Car Rental in France Through Auto Europe
Car Rental in France Through Auto Europe by WAVEJourney.com
Car Rental in France Through Auto Europe
By WAVEJourney
A recent trip to Southwestern France had us scheduled to spend time in the remote and less touristy region of the Ariege Pyrenees, plus exploring the more well-known Dordogne department. We quickly determined that in order to enjoy our stay in these areas, to see and do all that we wanted, and to get ourselves from Toulouse to Bordeaux, we’d need a car to self-drive. Otherwise we’d be at the mercy of public transportation and/or pay a fortune for taxis service – none of which appealed to us. That’s where Auto Europe was the ideal solution when they offered to partner with us and provide a rental car for the 18 days we would require transportation (we ended up driving 1406 KM/874 miles).
5 REASONS TO RENT A CAR THROUGH AUTO EUROPE:
Rent a Car Through Auto Europe
- Auto Europe has been operating for over 60 years and works with the top name car rental brands in Europe – Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt, Alamo, Enterprise, National and Dollar. This makes it much easier to find a car in the destination you want on the day you want, and at the time you want. For example: We wanted a car rental that we would pick up at Toulouse train station with drop off at Bordeaux train station. We needed to pick up on a Sunday afternoon. This is France. Not everywhere or every business is open on Sunday. Auto Europe found us a car rental with Europcar that filled the bill for the timing and size of vehicle to suit our needs.
- Auto Europe also has a Ready-to-Go-Pickup Guarantee. That means that if you arrive at the car rental agency at the time you indicated on your booking, and your car is not ready within 60 minutes of your check-in at the counter, they will cover the cost of your booking. Check out the details here – Ready-to-Go.
- The Auto Europe search engine on their site can compare 20,000 pick-up locations – that saved us a ton of time on research. Auto Europe provides a thorough comparison of the various available car rental options based on what is available for your search – base price, transmission, gas/diesel, insurance deductible, fuel policy, age policy, optional equipment, mandatory deposit, additional driver fees, one-way fees, extra pick-up/drop-off location fees, etc.
- Auto Europe offers a best rate guarantee (if the rental is the same in all aspects), and does not charge cancellation fees if you give 48 hours notice prior to pick-up.
- Auto Europe has their own 24/7 service hotline to help with questions and issues at any time of your rental period. After our rental car was returned in France to Europcar, we received a copy of the invoice for additional charges (that we knew would be added) and had questions about the billing. Auto Europe was quick to respond and get answers to our questions when Europcar was not answering our queries about the billing and charges on the invoice. That was priceless service!
TIPS FOR CAR RENTAL IN FRANCE:
Tips for Car Rental in France
- Keep your gas/petrol tank topped up in France and have some cash on you to pay for gas/petrol. None of our credit cards would work at the gas pumps in France (we’ve never had this issue anywhere else, but apparently it is a common problem in France), and many times there wasn’t an attendant to help us out and get the card to work in their booth. This required us to do one of two things. 1. Drive away and try and find another gas station with an attendant (one day it took us 4 stops and 3 hours to achieve this). 2. Ask someone at the gas station to use their credit card in your pump and you give them cash (usually people will only let you charge up to 20 euro on their card in case the cash is counterfeit).
- Know what road signs for the country you will be driving in mean, and print them out before you go. This will alleviate any stress and help you understand what various signs mean in your destination.
- Know what you have agreed to do about the fuel tank level upon return of your rental car. Sometimes things get lost in translation when there is a language barrier, and you may have thought you understood one thing… but you were wrong. If you are picking up the car with a full tank and want to return it with a full tank, make sure you allow yourself time to refuel before dropping off – and within a short distance of the drop-off location. If you are going to return the car with an empty tank (we dislike this option as we’re never sure how much gas we will use), you will have to agree to the terms (they can be confusing) at the time of pick-up.
- Take photos and video of every part of your rental car that you can see – inside and out – before driving away from their office. Be sure to keep these files until well after you have returned from your trip in the event that something shows up with a claim a few months later. If you notice any damage (slight or significant), make sure that it is noted on the rental agreement – otherwise you will probably be responsible for it (a very costly headache).
- If your credit card company covers car rental insurance, make sure you know exactly what the terms are. It’s a costly experience to find out that you are only covered for 30 days maximum on a 32-day rental and a small ding on the car from another car in a parking lot will cost you $600 to fix.
BOTTOM LINE:
Rent a Car Through Auto Europe
After using Auto Europe’s car rental service in both Spain and France, we can honestly say we are extremely pleased with the excellent service based on those bookings. Check out Auto Europe’s site and see if they have a car rental available in a destination you plan on visiting (plus, keep in mind that they have rentals around the world and not just in Europe).
MORE FRANCE CAR RENTAL INFORMATION:
Car Rental in France Through Auto Europe
Car Rental in France with Auto Europe
Note: WAVEJourney was provided with a rental car through Auto Europe to experience their services. Read our full disclosure statement to see that this has no effect on our opinion and/or recommendations and/or reviews.
