Actually that is quite an interesting point though - if you live here (UK)you can only have a full license if you pass in a manual car. If you pass in an automatic you get a restricted license and can only ever drive automatics, unless you go on to take the test again in a manual of course. Yet a visitor who may only have driven an automatic is allowed to hire and drive a manual...

Nona1, there are Belgians with perfectly valid licenses who never had to take any kind of practical driving test, manual or automatic.

I can drive a standard and enjoy doing so.

But in the US you'll probably find a standard shift on fewer than 5% of vehicles. Naturally, most drivers never learn to use one = I didn't have much opportunity to until I'd been driving for at least ten years.

There are some plusses to a standard transmission, but in the long run an automatic is more dependable and cheaper to own. And that's from the Car Guys on NPR!

Wow - remind me never to drive in Belgium!

Oh and I've nothing against automatics, we are a 2 car household; one manual one automatic.

Just struck me that there is one rule for Brits and another rule for foreign visitors, and for once the visitors win out!

If you have ever driven in Belgium it is obvious that some folks have never taken a test ;).
In the Netherlands you also get a note on the licence if you took the test on an automatic, and aren't allowed to drive anything but an automatic.

I'm sure that it is true that automatic cars are generally the larger ones but they certainly are available. With careful shopping bargains can be found with automatics too.

Don't be discouraged from renting an automatic. We always get one. There are frequently additional advantages. The automatics are usually equipped with air conditioning, remote locks and an alarm. We rent from Hertz or Europcar - they have them.

Ira -

We've only rented a Benz once - and were very disappointed. It must be a different engine than in the US - since it had practically no pick up (and I'm used to driving a sub-compact coupe).

We do rent larger cars - both to be sure we have decent speed and pick up - which many smaller cars don;t have - and since the beau is 6'3" - and doesn;t wanted to be pretzelized for the whole trip.

I'm suppose to get a compact or economy automatic at Nice airport this Sunday. Pre-paid $341 for 5-day rental about a month or two ago through kemwel.com, which is another front-end for Autoeurope.

Yeah I've been able to get automatics in Nice and Tours before.

So if they don't have an automatic in the class you already paid for, what are they going to do, extort you for more money to move up to a larger car with auto? Or would they free-upgrade like they would in the US?

The C1 is a nice little car as rkkwan implies. Great in the city and easy to park, quite good on country roads, not really meant for high speed cruising. It has more room for folks than you might think in seeing its small size but not much luggage room. The C1 is one of the few cars where the gasoline engine is nearly as good as the diesel version as far a mileage is concerned. Both are exceptional. It has some nice standard safety features such as stability control.

A few times a year, we drive our Belgian car back to the UK (we don't have a car in the UK) and most drivers give us a wide berth :-)

The time when I was unexpectedly upgraded from a compact to a minivan-like beast, Europcar didn't ask me to pay any additional money. I would have challenged them if they had.

f you're getting less than great acceleratio with the Benz, it likely was a diesel.

... like 75% of the cars in France and Belgium. Diesel.

Hi SC,

>So if they don't have an automatic in the class you already paid for, what are they going to do, ....<

One very good reason for renting through AE and its affiliates is that when that happens YOU call the 24-hr service line and let AE negotiate with (ie yell at) the rental counter clerk.

((I))

I don't understand all these reports, either. I've rented automatics in Provence twice in the last five years or so, and got an automatic with no problem whatsoever, and it was about the size of a compact car. I got it from Autoeurope without any trouble and it didn't cost that much more than a manual.

Driving lessons (if you can actually find a place that will teach you) would cost a lot more than paying for a car that you can drive well (even if you take lessons, you won't have much experience, and I don't personally think that is a good idea for drivers in a strange car and strange country to also be driving a way they just learned).

I think it cost me about $15 a day more than a manual. The first one I had (about the size of a Corolla) was an Alfa Romeo (I really liked that one as you had to shift it yourself, but there was no clutch, we don't have those kind of transmissions in the US) and the second some of French car, probably Citroen C3, which is a little bigger than I usually drive.

Car rental costs have gone up a lot in France, at least when I've checked, for both manuals and automatics. Both rentals I had were from Europcar, ultimately, but through Autoeurope -- one in Marseille and the other in Montpellier.

I think the OP needs to decide if they want a small car or a big car, and stop complaining about a reasonable rate. Car rentals cost $35-45 a day where I live in the US, also. I just checked Autoeurope and in October at Marseille airport, they have an VW Golf automatic at $477 a week, but the manuals are around $349 for a Peugeot 207 and $358 for a Citroen C3. SO that's less than $20 a day difference in cost.

Christina - the point isn't whether it is cheaper for a US tourist to take driving lessons or nor.

The point is that looks like a lot of you come over never having driven a proper car in your lives and hire one (if you are daft enough) and are therefore a **** danger on the roads.

What gives you right to do that?

Well I guess the answer is that hire legislation lets you. And to be fair very few of you do.

But if I was PM of any of the European countries I'd make absolutely sure that when letting a US visitor drive off in a proper car they had the documentation to prove that they were fit to do so.

5 per cent apparently know how to drive a proper car. Time for some legilation then. Or it one rule for the US and one rule for the rest of us like so much else?

>...one rule for the US and one rule for the rest of us like so much else?<

Darn right!

Well, there are a lot of opinions here. Mine is that being safe is your number one priority. My husband and I are old enough that we grew up shifting, but we no longer shift. We can and would if that was our only choice. However, in another country where we are unfamiliar with roads and direction, there is enough to think about. Whatever the choice, just be careful and watch out. Happy travels!

Funny, I picked up a car last night for one of my usual weekend rentals in Paris, and they gave me a Smart automatic because an automatic was all they had left among their small cars.