My husband and I are planning on visiting France in mid-May for 2+ weeks. After touring Paris for the first 8 or 9 days we want to travel by train to pick up a rental car outside of Paris (was told that is cheaper than renting inside Paris) and spend the next week visiting the sites around Giverny, Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux, and Mont St-Michel before returning the car to Charles de Gaulle airport. I thought we could pick up a car near the train station in Vernon which is the stop for Giverny but have't found that available on line. Has anyone rented a car from that area? If not, suggestions of other locations outside of Paris not too far from Normandy? Also, any recommendations for hotels on Mont St-Michel?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
1005 posts
There are no rental agencies in Vernon. One alternative would be to rent a car on the outskirts of Paris and start your road trip there. The other alternative would be to take the train to Vernon, see Giverny, and then continue by train to Rouen. See the city without getting a car, and then rent it on the day you leave Rouen.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks1 Great advice
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
There are both an Avis and a Hertz in Vernon.
Avis - 17 Ave De Rouen, Vernon, 27200. Tél : 0232543336
Hertz - 73 Avenue de Paris, 27200 Vernon Phone: +33 2 32 51 83 66
The hours seem to be something like 7-1800 M-Sat and only 830-1230 (Hertz) or closed (Avis) on Sunday. Both have lunch hours of 12-1400. Their hours should be about the same in May.
I found this technique to be important when I searched for a rental car in France. Agents all over France, but especially in smaller towns where agents have more limited hours, take long lunch hours. When you do a search, if you put in a noon pick up (as an example) you are likely to find nothing available. Instead put either a mid morning (10:30) or mid-afternoon (14:30) pick up time. Then your search will include those agents.
When you get to Vernon, check in with them and arrange a time to pick up, or pick up right away and leave the car there while you tour (in your case Giverny) then return to start driving.
I'm not sure if the price is that much better outside Paris (away from the airport is usually a lower rate), the real convenience is not wasting your time in city traffic. Getting outside the city saves mental wear and tear as well as time.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
On one trip I picked up in Rouen near the train station, Gare de Rouen. (They have a second train station, Gare de Rouen - Orleans, you don't want.) I had the same initial problem searching for a car. The agent closed for a two hour lunch and my internet search showed nothing available at my preferred pick up time.
Posted by
Chicago
8556 posts
There is a lot to be said for just paying the small extra fee and picking up at an airport or train station. The most important is that they are likely to actually have the car you reserved and if you want an automatic, you really should use a large site like this. We once had to accept a heavily damaged car because the small rental office had no other; it was that one or nothing. They claimed that they had driven it into a pole while bringing it around for us. On drop we then had to wait nearly 3 hours to get copies of the paperwork that documented the damage. I am sure that their plan was to confiscate the evidence and then bill us for the repair. They claimed (at CDG rental office where we dropped it) that they had no copy machine, that they needed the paperwork but that they could not provide us with written evidence of the damage etc etc. I was not going to surrender the original documentation of damage without written evidence of the damage. I think they thought we had a plane to catch, which we didn't and so finally we got copies of the paperwork with the damage noted. When you pick up at outback nowhere, they may have just one car available and not the one you wanted or they may literally have none as the previous renters didn't return them on time.