Car Hire In Europe Help Required Please

[Wonky]

In May/June my wife and I are going to Europe for five weeks as in our combined 100+ years :shock: we’ve never been there and in fact have done very little international travelling at all. Being novices we’d planned out where we wanted to go with the help of a travel agent and have some hotel bookings in place now, so are really locked in to picking up the car in Paris where we fly into and dropping it off in Vienna, from where we fly out.

All well and good until we found out yesterday that the one way return fee (because we’re not dropping it off where we started from) is almost as much as the actual hire cost for 29 days!! We knew there was a one way return fee but in our ignorance never thought it would be such a significant amount! Given there are only two of us, but we also have to fit in my wheelchair and walking frame and have them easy to get in and out possibly many times per day, plus our luggage, we went for a small 4 door ‘van’ – the Renault Kangoo (or its equivalent). From memory the unlimited km car hire for 29 days is just under $1,200 and the one way fee is about $900!! :shock:

For those of you who have similarly rented cars in Europe, does anybody know of a company whose one way return fees are more reasonable or of any other method to reduce it? The travel agent came up with one alternative which involved my wife driving the car back to Munich to drop it off, but the money saved in doing that was almost outweighed by the cost of the fare from Munich back to Vienna, plus leaving me all alone overseas in a foreign country when I’m disabled and not only can't speak the language but can’t speak at all is not really a brilliant idea! :eek:

Any suggestions gratefully received. :)

Thanks,
Gary

[psi4eva]

Hey Wonks,

My family and I did this back in August last year. The rental place was called Alamo, we picked them up in Zurich and dumped it in Paris. We had 2 smaller cars and I don't believe the pricing was too crazy. I've still got more specific details aaround, let me know if you need them.

Cheers,
Scott

[davus]

wonks I dont know if this will help you, but when we were travelling around europe, we asked them if they had any cars that required return.

As luck would have it (actually they had heaps of them), there were cars that required return to their original depot, which was the depot we would have dropped it off at anyway.

Admittedly we did have to pay slightly more because it was the next class up, but if my memory serves me correctly, we paid like $100 extra rather than the whopper you mention.

Might have to hope all the planets align for this to happen for you and your wife, but it worked for us.

Other alternative, and im not sure how we're gonna go with this, but as a happy anniversary pressie ( you do a hell of a lot for this forum), Id be happy to start a pot with say $20 to start helping in covering the cost of the $900 so you can just do it. However my $20 is pretty useless on its own.......

Any other forum members interested in my idea?

Dave

[HSVREDSLED]

You can try having a bit of a play on expedia.com and hotwire.com to see if you can get cheaper.

But....

My first impression was that $2100 for 29 days was not too bad.

I got (what I thought) a cracker deal in the US last year, $1200 for 15 days unlimited kms. So your $2100 does not look that bad comparative to the US which I thought would be waaaay cheaper.

[mummbles]

I've travelled around Europe twice now, hiring or leasing cars both times.
Your rental fees even with the return charge are cheaper than I payed on each occasion.
Have a look at leasing the car instead of hiring. Once you get over 21 days (i think) it starts getting cheaper to lease a brnad new car.
I had a pugeot on lease the firs time we went for 28 days, cost around $2300 from memory, and had the return fee waived. THat was in '05.

Good luck mate.

[SS Enforcer]

The best tip I can offer is to drop the car off in the same country as you rented it,thats what I have done in the past. All the companies will hit you with one way fees if your dropping off in another country. Austria was the most expensive next to Italy for one way drop offs I found.

We planned our driving to include a loop driving around rather than a straight line one country to another. Or like last time pick up in Nice and drop off in Paris and use rail to get around.

If you can't change what you have allready booked you going to have to just pay the one way fee I imagine. You travel agent should really have known that you would get stung for an exhorbitant one way fee when dropping off in a foriegn country.

Try http://www.driveaway.com.au/

Also www.sixt.com .

The Driveaway mob have been really good for me on 2 occaisions hiring cars in Europe and the states if there is a way around this they may know and their based here so it helps.

cheers

[SS Enforcer]

I've travelled around Europe twice now, hiring or leasing cars both times.
Your rental fees even with the return charge are cheaper than I payed on each occasion.
Have a look at leasing the car instead of hiring. Once you get over 21 days (i think) it starts getting cheaper to lease a brnad new car.
I had a pugeot on lease the firs time we went for 28 days, cost around $2300 from memory, and had the return fee waived. THat was in '05.

Good luck mate.

I had a 5 series BMW for 14 days and only cost $1100 in November.

cheers

[seldo]

I've travelled around Europe twice now, hiring or leasing cars both times.
Your rental fees even with the return charge are cheaper than I payed on each occasion.
Have a look at leasing the car instead of hiring. Once you get over 21 days (i think) it starts getting cheaper to lease a brnad new car.
I had a pugeot on lease the firs time we went for 28 days, cost around $2300 from memory, and had the return fee waived. THat was in '05.

