Renting an automatic car at BVA (Beauvais) airport - reasonable plan?

My suggestion would be to specify an automatic when making the rental reservation but call the rental counter at the rental location (may take some detective work to find the phone number) 2 days ahead of time to remind them that you need an automatic. Using that system, I've never missed out on an automatic transmission car when renting. The person at the rental counter should speak some English, but in case they don't ahead of time, use Google Translate or Bing Translator to come up with a brief sentence stating what you need in French, have the computer "speak" it to you, and then memorize it (or write it out phonetically).

But they'll probably speak English since they're in the tourism business.

As for the Amex, I see a lot of signs in France stating that they're not accepted, but I have no knowledge of that particular vendor. I would recommend bringing a Visa or MasterCard as backup and just plan on buying insurance coverage rather than hoping your card will work.

Using AE insurance is a great move. You´ll get more coverage at far lower costs. Car rentals should always be arranged well in advance so you should know if your credit card will be accepted or not.

Unfortunately, manual transmissions are not popular in France and you´ll pay a premium to rent one, assuming you can find one. Rents themselves are higher plus you'll pay what is called an environmental tax. The environmental tax now may be included in your quote but it is a question you should ask. Historically, taxes of this kind were paid at drop off but there may have been a change making them part of the quote.

BVA is a very small airport and even with assurances that an automatic will be available, there is NEVER a guarantee that an automatic will be there when you arrive. The only way to be reasonably assured that you will have an automatic it to rent one from CDG or from an office in Paris.

You should familiarize yourself with French road rules, including the Priorité à droite (yielding to the right) and default speed limits as they may not be posted in the same manner with which you are accustomed.

Thanks for the replies so far. I should add that I've already priced out rentals for an automatic from BVA on the Hertz/Dollar/etc web sites, so I'm fine with what they say is available at a given price. I just was not sure how foolproof that information is, when I actually show up at the counter.

As for payment, clearly Hertz and Dollar accept Amex here at home and indeed my Amex is on my preferred account. I also just wasn't sure if that implies I can assume I can physically hand them my Amex at the pickup counter (if they require it) or if it is somehow possible they would not accept it there even though the parent company does accept it online making reservations.

Presumably they will accept American Express at the counter at BVA? I
understand that Amex isn't as widely accepted in retail there, but in
a tourism situation like this I need to use the Amex for the
insurance.

Maybe, but don't count on it. Beauvais is a small airport mostly used by low cost airlines and with no transatlantic flights.

Are there any other gotchas I should know about with the idea of using
BVA to fly in and pick up the rental for Normandy travels rather than
CDG?

Make sure you learn the road signs and traffic rules.

As someone who has rented automatics in France dozens of times, I would think that getting an automatic at an airport like Beauvais would be unlikely. At times I've looked into renting an automatic at a smaller airport, and nothing would even show up as being available. One time Hertz listed an automatic, I reserved it, and my confirmation said "Manual." When I called, they said yes, a manual. So I've always rented at airports or train stations in larger cities. I think Bordeaux is the smallest one that I've rented at.
Just to add to what's already been suggested: Get an International Drivers Permit, available from AAA in the US. It's basically required for Americans driving in France.

I don't want to speak out of turn here, but I'm quite confident that when Tocard wrote:

"Unfortunately, manual transmissions are not popular in France..."

He or she meant:

"Unfortunately, automatic transmissions are not popular in France..."

I would add that, while automatics are still a minority, they're becoming more common over time. I think the notion that they're unpopular is losing its potency over time.

AutoNews, for example, noted that the proportion of automatics in France was around 7 percent of cars in 2003. RTL France, in a more recent article, reported in 2017 that the proportion of automatics in France was 25 percent, increasing from barely 8 percent a decade earlier (2007). In the same article, RTL also noted that certain French cars are majority automatic, such as the Renault Espace minivan (90% sold are automatics) and the Peugeot 3008 crossover SUV (65% automatics).

It's interesting because when I look directly on Hertz or Dollar web sites, they show a reasonable selection of automatics for Beauvais. But from what Robert says, maybe this information is not to be trusted. One does not want to learn the hard way on site that there is no car they can drive! I'm still unsure how to gauge the reality of this situation. The trip is several months away so I am starting the research early.

PS. Thanks for the other advice - yes I will get an IDP and I have been reading up on French driving rules and signs. And watching youtube videos. I see some local rules worth noting, but at the same time, it doesn't seem all that different from familiar practices having driven all over US/Canada. The "priority from the right" rule is certainly worth keeping in mind of course.

