Renting a Car in Caen, France
 

We will be renting a car in Caen and travel through the Loire for 4 days, turning the car in at CDG. Would sure like some info as to what and through whom to rent. Do the navigator systems come in rentals there, in English, or is it best to take one from the states? Would appreciate all ideas.

Search this forum for horror stories about European car rental agencies. As a rule, you should print out each web page as you go through the reservation process. Then after you've paid and the Voucher prints out with the deal you agreed to altered, you'll have some recourse with your credit card issuer.

I wouldn't rent a car with a GPS. Use the money to buy your own, which you will have for the next rental, and the next...

Hi ib,

www.kemwel.com
www.autoeurope.com
www.gemut.com
www.novacarhire.com

((I))

Thanks Robespierre and ira.....yes I have read those horror stories, hence my question for help. Will take your advice to heart. Any ideas on the GPS system that works best over there?

We just returned from a trip to Normanday, Paris and parts of Italy. We rented a car at CDG and returned it to Caen train station. We used AutoEurope but any of the others mentioned above are fine.

We Googled directions and they were perfect. All of the other maps had us driving through Caen city to get to the train station. Not necessary. Google had us go directly from the peripherique (beltway)and away from the city. In your case it would be from the station to the peripherique.

I can't answer about the navigator systems in English because we did fine with google directions. We find that "getting lost" has gotten us the best experiences of any trip we have taken.

I can tell you to make sure you read the contract at the rental desk because they try to put in extras you don't need or want. AutoEurope told us they have had a lot of complaints about that in France.

Try sixt.com, which I only recently learned about on tripadvisor.com and have been favorably impressed by (sorry about that final preposition).

You'll usually pay more for a GPS and can be on the hook for it if it's stolen.

Plus you're faced with learning how to use a new piece of gear just when you really need to use it the most...

My suggestion is to take your own. If you already have a GPS consult your maker's website for info about getting European maps.

I didn't have a GPS and don't really need one for North America anyway so I bought a TomTom One on eBay complete with European maps for $130 before leaving for France last August. It worked brilliantly!

Rob

Such good info.....I happen to like the part about googling the directions instead of relying on the GPS. But, will look into purchasing one and see what happens. Any problems with returning cars as one way rentals?

The Google directions idea is fine
as far as it goes... I assume the idea is to print them out and carry along a ream of loose printed papers?

But it's not very flexible. We had originally planned to leave Nice via rented car this past summer and drive up the Route Napoleon to Grenoble. Then it was either to be through France to Alsace-Lorraine and via Verdun to Paris or through Switzerland to Strasbourg and on to Paris...

But our plans changed and we decided to go to Carcassonne then up to the Loire through Auvergne. With the GPS it was simple... with printed out Google directions we'd have had a sheaf of useless paper!

Leaving Fontainebleau by car and heading for Paris we found the autoroute on ramp closed with several police waving people away... again, with printed directions we'd have been at a loss.. the GPS had us on an alternate route in seconds.

I had always been sort of 'anti-GPS' figuring I didn't need one as my sense of direction is excellent and I love reading maps.
But after this trip with a GPS I'll never leave home again without one.

That said, be sure you have a decent enough paper map too as they are still invaluable for a much larger overview.

Rob

One way rentals are usually not a problem as long as you are returning the car in France.

Some of the things to watch for when
renting is the 'we'll charge you up front for the fuel so bring it back empty' trick. All well and good but I ended up with half a tank of diesel still in the car... so there was 50 euros out of my pocket!

Europcar will also try to nick you a 25 dollar fee for pick up and drop off at a railway station.


Rob

I've never had a horror story in more than 100 car rentals in Europe. I always rent through Auto Europe.

Can't help with the GPS question. The only time I ever had a car with one, it was a total joke. I've never had a problem using maps and my infallible inner compass.

We used a Garmin GPS on our last trip to France but were on a lot of back roads in southwest France while house-hunting. It had its quirks, but was helpful.

However, if you wouldn't use it much on your return to the States, it's not worth the investment. Normandy and the Loire Valley are well sign-posted and very easy to drive with maps and/or google directions.

Have a great time!!

We rented a station wagon - a Peugeot 407 - when we were in France in September. We bought a Garmin 270 from Costco to take with us and used it in Normandy (and back into Paris) to good effect (like the previous poster said, it has its quirks - there is no substitute for having a general idea of where you are...). We didn't realize until the 2nd day in the car - that it had a navigation system built into the car as well - and we used it as well as the Garmin - sometimes just to see if they got us places differently.

I'm not sure if that was a "special" feature we got with this particular car - we certainly didn't ask for it or pay any extra. I wouldn't count on getting a car with a navigation system - but it may be getting more common as the fleets upgrade.

I definately would recommend thatn you buy a Garmin GPS in the U.S., with Europe maps pre-installed, rather than try to rent one with the car. Several of the cars we rented had GPS units builtin, but one was missing the DVD maps, and the others did not work reliably.

Get a garmin with street name and directions announced via voice, which makes driving mush easier (Garmin 670 or 760?) ^The advantage is that you can pre-load all the sites you want to visit beforehand, then while you are there, just call up each destinantion- Much easier than trying to find destinations on the fly, especially since some names refer to several different locations if you are not careful.

As always, the advice here on Fodors is good. We spent part of yesterday researching and trying out varied GPS systems, all having their pros and cons. Will definitely not depend on one already in the car. Overall though, the Tom Tom seems to have the best reviews for backroad usage in western Europe. We are map users but this could be fun as an extra perk.

I have stacks of maps and atlases too but now I've used a GPS I wouldn't be without one in Europe.

I chose TomTom as they are European so I reasoned they should work better there.

Rob

Thanks PA....now I am looking for a recommendation for a hotel near CDG for the night we exit the Loire and fly out the following day. Any suggestions out there?

In 2007 we stayed the the Courtyard Marriot at CDG... we lucked into a suite for about $150 US a night. Good restaurant and a free shuttle to the terminal in the morning.

Rob

Sounds easy and exactly what we are looking for...thanks.

I know this is an old thread, but I have a question. Can you change the route Garmen gives you? We have found many times that the most direct route is not the way we want to go. With the Google maps we can change routes and go out of the way and still find our way. When we don't use the maps and fly by the seat of our pants is when we have had the most fun and interesting situations.