Good luck mate.I've used Renault's Eurodrive lease program in the past and found it good. As already mentioned, Peugeot also do a similar thing and they supply you a brand-spanker (in our case actually had to wait 30 mins while they did rego and PD). The rates are quite attractive as it's a means of them obtaining tax-exemption on the cars.

[BlueSS]

In May/June my wife and I are going to Europe for five weeks as in our combined 100+ years :shock: we’ve never been there and in fact have done very little international travelling at all. Being novices we’d planned out where we wanted to go with the help of a travel agent and have some hotel bookings in place now, so are really locked in to picking up the car in Paris where we fly into and dropping it off in Vienna, from where we fly out.

All well and good until we found out yesterday that the one way return fee (because we’re not dropping it off where we started from) is almost as much as the actual hire cost for 29 days!! We knew there was a one way return fee but in our ignorance never thought it would be such a significant amount! Given there are only two of us, but we also have to fit in my wheelchair and walking frame and have them easy to get in and out possibly many times per day, plus our luggage, we went for a small 4 door ‘van’ – the Renault Kangoo (or its equivalent). From memory the unlimited km car hire for 29 days is just under $1,200 and the one way fee is about $900!! :shock:

For those of you who have similarly rented cars in Europe, does anybody know of a company whose one way return fees are more reasonable or of any other method to reduce it? The travel agent came up with one alternative which involved my wife driving the car back to Munich to drop it off, but the money saved in doing that was almost outweighed by the cost of the fare from Munich back to Vienna, plus leaving me all alone overseas in a foreign country when I’m disabled and not only can't speak the language but can’t speak at all is not really a brilliant idea! :eek:

Any suggestions gratefully received. :)

Thanks,
Gary

Is that AU dollars? if so, it doesn't seem that bad really.. $73 per day, I usually pay more than that just hiring cars interstate.. don't get me wrong, you would expect a rental that long would be less, but it's not hugely ridiculous..

I am actually heading off over to Europe in May too, but being a fairly young prick that I am have booked on a 25 day Contiki tour..
The way I have been looking at costs is, it's a once in a life time holiday, except that somethings are going to be expensive, but make the most of it!

On another note, the Euro is traveling well at the moment so you may want to look at converting some $$$$ soon... Travelex Cash-passport is a decent option..

[clubbie]

With Europcar if it is returned back in the same country the fee is about 80 euro.

So change the plans a get a free holiday in Monaco or Nice. Enjoy.

BTW we paid 33 euro a day for Astra TD six speed. There was no charge as we picked it up at Orly and dropped it at Charles DeGaulle.

BTW do not bother driving from Southern Fance to Italy. The rip off, oops toll's in Italy equate to about $50 per 100 or so kays. Stay on the local roads go slow and enjoy.

[Wonky]

Thanks guys - gawd I love this forum even for non Holden car stuff!! :bow:

I have a few things to check into now. :) I know that overall the car hire isn't that expensive, although it is a very basic car we're looking at getting. Just that as we're on a tightish budget it hurts to know you'll get slugged almost $1K (effectively wasted money) for something we could have avoided if we'd known it was so steep.

We might look at trying to organise it so we change rental cars as we leave France as at that stage we'll be very close to Germany, get a German rental then, go down into Switzerland and northern Italy as planned, back up into Germany and Austria and leave it in Vienna. The one way fee from Vienna back to Germany hopefully won't be so bad - something for me to investigate!!

Clubbie, our aim is to use local roads wherever possible to get a good feel for the countries we are in. :goodjob:

[Smitty]

...2 and a bit years ago did 6 weeks in europe...first
saw the relos in London first then a plane to CDG in Paris
and picked up a new Hertz Renault ..TD Renault Laguna
for 35 days around Europe. Took off up North to Holland
and ended up thru Germany Bavaria Austria Vienna salzburg
Italy venice Milan Rome etc back into France (Monaco and Nice)
amd left it at Lyon.....(after 5 days in Provence)
caught a train back to Paris (730kms in 2hrs 15 :bow: )

No one-way fee or charge from hertz and the total rental fee was just
about the same as the Renault Tourist Lease scheme for the same period

did a tad over 4000clicks ..a mix of EXXIE but fast motorways
(watch the Polizi... they take no prisoners & the fines are HUGE!:vpo:
and no, I didnt get caught but the bloke in the Porsche pulled into the servo
with a policecar up his clacker got a fine for Euro1500 for 170...if my Italian
is correct) ....and local slow stop for coffee at the pattisserie touring

enjoy mate

[seldo]

Thanks guys - gawd I love this forum even for non Holden car stuff!! :bow:

I have a few things to check into now. :) I know that overall the car hire isn't that expensive, although it is a very basic car we're looking at getting. Just that as we're on a tightish budget it hurts to know you'll get slugged almost $1K (effectively wasted money) for something we could have avoided if we'd known it was so steep.

We might look at trying to organise it so we change rental cars as we leave France as at that stage we'll be very close to Germany, get a German rental then, go down into Switzerland and northern Italy as planned, back up into Germany and Austria and leave it in Vienna. The one way fee from Vienna back to Germany hopefully won't be so bad - something for me to investigate!!

