Drive from Avignon to Barcelona

Posted by Barbara (MA) on 04/03/18 09:47 PM

To finish up our trip to France in early June, we booked a reservation to take the TGV from Avignon back home to Barcelona. Unfortunately, we have just found out that due to the rail strike, only 1/3 of the TGV trains will actually be running! So we may end up not being able to take the train back home, although we might not even find out until the day before.

So we are exploring the option to drive back from Avignon to Barcelona if our train is cancelled. It looks like the drive is about 5 hours, which is not disastrous, but we don't know if there will be other problems with an international one-way rental, as suggested by some older forum postings. Has anyone had very recent experience doing such a drive with a rental car? Thanks for your help!

Posted by joe32F

Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂

04/03/18 10:09 PM

11189 posts

A quick look shows one way rental has a $800-$1000 drop fee on top of the normal rental rate

Posted by Philip

🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️

04/04/18 01:12 AM

3167 posts

Rent a car and drop it off in Perpignan. Take the AVE from Perpignan to Barcelona. If there’s a drop off fee, at least it should be reasonable.

Posted by Andrea

Sacramento, California U.S.A.

04/04/18 02:22 AM

10230 posts

When I have had rental cars in France I have not had to pay extra to drop the car in a different location within France. I use AutoEurope (consolidator) and before choosing my car I call them (they are located in the U.S.) to make sure there won't be an additional charge. If there is I choose another car company. I believe my French rentals have been with Europcar.

Posted by Barbara OP

04/04/18 01:58 PM

136 posts

Thanks to you all for the information and helpful suggestions! I just called Auto Europe to ask about the one-way international drop fee, and the agent said it ranges from 300-1000 euros. Since there are 4 of us, 300 wouldn't be bad if we were desperate and last-minute airfares from Marseilles to Barcelona were exorbitant. But the better approach might be to drive from Avignon to Perpignan, as there would be no one-way fee if we use a company like Europcar. I see that there are also buses from Perpigan to Barcelona, in case we cannot book the AVE train for any reason.

I forgot to ask Auto Europe about which car rental companies in France have the best cancellation policies, but we might be able to make a fully refundable car reservation until we find out about our train. I read on one site that NO trains were running from France to Spain, and on another site that we might be OK if we are not going on a strike day (we're not). SNCF just says that they don't know yet what will happen in May and June. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the strike plays out, but thanks for giving me leads to pursue.

Posted by Andrea

Sacramento, California U.S.A.

04/04/18 03:15 PM

10230 posts

Your transaction is with AutoEurope and they have a very good cancellation policy. You can read it on their website. When I traveled from Barcelona to France I took the train to Perpignan and picked up my car there. I would always caution people to not return a car in a different country because of the cost.