Basel or Zurich Airport to Colmar

If you rent a car in Switzerland, it comes with a Swiss vignette, so no tolls or fees. If you then drop it at Basel Airport, it would be considered in Switzerland, since that is Basel's airport and no "foreign" drop fee applies.

If you want to keep the car for further travels in France, you could take a train from Zurich airport to Colmar and rent the car there.

It seems like if you fly into Basel/Mullhouse, then your only option would be to spend the night in Basel since the rental car agencies are closed and there are no trains to Colmar running that late. If you stay the night in Basel, then the next morning you could train to Colmar and rent the car there.

If you decide to fly into Zurich, I agree with Sam - I would take the 2-hour train to Colmar and rent your car there.

A few years ago, when I rented in Zurich, the (one of the biggies) rental company said I needed permission to drive in another country. Luckily, Germany was a sort of automatic approval from them, especially since I was returning to the same office. I wasn't going to any big cities, but the Germany pollution-sticker could have been an issue for someone other than me.

You didn't say whether you would be interested in seeing any of Switzerland between Zurich and Mulhouse? Maybe you only have time for the French stops you have already planned. I can tell you that the highway between Zurich and Basel is fine, but not any more scenic than an American interstate highway.

The only way to price car rentals is to "do it". I have read that some rental companies have blocked the robot sites that re-check automatically for you, because they don't like the consumer to have any power in the transaction! No personal experience. But when you do a single quote, it's usually clear if there's a drop off fee proposed. Can you fly to Strasbourg?

I just checked the Kemwel car rental online website for info on rental cars at the Mulhouse/Bale airport. I entered a 10:30 p.m. pickup and it seemed that the rental car offices are open. Their online site has a phone number that you can call to confirm that the rental offices are open late.

Kevin, Denise,
If you are picking up a hire car at Basel airport, and intending to return it somewhere else (for example Colmar), be sure to check which half of the airport (French or Swiss) the hire company is in, and whether they have an office to return the car in Colmar.
Unless you want the big surcharges, a car picked up in the Swiss part of the airport will have Swiss plates and can only be returned in Switzerland, and one picked up from the French side can only be returned in France.

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions.

Has anyone used or know of private shuttle services that run from the airport?
For example, we went to Rome and used a service called RomeCabs that was a private car service.
Is there something similar at Basel airport (on the French side)?

If there are no options like that, then it seems we will probably either stay the night in the Mulhouse area that evening and then rent the car in the morning or fly into Zurich on an earlier flight and train to Colmar.

Thanks a bunch!