Returning rental car at Charles de Gaulle Airport
 

For our trip to France this September, we are spending several days in Paris and then renting a car to drive to Normandy and then to Reims. My question is: how difficult is it to return a rental car to CDG airport?

Last year we returned a rental car to Fiumicino Airport in Rome and had no problem whatever.

Thanks,

Racer042

After you have entered the main concourse for the Airlines keep to the left as there is a turn off to the lower level where the car rental drop off is.

Firstly, do not rent a car from CDG if you will already be in Paris. You can save the airport pickup surcharge of 40€ by renting the car from an in town office.

Secondly, returning a rental is very easy but how you do it depends upon your departure terminal. In all cases, there are yellow signs written in English that give you specific directions to the rental return corresponding to your departure gate.

Not difficult at all, especially if you are already north of Paris which you will be. As a matter of fact, checking the car back in itself was one of the fastest, most efficient we've experienced.

As jean 253 states, keep to the left, and don't go too fast as there is a low cement barrier that suddenly appears in the curve around (yep, my husband just missed it but I remember thinking "Geez, how terrible to drive 3,000km sans problème and get in an accident as you're returning the car!")

It is very easy return a car to either terminal 1 or terminal 2. Just follow the rental car return signs, like in any other airport.

Thanks for the replies. I know there will be an extra charge for renting from CDG, but dropping off the car on the morning of our departure at the airport just works out to be convenient for us. I was planning on staying in Paris the last night and taking the train to CDG, but we will be staying close to Chateau Chantilly and then driving to CDG.

Good Luck. You won't have a problem at all.

Love Chantilly. Hope you end up with some time for the chateau (we ran out of time and didn't make it to the horse musueum/stables but felt the chateau grounds, the outbuildings and chateau/museum were highly under-rated. Must make it back one day.

If you can squeeze lunch in at the former mill/moulin (weather permitting) it is well worth it. Whatever you do, don't leave without having had something with crème chantilly on it...I have to admit, it does taste spectacularly like nowhere else!

You don't have to pick up and drop off the car at the same location. I would pick it up in the city and drop it off at the airport. There shouldn't be any extra charge for that (other than the fee for an airport drop-off, which you'd incur anyway). Besides, it's going to cost you time and money to get from the city out to the airport anyway. Doesn't make much sense to me to schlep out there just to pick up a car that you could pick up right where you are.

I have never heard of an airport drop off fee. The only airport associated fees are for pickup.

Racer042 - CDG is the wrong direction to go if you are headed to Normandy via A13 which leaves Paris from Porte d´Auteuil on the southwest side of the city. Picking up a car near Porte d´Auteuil or even Port Maillot would not only save you the airport pickup fee and the transportation cost to the airport, you´ll reach your destination a great deal sooner.

I hear about these drop off fees all the time, but only from Americans, who have reserved on the other side of the ocean. When you rent in Europe (or just claim to be based in Europe when you reserve on the internet), there is no mention of drop off fees. That doesn't mean they don't exist -- it just means that the rate quoted is all inclusive, as it should be.

I could well be mistaken about the drop-off fee. I haven't dropped a car off at the airport in years. I probably just read about them here on Fodors!

At any rate, going to CDG to pick up a car makes little sense to me, given the OP's itinerary.

Hmm, I will look at picking up the car somewhere closer to Paris and dropping it at CDG. We are staying on the Left Bank right across the Seine from Notre Dame.

There isn't any rental company right around there that I know of (that is a very congested area), but it might be an option to rent your car at Gare Montparnasse where I know there are rental companies and it's on the way out of Paris towards Normandy, also (assuming you want to get onto the A13). That wouldn't be too far from your hotel.

Am I the only person who had trouble returning a car to CDG?

Twice?

It's marked well....if you read French.

If not, memorize the French words for rental "voiture?", and return "???"

Also, try to google some sign images for auto rental, auto return, etc.

Because: 1) by the time you can read them, they're 300 feet away, which at 30 Mph is 2 seconds, and 2) the image for parking lot looks an awful lot similar to the image for car return.

While it is true that the rental return signs are in French, it is also true (and I paid close attention to this the last time I returned a car to CDG) that the rental return signs are in English as well. For each sign in French, there is a corresponding sign, of the same size, written in English.

<i>Location de voitures</i> is the sign in French you will probably see if you are looking for the rental return.

I think it is obvious that if you are renting a car in a foreign county, you have some minimal responsibilities to learn the necessary words for road signs and for the car rental company and it's return area. It shouldn't be a shock that signs in foreign countries are in their language, to assume you have to do nothing is being an ugly tourist.

If I take the RER B from Chatelet, i can be at CDG in 18 minutes and pick up the rental car there. Any better ideas of where to pick up a rental car?

i will google the location de voiture signs so I am familiar with the signs.

No way will it take only 18 minutes for the RER from Châtelet. Where did you see that?

The three best places to get cars in Paris are: Gare du Nord, Gare Montparnasse and Gare de Lyon. Going to the airport increases the cost and inconvenience. (And frankly, if you cannot drive out of Paris in a car, you should not be on the road at all.)

Last time we were in Paris we picked up our car at Invalides early on a Sunday morning so traffic and driving out of Paris was very easy. We then returned the car to CDG a few weeks later, very convenient and no "drop off" charges. We did have a problem finding the correct place to return the car, but CDG was under heavy construction at the time. I'm sure it's much better now.

We are taking the train to Caen and renting a car there. I used auto europe to rent a Renault Clio or something similar. Then we are driving to Normandy and staying at La Fiere Bed and Breakfast for three days. Then off to Reims for two days of champagne drinking. One day in Chantilly for Chateau Chantilly then home. Thanks for all the suggestions. Our trip is four weeks away, I can't wait.