Jeez, when I rent a car for a week, it costs me less than 200 euros. Are you renting a tank?

Maybe I am doing it wrong! It was going to be $700+ to rent in Geneva and return to la Rochelle (Standard size, A/C, GPS, insurance). But if I do Oyonnax -> la Rochelle it looks like a little less than $300... (Avis, using an AARP discount.)

What does www.autoeurope.com say?

Autoeurope came up in my AARP search for Oyonnax -> La Rochelle. They were cheaper than the only other company that came up, AVIS. But the price difference was not much. Thank you kerouac for all the help you give one these forums. I went on a France trip years ago, and you offered great advice then too!

But did you check the rate from Geneva-French side? I just looked at an 8 day rental in May for a mid-sized cars from GVF (Geneva Airport - French side) to La Rochelle train station, and it quotes me a rate of $375 for 8 days in a mid-sized car from Europcar or $621 from Hertz (already an amazing difference between the two). I didn't add on CDW or GPS, though....

Thanks for the English lesson. I really meant (in a slightly ironic manner) "n'est pas fameux/ist nicht famos/non e famoso/no esta estupendo".
I may add that up to Bellegarde sur Valserine (midway) there are trains about every 2 hrs.
But I cannot understand why a car rental at the French side of GVA airport should cost much more than at Oyonnax.

I can see now that on some search sites, they do not say which side of the airport you pick up from... (And I was just typing GVA as my start location, as I did not know about GVF.) Some search results say "Swiss side" or "French side", and some say nothing. Now I see that although the price is, say, $175/week but the total price is $700 - then I infer that I that vehicle is coming from the Swiss side. When the prices are much lower, then I must be getting it from the French side. I am mainly using www.expedia.com as my search just for a baseline, but see now that there are more options out there for me to consider...

Thanks everyone!

If you pick up the phone and call AutoEurope, rather than just rely on its (or anyone else's) website, I'm confident you will get all your questions answered. Their customer service is excellent.

Thanks. That is good to know. I called Hertz, and they could not tell me anything about whether I would be renting on the Swiss vs. French side. But the price was so high, I moved on. The only thing I am waiting on is to hear whether or not my friends can pick me up at the airport and save me a couple of days... Also, I see that all the websites are different in that they put the fees/insurance/Equipment (GPS), etc in different spots, so that I don't know the actual cost until I get to the final calculation to pay.

If you have any gold card for rental, you don't have to buy additional insurance. I can attest that it really works, because I always use my Gold MasterCard for rentals now (after using my Visa Premier for many years before that) and after finally having an accident one winter on ice in Paris, I was fully refunded the amount of the deductible in just two weeks.

Another great idea! I will check my different cards to see what rewards I can get.

My impression is that VISA will carry the CDW as long as you use the card for all transactions related to the rental itself--fuel purchases are not considered part of the rental. However, my experience is that it took far more than two weeks to get reimbursed. I damaged a car in Portugal, reported to VISA as required, but they were waiting for the official repair work costs which were not forthcoming. I believe that I called Autoeurope and they managed to push the issue along. I was not reimbursed (the card was charged for estimated costs of repair) for about two months.

Obviously, the time needed to be reimbursed is highly variable. It depends on your card issuer. Then again, most people do not have accidents.

In my own incident, I paid for the rental in question with my Gold MasterCard, but for some reason the card was declined for the rental guarantee, so I used my ordinary Visa card instead. But the actual coverage was based on the card used for payment of the rental, so it all remained valid.

Just heard from CHASE's third party administartor for benefits - as long as I refuse the insurance at pickup, they become the primary. that will save me a few bucks...

Done! One final question... Driving in the USA is fairly affordable, but I know that in France the fuel costs will be higher... I can rent a car that runs on either regular gasoline or on diesel. (I have never driven a diesel-powered car.) Would one fuel be significantly cheaper for a week of driving across the country? (The cost of the rental cars are practically the same...) Merci à tous!

You've been given the choice of petrol or diesel when booking? Diesel is more economical however I have not been given the option of a diesel rental car for some time now, including France. I usually get petrol or a hybrid car.

Diesel is more economical. You'll get a lot more miles. I rarely got a petrol-fueled car when I was renting in Europe. Diesels are far more common, though that may be changing. An automatic car will always cost a good bit more - we just don't drive them here much, and they often have to be brought in from other locations for customers who have to have them. Of course if you rent at an airport or a big train station, your chances are better. Just be aware that no car rental company can absolutely guarantee you any specific type of car or add-ons.

Rental rates for diesels are often higher, so it takes quite a bit of driving to equal the cost; but it's great to go 800 km. between fillings.