In France, you will be charged the road fee on a per day basis for a maximum of 10 days. If you pick up the car at a RR station or airport, you will also be charged an extra fee of about 35€. Finally, if you rent an automatic, you will pay a pollution fee. Count on $80 to $100 to be added to your rental cost, to be charged independently by the rental agency--Europcar is the common one (I assume that you are going through Autoeurope or Kemwel as brokers).

Hi N,

> Does this mean that I may be charged an additional fee? <

No.

It means you WILL be charged an additional fee.

Enjoy your visit anyway.

If you rent and prepay through a French site (www.europcar.fr or www.autoeurope.fr for example), there will be no hidden fees because it is against the law -- the amount shown will be the amount charged.

There can also be a fee per additional driver. We paid €39 for this to Europcar, booked with Kemwel.

When booking and prepaying through either AutoEurope or Kemwel in the US, the voucher terms and conditions clearly indicate what is not included such as airport/train station pick-up fee, road taxes, etc. There should be no surprises.

Also provided on the Kemwel voucher was the Europcar confirmation number for the reservation. That enabled me to go to the Europcar site, access their record of the reservation and verify that the details were what I expected. (This was in the upper right corner of the voucher and was designated Op#.)

These fees, which may or may not be included in a rental quote, are not hidden. They are clearly explained on rental contracts or pick up vouchers.

Typically they include:

40€ airport or train station pickup (no fee for drop off)
25€ for each additional driver
20€ to process any violation or traffic fine.
5€ per day (max 6 days) environmental fee (for cars with automatic transmissions)
3.15€ per day (max 10 days) Road fee
Local toll, highway fees or travel stickers which may be
required by local authorities.

It cannot be overemphasized, you should read and understand your rental agreement, ideally before you reach the pickup desk.

That's what makes the French sites so much simpler -- assuming that you can read French or run it through Google Translate.

kerouac,

I'll bite. I just looked up the smallest rental available on Autoeurope.fr and it costs $392 at today's exchange rate for a rental going from Sept. 5 to Sept. 19. The insurance is inclusive, but

# Attention : Tout comme la plupart des loueurs de voitures, l'assurance ne couvre pas les dommages aux vitres, roues, pneus, toit, dessous & intérieur du véhicule, frais de remorquage ou dommages causés volontairement ou par négligence grave

In addition, it is not with unlimited kms (true with Avis and Europcar), and it does not include local taxes, or the pollution tax if applicable.

A similar car on the U.S. site costs $440 all inclusive, but if the CDW is carried by my credit card, it costs $298. With the airport pick-up and the road tax it will still be less than the rental from the French site, and the mileage is unlimited.

I think that I'll stay with the American sites when Autoeurope/Kemwel is most suitable.

If you cannot read French, then why not try the U.K. sites?

I have used Autoeurope, Economycarrentals and others, booking straightforward pick-up-and-return to same place, always at an airport. This is in Spain, France and Italy.

i am always quoted a total all-in price, with no local taxes, environmental costs, etc, etc. I usually have the choice of zero liability, or liability limited to, say, €500. The only optional charge is for a second driver, and this can sometimes make the difference between suppliers.

The custom in Europe is to quote an all-in price, while the U.S. sites seem to identify each individual component. I know which system I prefer.

N'INCLUT PAS
* Assurance pour les dommages corporels au conducteur et passagers. Couverture optionnelle proposée et facturée sur place.
* Tout complément d'assurance réduisant la franchise proposé et payé sur place .
* Essence ou diesel. Le client est prié de restituer le véhicule avec le réservoir plein et de garder une copie de la facture.
* Taxe locale, péages ou vignettes demandés par les autorités locales.

My emphasis. As I read it, it may mean a local tax levied on rentals by the town whee the car is picked up.

N'INCLUT PAS
* Assurance pour les dommages corporels au conducteur et passagers. Couverture optionnelle proposée et facturée sur place.
* Tout complément d'assurance réduisant la franchise proposé et payé sur place .
* Essence ou diesel. Le client est prié de restituer le véhicule avec le réservoir plein et de garder une copie de la facture.
* Taxe locale, péages ou vignettes demandés par les autorités locales.

My emphasis. As I read it, it may mean a local tax levied on rentals by the town where the car is picked up.

la franchise is the 850€ deductible.

Actually, my faithful Europcar employees at Gare du Nord told me to book through www.autoeurope.es to get the cheapest rates for France. But of course then you have to navigate the site in Spanish -- not really a problem because most of the text always remains the same. I have used the site in Dutch before the rent in France. The beauty of the EU is that EU rules allow you to shop for the cheapest rate in any of the other countries. Merchants hate it.