Megan

Does anyone have suggestions for rental car companies? We want to pick up a car in Avignon and return to Amsterdam.

David

www.hertz.com<BR>www.avis.com<BR>www.europcar.com

Anne

If you return the car in a different country than where you pick it up, you'll have to pay a hefty charge. Last summer we ended up with 2 rentals, one in Italy, and one in France, to avoid the charge. End cost was hundreds of dollars less than it would have been to p/u in Italy and drop in France.

Rebecca

We rented in Amsterdam (actually at the airport) and returned in Versailles in May of 2000. No problems on either end. There was a drop-off charge of about $100, but when you consider the cost of both of us taking the train from Amsterdam to Paris, it was about the same. So we drove from Holland to Normandy and had a car to see things there and go to Mont St. Michel before we dropped off in Versailles and took the train to Paris. We rented from Europcar and I recommend it.

Patrick

How long will you need the car? If 17 days or longer, I'd advise checking with Auto France for a brand new Peugeot lease plan -- you can pick up in Avignon and drop off in Amsterdam (there will be a charge for the drop off) but their total cost including all insurance and fees (no tax plan) is likely to still save you money from the other companies. Look at their website www.auto-france.com and then call them or email them for a quote. Again, this is only good if you are keeping the car 17 days or longer, however. I suggest their 206 turbo diesel (about 57 miles to the gallon of diesel fuel) for a small car for two people, but with airconditioning and lots of extras -- or the 307 turbo diesel if you want something a little larger.

Patrick

By the way the fee for dropping off an Auto France car at Amsterdam airport is $40 US, hardly worth worrying about, as opposed to the drop off charges most of the regular rental companies charge.

Rex

If by chance you are faced with a high drop charge (these things vary a lot from company to company, and season-to-season, year-to-year), then you should consider dropping the car in Lille. You scarcely need the car in Amsterdam, and the train is easy, fast, affordable from Lille to Amsterdam.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rex

Oh, whoops - - forgot to add - - check out www.autoeurope.com for some of the best available rates. Lots of good experiences cited here on this forum, including at least a dozen times in my own personal experience.<BR>

jim

Concur with the comments of others about Europcar. We rented from them in Nice for 10 days, returning Marseille. We found them to have best rates and no drop charge within France. Plus a very easy to use website.

SanDonato08

www.rentalcars.com

SanDonato08

Europcar.com is more expensive than rentalcars.com

Michael

<i>By the way the fee for dropping off an Auto France car at Amsterdam airport is $40 US</i>

And I got a $150 drop-off fee from Auto-France.

Sarastro

Here is an updated list of all of the autorental companies operating in France (of which I am aware):

http://www.avis.com/
http://www.citer.com/
http://www.europcar.com/
http://www.ttcar.com/
http://www.hertz.com/
http://www.sixt.com/
http://www.ada.fr/
http://www.citycars.fr/

_________

Here is a list of brokers (usually require a 3 day rental minimum):

http://www.autoeurope.com/
http://www.autofrance.net/
http://www.easycar.com/car-hire/destination/France.aspx
http://www.easyterra.com/
http://www.europebycar.com/
http://www.france-car-hire-rental.com/
http://www.interrent.com/
http://www.kayak.com/cars
http://www.kemwel.com/
http://www.novacarhire.com/

Michael

Here's another broker that we used successfully in Turkey:

https://www.economycarrentals.com/

kerouac

It should be mentioned that renting from a broker for 3 days is generally cheaper than renting directly from the rental companies for 2 days.

BigRuss

I'd second the autoeurope.com suggestion. They gave us a great rate on our car, which was a Mercedes A180 diesel (minivan-like vehicle, not glamorous at all). The car was great because it got 36-38 mpg on all driving (mostly highway) and diesel was $1.50 cheaper per gallon (I've made all the conversions from metric). When we went to France in 2007, the dollar-euro rate was close to the current rate.

ParisAmsterdam

Sarastro,

You may want to add

https://www.economycarrentals.com/

to your list of brokers.

Rob

Underhill

We used Sixt rental cars in December for the first time and were extremely pleased with the experience. If you end up renting from Europcar, check the fine print of the contract carefully; there have been quite a few reports here about extra charges after the fact and problems with the policy that requires returning the gas tank empty.

Sarastro

<b>ParisAmsterdam</b> Thank you for the addition.

<b>Underhill</b> I have read about these problems but never encounter them myself. I usually use Europcar (through Autoeurope), other things being equal, simply because as a frequent client all of my required personal information is already in their database making checkout very easy and very fast.

Ironically Sixt is the only company in the past which has incensed me because when I once presented myself at one of their Paris offices for a prearranged pick-up, they told me they had no cars available and to come back later. This was on a Friday afternoon and wanted to beat the weekend traffic out of town. Needless to say I was not pleased.

However, car rental companies are like airlines. Mention an airline name (any airline name) in a crowded room and there will be people very willing to relate their horror stories. Ultimately it probably does not make a great deal of difference.