JPM78

I want to rent a car for four days in Provence. We are staying near Avignon and I thought it would make sense to find something near the station. I tried Auto Europe but they are not upfront about all the extra fees on their website. Any advice? I just need a small car for two people with AC. Standard transmission is fine.

Bubba

Try Kemwel, I just rented from them for 6 days, out of Nice, their prices were much better than Europcar, yet you pick up the car at the Europcar office! There are extra fees for picking up the car at airports or train stations, I don't know why, but every car rental agency quoted me the same fees so I guess it is normal. They are offering a free guaranteed upgrade to the next class right now.

StuDudley

Kemwell & AutoEurope are the same company - same people, same customer service etc.

Call them (don't go through the internet) for info about extra fees - and ask about discounts like a AAA discount. For only 4 days, they might not be the best deal, however.

There is an extral fee for airport & train station pickup. There are sometimes some small extra fees too - not enough to worry about.

Stu Dudley

Plan2GoSoon

Check out all the auto rentals you can find to get the best deal. In addition to Europcar, try Kemwel mentioned above, Sixt, Avis, Hertz, etc. We used Sixt and picked up the car just outside the walled city in Avignon. You can walk to it from the tourist office. Make sure you know how to use everything, take pictures of the car when you pick it up and when you drop it off. We were able to drop it at the TGV station without extra fees. Book it here in the US, but make sure your credit card company knows you are making a purchase in France.

kerouac

What extra fees? Kemwel and AutoEurope are the same company (just compare their websites).

I just secured my July rental at Avignon TGV through AutoEurope. I ended up choosing the Hertz proposal from them, since it was 30€ cheaper for 6 days than the Europcar proposal. [Note: I know who is the provider just by the name of the car proposed, even though that is almost never the car you actually get -- if the cheap car proposed is a Ford Ka, it is Europcar. But I took the Chevrolet Matiz, which was indeed Hertz. If it is an Opel Corsa, it is Budget... and so on. For non specialists, just call the AutoEurope number and they will tell you who is giving what car.] Anyway, I am paying 191€ for 6 days unlimited mileage starting 13 July.

I would also like to mention that the voucher says to return the tank full, even though lots of people reported last year that for any rental from AutoEurope over 5 days you were supposed to return it with the tank empty.

Underhill

Have a look at the sixt.com web site. We were very pleased with the company and our rental car in December: no extra charges, everything exactly as the contract spelled out. Sixt is a major European rental agency, not a consolidator.

nametaken

In my opinion Sixth is the best of the European rental agencies.Everything is exactly as the contract says. We have rented from them three times and will continue to do so. On two occasions we got an upgrade car for no extra money. Do be prepared to shift gears. If you don't know how to use a clutch, spend a few days learning, and you will be fine.

StCirq

In my opinion, AutoEurope is the best of the European rental agencies. Everything is as the contract says. I have rented from them 100+ times and will continue to do so. On at least 20 occasions we got an upgrade for no extra money.

cigalechanta

A small car is better to visit villages as the roads are narrow and parking with as big car is almost impossible, Diesel(sp) is less expemsive.

axelrod6

We rented from AutoEurope and picked up the car at the train station outside Avignon. We took a taxi from town to the station so that we would have the car for the countryside after we visited Avignon. For that reason, when we went to return the car, we had no experience finding the station by ourselves. The navigation system took us close but not close enough. We finally found it after 30 minutes of circling , because a very nice young man let us follow his car there. We almost missed our train back to Paris, so if you have to return there, be sure that you have excellent directions. (And, no, we are not usually hopelessly lost!)

Plan2GoSoon

Good point from the last poster. We decided to find the TGV station after our last day trip to be prepared to be on time the next day when we left Avignon. We found the way from our B&B and the car rental. It took us a little time so we were glad we did it in advance. Once we knew the way it was a breeze. By the way, drop off was much different than the US. We just had to find a space that said Sixt (rental agency we used) and go inside to confirm we dropped it.

Mimar

Just to clarify, AutoEurope and Kemwel are brokers. They don't have their own cars but deal with the car rental companies, like Sixt, Hertz, etc.