renting a car at the TGV station in tour france
Nov 17th, 2015, 12:24 PM
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renting a car at the TGV station in tour france
I'm curious whether the Tour TGV station is a bit out of the city center so driving will not be as much of a challenge.
also, I am wondering about insurance. are there certain charge cards that i could use that would cover insurance for driving in france and not complicate the rental?
thanks.,
also, I am wondering about insurance. are there certain charge cards that i could use that would cover insurance for driving in france and not complicate the rental?
thanks.,
Nov 17th, 2015, 12:29 PM
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St-Pierre-des-Corps TGV station - the mainline station for the Tours area rather than the dead-end in town Tours station, yes is well out of the horrible traffic that often IME suffocates central Tours and area - especially if heading east to Amboise area.
Charge cards often cover CDW insurance but not the mandatory insurance that comes with the car rental and should be included in the price - check with your card company - be sure your card has a big limit as the rental may charge is a hefty damage deposit until you bring the car back undamaged.
Several major car rentals are opposite the St-Pierre-des-Corps station and AVIS is inside or was last time I were there.
Charge cards often cover CDW insurance but not the mandatory insurance that comes with the car rental and should be included in the price - check with your card company - be sure your card has a big limit as the rental may charge is a hefty damage deposit until you bring the car back undamaged.
Several major car rentals are opposite the St-Pierre-des-Corps station and AVIS is inside or was last time I were there.
Nov 17th, 2015, 12:40 PM
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Most high level charge cards in the US cover car rentals, secondary to your own insurance (eg, Platinum Visa, etc). The basic level ones may not. If you have a Visa, MC or Amex, it should if it isn't the lowest level card, but you should check if you don't really know.
The mandatory charges in France aren't that much, using a CC versus buying insurance isn't less complicated IMO. In fact, if you have to file a claim, it's probably more complicated. You can just buy it with the rental, which isn't complicated, OR you can often get coverage cheap on some travel insurance policies, also, I often do that if I'm going to rent a car. So then I figure I have double protection, CC and the travel insurance. I'd compare to the cost to buy it with the rental, of course.
The mandatory charges in France aren't that much, using a CC versus buying insurance isn't less complicated IMO. In fact, if you have to file a claim, it's probably more complicated. You can just buy it with the rental, which isn't complicated, OR you can often get coverage cheap on some travel insurance policies, also, I often do that if I'm going to rent a car. So then I figure I have double protection, CC and the travel insurance. I'd compare to the cost to buy it with the rental, of course.
Nov 17th, 2015, 01:18 PM
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St Pierre des Corps is about a mile from Tours Centre so it´s not really a huge change of location.
Most credit card insurance is secondary insurance meaning that you first pay for all damage claims yourself. You next request a reimbursement to Visa or MC and they determine what they will cover and what they will not.
A better option, in my opinion, is the primary insurance offered by AMEX for $25 per rental. They pay all for all damage, you pay nothing.
https://www295.americanexpress.com/p...do?source=CCSG
Most credit card insurance is secondary insurance meaning that you first pay for all damage claims yourself. You next request a reimbursement to Visa or MC and they determine what they will cover and what they will not.
A better option, in my opinion, is the primary insurance offered by AMEX for $25 per rental. They pay all for all damage, you pay nothing.
https://www295.americanexpress.com/p...do?source=CCSG
Nov 17th, 2015, 01:21 PM
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St Pierre des Corps is about a mile from Tours Centre so it´s not really a huge change of location.>
But many more trains from Paris and south stop at St-Pierre-des-Corps and do not go into the Tours station- you have to take a navette shuttle train with most connections save the relative few that go into the dead-end Tours station.
But many more trains from Paris and south stop at St-Pierre-des-Corps and do not go into the Tours station- you have to take a navette shuttle train with most connections save the relative few that go into the dead-end Tours station.
Nov 17th, 2015, 01:33 PM
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Whether a charge card has CDW coverage or not is buried in the fine print T&C. There are many things you can easy do to undermine the credit card insurance coverage. These are all covered in the fine prints. As mentioned by the previous poster, the rental company would try to put (substantial) charge on your card while the claim is in progress during which time your credit card can be useless for the remainder of the trip due to lack of available credit, so beware if you choose this route.
