Renting a car in France for a bike tour...advice needed

[Wayne77]

Hello,

I need to rent a car in France for a week...actually a mini van or full sized van. 5-6 people plus luggage. Do any of you have and recommendations for best value, and other related recommendations? We’ll need to rent in the central city area since we’ll have a 1 night stay in Paris, then we’ll pick up the car Sunday morning, drive down to La Tania for the week and return the car the next Sunday when we fly back home.

- Are there other big fees tacked on to the rates I find online?
- How much is gas there?
- are there a lot of toll roads heading that direction?
- anything else we should be aware of?

Thanks!

[kramnnim]

So you are flying in the CDG airport, will spend the night, and then drive? If you don't need to do/see anything in the city, you might be better off staying close to the airport. And rent the car from the airport area.

No idea if you will have tolls, but I do remember having a really hard time paying them back in 2013. The machine wanted a chip and pin card or something.

Rented with Kemwel and got a bill for some sort of fees a few weeks after we got back to the US. Can't remember what they were for, went with Avis in 2016 and didn't get a bill like that.

Gas is expensive.

[velotel]

Best bet will be a 9 passenger Renault Traffic or the equivalent from Fiat or Opel. As a rule they're less expensive to rent than a car, easy to drive, quite comfortable, lots of space, bitch to park if you're not used to them (but then again presumably you're american and used to big cars). They are readily available. If there are only 6 of you, ask to have to third row removed and you'll have a ton and a half of luggage space.

Can't help you on insurance and tolls; I live here so all that is no problem, no idea what the problems are for people from the states.

[Hakkalugi]

I rented a car through Expedia, picked it up in Toulouse and drove all around with bikes, kid, parents, etc. I had rented a wagon-ish thing, but was upgraded to a Ford Galaxy, which is an annoying POS but can in fact, carry an astronomical amount of crap. It’s also scaled proportionally to its namesake, making city centers horrifying.

Tolls haven’t been a challenge with my debit card, it takes 2-3 seconds and we’re off. Someone else here mentioned that times between toll booths are monitored and you can get a speeding ticket. Fortunately, this car flashes annoying lights on the speedometer if you go 1kph over the speed limit, like a driver’s ed instructor with a caffeine addiction.

The satnav is functional but annoying, it seems stuck in night-mode (black background) and until I changed the default routing from “fastest” it seemed determined to discover roads that strive for bike-path widths. The thought of encountering a skinny duck, let alone another car, had me worried about the fact my vehicle’s dimensions were in parsecs and the path’s in centimeters.

This actually worked out well as I rode many of them later, having performed an unintentional recon.

The Here WeGO app in offline mode has been handy, as well as google maps.

[rustychisel]

Originally Posted by Hakkalugi

I rented a car through Expedia, picked it up in Toulouse and drove all around with bikes, kid, parents, etc. I had rented a wagon-ish thing, but was upgraded to a Ford Galaxy, which is an annoying POS but can in fact, carry an astronomical amount of crap. It’s also scaled proportionally to its namesake, making city centers horrifying.

Tolls haven’t been a challenge with my debit card, it takes 2-3 seconds and we’re off. Someone else here mentioned that times between toll booths are monitored and you can get a speeding ticket. Fortunately, this car flashes annoying lights on the speedometer if you go 1kph over the speed limit, like a driver’s ed instructor with a caffeine addiction.

The satnav is functional but annoying, it seems stuck in night-mode (black background) and until I changed the default routing from “fastest” it seemed determined to discover roads that strive for bike-path widths. The thought of encountering a skinny duck, let alone another car, had me worried about the fact my vehicle’s dimensions were in parsecs and the path’s in centimeters.

This actually worked out well as I rode many of them later, having performed an unintentional recon.

The Here WeGO app in offline mode has been handy, as well as google maps.

All excellent advice, and brilliantly written.

I've rented motorhomes in France several times, not had issues except the "size matters" aspect which came in handy when driving (twice) around the Arc de Triomph. Tee hee.

For your journey choose whether you want to get there fast (toll roads = motorways) or cheaper (no tolls on A or D routes). Fuel is costly, tolls add a good % to any trip, and you might need to be prepared to experiment (check with issuer and then don't take their advice as gospel) as to whether your flavour credit card will work.

[Mr. Pink]

I never rent deep on city centers, best to go out to the airport. Too difficult to navigate in there with language issues on signage.

HereWeGo is excellent, works with no data usage.

[LouDeeter]

Check with your insurance company to see whether or not you are covered in Europe with a rental car. Gas is 3-4x the U.S. price, shown in Euros per liter at gas stations. I recommend you study international road signs if you haven't driven in Europe before. Last time I drove there, I paid a small fee to AAA to get an international drivers license, but the rental car company didn't ask for anything other than my stateside license & a credit card. I had no extra fees on my rental. I paid my tolls in cash, but had the longer lines to do that on the main Autoroutes. They may have eliminated this option since I was there. If you have the time, the back roads are much more fun, but slower of course.

[jfranci3]

5-6 people + bikes? Or just 5-6 + luggage? Does someone drive manual?

You want a full size Sprinter van or similar, not a minivan. You actually want 2 cars, as it will be 1/4 of the price even considering parking and gas. Once you're past 2 people, driving is a lot cheaper than train tickets.