I have zero experience renting cars in Europe, but I've read often on this forum that some car-rental locations in Europe are franchises of the major US rental companies, not wholly-owned subsidiaries. Therefore, I would not assume that AmEx will be accepted at the Beauvais Airport rental location.

It's interesting because when I look directly on Hertz or Dollar web
sites, they show a reasonable selection of automatics for Beauvais.
But from what Robert says, maybe this information is not to be
trusted.

Don't think of that list as a list of cars that are available at Beauvais, but rather as a selection of cars that can be rented there. Since it is a smaller airport, I'd guess they only have a couple of cars there at most but if someone reserves a car from a different category someone will drive that car to Beauvais from Orly or Charles de Gaulle or somewhere else.

But I have to admit that I'm a bit curious about what kind of itinerary have you arriving at Beauvais.

But I have to admit that I'm a bit curious about what kind of itinerary have you arriving at Beauvais.

We will be coming to France from Krakow, Poland, one of several legs on this Europe trip, visiting from the U.S. When I looked at flights from Krakow I saw that we could fly either into Beauvais or CDG.

The appeal of Beauvais is that it is closer to the Normandy areas we will be visiting. Also, because I have never been to France nor driven there, it seemed like BVA might be a little "easier" to start out.

Ultimately we will be returning the car to CDG, 1 week later. I already factored that into the pricing of the rental. But, it may simply be easier to just fly into CDG from Krakow, book the round trip rental at a (slightly) lower price, and presumably get a larger selection of automatic vehicles. This is the decision I am still trying to make as I gather information.

PS. That said, according to the Hertz web site, the Beauvais location is corporate owned, so I will send them this question as well.

Have you considered flying in Paris Orly? It's not as big as CDG but still a fair sized airport with all the big name car rental companies. Your chances of securing an automatic there will be higher than at BVA.

With regards to your Amex concerns, if you pay for the rental upfront, say with Hertz, then there will be no requirement to pay anything at the local branch. I pretty much book all my rentals with rentalcars.com, pay upfront and there's nothing to pay when I collect. You most likely will be asked for a credit card to secure a deposit on so if you have a non Amex card such as Mastercard or Visa then you will have no issues if Amex is not accepted however your payment will have been made with Amex so you can still enjoy the rewards with the Amex expenditure (if that's the reason for using Amex). Most major rental agencies, particularly the American ones (even if the rental place is a local franchise) will take Amex.

I don't know if the Hertz at Beauvais will have an automatic transmission vehicle because we drive a manual when in Europe but I do know for a fact that they accept American Express. That being said, depending on where you are heading to in Normandy, Beauvais may not be a huge timesaver. You are just about guaranteed to get automatic at CDG. If having one is mission-critical, that would be my arrival airport. My husband and I drive for decades in New York City so we might be anomalous, but getting out of CDG and getting on to the highways is no more difficult than exiting any major US airport. You literally just follow the signs. If you can get out of LAX, you got this.
BTW, and only tangentially related, the Hertz at Beauvais is the only rental car location in France that ever asked if we had IDPs. We said yes and moved to show them but were told she did not need to see them, she just wanted to know we had them.

If you’ve never driven in France before, then I would advise getting the smallest car that will fit your party and luggage. Narrow streets, infrequent shoulders to pull off, narrow parking places, etc. are the rule.

Smaller automatics can be scarce but you’ll stand a better chance at CDG. In a small airport like Beauvais, you may not have a choice of automatics, no matter what size you booked. Often there is just one automatic, and that’s the one you get. Many posters on this forum report having to settle for a much larger vehicle than they are comfortable with.

A few other thoughts...In addition to the road rules, be sure you check the gas pumps to be sure you get the correct fuel. Markings are different than in the States. Regarding speed limits, there is very little tolerance for even a few km’s over the limit. Lots of cameras and they will send you a ticket in the US.

We will be coming to France from Krakow, Poland, one of several legs
on this Europe trip, visiting from the U.S. When I looked at flights
from Krakow I saw that we could fly either into Beauvais or CDG.

That explains it! I somehow thought that you where arriving from Los Angeles. In that case my choice would probably be Charles de Gaulle to avoid having to deal with Ryanair, but other seems to not mind them.

The appeal of Beauvais is that it is closer to the Normandy areas we
will be visiting. Also, because I have never been to France nor driven
there, it seemed like BVA might be a little "easier" to start out.

Another option is to take the train from Charles de Gaulle to somewhere in Normandie and rent the car there.