Looks like you are from the U.S. and have not rented a car in France? I presume you have a way to pay for your gas.
Looks like you are from the U.S. and have not rented a car in France? I presume you have a way to pay for your gas.
Nov 17th, 2015, 01:34 PM
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>> So then I figure I have double protection, CC and the travel insurance.<<
The disclosure statements of the CCs I use, specifically state that you must decline CDW from the car rental company (or anywhere else you may purchase CDW) for their CDW insurance to take effect.
Here is a post from two Fodorites from several years ago. I give more weight to someone's statements who has actually had an accident, than from someone who has not.
"Stu, I've posted a long and detailed report on our accident in Wales and the insurance procedures.
But to try to summarize, it took a total of 6 months to fully resolve. (For what it's worth, I'm not sure if would have been any different regardless of who handled the insurance).
When we reported it to Avis (for AutoEurope) they charged us a total of about $600 as a temporary payment against projected damage. This went on our credit card. From there we had quite a bit of confusion, partly because we remained in Europe for two more months and it was difficult getting things handled back and forth. We had some issues with the Wales police refusing to give us a copy of the accident report (saying it contained the names of witnesses whom we might retaliate against -- huh?), and Visa seemed to have a problem getting that report as well. It was finally a call to AutoEurope who in turn were able to get Avis as the owner of the vehicle to get a copy of that. There was also a lot of confusion about the total value of the car. Visa seemed not to understand that the car was considered totalled and had been sold as scrap, so the final bill reflected the amount of damage over what they were able to get for the car as scrap. They kept wanting to get finely itemized repair bills -- yet there were no repairs. Again, much of this confusion resulted because of our distance. In the end, we were finally billed nearly $6000 on the Visa card which covered us, but we immediately contested that, so they we didn't actually have to pay it, nor did we have to pay interest on it. Meanwhile within a month of that actual charge, they settled by sending us a check in full for the final amount, so we OK'd the charge on the card and paid it off. The final check included everything, even the towing of the wrecked vehicle and the storage of it until it was sold. In the end, we actually paid even less than our original contract (we reduced it by a day, as we were to have turned the car in the day after the wreck happened, and they even removed the surcharge we were originally being billed for turning it in at an airport, since obviously we weren't!
There was never any question with Avis that Visa would cover us and they said they'd work together on it, which they pretty much did.
We had always taken the full insurance from AutoEurope before as we too didn't want any hassle. But the bottom line is, if we HAD taken the full insurance, it would have ended up costing us about $700 or so more than it did, counting the still necessary deductible and the cost of purchasing that insurance. Was our hassle worth saving $700? YES!"
Another report
"On my last trip to Europe, in a fit of absent-mindedness or similar temporary brain failure, I took the Auto Europe rate with insurance, rather than relying on my Visa card coverage as I had always done in the past.
Of course, this was the one time I would have an accident. Although it was only a small fender-bender, the damage to the rental car was somewhat over €1100. Then I discovered that the Auto Europe insurance had a deductible of €500. I then wrongly assumed that my Visa would cover the deductible, which of course it would not, as I had not declined all insurance on the rental.
When I called the Visa insurer, I was told that if I had declined all insurance, I would have been covered from the first dollar for collision coverage. I would have been covered as well if I had been required to take the CDW, as in Italy.
This of course applies to CDW. Third party liability comes with the rental.
Moral (for me, anyway): If you have good credit card auto insurance coverage, use it."
Stu Dudley
The disclosure statements of the CCs I use, specifically state that you must decline CDW from the car rental company (or anywhere else you may purchase CDW) for their CDW insurance to take effect.
Here is a post from two Fodorites from several years ago. I give more weight to someone's statements who has actually had an accident, than from someone who has not.
"Stu, I've posted a long and detailed report on our accident in Wales and the insurance procedures.
But to try to summarize, it took a total of 6 months to fully resolve. (For what it's worth, I'm not sure if would have been any different regardless of who handled the insurance).
When we reported it to Avis (for AutoEurope) they charged us a total of about $600 as a temporary payment against projected damage. This went on our credit card. From there we had quite a bit of confusion, partly because we remained in Europe for two more months and it was difficult getting things handled back and forth. We had some issues with the Wales police refusing to give us a copy of the accident report (saying it contained the names of witnesses whom we might retaliate against -- huh?), and Visa seemed to have a problem getting that report as well. It was finally a call to AutoEurope who in turn were able to get Avis as the owner of the vehicle to get a copy of that. There was also a lot of confusion about the total value of the car. Visa seemed not to understand that the car was considered totalled and had been sold as scrap, so the final bill reflected the amount of damage over what they were able to get for the car as scrap. They kept wanting to get finely itemized repair bills -- yet there were no repairs. Again, much of this confusion resulted because of our distance. In the end, we were finally billed nearly $6000 on the Visa card which covered us, but we immediately contested that, so they we didn't actually have to pay it, nor did we have to pay interest on it. Meanwhile within a month of that actual charge, they settled by sending us a check in full for the final amount, so we OK'd the charge on the card and paid it off. The final check included everything, even the towing of the wrecked vehicle and the storage of it until it was sold. In the end, we actually paid even less than our original contract (we reduced it by a day, as we were to have turned the car in the day after the wreck happened, and they even removed the surcharge we were originally being billed for turning it in at an airport, since obviously we weren't!
There was never any question with Avis that Visa would cover us and they said they'd work together on it, which they pretty much did.
We had always taken the full insurance from AutoEurope before as we too didn't want any hassle. But the bottom line is, if we HAD taken the full insurance, it would have ended up costing us about $700 or so more than it did, counting the still necessary deductible and the cost of purchasing that insurance. Was our hassle worth saving $700? YES!"
Another report
"On my last trip to Europe, in a fit of absent-mindedness or similar temporary brain failure, I took the Auto Europe rate with insurance, rather than relying on my Visa card coverage as I had always done in the past.
Of course, this was the one time I would have an accident. Although it was only a small fender-bender, the damage to the rental car was somewhat over €1100. Then I discovered that the Auto Europe insurance had a deductible of €500. I then wrongly assumed that my Visa would cover the deductible, which of course it would not, as I had not declined all insurance on the rental.
When I called the Visa insurer, I was told that if I had declined all insurance, I would have been covered from the first dollar for collision coverage. I would have been covered as well if I had been required to take the CDW, as in Italy.
This of course applies to CDW. Third party liability comes with the rental.
Moral (for me, anyway): If you have good credit card auto insurance coverage, use it."
Stu Dudley
Nov 17th, 2015, 09:25 PM
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<i>Moral (for me, anyway): If you have good credit card auto insurance coverage, use it</i>
I'll offer a first hand account of dealing with credit card insurance. A few years ago I was rear ended in Annency. The other driver and I filled out the <i>constat</i> (an explanation of what had happened) and she agreed to meet at the local Préfecture to sign a <i>déclaration de main courante</i> (which basically absolved me of any liability).
The rental car company charged my credit card for the damage so I was required to make a claim with Visa. Even with the constat and the déclaration de main courante, the paperwork requested by Visa insurance seemed endless and took a good amount of time. Eventually, all claims were payed by the other person's insurance. However, I would be sure to understand fully my insurance coverage and how to fill out a constat before I rented a card in France.
Visa/MC will only reimburse expenses which they determine to be fair. The reimbursement may or may not cover your actual costs after an accident. The only card insurance that I would even consider using would be the AMEX primary coverage at only $20/$25.
I'll offer a first hand account of dealing with credit card insurance. A few years ago I was rear ended in Annency. The other driver and I filled out the <i>constat</i> (an explanation of what had happened) and she agreed to meet at the local Préfecture to sign a <i>déclaration de main courante</i> (which basically absolved me of any liability).
The rental car company charged my credit card for the damage so I was required to make a claim with Visa. Even with the constat and the déclaration de main courante, the paperwork requested by Visa insurance seemed endless and took a good amount of time. Eventually, all claims were payed by the other person's insurance. However, I would be sure to understand fully my insurance coverage and how to fill out a constat before I rented a card in France.
Visa/MC will only reimburse expenses which they determine to be fair. The reimbursement may or may not cover your actual costs after an accident. The only card insurance that I would even consider using would be the AMEX primary coverage at only $20/$25.
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