Clubbie, our aim is to use local roads wherever possible to get a good feel for the countries we are in. :goodjob:
I always take my Garmin/TomTom with me as I bought the European map chip a couple of years ago. Having used it for 5 weeks in Italy and Europe last year, we simply couldn't have done without it.

[Smitty]

....................

We might look at trying to organise it so we change rental cars as we leave France as at that stage we'll be very close to Germany, get a German rental then, go down into Switzerland and northern Italy as planned, back up into Germany and Austria and leave it in Vienna. The one way fee from Vienna back to Germany hopefully won't be so bad - something for me to investigate!!

.............

why change rentals...???? :confused:

[cholo]

The best tip I can offer is to drop the car off in the same country as you rented it,thats what I have done in the past. All the companies will hit you with one way fees if your dropping off in another country. Austria was the most expensive next to Italy for one way drop offs I found.

We planned our driving to include a loop driving around rather than a straight line one country to another. Or like last time pick up in Nice and drop off in Paris and use rail to get around.

If you can't change what you have allready booked you going to have to just pay the one way fee I imagine. You travel agent should really have known that you would get stung for an exhorbitant one way fee when dropping off in a foriegn country.

Try http://www.driveaway.com.au/

Also www.sixt.com .

The Driveaway mob have been really good for me on 2 occaisions hiring cars in Europe and the states if there is a way around this they may know and their based here so it helps.

cheers


You're right SS driveaway are quite good we use them as our preferred supplier. In all honesty Wonky your travel agent should have advised you that. Did they even mention it to you or got you to have a look at the conditions. If they didnt I would be chucking up a stink cos thats crap and you shouldnt have to pay for it if they didnt tell you how much.

Its pretty normal in Europe cos one way fees are around 400euros or so.

cheers

cholo

[clubbie]

Wonky, I did a similar trip 6 months ago.

Stayed in Paris for seven days then drove east to Germany. Did the Museum tours for Merc and Porsche. Headed south to Switzerland. Hour and a half drive to cover 240kays, god I loved the autobahns. The swiss slugg you 50 uero to use their roads for 1 to 365 days. Basel was OK but do not miss lake Luasanne and Geneve. From there we took the Mont Blanc Tunnel (longest in the world I think) to Italy. Milan, give it a miss. Did go to Venice and stopped on the way at Modena for the Ferrari Museum and to test drive a Ferarri on the way.

We changed out itenery and gave Rome a miss and went back to Fance and spent three days in the south of Fance, Monaco Nice.

We also spent four weeks in Greece (haha roots) and two weeks in the States. States was really cheap, comparatively speaking. Wish I had more time. 9 weeks was not enough:). Seems so long ago.

As others have said the car rental cost is really quite small cost of the holiday. A decent meal in a big city usually costs more than the daily rental for the car. Just worry about the $900 when you get back.:rofl:

Just do it. Then when you add up the cost and realise you could have purchased a new car with the money. Stuff that I crossed alot of things off the bucket list. Worth every cent. Holiday of my lifetime.

Clubbie

[mummbles]

The drive from southern France to Italy is gorgeous and well worth the run.
The roads in Europe are generally awesome.
I did 6300kms in 6 weeks the first time, and god knows how many in Sept/Oct last year.
Only went on the toll roads when we needed to get a long distance fast. They can be expensive however.
European B roads are still better than the majority of roads in Australia.

I thoroughly encourage you to purchase, or hire the car with, a GPS! Unless of course you intend on getting rid of the wife while you are over there anyway, in which case *not* having a GPS won't make a lot of difference!

[SS Enforcer]

You're right SS driveaway are quite good we use them as our preferred supplier. In all honesty Wonky your travel agent should have advised you that. Its pretty normal in Europe cos one way fees are around 400euros or so.

cheers

cholo

I have never had a problem with them but last time used Sixt and picked up the car in Nice and dropped off in Paris.

Thanks for the great deal on the airfares as well mate $1214 Paris rtn was a bargain and no hassle flights as well.




I thoroughly encourage you to purchase, or hire the car with, a GPS! Unless of course you intend on getting rid of the wife while you are over there anyway, in which case *not* having a GPS won't make a lot of difference!

Excellent advice GPS should be mandatory, I named the GPS in the beemer rental Sally for the duration we had it and my misses even got jealous of it as I refused to listen to any direction she tried to give me. Women cannot read maps ..... after 2 driving trips in the USA where I watched my misses turn maps upside down to try and work out directions I vowed to always use a GPS when travelling.

cheers

[Waabs]

I did a similar trip about 3 or 4 months ago (Paris to Rome) and we just couldn't avoid the one way drop off fee. We looked at all the different combinations of getting new cars in new countries, trying to drop off the car in a cheaper one way destination and then catching a train but none of it quite worked out so we just forked out the extra.

For the time you're over there I don't think the lease plans work out. We went for about two months and it was still in favour of rental including the one way drop fee.

Definitely have a GPS. I can only imagine the arguments me and the Mrs would have had without one.

[Wonky]

Wife and I each have a Tomtom in our cars so will be taking one or both. Am on a website with access to free maps. :nyuk: