Car rental in France -- informational
 

I am looking into car rentals to cover a period from May 28 to June 29, with a pick-up in Bordeaux and a final return in Paris.

If I rent a small car from Economycarrentals.com for the entire period, it will cost me $1500, including CDW coverage with no deductible.

If I rent from Kemwel the smallest car available from May 28 to June 17 (drop off in Limoges), it will cost me $525 <b>plus</b> and 54€ + VAT one-way charge.

If I rent from AutoEurope US, a similar sized car will cost me $485, and then a larger car that will accommodate our visitors to cover the period from June 17 to June 29 will cost $559 with a 38€ RR station pick up fee.

In all instances I am excluding the road tax of 3€ per day and the pollution tax which is 5€ for automatics. These are given in the fine print of Kemwel and AutoEurope.

The surprise is the Kemwel has a one-way drop-off fee (although that was also true in Norway) and that its base rate is higher than AutoEurope's. For both of these brokers I would be covering the CDW with my Visa card, which is why I have to break up the rental in two parts.

The one way fee charged by Kemwel probably means the rental is from Hertz or Avis which are the only companies in France which charge for this. You can avoid this charge by specifying Europcar or Sixt or Citer.

The 38€ location surcharge can be avoided if you rent from a location other than an airport or train station.

The Environmental fee (for automatics) is 5€ per day for each of the first 6 days or 30€ per rental. If you rent a car twice, this jumps to 60€.

The road tax is 3.05€ per day for each of the first 8 days or 24.40€ per rental.

To accurately compare these options, you will need to add in all of these fees and taxes.

Just a thought, you may also want to consider/compare the costs for the buy-back leasing programs such as offered by Renault, Peugeot and Citroen. Their quoted prices usually include everything (except petrol, incurred traffic fines, oil change if required,...), i.e. includes full insurance (no deductible), all taxes. You will also get a brand new vehicle.

I am fully aware of the fees for a RR station pick up. But small cities and towns in France usually have rental agencies only at RR stations, or considered such even if the office is down the street from the station; e.g. Brive and Périgueux.

As for a buy-back program, the minimum cost for a Peugeot 207 is $1100+ for the first 18 days, with $20+ (I do not have the exact figure) for each additional day. The total cost would be closer to the economycarrentals cost without giving me the extra room that I am getting on the June 17 rental (Renault Mégane or equivalent). The cost of the lease is higher if one gets a diesel which one often gets at no extra cost with a rental.

I did mean 5€ <b>per day</b> pollution tax.

Hi Michael. I have found historically that Kemwel seems to be more economical for automatics in France. But Auto Europe or Kemwel really makes no difference since they are basically the same company and if you ask will give the same price.

Also, the last time we rented in Nice Auto Europe placed us with Europecar. At that time they give you a full tank of gas and charge you with a full tank. You are supposed to return the car empty. Didn't seem fair to me as I don't think any of us would drive around on an empty tank. So they make out on the gas you leave in the car. This may have changed. But be aware this might be the case.

Also, I always rent automatics and it is the blight of those of us who do that the selection is more available at train stations and airports so therefore the extra charge.

You want a bigger car for part of your trip and therefore it pays you to break up the rental. But American Express has a car rental plan for about $25 per rental which will cover you for 42 days. If you have an American Express card you just rent the car with this card and enroll in the program. You are always enrolled but are only charged when you use the card to rent a car.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

bkmarking

Sher,

You have to decline their offer to allow you to bring back the car on empty, but at times that would assume that you speak French to argue against the offer. My original intent was to post the actual costs so that readers might have a comparison base...and then there are the added fees and things like the empty gas tank option.

I do not have an American Express card, so that issue is moot for me, but someone else might find the information useful.

I have read that other people have declined the offer to bring back the car empty and it was ok.
But it was in fine print of the voucher I picked up in Nice and really didn't expect any suprises. Oh, well. So much for assuming.

I wanted to tell you that I also looked into a lease and it didn't seem as inexpensive as people here say it is. Maybe I am not going about it right.

Well. Good luck anyway navigating the hurdles of car rental in Europe.

A little note just for something that I have found in Italy. My brother is renting from Economy the same time I am but needs a station wagon for his family and also an automatic. The price is E1261, which is very good. I, however, only need an economy or compact and Economy is asking E1169. I don't see any reason for the huge gap in the prices: so little for his and so much for mine comparitively. Go figure.

I am also in the process of renting a car in France. Michael gives a very good comparison of prices from different rental brokers..apples to apples.

