Help!!...A group of my friends going to Provence in fall (Arles/Avignon area)....just found out
that rental cars are manual.....no one knows how to shift gears!!! Several rental agencies
can't guarantee an automatic to be available to them. Anyone else have this problem?
Any suggestions? They want to rent the car for 5+ days. Friends will appreciate any suggestions.

I would suggest you pick up the car at an airport. I think you would have a much greater chance of getting the car you need. You can click on my name and read about the fun we had with Europcar in Aix-en-Provence in my trip report from June 2007!

I have rented cars three times in Nice all automatics. You will have better luck at an airport location as kansas says.
Good luck.

We have never had any trouble getting an automatic.

But:

1)it will cost more -perhaps considerably more
2) some smaller agencies won;t have them or guarantee one
3) you have the best chance of getting the car you want picking up at a major airport or big city downtown location - and picking up early in the day

They should try contacting the largest (but perhaps not cheapest) agencies

Have you thought of taking lessons on a manual? You have plenty of time - it is not as hard as people think and once you know how, you won't forget. Think of all of the money you will save on your next and future trips. It's fun too.

Be sure to get a diesel, too. Diesel (gazole) is less expensive than gasoline and mileage is better.

We've never had a problem getting an automatic, but have always picked our cars up at the airport (Paris & Montpellier). We've always booked through AutoEurope.

Good luck!

As others say - They <u>must</u> pick up from a major location like an international airport where there will be a larger fleet of cars. Even if they book an automatic from a smaller location - one may not be available on the actual day. All that needs to happen is for a previous renter not return a car in time, or damage the acr, and they are SOL.

Only the big cities can guarantee an automatic.

One of the reason that automatics are expensive in Europe s that even the larger rental agencies carry premium or higher price category cars with automatic shift. Economy or mid size and sports cars will be impossible to find.

my daughter and SIL have just returned a nice Audi3 manual at barcelona after a week in southern france and Northeastern spain, because the cheapest automatic they could find was a Mercedes E class at twice the rate, having tried on-line and at the airport. However, they were enamored with the small but sporty Audi.

When you can get one (usually from Europcar), the Smarts are automatic.

I drove a Smart all over the Nice area two Summers ago and loved it.
It held a surprising amount of luggage. I had a carry on bag and a laptop case but my travel companion did do so well packing light.
It was from Europcar and the gas mileage was fantastic.

Thanks for all your input....I am forwarding this info on to the group of friends..4 women....
I never thought about airport pickup...they are coming via train from Paris into Avignon.
Airport-pickup could be an option at that point. Merci merci

Marseille airport is only 70km from Avignon. (But Avignon can probably guarantee an automatic if it is reserved long enough in advance.)

Do try to get an automatic. I can drive a manual, but it's a real irritant when you're driving a lot through smaller places, in hilly or mountainous areas, in heavy traffic. Especially tiring on any days that involve long driving legs--of course if you're doing 95% of your driving on freeways, it won't matter a lot. But we like to get off the main routes and explore.

You'll probably get better gas mileage with an automatic, too, especially if you aren't experienced or very good with a manual transmission.

Nottingham,

I would still have someone in your group learn to drive a manual - you can learn the basics in about 1 day with a second day to gain some added proficiency. Think of it as insurance, it is still possible that there may be no automatics (staff error, repairs, computer glitch, whatever...). Again, not likely, but a good idea just in case.

It's time to learn how to drive a stick. A lot of the world drives sticks. Although I'm American, I've only owned sticks since I was 16 in the...early 70s. My new 2008 car I also bought in a stick. It's important to know how to drive one.

One of my best male friends, who's been going to Europe for decades and who has lived in Paris, reserved an automatic a few summers ago. When he and his friend got to Paris, the automatic wasn't available for some reason and only sticks were. He had forgotten how to drive one although that's all he drove back in the 80s while living in Western Africa. It was good that his friend still owned and drove a stick or else they wouldn't have had a car to get them to their friends house in Provence. Happy Travels!

I agree with Guenmai that it is a very important skill to learn. One becomes comfortable with manual shift quite quickly --- except when you are stopped on a sharp incline, but life is never perfect, is it?

Getting lessons on a manual is easier said than done in the US. Driving schools typically don't offer them - and unless you have a friend who has one and doesn;t mind your stripping the gears while you learn - you're out of luck. (And most manuals here are sports cars - and your friend is as likly to let you learn on theirs as to cut off their head).

There are a lot of manuals here in L.A. that are not sports cars. I've never owned a sports car and as I mentioned above, I've only owned sticks since I first owned a car in the early 70s.

I now have a Subaru Forester and it's a stick. I bought it brand new a few years ago. As for striping gears, one just has to be careful and remind the person learning to put in the clutch. I'm glad that, when I was a teenager, that folks, along with my parents, took me out to learn a stick. My parents said that I would not get a car until I had successfully learned how to drive both types of sticks; American with the shift in the steering wheel and non-American, with the stick shift between the seats. They then bought me a Volkswagen Bug as my first car. And I didn't strip any gears nor did any of my friends who also learned to drive on sticks. Happy Travels!

Correction:"stripping gears", not "striping gears". LOL! Happy Travels!