Driving in France
Mar 11th, 2000, 03:40 PM
#1
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Driving in France
My boyfriend and I will be traveling in Brittany/Normandy by car in May/June. Two questions: does anyone have experience with renting a Budget car? And, how does one buy gas in France--can you pay with cash, credit card, gas card? Are stations self-service or full-service? Anything special one should know about driving in France, especially for Americans? <BR>Thanks, Birthe
Mar 11th, 2000, 05:09 PM
#2
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I don't have experience renting a car from Budget, but I rented a car and drove in France for 3 weeks in 1998. It was easy. Roads are well-marked and we had no problems. Stations in France are typically self-serve. The cheapest gas is found at grocery stores. They do take credit cards, but we had trouble using ours at the non-attended stations a couple of times, so try to buy gas during normal business hours when an attendant is there. Also, many stations are closed or un-attended on Sunday. They have Exxon Stations and some other of our major brands that would probably take your gas card. Most of the interstates in France are toll roads, but they take credit cards at the toll booths. Roads are generally as good or better than ours. If you have a good map, you shouldn't have any problems.
Mar 11th, 2000, 05:10 PM
#3
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It was all surprisingly easy. We bought our gas with credit cards, and it was always full service --don't recall ever seeing self service. Also if you travel any toll roads, you can use your credit card for all the tolls. <BR>Can't think offhand of any special advise you need, other than to have a good map.
Mar 12th, 2000, 06:07 AM
#4
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Be sure to rent your car from home before you leave for Europe. Do a search here for rental companies Auto Europe and DER are two sources. DER is a broker that uses several car rental companies I think. Have a good map with your route at least roughly planned before you go. To supplement your map you may want to use www.cwlease.com, the routeplanner which will give you trip tics with the milage or kilometers plus the benefit of estimates of driving times. If you do not want a direct autobahn/express route, use the "via" options to put in the cities you want to go through. Most gas stations we encounted last year were self serve. We only drove during the daytime. Credit cards were accepted, carry two incase one does not work on their machine (isolated occurence). Watch out for the traffic circles. Europeans love them. If you have ever been to Hilton Head, they are just like that only some are bigger. Think of the 7 lanes around the Arc D'Triumphe as the grand daddy of traffic circles. Just remember if you cannot find your exit on the first pass, do not fret, just go around again until you see your options. Sometimes, like expressways in the US, the nearest village is not shown, but one farther down the road (like picking up an interstate and they are giving you the city in the next state, not the closest. If you get lost, which may happen, we did just for a short distance, stop and seek help. Usually most people are glad to help, especially if you have your map. We got great help even from people who could not speak much english. have a wonderful trip!
