Gilhawk

First, I'd like to thank all the fodorites for responding to my last post a few weeks ago regarding where to stay in Paris! My husband and I booked a room at the Henri IV Rive Gauche in the Latin Quarter for our visit in September and we are very excited!

So, now on with the planning. . . We're now trying to figure out the details behind renting a car. It will be our first time in France and we have a number of questions regarding renting a car. Our plan is to fly into CDG, rent a car, and head for Normandy - where we plan to visit for several days. We then plan on heading to Loire Valley (Amboise) for the next phase of our trip, and then we'll end our trip in Paris.

Here are our questions for which we need the wisdom of the fodorite nation:

1. Does anyone have any recommendations of car rental agencies to rent from?

2. Do you think it would be a good idea to rent the car from the US before our trip?

3. How tough is it to navigate the roads in France? Any tips? (although we've traveled in Europe, we've never rented a car).

4. Finally, when returning the car, should we return it in Amboise and then take a train to Paris or should we drive into Paris and return the car there (we've heard that driving in Paris can be tough)?


Thanks in advance for all your help! This forum has been great for helping us plan our trip!

More questions to come!

Underhill

My recommendation would be to rent from autoeurope.com--an excellent consolidator that works with rental agencies to get the best price. One that we often actually rent our car from is europecar.

Your idea of dropping the car outside Paris is a very good one!

Quite a few of the car models in France aren't, unfortunately, available in the U.S. So your good idea of trying one out here probably won't work, unless you're after a Mercedes. The Renault Laguna is a very comfortable, mid-range sedan; we've used one a number of times, although now my husband prefers the Renault Scenic because of a higher driving position.

Send a message to me at

[email protected]

and I'll forward to you my husband's article on driving in France, which has by now gone out to about 70 people from various sites.

OReilly

1. Try the autoeurope.com website. Most people here use them and I have heard no bad press. They get the cheapest rates from most rental companies. In France, they tend to use Europecar a lot; I have rented many times and have always had excellent service.

2. I always rent before leaving.

3. I have driven in France many times and have had no problems. Toughest part of the drive is the Paris Peripherique (sp?). once you are clear of that, its plain sailing. Signposting is excellent. Major highways are in excellent repair. Remember that roundabouts are your FRIENDS; if lost, just continue to drive around them until you figure out which direction to go. Toll roads are boring, but useful if you are in a hurry.

4. I have been caught in horrific traffic a few times on the Peripherique when droping the car back to CDG. Take the train back to Paris

Personal advice: If you drive a good car at home, don't rent an economy car in France (sewing machine engines!). Get a compact at the very least.

Check with your CC company regarding CDW coverage. If you are covered, decline the CDW insurance and save about 20 Euros per day.

nessundorma

If you decide to book through AutoEurope, use the Slow Travel website link, which gives you an automatic discount.

Gilhawk

I'm assuming that the rental car companies allow you to pick up at CDG and return at a different location (Amboise, for instance)? Sorry for not asking that earlier.

OReilly - we live in DC so roundabouts ARE our friends!

OReilly

Gihawk, there may be and additional drop-off fee, but its worth it, as one who spent about 2 hours doing a 20 minute journey to Orly can atest

Underhill, I am renting the Laguna for my trip to Brittany next week. Glad to hear you recommend it. Have also rented the Megane Scenic in the past - not bad. Best rental was when they gave me the Megane Cariolet for no extra charge in Umbria!!!

Gilhawk, sorry, I thought you meant rent FROM the US. You can never tell what type of car they are actually going to give you (I generally plead for a VW, but they are in short supply; they will just give you whatever they have available in that class, but CDG usually has a good supply. I suggest you insist on a diesal (cheaper to run and more power IMHO) and definately DON'T take an estate; I have had many misadventures trying to park and manouver these mothers in little hill towns.

If you are familiar with roundabouts alrady, then you you won't have a problem driving in France.

Regards Ger

Underhill

There's no drop-off fee when you rent and return within France.

If autoeurope rates go down after you've finalized the rental agreement the company will refund the difference to you.

ira

Hi G,

You want to rent a car before you leave. Last minute rates in France are much higher.

Check rates at www.novarentacar.com.

If they have lower rates, www.autoeurope.com will usually better them.

We found the Peugeot 307 to be a very good car for two people.

Also consider Renault Megan and Volkswagen Golf.

French roads are well maintained and well marked. Use www.viamichelin.com and www.mappy.com to plan your route.

Bring good maps.

Train schedules, prices and tickets from Amboise to Paris are at www.voyages-sncf.com.

PREMS fare on the fast train is about 10E pp more than the slow train.

Enjoy your visit.

ehughes

Driving in France is very easy and its easy to get out of CDG to Normandy. We just took this route a few weeks ago. We rented a car from Autoeurope at CDG and returned it there, driving from Amboise. Its a very easy and very fast drive. We then took a cab to Paris for 40 euros.

The next paragraph I posted in response to another query on Fodors.

"This wasn't a mishap but thought it would be helpful. We recently rented a car from Europecar at CDG and were sent out to the car with the key, with noone accompanying us. The paperwork indicated there was no damage to the car but we walked around it carefully and found 2 large scrapes on the front bumper. The back of the car was dirty and we didn't notice a slight scratch on the rear bumper because of the dirt. I immediately went back inside and reported the damage which was noted on the paper work and initialed by the clerk.

