French Riviera - car help
 

I will be going for a week next June with Nice as the base and heading to Cassis, St. Tropez, Cannes, Antibes, Juan Les Pins and Monte Carlo. My bf wants to rent a luxury car for 6 days. I'm trying to find him a good deal and so far the best we can find is about 300 euros/day. He will be 23 then. Any suggestions?

I've rented car for far less than that, but then again I don't rent luxury cars, just the smallest one available. Better to have a smaller car in the narrow streets.

A quick look at Europcar airport gives rates of 125 euros/day.

If you stay in Nice, make sure there's somewhere to park at your hotel, parking in central Nice is not easy.
Other posters will no doubt comment that Cannes, Antibes, Juan les Pins and Monte Carlo are easier visited by train then by car, which is true. I always drive in that area, though, and always find parking fairly easily. June is not that busy.

Not sure, but I think most car companies charge a hefty fee for people under the age of 25 so be sure you are considering that as well.

You don't want a luxury car on those tiny roads.

I just checked AVIS.COM with dummy dates in June at a downtown rental station in Nice and entered U.S. citizen aged 23. For a luxury car (e.g. Mercedes E class) they would charge USD 150 per day which is much less in Euros.

Check also Europcar and Sixt. These European rental car agencies often have eveb better rates than the U.S. based agencies.

300 euros a day still seems high, though, for a regular sedan but not if you are talking a Porsche. I have no idea why you are doing this or what your idea of a "luxury" car is. A Mercedes is a luxury, but it's not necessary a convertible or anything, so what on earth is the purpose of this? Does he drive a manual (he'd better or I'd forget this)?

I don't know what you are doing to find cars, I just checked Europcar's website (a major company in France), and you can rent a Mercedes C for a week for only about 400 euro total for the week. That's a manual, and rates may vary some by season. They say min age is 18, that's all.

just go to autoeurope.com, that will show you the best you can do, probably. They show rates varying from about US$1000 per 6 days to $6300 (I'm sure diff kind of car) for "luxury" cars. That's a random 6 days next April. Autoeurope Luxury is $2000 for a minicooper which I have to laugh as being a "luxury" car (but it is a convertible and small, so actually would be a good choice). BMW Cabrio and Porsches are more like $1000 a day.

A 23 year-old wants to rent a luxury car on the French Riviera? First off, A car is not a necessity on the places you listed, let alone for 6 days (not even a weekly rental). So, if you don't have to, but want to...then pay the 300 Euros/day. What am I missing????

Why is the "girlfriend" doing all the legwork on this one...well, actually we KNOW why.

I think this is a crazy idea. You don't need a car for the places you want to visit, and you run a higher risk of break-ins driving a luxury rental.

Agree that

1) anyone less than 25 years old will be paying a premium - possibly an extra large one for a luxury care

2) definition of luxury car may differ - are you talking about a mercedes (usually luxury at most rental agencies ) or an exotic car - such as an expensive sports car ? For the latter (Ferrari? Porsche?) 300 euros sounds like a reasonable rate

Additionally, credit card insurances do not cover beyond lower end luxury cars. Luxury car + less than 25 years old + expensive insurance = breathtaking rate.

If we take trains will we only need to take the train to get around and no buses or cabs? How do we get to St. Tropez from Nice?

>>Why is the "girlfriend" doing all the legwork on this one...well, actually we KNOW why.<<

I don't know what this is meant to imply but I'm not doing all the legwork just because I'm the one that posted here. He's the one coming up with the rates, getting an international driving license, etc. I've taken the train when traveling and would also rather that so we can drink comfortably.

No train service to St-Tropez from Nice.

I would recommend taking buses (for the views along the way) to visit sites east of Nice (if you stay in Nice), and trains to sites west of Nice (views not as good). No trains to St Tropez, however. I think there is a boat to St T. from Cannes.

Rent a smallish car for a few days to visit the fabulous Nice Hinterlands. We were on the Cote d'Azur for or 19th & 20th week this past June. I updated my Cote d'Azur/Provence itinerary after our return. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors.

Stu Dudley

For St Tropez there's a boat from either Nice or Cannes - takes a while though, and it returns quite early, so you cannot have dinner. If you want to rent a car for this (and other trips), get a small one. The road to St Tropez from the motorway gets very congested.

We had a car for six days and nights at the end of September/beginning of October. It was useless in Monte Carlo where we simply wasted time looking for parking. The other area of Monaco that we visited (the palace and old Monaco) had easy parking.

We used our car everyday, but parking was often difficult and spaces were tight.

>>We had a car for six days and nights<<

Next time, get a weekly pass for one of the garage parking spots. That's what we did this past June. Easy in & easy out. It felt "safer" too.

Stu Dudley