I've seen quite a few questions/comments about driving in France so I thought I'd throw in my two-cents worth. First some background: We're both 70 years old and this was our first trip to Europe. We planned it all ourselves with help from Rick Steves' office and this forum.
We spent 30 days in France (April 18, 2016 to May 19, 2016) and for 22 days of that time we leased a Renault Megane from Renault Eurodrive. It was a great car and perfect for two people and two carry-on suitcases. We picked up the car in Nice and returned it in Strasbourg after driving about 2200 kilometers (a little less than 1400 miles). Our travels took us from Nice to Provence and then on to Chamonix, Annecy, Beaune and Colmar before returning the car. About 75% of those miles were on Autoroutes (toll roads).
First let me address the toll booths. Like a great many people I had concerns about them. I did a lot of research and still had some trepidation when we reached the first one. My worries were overblown. We paid some tolls in cash but at most of the booths we used our credits cards. Both my wife and I carried two Visa cards each and all four of them worked perfectly. As with all American issued cards they were chip-and-sign and we had no problem with any of them anywhere in France.
So here's our experience with toll booths: some just issue tickets and some just collect tolls. We never did run into one that collected tolls and then issued another ticket. There was always a sign several hundred meters before the toll booths that told us which kind it was. At the ticket issuing booth we just drove up, a ticket popped out of the slot and as soon as you pulled the ticket out the gate went up just like pay parking lots do here in the States. At the toll collecting booths we picked a lane with a green downward point arrow and used that. Those lanes lanes took cash and credit cards. We never saw a cash only lane. When using a credit card we drove up to the booth, inserted our ticket into the left hand slot and our credit card into the other slot. There's a screen just above the slots which tells you the toll charge. When our card popped back out we took it and the gate opened. We always got a receipt by pushing the red-ringed button on the right. No muss, no fuss and no worry.
The toll roads we drove on in France were fantastic. Smooth, fast and well maintained. Speed limits varied from 70 to 130 Kph. There were rest areas about every 15 kilometers, some fancy, some no so much. Traffic was generally light with the exception of heavy truck traffic on some of the toll roads. Overall, we really enjoyed our driving experience in France and would definitely do it again.
For those of you who pay attention to these things the Megane was factory fresh with less the 5 kilometers on it when we picked it up. It had a 130 hp diesel engine and six-speed manual transmission. For the entire trip the car averaged about 49 mpg. Fuel prices varied from €1.09 - €1.25 per liter. We always tried to but fuel off the toll roads which always had the highest prices.
BTW, don't go without a GPS. They're invaluable. The Megane had a very good one which provided very reliable information once we got use to it.
I hope this provides some information to those planning to driving on France. If you have the inclination rent/lease a car and enjoy the freedom.