I like to rent a car from economycarrentals but found that it offered the highest price in France, even after I added the road tax, airport/rail surgarge and one-way fee from the rental price offered by either AutoEurope or Kemwel. AutoEurope is giving me Europcar as my rental but am hesitant with it because of their policy of full fuel/empty.

Right now I am leaning towards Sixt car rental which includes everything like 3rd party insurance, one-way fee etc at a price comparable to AutoEurope.

Just out of interest have you looked at what it costs direct from a company such as Sixt rather than through a broker?

JoyC,

Just decline the offer and tell them that you will return it with a full tank.

Thanks Michael, I will do that if I end up renting from AutoEurope (using Europcar). I really haven't encountered any problems with Europcar, except looooong lines at Nice airport.

Do you have any experience with Sixt in France?

The only time I looked at Sixt it was more expensive than the basic rate at AutoEurope.

I also always have had more luck booking through a broker than going direct.

Michael, yours is a good reminder not to rely on the last car rental company you used in Europe for an upcoming rental. I first check, kemwel, autoeurope and economycarrentals and then one or two local companies of the country I'm visiting.

Sher, I'm really surprised at the high price for economycarrentals, were you looking for an automatic? We found them to be just a little more expensive than the rental we took with kemwel in Italy. For Italy economy charges extra for a second driver which made them even less of a consideration.

Thanks again for reporting your search results, Michael. Deborah

Update:

I changed my rental dates from May 28 to May 30 to June 29 because we decided to spend a couple of days in Bordeaux. Now the total rental period is 31 days which would allow the CDW to be covered by my credit card.

I called Kemwel and Autoeurope, and discovered that downtown rentals in Bordeaux and Limoges involve rental companies that charge a one-way fee + VAT which is higher than the RR station pick-up fee. Europcar is the agent with RR station locations which charges no one-way fee.

I wanted to rent the smallest car available from May 30 to June 17, and a bigger car from June 17 to June 29 because we are driving guests around during that period of time and the smallest car would be a little cramped. That's what I ordered over the telephone from Kemwel. The total cost for the two cars, with pick-up fees, was about $900+.

5 minutes later I get a call back telling me that if I rent the compact for the entire month, the cost will be $785.31. In other words, I would save about $100.

That's what I call service.

Mikama,

Either you did not read my last posting or you do not know the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar. The price you give is much higher than what I am paying.

Your research and experience have been eye-opening! We will be in Europe Sept.1 to Sept. 30.
Anyone have any wisdom about possibilty of renting car in Brussels, Belgium, going through Normandy, Brittany, Bordeaux, Loire, Dodorgne, dropping it in Sarlat orToulouse.? We will be three 9/1 - 9/13, and then 2 for the rest of trip.

Thanks.

You will probably pay a hefty cross-border fee. But Brussels is a short train ride to Lille where you can pick up a car that you would drop off in Brive or Toulouse (bad public transportation connections from Sarlat) without the one-way fee. However, Hertz and Avis, even if rented through AutoEurope or Kemwel as brokers, usually charge a one-way fee. Europcar does not. If the on-line information is not clear in that regard, call them and explain your needs to a representative.

Out of interest I gave holiday autos a call based on your dates. Based on their price beat policy they quoted me $760 on a compact manual - still a location charge of €37.40 (incl tax) plus the enviroment fee of €3 + tax per day. Quoting me based on National so no drop fee.

bevfremont - also said I was planning your trip in September. Based on renting with Sixt there'd be a drop fee of EUR242 on top of the cost of the rental ($1550 based on a compact 4 door manual, fully inclusive incl CDW)

I just booked a car with Autoeurope using Europcar and they are now charging a one way rental charge of €75 - just something to keep in mind...our rental was from Lille Europe station to Limoges rail station

jamikins,

Did you talk with a representative from AutoEurope? My rental agreement of 3/23/11 with Kemwel (Bordeaux to Paris) does <b>not</b> have a one way charge. Even if you still have to pay the charge, it would interesting to know how come some pay the one way and others do not--aside from rentals with Hertz and Avis.

I suddenly realize a curiosity. If the one way rental cost is part of the original rental agreement, how come it is given in euros when the agreement is in dollars (assuming that one uses the US based office)?

Did you have to prepay the rental? This is just a guess but maybe the rental fee was collected by Auto Europe and the one way fee is collected by the agency when you pick up the car and therefore will be in Euro.
You really did not say how you are paying. I have a rental agreement with Auto Europe in Italy for which I prepaid but they made me prepay in Euro.
I did rent it from the Auto Europe Italian site so I understand the Euro charge but on the phone through the US Auto Europe phone center.
If you find out why the difference in currency let us know.

