
Sep 18th, 2015, 06:34 AM
#12
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,179
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<i>There is nothing on my drivers license to show this.</i>
If your license is issued in the current international format, adopted in the USA, the EU, and possibly Canada, item #10 gives the date your license was originally issued, indicating your driving experience.
Item #10 is kept in the driver´s license databases but may or may not be printed on your license. Some licenses have it, others do not. If it is printed, it is usually found on the back side.
If your license is issued in the current international format, adopted in the USA, the EU, and possibly Canada, item #10 gives the date your license was originally issued, indicating your driving experience.
Item #10 is kept in the driver´s license databases but may or may not be printed on your license. Some licenses have it, others do not. If it is printed, it is usually found on the back side.
Sep 19th, 2015, 06:08 AM
#14
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
alwayseric, being from the UK and driving a lot "on the continent", we've had quite a lot of experience of driving on the right, both in our own car [the harder option as the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side] and hire cars, which IME are easier as the driver is in the "right" place vis a vis your car's position on the road.
However, we always take it easy for the first 30 mins -1 hour or so, and no distractions - no radio for example or music. Also you need to have a good idea of where you are going and how you are going to get there. Ideally you want to be able to pick up somewhere where you won't have to negotiate too much urban traffic, so Robert's idea of Montparnasse sounds like a good one especially if you want to do the Loire first and then MSM.
once you've been to MSM you can return the car to CDG, and either get your flight home or get a train into Paris.
However, we always take it easy for the first 30 mins -1 hour or so, and no distractions - no radio for example or music. Also you need to have a good idea of where you are going and how you are going to get there. Ideally you want to be able to pick up somewhere where you won't have to negotiate too much urban traffic, so Robert's idea of Montparnasse sounds like a good one especially if you want to do the Loire first and then MSM.
once you've been to MSM you can return the car to CDG, and either get your flight home or get a train into Paris.
Sep 19th, 2015, 08:09 AM
#15
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 617
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In all the years I've rented cars in Europe, I've always been pleased by how much cheaper it has been to rent in France than in Italy. I am dismayed by the price hikes I'm seeing for renting a car for ten days next summer; something has definitely changed.
It may be too early to get decent prices -- my trip isn't until next summer after all -- but prices are looking much higher. Think double what I paid in 2014.
One change is the domestic drop fee (returning to a different destination in France). I have never paid one before. It isn't as high as an international fee, but it seems to be the norm now.
All of this is to say that if you can pick up and drop off from the same spot, it may save you some euros.
It may be too early to get decent prices -- my trip isn't until next summer after all -- but prices are looking much higher. Think double what I paid in 2014.
One change is the domestic drop fee (returning to a different destination in France). I have never paid one before. It isn't as high as an international fee, but it seems to be the norm now.
All of this is to say that if you can pick up and drop off from the same spot, it may save you some euros.
Sep 19th, 2015, 10:04 AM
#17
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 22,987
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<i>One change is the domestic drop fee</i>
What's the rental company; policy on drop-off fee differed according to the company, and possibly the rental office itself? For example, I once had a cone-way charge added to my final bill by the Europcar agency in Périgueux because it assumed that I rented the car directly from them; but they eventually reversed the charge and honored the contract I had through Autoeurope that did not include a one-way fee.
What's the rental company; policy on drop-off fee differed according to the company, and possibly the rental office itself? For example, I once had a cone-way charge added to my final bill by the Europcar agency in Périgueux because it assumed that I rented the car directly from them; but they eventually reversed the charge and honored the contract I had through Autoeurope that did not include a one-way fee.
Sep 19th, 2015, 06:54 PM
#18
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 604
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We rented from Hertz, picked the car up from CDG and returned it there 3 weeks later. Our additional insurance was also through our AMEX credit card for about $25. It covers more than the insurance you get for free through most credit cards.
Do beware the speed cameras. Speeds change frequently and quickly. Before going to France, my husband and I watched several You Tube videos on driving in France and googled rules of the road. It helps to know what the various road signs look like. We are from the U.S. and found driving in France (all 2500 miles!) to be very pleasant and easy. We did find that our GPS maps weren't always accurate and were glad that we had downloaded and saved the Michelin maps for our routes. In a pinch, I also used Google maps as I had purchased a SIM card and data package for my iPhone in France. That actually seemed to be the most accurate. Do have a paper map so you will know thick towns you will be passing through on the way to your destination. If you do, just using the road direction signs is usually pretty easy.
Happy driving!
Do beware the speed cameras. Speeds change frequently and quickly. Before going to France, my husband and I watched several You Tube videos on driving in France and googled rules of the road. It helps to know what the various road signs look like. We are from the U.S. and found driving in France (all 2500 miles!) to be very pleasant and easy. We did find that our GPS maps weren't always accurate and were glad that we had downloaded and saved the Michelin maps for our routes. In a pinch, I also used Google maps as I had purchased a SIM card and data package for my iPhone in France. That actually seemed to be the most accurate. Do have a paper map so you will know thick towns you will be passing through on the way to your destination. If you do, just using the road direction signs is usually pretty easy.
Happy driving!
Sep 9th, 2016, 03:52 AM
#19
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 6,144
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You need to be extremely careful with some of the external policies, as they have limits which can top out well below the value of the car you are renting. Whilst they would cover damage from most minor accidents very easily, they will not necessarily cover you in the event of a serious accident or write off. Especially if you have picked one of the luxury or premium models, or are upgraded. The rental agencies own policies are always more expensive - quite a bit more to be perfectly honest - but if you go for the maximum cover level you genuinely can just hand the key back and walk away even if the car is scrap yard material.