Hertz or Sixt all the way. Sixt will give you what you think you're renting, Hertz won't. When picking a car, GET A CAR WITH GOOD REAR SIDEWAY visibility (or have someone sit back there). Streets are narrow, parking is perpendicular most places, and you'll be in a long car in a strange place. Backing out can be risky. I rented a Ford Fusion Wagon and had a tough time feeling like I was doing it right.

I haven't had any issues renting from 'local' hertz locations in Europe, but I hadn't done 1-way rentals and I've only rented common cars, not vans. It might make sense to send someone back to the airport to pickup the car in the AM while everyone gets checked out of the hotel, as the airport has the best cars.
Gas: Make sure you ask where to get gas by the airport. This can get confusing and you may be time crunched. Most airports have 1 gas station that a real option, but also keep in mind that you can probably get gas 30km out and it'll still read super-full when you return (you typically need to burn 1-2 gallons before the fuel gauge starts dropping. Euro gas stations can be confusing - just ask someone.

Maps: Use directions on your phone, not the stupid car-rental GPS. Make sure you have French data rates that are reasonable on your phone. Plan to burn 2gb/data.
Fees? There are always fees. Not like hotels though, they should be shown upfront.

[Wayne77]

Great advice everyone - sincerely appreciated!

Part of this is weighing the cost of transfer options. Our chateau hosts have a shuttle available from the Geneva airport to La Tania, which I think is around a 2 hour drive. We’re flying into Paris to spend a night there and do a little sightseeing downtown. So my options are:

- Rent a car and drive to La Tania, keep the car for the week, drive back to Paris and return it for our flight home. I hadn’t factored the expensive gas but I loved the road tripping aspect of seeing France country side on our way down. It also allows us to skip the Geneva transfer / waiting for the shuttle with others.

- Take a train from Paris. I doubt there would be a stop near La Tania, so I assume it would be a matter of taking it to Geneva for the shuttle service back to La Tania.

- Flight from Paris to Geneva. Last time I checked the options were pretty limited for Sunday flights. (Sun July 21st)

Anyway, looks like I need to look at the gas mpg of these larger vans and estimate the gas cost there and back. Also, I wonder if driving direction apps or websites can tell me how many tolls there will be when putting in the start and destination? Renting seems like a no brainer because train transfers can be a pain with luggage and I like the independence of having my own car the entire week (our hosts have a shuttle to get us around to our different rides, but still...).

I need to do some additional research to make sure the expenses and other factors pointed out here are known ahead of time. Maybe the gas and tolls will only be an incremental extra with 6 people splitting the costs...

Thanks again!

[Wayne77]

We’re renting bikes, so just us and our luggage (1 carry on and 1 checked bag apiece). Thanks for the advice below. 2 cars sounds attractive. I drive a manual, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Also, this will actually be a 2 way rental since we’ll have the car the whole week then return it the following Sunday when we fly home.

Originally Posted by jfranci3

5-6 people + bikes? Or just 5-6 + luggage? Does someone drive manual?

You want a full size Sprinter van or similar. You actually want 2 cars, as it will be 1/4 of the price even considering parking and gas. Hertz or Sixt all the way. Sixt will give you what you think you're renting, Hertz won't.

I haven't had any issues renting from 'local' hertz locations in Europe, but I hadn't done 1-way rentals and I've only rented common cars, not vans. It might make sense to send someone back to the airport to pickup the car in the AM while everyone gets checked out of the hotel, as the airport has the best cars.

Make sure you ask where to get gas by the airport. This can get confusing and you may be time crunched. Most airports have 1 gas station that a real option, but also keep in mind that you can probably get gas 30km out and it'll still read super-full when you return (you typically need to burn 1-2 gallons before the fuel gauge starts dropping.

Use directions on your phone, not the stupid car-rental GPS. Make sure you have French data rates that are reasonable on your phone. Plan to burn 2gb/data.

[tony_mm]

Check before all restaurants and their rating/ review on Michelin and do the trip in the car beside the highways (autoroutes) BUT don’t complain afterwards if you have put on weight! LOL

[Mzilliox]

we just went from Paris to Rennes area and toured around. rented a wagon and had 2 s and s cases and 4 other bags stuffed in there w plenty of space. only a few toll roads, and they are not terribly expensive. its really all quite easy. also, more people speak english than you think, just ask.

have fun

[tony_mm]

Originally Posted by Mzilliox

we just went from Paris to Rennes area and toured around. rented a wagon and had 2 s and s cases and 4 other bags stuffed in there w plenty of space. only a few toll roads, and they are not terribly expensive. its really all quite easy. also, more people speak english than you think, just ask.

have fun

The pricing is quite different when you head South of France

And remember that French usually don't like tourists that just start a conversation in English w/o asking if English is ok.

[velotel]

I forgot to mention that those vans are really fun to drive, pretty amazing all in all. VW has a great one, an even better driver, not so easy to find as a rental. there's a reason why those vans are super popular with families, like it's the standard rig for a family. If there are 6 of, there's a 6-seater version, easier to park. If I was you and knowing what I know from living here, I'd rent the van in a second.

[tony_mm]

Originally Posted by velotel

I forgot to mention that those vans are really fun to drive, pretty amazing all in all. VW has a great one, an even better driver, not so easy to find as a rental. there's a reason why those vans are super popular with families, like it's the standard rig for a family. If there are 6 of, there's a 6-seater version, easier to park. If I was you and knowing what I know from living here, I'd rent the van in a second.

The generic word for those is Ford transit.
They are also used by all kind of small businesses for transporting material/ goods.

Only downside is that they are not stable when you drive over 140 km/h. Many bad crashes.