Car rental in Normandy area

Check with Autoeurope for a car rental in Caen. The rental agancies are right by the train station and if I am correct, the hours there are more flexible than in a small town like Bayeux. I haven';t heard stories about car switches, but that can happen an ywhere. When my son's car wasn't available he was upgraded at no extra cost. That has happened to us in the US. Automatic transmissions are becoming more available in France nowadays. Just check with Autoeurope. They will list what's available with various major car rental companies. The drive from Caen to Bayeux is about a half hour.

We took the train from Paris to Rennes; picking up the car at Rennes train station, (has all the major car rental agencies) as our first stop was Mont St Michel before heading on to Bayeux. We used Enterprise; receiving helpful service and an automatic as requested. We also hear good things about renting through Auto Europe. Enterprise actually upgraded us to a larger BMW, which ended up being nice, though parking isn't always designed for larger vehicles. For our return we returned the car for a nominal fee in Lille. We could have also returned in Rouen. If you are sticking to the Bayeux area of Normandy than Caen will have more options.

If you are concerned about shorter rental office hours, then avoid Sundays for pick up or drop off. Hours everywhere in France except the airport are very limited on Sunday.

We are doing a similar trip in October, and it will be our first time driving in France on what is for us "the wrong side of the road".

We are heading straight to Rouen, staying overnight, then picking up a car there. We will actually spend three nights in Rouen, but have discovered that since the last two are on a weekend, car rental agencies are either not open at all or at very short hours.

We will pick up the car on the Friday, our first full day, and park it at our hotel. From there we head to Etretat, Honfleur, Bayeux, MSM and then drop the car in Caen before continuing by train.

Roun seems to have a large selection of available cars, like you an automatic is pretty important for us.

Two suggestions:
Rent through a pre-pay such as AutoEurope so it carries more weight than a reservation.
Call the agency in Caen a day or two before pick up to remind the agency that you are getting an automatic.
In the long run, an agency can only rent out the cars that have been turned in on time, but this can't hurt to do in advance.

It depends on where you plan to be in Normandy. But there are many more rental offices in Caen than in Bayeux, and the two cities are less than 30 minutes apart. I have rented from Hertz in Caen many times (a 2-minute walk from the train station) and have dropped off a car with Enterprise there (across the street from the station). Alternatively, I have rented from Rennes a couple of times when I was going first to either Mont Saint Michel or Saint Malo, and dropped off in Cherbourg (where I will pick up on my trip this June). All of these places are much larger offices, with a much better selection than Bayeux, but be aware that automatic transmissions just aren't as popular in France, and availability can change despite a reservation. If that were important to me, I would call ahead a day or two out to confirm the car you need will be there. I haven't rented from Bayeux in many years, but I recall the office being on the periphery road a ways from the station at a small gas station.

We booked from Hertz in Caen thru AutoEurope and no issues whatever. They were friendly, efficient, and professional in every respect.

Since you will be driving from Rouen, you can take D982 along the Route Des Abbayes and visit any of the abbeys on that route. Specifically the Abbaye de Jumieges, a fantastic sight! The route takes you along the Seine and the drive is wonderfully lovely. We followed it from Rouen to Bayeux and relished every mile. Youy might take a look at this route instead of autoroutes. Bonne chan ce!

Thank you everyone! This forum is so helpful and I appreciate all the insights. I had no idea about AutoEurope and this looks like the way to go, right across from Caen train station.

My next step is to look at trains from Caen to Paris, then take the high speed train to London. If there is any tips that I should be aware of, please let me know.

On our own trip in '24 we elected to take the ferry from Ouistreham (the port of Caen) across the channel to Portsmouth, and then made our way to London after visiting the excellent DDay museum in Portsmouth. It was frankly one of the most pleasant and relaxing experiences of the trip. We reserved one of their staterooms so we had a place to retreat to during the 6 hour voyage - was nice to be able to shower, nap, and generally recharge our batteries in the privacy of our own cabin..
Brittany Ferries has three crossings per day to Portsmouth - one of them an overnighter that takes about 8 hours and arrives at around 8AM.

Thank you for the ferry info. Originally I thought it would be nice to take the ferry, however I’ve also read that we could run into delays and cancellations with weather issues and it seemed a bit stressful when we are trying to get to our cruise ship. Also, I had been hoping for a high speed ferry and it didn’t seem to be running any longer. I wish we had more time to try it!

The only time I booked the ferry across the channel, there was a strike that cancelled my ferry. But I am going to try again this year going the other way (Portsmouth to Cherbourg). Because I have to be in Normandy in time for some events, So I also booked a full-fare, first-class Eurostar Ticket. The full-fare tickets are completely refundable, so if I don't need it, no harm. But it will be nice to have it as insurance just in case.

One more comment if it hasn't been mentioned, double-check the opening hours of the rental car company you choose. Most take very long lunches (2 hours!), and are closed completely on Sundays. It should inform what train ticket you use.

Just for the record, in case others access this thread for guidance, in addition to regular car rental locations, some hypermarchés rent cars and vans (hypermarchés are large, integrated stores carrying practically everything except lumber and other construction materials).

In Normandie, your best bet would be with E. Leclerc. They have at least one automatic car available for rent in Bayeux and I'm sure others in a bigger town like Caen. Likely less demand than typical car rental agencies. Leclerc stores are closed on Sundays, but not closed over lunch on the other days. Note for non-French speakers: the word "location" is a false friend. It looks like it would mean the English word location but it actually means rental or (for the British) hire.

You'd have to catch a cab or similar conveyance to get from the train station to a Leclerc store.

We rented from Caen from Avis. Was a small manual, but had AC. Had no problems with the short 30 min drive to Bayeux. And the next day we drove the 20 min to Arromanches. Both are easy drives.