We're going to catch the TGV from Paris to Dijon in mid-November, arriving on a Saturday and intend to hire a car to travel around Burgundy for 5 days. Any suggestions/preferences/horror stories re car hire companies in Dijon(including whether they're open over lunchtime on a Saturday)?

Hi super and welcome to my town!
There are a few agencies by the train station

Avis: avis http://www.avis.fr/ (open on sat 8-12h30/ 14-18h) (21h on week days)

Citer : http://www.citer.fr/
08:00-12:30 14:00-18:30 Sa: 09:00-12:00

Hertz (2agencies) http://www.hertz.fr/index.cfm
Mo-Fr 0800-1230 1400-1900, Sa 0800-1200 1400-1800, Su closed

maybe europcar as well.

Hope you'll have a great time
and if you don't know yet where to stay...
www.myhomeindijon.com
corinne

Thanks a million, Corinne. We're just hoping someone has a car for us smaller and more practical than the large Volvo station wagon Avis made us take at Avignon airport some years ago! We're going to stay in St Romain, by the way.

You won't be far from Beaune and la Rochepot with its castle and its nice coloured roof (beside all the famous vineyards like Meursault, Pommard, Volnay, Chassagne-Montrachet...)
http://www.saint-romain.com/index_uk.html
enjoy!
corinne
PS if you ask for a A or B class car, you'll get a small one..

Try autoeurope.com, which often has the best rates. It's a consolidator; so you can easily wind up with one of the "name" rental agencies, but at reduced rates.

We ended up going with Avis as they are open 30 mins longer than Hertz in the morning ie til 12.30 allowing us to get the train in from Paris. Why are all the car hire agencies closed for 1.5 hours at lunchtime - apart from fulfilling the obvious French custom? They're a service industry aren't they?? Autoeurope.com recommended Hertz by the way.

>Why are all the car hire agencies closed for 1.5 hours at lunchtime - apart from fulfilling the obvious French custom? They're a service industry aren't they?? <
I agree with you, it is a shame!
As a former receptionist I didn't even have time for lunch nor dinner(or 5 min between two clients or phone calls hidden in the back office but that is another story ;-))