Engand to France and back
 

I'm taking a trip to England and France. Can I rent a car in England and drive it through the tunnel to France and next then back a few days later?

Just in case you're serious...um, no.

You would be driving (I assume) a car on the opposite side you're used to - and then taking it to a country with driving on the same side we do. I can;t imagine anythng more dstracting and dangerous.

Take a train to France and rent a car there that has the wheel and the gear shift on the correct side for the roads you're using. (Besides - I don't think a car rental agency will allow this and your insurance would be void.)

I would contact Hertz for their advice. I did something like that in 2000, but not sure if it's still available. Picked up my vehicle in London, did the Chunnel, switched my English car in on French soil (Hertz office quite close to the Chunnel area) and picked up my French car, which I continued to drive for the next 3 weeks to several countries. Didn't go back to London though--dropped it in Paris on my way back to the U.S. Assume I would have done the reverse with the car to get back to England.

Best is to make the phone call. Good luck.

Some years ago I did this in reverse. Hired a car in France (well, Amsterdam actually, but it was a French lease deal), and after driving several weeks there took it across by ferry from Cherbourg to Southhampton, then toured several weeks in UK (including another ferry to Ireland)!

Never did it again though. On all subsequent trips I've hired separate cars on each side of the channel. Not that the same car was a huge problem, but sitting and having the controls on the off-side of the car in the UK did make visibility difficule especially when wanting to overtake.

But the point is...you can't DRIVE through the tunnel, unless you're driving the Eurostar!

True, you do not drive it through the tunnel--you do drive it onto the rail car and stay with it for the trip over to France. It was a bit of a hassle trading out the car in Calais, but not too bad.

Here is a site about this subject:

http://gouk.about.com/od/gettingtoth...nnelTunnel.htm

Sorry it is not a direct link.

Which might make sense if you're British, but to RENT a car in England and then ship it over to France on the Eurostar and drive it in France and then ship it back is ridiculous.

Most would take the train to Lille, Paris, Avignon, etc and rent there.

Peter

Got the point guys. Lesson learned. Although what I did in 2000 was, imho, not considered shipping my vehicle.

And, please give me a break-- that was in 2000, at least 2 years BEFORE I even knew Fodor's existed. Therefore, whatever bad judgement call I made back then, was before I had the option of picking the best of Fodor's travel brains.

On my (our) subsequent 2003, 2008, and 2011 European adventures, I (we) did exactly as you suggested-- took the Eurostar from London to Paris and picked up whatever other means of transportation we deemed the most efficient--or, in some cases just plain fun.

Judy

I believe you can rent a car from Avis and do this. Avis' website states that if you want to take their car to the continent you will require special continental insurance.

Although our UK car is a long term lease not a rental, we took it onto the train, drove around France and Germany and brought it back to the UK. Not a problem. However, we've lived in the UK for a while now and have UK driving licenses so we are a bit more experienced driving on the other side.

What you're suggesting is possible but it seems like there are so many other ways to do it -- change hire cars, take the train, etc that I would avoid it if possible.

actually, this didn't strike me as being as daft as some other posters thought. Brits drive their cars through the channel tunnel [and I think you are being a bit picky here, St. Cirq, i think the OP could be credited with knowing that it goes on a train] or take their cars on ferries to France, and drive quite happily and safely on the "continent" during their holidays - we do it all the time.

so if you are a confident driver, tell the hire company, and get the special insurance required, it's not such a silly idea.

but if you've been persuaded against it, I would counsel against getting the eurostar all the way to Paris, unless you want to, as then you have the problem of hiring and driving a car there - and that's no picnic.

better get the eurostar to Lille and pick up your car there.

I would agree with Ann.

In the past I have found it far easier to drive our car on the "other side" in Europe than a left had drive car on the "other" side.

At least I wasn't routing through the driver's side pocket looking for the gearstick.

There will be cost issues which probably make it far cheaper to change cars when in France but of course that will be for more administratively taxing.

I don't see why this sounds so odd to people. The only issue is 'will the rental company allow me to' and 'is it cheaper to do this or rent two separate cars, taking into account the fares and all'. As an idea there's nothing wrong with it. What your rental agreements are, we have no idea.

I don't think picking up a car in Lille is that much easier than in Paris. At least not from our recent experience of dropping a car in Lille. We spent about an hour circling the streets of old Lille, several of which were torn up. (Or maybe it was just one several times.) Not to speak of getting forced -- twice! -- into an underground parking garage in the middle of a open square.

The other issue is dealing with tollway pay machines from the wrong side of the car. Assuming no passenger, you have to stop, get out and run around the car to get to the pay slot.

To the OP, have you looked into an open-jaws flight? Say into London, out of Paris or elsewhere. Then there would be no need to return your car back in England.

Along with the other UK contributors, I can see nothing exceptional about the proposal, although you would have to check that the rental company is happy, and pay for any additional insurance. Most of us use our own cars, but it is not uncommon to see rental vehicles outside their home countries.

This is not just U.K. drivers being particularly brave or skilled. Many thousand drivers from continental Europe come to the U.K. every year in their own vehicles and easily cope with the same situation but in reverse. This is especially true of the drivers of large trucks and buses.

There can be difficulties at toll booths and in car parks if there is no-one in the passenger seat, but these can be easily overcome and are hardly a major problem. Some of the toll booths on the French autoroute close to Calais actually have toll booths set up for right-hand drive vehicles because there are so many U.K. vehicles using them.

If I still lived in the UK and had my own vehicle -- sure, I'd use the Eurotunnel.

But as a visitor w/ a rental car -- probably not. Hertz (and maybe others) have a scheme where you rent a UK spec car for the England bits, return the car, take the Eurostar to France, and collect a LHD car -- on the same contract.

That would be my choice . . .