speckles

Has anyone got any advice about how/where to rent an automatic car in Tours, Loire Valley? Or maybe somewhere along the TGV route from Paris to Tours (I don't really want to drive all the way from Paris)? Automatics seem to be as rare as hens teeth in France.

A few months back I booked a "guaranteed automatic" through an agent who used Alamo at St Pierre des Corps (TGV station in Tours). When I received the paperwork 2 weeks ago it had Toulouse as the hire point, which is 500km from Tours. The error was notified, corrected and new paperwork sent. A week later I was informed that Alamo would no longer be servicing Tours. The agent offered me another car through a different rental company, but no automatics are available.

The thing is that I haven't driven a manual for 13 years, my mum not since 1979 and combine that with driving in an unfamiliar place and on the other side of the road/car, I'm concerned about getting the manual. I've tried a number of other hire companies and agents, but so far no luck with getting an automatic.

Any suggestions?

Underhill

Yes; try autoeurope.com, popular with many posters here. It's a consolidator that works with various agencies (europecar, Hertz, etc.) to get good rates and usually can offer a wide range of vehicles.

RonZ

Booking with Autoeurope is best done over the phone.

janisj

Not to scare you - but as you have found automatics are not all that common. You can certainly reserve an automatic -- but that will not 100% guarantee one will be there when you arrive. It probably will. But if their only automatic gets damaged, or the prior renter is late returning it, or some other misfortune happens - at least you do know how to drive a stick.

If an automatic isn't available, the agency will get one to you -- but it might take a day or 2.

ggreen

Use AutoEurope - you can go on their website and check availability, etc., but I agree with RonZ to do your booking over the phone. Make sure you are clear where the pickup is (i.e, Tours center vs. St. Pierre des Corps). And bring the AutoEurope toll-free number with you on your travels!

I had problems renting an automatic picking up at Chartres and returning in Tours, so having the AutoEurope # was very useful. One of our issues was just what janisj said: the agency's sole automatic-shift was in the shop. Fortunately since it was a national agency, they were able to get us one from another location with only a few hours delay - but I'm not sure I would have gotten the same result trying to deal with the agency directly. (Even though my grasp of French is fairly good, I don't speak mechanic-speak in French!).

For me, it now comes down to the importance of having automatic shift (very, since neither my BF nor I have driven anything else, unfortunately) versus the issue of driving out of Paris. We've opted for the latter, with great success!

Underhill

Automatics seem to be available in larger quantities at airports--perhaps you could pick your car up at Orly?

nytraveler

We have booked automatics at least 25 times and have never had any problem getting one. The truth however, is that you have the best chance of getting an automatic at a large agency either in a major airport or downtown city location. They're the biggest with the most turnover and the most cars to choose from.

This is one of the reasons we always use either Hertz or Avis - and also because if anything goes wrong there's always an office nearaby to deal with it - which may not be the case if you use a smaller agency - or one that is really a contracter rather than having all their own cars.

Yes - it is more expensive. But IMHO the convenience in renting and ease of resolving problems far more than makes up for it. (But that's just our philosophy - we always go for convenience over budget unless the cost is truly outrageous.)

Underhill

When we book through autoeurope.com we usually end up actually getting the car through europecar, which has offices all over, even in small towns.

ggreen

Me too - AutoEurope has provided us with rentals at EuropeCar (I'm pretty sure this the same as what we call National in the States) and Avis. I think they cover Hertz, too. As Underhill said, AutoEurope is a consolidator for multiple major car rental companies, usually at a lower cost for the same vehicle.

Christina

I've never had any problem getting an automatic in France using Autoeurope. The agency was really Europcar, though. They use them a lot. It wasn't that much more expensive than the same size manual. I haven't rented in Tours, however, just in Provence, but Tours isn't that small a town.

ggreen

Oh, I didn't mean to imply I've had problems renting automatics, but realize in re-reading my post that I probably did! :-0

Rather, the one time I did have a problem, AutoEurope was very helpful in resolving it on the spot from France. Part of my problem had to do with renting from a small city (Chartres) and also from not fully understanding the location indicated on the AE website (actually outside Chartres proper). The former shouldn't be an issue in Tours, and the latter would be resolved by speaking to an AE representative rather than relying solely on the website...

speckles

Thanks all. I'll try AutoEurope which is the only one you've mentioned that I haven't tried so far. I've currently got a request going with National, but being an automatic they usually need to confirm the cars (and my experience so far has been rejection), whereas manuals seem to be more of an instant reservation. ..and being a weekend, I might not find out for a day or two about my current request. I know automatics are more expensive to hire and I'm even willing to upgrade to a larger car and pay more (within reason) to secure an automatic over a manual. The other option is to try picking up at Orley and driving, but I haven't yet checked ViaMichelin to see the time and cost (tolls + petrol) of doing it this way. I also only speak about 3 words of French, so want to make things as easy as possible for myself while there.

Underhill

Orly isn't all that far from the Loire Valley.

shancie

ggreen,
I am also dropping a car off at the "Chartres" Europcar office, and have just realized that it is actually in Luisant. My concern is that we need to get from Europcar in Luisant, to the SNCF station in Chartres. Can you tell me approximately where the Europcar office is in relation to the Chartres train station? Would we be able to take a taxi at a reasonable price? Or should I make other arrangements?
Thanks
Shannon

rkkwan

From the map, it's about 1km SW of Chartres center, or about 1.2km from the train station. Under a mile.

shancie

rkkwan
thanks for the info. I finally found the address for the Chartres train station and was able to plug it in to mappy.com. Feel much better!

ggreen

Hi shancie, we took a taxi from the Chartres SNCF station to the Europcar location. I don't remember either how far it was or how much! I don't think it cost too much. The drive seemed to take forever, but I'm pretty sure that's because we were so anxious to get there, get our car, and get on the road! I do recall that it was pretty much one straight road from Point A to Point B...

As we did it the opposite direction from you (train to car, not vice versa), it was easy enough to get a taxi at the station. I'm not sure about the other way round - maybe Europcar can call you a taxi? Or you can drive first to the train station, one of you can drive the car to Luisant and the other follow in the taxi (to do round trip to the station)? I would just plan some extra time between dropoff and train so you can work all this out. Luckily, the trains to/from Paris are pretty frequent!

Good luck! And bon voyage!!

basingstoke1

If you have the time, you can take a few "brush up" manual lessons at a driving school. Having driven an automatic only 13 ago, you should adapt quickly and thus lessen the stress of dependence on automatic transmissions.