Cheap car rental in France Switzerland or Italy
 

Hello fellow travelers,

I am thinking of renting a car to travel around southern France and maybe northern Italy in August, and will most likely be starting out in Geneva (although this is not definite). Anyone know of local car rental dealers that might offer lower rates than the larger American companies (Hertz etc.)?

mp413,

You should rent a car on the FRENCH side of Geneva airport - prices are much lower, especially if you will be dropping the car off in France.

The location can be called up on the car rental web sites by entering Geneva, FRANCE. Check the Geneva airport web site (www.gva.ch) for a list of the rental car companies which have desks and shop around for the best rate.

I think you need to have a valid flight ticket for that day to cross the border on foot through the airport, so I would take a train to the swiss side, try to cross on foot and if it doesn't work, then jump in a cab and ask him to drive around to the french sector (stupid, I know)...

If you're really brave, you could look at locations in border towns such as Annemasse or Ferney Voltaire, where you won't have to pay an airport surcharge, but picking up your car could be a hassle.

A french company which claims to be cheaper than the other majors is ADA:
www.ada-location.com
Site is only in french though. They do have a location in Annemasse.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Just saw on the ADA site that they don't do one way rentals, so forget about that... sorry!

Andre

MP413 - we rented a car in France a couple of years ago from Nova, their website is rentacar-europe.com. We are going back to France next month and will be renting a car again and have decided to use either Nova or Skycars(website skycars.com) which also got a good write up I think it was on Rick Steves site. We had no problems with Nova, they take a deposit on your credit card right away and you pay the rest when you pick up the car.

Yes, renting in France is cheaper.

If your rental is 17 days or more, try LEASING a car. It's by far the better way to go. You can pick up and drop off anywhere in France there is a rental location.

Try EuropebyCar,an outfit out of New York. They will arrange a brand new Peugeot for you. We got one with only 39 km and drove it almost 4500 km for 20 day rental. Very, very happy with this kind of arrangement.

Leasing a car will give you FULL insurance coverage for theft or damage, something you don't get with a rental.

Happy travels!