Where should I pick up my rental car in Paris?
 

I am trying to make reservations to pick up a rental car in Paris to drive down to Dordogne. On Auto Europe, they have about 20 different locations for pick up in Paris. We are staying in the 7th, but would like to do as little driving as possible in Paris to get out of the city. Can someone recommend a convenient and easy location to pick up a rental car? We can arrange for a taxi to take us in order to get to an easy location if there is not something close, there are 4 adults. This is our first time to Paris, so I am not familiar with the city. Thank you.

I would suspect that one of the closest and easiest to get to the autoroute and out of the city would be the location on Esplanade des Invalides. But don't waste your time trying to figure it all out.
Call the toll free number to AutoEurope (yep, there are actually times when the phone works better than the internet).

What many people don't understand about the AutoEurope website is that all those different locations represent different agencies. If you are dropping off at a different city, the locations may not match up. In other words the place on Invalides may be Avis and the particular town you want to drop in may not have Avis. Or even more important is that once you actually talk with a knowledgeable representative at AutoEurope and explain what you want, they can probably advise you which agency and therefore which location will get you the best price and the greatest ease for pick up and drop off.

Invariably when I've used the website for getting the basics and a general idea of price, when I call I get some good advice and always a better price. Among other things if you've rented from AutoEurope before they will give you an additional discount which the website won't give you. I had worked out what I thought was a good price for pickup in Venice and drop off in San Remo, but in talking with a rep, they suggested another company that has a pickup at the same Venice spot, and is only a couple blocks away in San Remo -- but it saved me nearly $80.

By the way, if driving out of Paris concerns you, you can always take a taxi to Orly for about 20 euro, and get the car there (although it may cost more to get a car there than in the city, you'll need to ask them). Pick up at Orly is really easy and well marked "escape" to drive away.

we always pick up our car in montparnasse on a sunday or a holiday so we can miss traffic. it is the area that has the large office tower.

Patrick: Thank you for the info. I'm also planning to pick up a car in Paris and drive to Sarlat. Your advice makes a lot of sense, as usual.
Ginny

Thanks for the advice. I will call Auto Europe directly. Also, for the tip about the discount for repeat rentals - I would have never known!

Ginny, do you have a route planned for your trip to Sarlat? It sounds like a train may be easier, but I figured with 4 adults it was more economical for us to drive. Any input about this from those who have done it? I do want to stop in Oradour-sur-Glane on our way.

Patrick is absolutely right--pick up your car somewhere outside Paris. In your case Orly would work very well given your need to head down to the Dordogne.

Actually, Underhill, I didn't say that. I've picked up a car at Avis next to St. Sulpice and it was easy as pie to get out of town. I suggest mda97 check with AutoEurope. If it is cheaper to pick up in the city than at Orly (I know in Venice it saved another $70 to pick up intown instead of at the airport) then I suggest picking it up in town. From most locations it can be very easy to get directly to the major routes out of Paris. Sure, it might be a little easier to leave Orly, but if it costs more to pick up a car there, not to mention the cost of the taxi getting there, I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up on the south side of town. Montparnasse, mentioned above, is also pretty easy for heading out to the south.

Okay; let's begin again. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I wonder whether it would make sense to take the train to Tours and rent the car there. That would get mda97 and group well on their way to the Dordogne and avoid the traffic problems near Paris. A group of four could get a discount from SNCF and save some time on the car rental, always useful for the day when you return the car.

If the departure point in Paris is well thought out with respect to the destination, and one has driving directions and a good map, then driving straight out of Paris, as opposed to taking a train somewhere and then renting a car the same day, can make a lot of sense. To me the deciding factor is the length of the drive to the first night's destination. When it's less than 3 hours I will probably choose to drive, unless it's a place where a rental car is not needed the same day.

Paris to the Dordogne would be way too long of a drive for me to want to do in a day. What I would probably do is take the TGV direct to Angouleme, then drive down to Brantome and spend a night [or more] in that area before proceding south. That's about a 2.5 hour train ride, and Angouleme is a small town that is easy to drive out of.

If I had to get to Sarlat the quickest way, I suppose I would opt for the longer train ride to Perigeux.

Make that Perigueux.

Since we wanted to see Chartres, we trained there and picked up our car on the way out.

We take the Metro/RER out to Orly and pick up our car there. It's easy to get out of town from Orly and it's easy to find the rental place. The train would probably be more practical, but I would miss seeing the countryside between stops. Every once in a while we see something very interesting and make an unscheduled stop. These have been some of our fondest memories.

Have a great trip.

SalB...basically I'm with you. Most of our traveling is by auto for the reason you mention. However, we plan our itineraries so that with few exceptions it is less than a 3 hour drive between hotels.

May I add that your enthusiasm about France is very infectious and happily shared!