Hiring a car in France

[ardcarp]

Just in case anyone's thinking of doing it and booking it in advance from the UK, be warned that you might get stung for a high price.
For instance to hire a Citroen C3 from Brest for a day, I was quoted £115 on Europcar's English language website. Going straight to the French website (more user-friendly, BTW) I got the same vehicle for 65 Euros. Another tip is to buy in advance a year's car-hire insurance to cover damage, glass breakage, etc. It costs about the same for a whole year as the 'Pack' they will try to sell you at the car hire depot.

The same probably applies to all the major car-hire companies throughout Europe.

Another pricing scam seems to be the prices they charge for hiring a car at a major ferry-port. For instance, it will cost twice as much to pick up a cor from Roscoff as it does from Morlaix, just a bus-ride away.

[Richard Tarleton]

There was a story about Europcar in The Times just the other day.... Looking for it on the Times search engine, "Your search for Europcar returned 455 results....."

[ardcarp]

IIRC it was about the surcharges they apply (it comes off your debit/credit card willy-nilly) for a minor dent or scrape. They were charging far too much for the most minor damage, some of which the hirers were unaware of. This is where the car-hire annual insurance comes in handy.

[Serial_Apologist]

I read the title of this thread as Hitting a car in France, and thought, oh my goodness - someone's in trouble! Then I realised I'd left my glasses in the other room!

[LeMartinPecheur]

FWIW we were very happy with car hire from Bergerac airport from this co http://www.buggscarhire.com/ It's an English co, so no language problems

We acted on recommendation from our English hosts in Perigord who have steered other visitors towards it, with entirely positive feedback.

[ardcarp]

Looks good LeM-P, but it seems to have a small number of 'locations'...unless I'm missing something.

BTW, isn't Perigueux cathedral a surprise on the skyline? Almost belongs in the Orient.

http://www.northofthedordogne.com/perigueux.php

[LeMartinPecheur]

Looks good LeM-P, but it seems to have a small number of 'locations'...unless I'm missing something.

No you're not missing something arcarp - the reason for my saying 'FWIW'

[Globaltruth]

As I understand it, post-Brexit, if you're from the UK you'll be required to drive on the left in all European countries irrespective.
Perhaps ensure you hire a left-hand drive car?

[Dave2002]

It's not only France where there are issues. For a while I lived in the USA, and would return to the UK for short periods. I found that if I pre-ordered hire cars in the USA for pickup at airport locations I could get a car for a week, whereas if I put the order in in the UK the same money would only get me a car for one or two days from the same locations.

[Old Grumpy]

Hiring a car in Canada

Canadian Affair offered a very reasonable rate for car hire last year when we went; much better than that offered on some of the (well known) company websites.

My only gripe was that in order to hire a car I was required to have a credit card - having managed without one for the previous 35 years or so. I still have it, but have only used it once since!

OG

[french frank]

Some goods tips here: https://www.travelsupermarket.com/en...r-hire/france/

I've only hired a car once, booked online, pick up and return in Montauban. I thought the firm was called CIT or summat - but can't find it now

[Serial_Apologist]

As I understand it, post-Brexit, if you're from the UK you'll be required to drive on the left in all European countries irrespective.
Perhaps ensure you hire a left-hand drive car?

Reminds me of the story about the couple who change their minds about touring the Continent by car: "You remember what you said about driving on the other side of the road?" "Yes?" "Well, we've been practising, and it's far too dangerous!"