Car Rental

My husband always rents from Sixt here in France and always gets a BMW or Audi.

Their website didn't offer these models. Can you provide me with contact information? I would like to rent an X5 of Q5.

Thanks,
Karl

Perhaps have another look at the website. I picked a couple of random dates in Sept and CDG for pick up, and found a large selection of sizes and car brands. What location did you select?

The models shown are only used as an illustration for the category/size of rental car. What you actually get can vary, and Sixt has the nicest cars among all rental companies on the French market. They also have some of the highest CDW deductibles so beware!

But there is never a guarantee of getting a specific car model, sorry. The "luxury SUV" category you are looking at is not very common in France and I assume that only the largest locations, such as CDG airport, will have any inventory.

And, by the way, sorry to ask this but ... Are you sure you want to drive an X5 on French roads? I often drive an X3 and that already feels big and sometimes challenging to park...

See what you can find using Auto Europe. After doing some research, you might try calling them (US-based) for advice on how to make sure you can get, or avoid, a particular brand.

Car rental agencies are often franchises. Often attached to a car dealership. That determines largely what brands you will find. Sixt is afaik almost always a local operation, so you will get whatever the guy who holds the franchise deals in.

One person recommended Auto EUROPE which does leases and rentals. They are a good firm to deal (I have used them for 6 years running) but in the end there are shortages of cars for lease and rent. Your interest in a Q5 or X5 could be readily/likely quenched in Germany but almost certainly not in France.

The unpleasant truth is you need to be prepared to take what you get, wanting only a particular brand or model simply isn’t going to happen except for possibly very upper end luxury vehicles.

I always use EUROPCAR and have never had a bad experience.

Hello from Wisconsin,
As Dick replied, use Autoeurope as your consolidator search engine for finding cars and prices. Then try Europcar. I have not had a bad experience with a rental agency in 40 years of renting cars in Europe. I have found the local Europcar office people to be fluent English speakers and knowledge about the region in which they are operating.

If you are looking for a specific model or a specific make. I say, "Good luck." And especially an upscale nameplate. You had better have secure places to park a car like that. Maybe I just tour where I get warned by locals to park in a secure location. And that is with a nothing of a car like a Ford Ka. It is so cheap that Ford skipped the last letter of the ward Kar.

wayne iNWI

I recently reserved a BMW X5 (or comparable) with Hertz at the Geneva airport for the month of May 2024. Total charges w/o CDW 1,410 CHF. I have the CDW covered by an American Express add on policy at a total cost of US$ 24.95. It was the least expensive rental I could find. Confirmed via telephone call that rate was valid. Although I drive the same vehicle in the states my concern is it might be on the large size for France.