Yup - phoned and spoke to the rep at autoeurope - Europcar charges the fee locally.

Are you also paying for a RR station pick-up? I just checked my contract, and it has no mention of a one-way fee, while a canceled one that had it mentioned it in the contract.

Will double check when I get to work - its in my work email.

Michael. My contract from Auto Europe says something like under the RENTAL DOES NOT INCLUDE heading:location surcharge on additional optional items and services purchased locally.

I know that in my contract this includes cost for an extra driver altough this cost is not specifically mentioned.
Maybe you could call them and if your contract has this clause ask what exactly these items are.

Sher,

I am aware of what my contract does not include. I am surprised that in a two week period Europcar has changed its policy on one-way rentals because I know that I do not have to pay such a charge. However, there may be a difference between a town pick-up and a RR station pick-up where in the former you are dealing with an independent Europcar concessionaire while the latter represents the national agency. BTW, the RR pick-up fee is lower than the one-way fee.

No extra railway charges on my contract! So maybe thats it? Anyways - if you check the same rental through the Europcar website it clearly states there is a one-way fee so maybe this has just changed.

Very interesting reading ... going through the same process myself

Michael. I know that you understand your contract. I was just saying that maybe this was included in the "other" charges and they do not feel it necessary to list them or maybe as you said different Europcar rental agencies fall under different rules depending if they are corporate or individually owned. This is something I didn't realize is true in Europe until reading another post here.

But of course, like the airline industry, the car rental industry may be finding ways to bring in more revenue.

As an alternative, we are probably gong to lease a car since we will need it for more than 19 days. I've been told there are then no age (over 70) problems, insurance is covered and no drop off fee. Any drawbacks that I don't know about?

It's more expensive if the available alternative is a "basic" rental with the CDW carried by your credit card. That applies to standard shift. From what others have said, automatics on a rental basis come close to the lease option in terms of total cost.

Did someone tell you that Europcar charges a drop off fee everywhere in France? If so, then I guess that is a policy, if not, I don't think one can assume that is the case. I'm just wondering if it varies by the cities and places you want to pickup and drop off. It may be because you want to drop off in Limoges, for example, and that wouldn't be the case if you picked up in Marseille and dropped off in Avignon, perhaps. Limoges is pretty far away from Lille and they may not have the same demand there. It also may depend on the type of car. Anyway, I'm perhaps a little confused, but I just checked a rental on the Europcar website directly, and it has no one-way charge on it (same cities, actually).

I've also rented from them just last summer and don't remember any weird gas policy, it was the same I'm used to at home. Return it full for the best deal, which I did.

Nope - I didnt ask for all areas - just ours. Could be Limoges - who knows? But when I put it into the Europcar website I do get a one way drop charge...? Weird. We are renting an economy.

Anyways - we just booked it.

It looks like Jamikins is renting from a concessionaire in Lille since she has no RR station charges (lower than the one-way charges and no VAT, I believe). Since contracts can be changed or canceled until three days before the actual rental, whether she wants to pursue the issue or not is her choice.

If it helps anyone, I talked to 2 different agents from autoeurope this morning and posted their reply on this thread
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...p-off-fees.cfm.

When I asked it it's possible that someone is charged any extra fees locally, they said only the eco-tax fees of about 8E a day are charged locally. They said if someone tries to get charged a drop-off fee, to call them and they will sort it.

Michael - what is a concessionair?? My contract is with Europcar at Lille Europe rail station. I've never heard that term before?

PS - hubby will call autoeurope again tomorrow to see about the one way charge...

We have rented may times with autoeurope (in France) and never had this issue before - and we always rent in one place and drop in another...

Some of the Europcar rental agencies are private concessions rather than run by the national office. Sometimes the rental agencies function both ways. For example, if you rent directly from the Périgueux office, I believe that a one-way rental will incur a charge. But if you rent via Autoeurope or Kemwel, the concessionaire accepts the terms of the contract arranged between the brokers and the national company and does not charge a one-way fee, but does charge the RR pick-up fee (about half the cost). At least that is my impression from conversations I had with the Périgueux office last Fall after being charged an extra 130€ on my bill. You might want to read this thread through to my Sept. 2 entry: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...protection.cfm

If Autoeurope insists that a one-way fee applies to your rental, try Kemwel. You don't even have to hang up. Just ask the person on the line what the Kemwel rates and charges would be.