rental car pick up sites

They will always cost you more at airports--worldwide. Go on AutoEurope.com and checkout their available locations form the city you are going to pickup a car in. Google the address and you can easily figure out the brand.of rental company they are using.. In many smaller towns, there are no car rentals outside of renting from car dealerships.

I've rented at both airports and rail stations in France, and never really noticed that airports cost more (putting aside the added fee). Recently I rented at the Lyon airport (Hertz through AE), and was surprised at how reasonable the rate was. As to the added fee, it's basically the same at airports and train stations I think around 40 euros or so). I've rented in Bordeaux at both the train station and the airport, and as I recall the added fee was identical. The only way to avoid it is to rent from a city or town rental office.

The location surcharge is added to both train station and airport pickups. If you want to avoid it, pickup an in town office. Presently in Paris, it is about 45€ which is added at drop off.

You do have to factor in getting to a downtown location and ease of picking up/dropping off, maybe factoring in taxi fees or trying to catch a bus to said location. I thought we were being smart choosing to drop our rental off in Nice at their downtown location instead of the airport. What a hassle - now, I don't know Bordeaux, and we just had bad luck, but driving down the Promenade at rush hour...ugh. We missed the road, had to get turned around, got down the road, found out the garage to drop the car was one road back - and the connecting street was one way, and not our way, so back out again - it seriously took us a good 30 min to go back one block. All the hassle added up to about 90 min of our time - and we said - we should have just paid the extra to drop at the airport.

Also will depend on if you need an automatic - you most likely will only find that at bigger rental places - airport or train stns (which in some cases charge the extra fees as well)...smaller rental spots may only have standards.

Just to clarify, location surcharges are unique to pickup location. There are no extra charges for dropping off at airports or train stations.

Those asking for automatics will incur a separate charge called an environmental fee which is another extra charge paid at drop off.

If you check with AutoEurope, you can call their toll free line to make sure that there are no airport or RR surcharges. I just looked on their site and plugged in a rental from Bordeaux airport and RR. In the rate information, there was no fee specified for either. These charges vary by car rental company and location. I had rented a car in Sardinia at the Càgliari airport. No surcharge at the airport but there was one if I wanted to return the vehicle at the downtown location.

Are you dropping at the same place? I picked up in Toulouse (flew in) and dropped in Bordeaux (trained out) a few weeks ago and every company charged a drop fee. I didn't see a difference searching for a downtown pickup vs. an airport pickup, so I'm thinking you're probably best getting it at the station. There are a full range of rental options at the Bordeaux train station.

I'm not impressed with Bordeaux's public transportation. There are buses and a few tram lines that all seem to shut down by 9 pm. If you don't rent at the station, your only option may be a cab to the agent.

I just looked on their site and plugged in a rental from Bordeaux airport and RR. In the rate information, there was no fee specified for either.

The location surcharge doesn't show up when you do a rate search, but it will show up when you get your voucher from AE, which will contain the following language under "Your rental excludes": "Rental excludes location surcharge of approximately EUR
40 for rentals commencing at an airport (excluding Nice Airport where the fee is EUR 44.50), relais (contact us for details on relais locations), or railstation location."
I've rented from both the rail station and the airport in Bordeaux, and there was a location surcharge both times. In fact, I've always had a location surcharge in France, since I always pick up at either a rail station or an airport.

Has anyone picked up a rental car at Chartres? The rental office is a mile away from the train station and we have received conflicting answers from AE about the surcharge.

Road taxes, additional driver fees, location surcharges, one way fees, environment fees and others are never included in a quote from Autoeurope. These fees are charged separately at drop off. The fees are explained within AE's Terms & Conditions on their pickup vouchers and on their websites. Be sure to understand exactly what is and what is not included with your rental before you sign a contract.

To avoid any surprises...

If you check with AutoEurope, you can call their toll free line to make sure that there are no airport or RR surcharges.