When we turned the car 10 days later, a man who didn't speak English inspected the car, rubbed the dirt away and found the scratch we did not know about. It was some wrangle to get out of this, especially with the language problem, although they finally agreed we didn't do it.

# 1 - We would never rent again without having a rep come out with us to the car to inspect it.

# 2 - We should have taken pictures of the car from all angles when we picked it up.

# 3 - I'm resentful that we were sent out to the car with paperwork that indicated "no damage" when that clearly wasn't true."

Underhill

It's also a very good idea to photograph the car before you return it, especially if there's no one around to inspect it with you. We've found that being insistent is essential--sometimes the agent will sign off on the car without even looking at it, but if you're determined the paperwork will indicate that the car was returned undamaged.

HappyCheesehead

We ALWAYS take pics of each rental car, before we pickup and when we drop off.

Along with AutoEurope, check Kemwel. They are a sister co to AE and use the same office in New England. Every once in a while they are cheaper.

We just did your same route, easy peasy and fun. We were leaving France from our last night in the Loire Valley, so we drove to CDG on a Sunday am and had zero traffic trouble, but it was difficult to get into the exact lot to drop the car and no one there to take it from us - we had to go to the EuropeCar desk in the airport, in another terminal - glad we had plenty of time.

On pick-up we got upgraded to a diesel Alfa Romeo 159 - we just loved that car. Heated leather seats, dual zone heating/cooling, bumper sensors so we did not hit anything while parking - all for $263 US for the week - What Luck!

jody

I must be the only person who has not rented from Autoeurope and has not gotten a good price from them. They have never been able to match prices I've gotten from Avis. But I thought I'd try them again for our next trip. Novacar"s rate for an Automatic Mercedes Aclass, all inclusive, from Europcar is $348.00, the rate for the same car from Autoeurope was $719.00. I'm not even going to attempt to have them match that!

RonZ

I can tell you from personal experience that the best way to rent from Autoeurope is by telephone, using their toll free number. Every time I've done this there mhave been nuances discussed that I would not been otherwise aware of.

Gilhawk

Thanks everyone for the info! This is really helpful!

kwren

RonZ - could you please share the nuances we should be aware of? I'm about to rent a car in France too and your tips may help immensly. Thanks

PaulRabe

If you are used to U.S. road signs, there's one thing you need to know about French highway signs that I was unaware of; and it drove me crazy until I figured it out.

When you come to an exit, the red letters and numbers at the very top of the exit sign are the road you are actually getting on. The blue letters and numbers below this are the roads this will take you too. I kept getting off at the wrong roads until I noticed the red lettering at the top.

Also, once you get off the autoroute, many highway signs show neither the number of the highway or the main city fifty kilometers down the road, but only the next two or three towns. You need a good road map to know that the highway sign for "Petiteville" and "Ville des Nulles Parts" will eventually get you to Paris.

Once last thing: check your rental contract CAREFULLY for any requirements. I didn't notice the need for an IDL until I was in Paris, two days before pickup. Incredibly, I found an alternate rental that did not require an IDL for about the same price, with only a day to spare. Don't try to duplicate my good fortune!!

RonZ

To kwren:

The nuances I referred to were specific to dates and places.

Whatever the situation, I find it quicker and easier to speak with a live person. I do the same with SNCF reservations. My train tickets just arrived in the mail after a brief phone call made last week.

kwren

Merci RonZ - I too prefer to deal with a live person. My next call is to order my Swiss train passes - by phone for exactly the same reason!

Lexma90

Here's another vote for AutoEurope; we've rented from them about 10 times, and never had a problem. Definitely rent before you leave. And you probably already know that unless you pay more (quite a bit more, as I understand), you'll be driving a manual transmission.

On how to get from Amboise back to Paris, I would suggest driving from Amboise to whatever airport (Orly? I'm too lazy right now to check) is south of Paris, then take a cab from there to your hotel. Last year, we rented a car that we picked up at the Gare du Nord (we arrived in Paris from London on the Eurostar). It was a tense 10 minutes to get from the Gare du Nord out to the Peripherique, but I (the driver, as opposed to my DH the navigator, who was more stressed out) thought it worked just fine.

Coming from Amboise, we dropped the car in Tours, and took the TGV from there. This is the part we decided we would have done differently, but my 10-year-old son wanted to ride the TGV (after 5 min. on the Eurostar, trains had lost their excitement). We should have driven from Amboise to Paris and either dropped the car at a train station on the south side of the city (I like dropping at train stations, because there are usually signs directing one to the station), or driven to the airport and taken a cab from there.

AJPeabody

My hints for driving in France:

Road signs in France follow a different convention from the US: Here, an arrow will represent a direction to turn. A left arrow means turn left, an Up arrow means go straight, a curved arrow represents a curve ahead, and so on. I found that in France, the signs act more like a person pointing to the road you will want. The arrow points directly at the roadway you will want. It's easy enough once you get the hang of it. Also, they have a tendency to list the next small village and the most distant large city the road will go to, but not the US style "Route 66 West" equivalent.

Also, stay out of the left lane on a toll road unless you are actually passing a car. It is very unpleasant to have a car zoom up on your tail at 150 kph flashing lights because you are in the left lane and going slower than he is.

Stay out of Paris with a car. Believe all the warnings.

Try to get the Michelin maps for the areas you will be driving. They are very detailed and will keep you and your co-pilot sane.

For your next question, consider parking!