Ultimately we will be returning the car to CDG, 1 week later. I
already factored that into the pricing of the rental. But, it may
simply be easier to just fly into CDG from Krakow, book the round trip
rental at a (slightly) lower price, and presumably get a larger
selection of automatic vehicles. This is the decision I am still
trying to make as I gather information.

I think you are overthinking this, if you reserve an automatic at Beauvais you will get one.

When we rented a car from Herz at FCO Rome a few years ago we had to wait two hours for a car to come in and we were getting a manual. A guy there who had ordered an automatic BVA if it is critical for you and plan to fly into CDG or Orly instead where the odds are better.

"I think you are overthinking this, if you reserve an automatic at Beauvais you will get one."

You might get one but I disagree with the blanket statement that if you reserve an automatic at Beauvais, you will get one. If the automatic transmission is mission critical, fly into Orly or CDG. We have reserved automatic vehicles at small airports in France and not gotten them. Luckily, we can drive manual transmission and our travel companion who planned to share the driving got to skip that chore.

And if they don't have an automatic there you will be with a take it or leave it shrug from the clerk. They won't care. As we learned from Seinfeld years ago the meaning of the word 'reservation' at a car rental place is 'yeah maybe' -- we have several times had reservations where they don't even have a car for us -- in Rome, in the US and in London.

Before you commit to anything, visit Gemut.com. You can learn a lot there about renting cars and driving in Europe. You can also call them directly. They are in Oregon.

In fact, they have a free, downloadable brochure on exactly that topic. Here's the link:

What You Need to Know About Renting & Driving a Car in Europe.

Last time we were in France we picked up our Europcar in Reims and returned it in Aix-en-Provence. We asked for the smallest and cheapest manual we could get. What we actually ended up with was a larger than we wanted automatic because that's all they had when we went to pick up the car.

I don't know if this is still the case, or if it's true of all rental agencies, but when we returned the car we were charged extra for me not being the primary driver. I had rented and paid for the car, but my husband was the primary driver.

It turned out that the primary driver was supposed to be the person who rented and paid for the car. Must've been in the very fine print. It wasn't much extra, but it was a surprise because when we rented cars in Iceland and Germany (twice) previously, my paying and him driving was not an issue.

Regarding primary driver -- we put all rental cars on my credit card (ChaseSapphire Reserve) because the insurance is better so I am always the "primary driver" and my husband is an "additional authorized driver" -- but I haven't driven a mile (or kilometer) in many trips. Rental company doesn't check who actually drives the car away or returns it as long as they get their additional driver fee. Two IDP's as well. For Normandy we rented from Caen, where there was a large supply of automatics.

I've rented many automatics here in France over the years (I can drive a manual but hate to do so on longer drives), and only the smallest locations have been unable to provide one. Beauvais is not such a location, it is a reasonably sized regional airport: if you reconfirm as suggested above, I would not worry.
However, be ready to have a much larger car than originally booked. Booking the smallest automatics I often ended up with full-size sedans and SUVs, and narrowly dodged getting a minivan once. This is not an issue for me, I am comfortable on tight roads and I welcome the upgrades. But it might be for you, in which case a CDG rental, if there's an affordable way to get to CDG from Krakow, would be safer.

Thanks again for all the thoughts. Reading this thread has pushed the needle, so to speak, back to the idea of just flying into CDG and renting the automatic from there.

At least, that seemed like a good idea until I went down the rabbit hole of reading reviews of the major car rental agencies at CDG. Oh my. Seems that there are a lot of reports of shady practices even for members of preferred rental programs (Hertz Gold, etc). Particularly hard upselling of upgrades while claiming no vehicles of the type reserved are available, and aggressively suspect damage claims on return. I suppose these things can happen anywhere, but out of many dozens of rentals in North America I've really only had one negative experience (a false damage claim I was able to disprove with photos).

And if they don't have an automatic there you will be with a take it or leave it shrug from the clerk.

Not necessarily. The first time that happened to me was in Paris, and my travel agent had neglected to reserve an automatic on the reservation form. I told the agent that I couldn't drive a manual. He said to come back in an hour. When we did, he had an automatic (probably from another agency).
And at a train station in Lyon, I had reserved an automatic, but they didn't have one. The agent called their airport office, confirmed that they had one, and got one of their employees to drive us there.

I pre-reserved an automatic for FRA-Frankfurt in 2018, and was offered only a massive transit van. When I demanded a small manual, I had to wait an hour for one to come in and get turned-around.

To use Amex collision coverage, you have to use the card. They may ask for written proof of the CC coverage.