Where to rent a car when traveling from Paris to Honfleur

I recommend you avoid driving in Paris at all. It can be a nightmare. Trust me. You might consider taking the train from Paris (Gare Saint-Lazare train station) to Rouen and picking up your car there. Return the car in Amboise and train back to Paris.

We picked our rental car in Rouen before driving to Honfleur, and this seemed to work well. This was in 2003 and we rented through Autoeurope.

If you are dead set on driving in Paris - which is not my idea of fun - Gare de l'Est would be my choice for renting cars.
You'll have to check the agencies for opening times - not sure they will be open when you want to leave.
It might be easier to take the train to the nearest city you'd like to visit, then pick up a car at an agency there.
You should make arrangements to return the car outside of Paris and take the train in.

On our first trip to France in 2010 we rented a car from Budget Rent a Car. We picked it up on the outskirts of Paris at Neuilly Sur Seine, 99 Av Charles De Gaulle. It was across the street from a metro station so very convenient, and also easy to leave town and get on the freeway. We picked it up around noon and there was little traffic leaving Paris. We drove to Honfleur from there and drove through some of Normandy and Brittany, returning the car to the same place. If you should choose to take this option, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to return the car. Once we got close to Paris the traffic was stop and go and though we gave ourselves an extra .5 hour, we barely made it back by the noon return time.

If you have driven in Boston, NYC, D.C., Chicago, LA, or any other major metropolitan area, you will be able to drive in Paris just fine. I don't really understand where people live that are so afraid of driving. Fine if you want to take the train, but don't make it sound like an escape from the apocalypse if somebody drives.

Is there traffic? Yes.

Is it worse than leaving NY Football Giants stadium after a football game? No, not even close.

If you decide to drive during rush hour might you have some stop and go? Yes.

Could the traffic be a pain in the butt? Yes.

Is schlepping a family from a hotel to the train via a 20+ euro shuttle a royal pain in the butt? I don't know but it sure sounds like it which is why we rented a car and it certainly wouldn't have been that much cheaper to take the train.
Is having a car easier if you visit places not directly accessible by train? Yes. Plus we were able to get groceries at our leisure as well as stop by a number of local bakeries.

We paid about the same amount for parking that I will pay for parking in downtown Boston tomorrow. The lot we used was right next to the Eiffel Tower as well. We were able to walk around just fine and then return to the car at the end of the day. We were not staying in paris, however, but rather outside of it.

We took the train from Paris to Rouen and it took absolutely forever as it was one of the slower trains. I think I would have driven that segment in 20/20 hindsight. However, we drove from DLP to Niems, which is a route I would take the train next time.

One of the best rental prices I was able to get was through BJ's Wholesale Club. We ended up renting through Sixt which has locations throughout Paris. However, "Phillippe" at CDG was an absolute $&%^ as he tried to do the proverbial shakedown to squeeze an extra 230 euros on top of what we already paid. Sixt will let you rent from a train station and return it to another for a small (probably 70 euro) fee. I am not sure I will ever do business again with them though.

La Defense may be convenient because you're heading west and it's on the west side of the city. Try autoeurope.com, a rental consolidator, to see a variety of rental agencies in that area.

I think Bets is, as usual, right on. La Defense is easily and inexpensively reached on Metro Line 1. It's outside the Peripherique so driving from there is much like driving on freeways around the edges of Boston, NYC, LA, and other such cities -- not fun but perfectly doable for an experienced US driver. Return the car back to La Defense or maybe Orly if you want to stay south.

Auto Europe is good for searching options, not only for the car itself but also for pickup and dropoff locations. After you choose a car you can choose a location from a list or on a map. You may have to try a few options to find the location(s) you like best, and there might be price tradeoffs (e.g. the airports cost more).

I respect (even admire) the poster who enjoyed seeing Paris by car, but I think most travelers would find sightseeing a lot easier and more efficient by Metro and/or bus. It's not just whether the traffic is manageable, it's also how long it takes to park and how far from where you're going. And the driver having to focus on traffic instead of enjoying the surroundings. And the unfamiliarity of the streets and the French driving conventions (like priorite a droite). I've driven there and would rather not again, and in general I enjoy driving.

LOL very funny Dick. Can I show my husband what you said about me being right.

Anyway, I'm always in favor of not taking a train and paying for a car on the same day--philosophy learned from a very wise man, Ed. You can drive to Rouen in the amount of time it takes you to get to the train station and onto the train. But, I'm also in favor of getting to the outskirts of the city for efficiency. Both my husband and I have French drivers licenses, and I used to drive the family car around with the baby in the backseat, even triumphantly around the Arc de Triomphe, so not a factor.

However, we still regularly pick up in Paris, but if given a choice will go to the outskirts to make a quick getaway. Some of the agency garage entrances are practically hidden, loading times and bus lanes block narrow streets causing back up (like Midtown Manhattan), it can take forever to get over to the peripherique and then the peripherique can be a parking lot, so who needs it on vacation. And if I remember, it took Andrea a couple of hours to get out of town going north from the Gare du Nord due to traffic jams. Ugh.

"If you have driven in Boston, NYC, D.C., Chicago, LA, or any other major metropolitan area, you will be able to drive in Paris just fine. I don't really understand where people live that are so afraid of driving. Fine if you want to take the train, but don't make it sound like an escape from the apocalypse if somebody drives."

I live in California. I have driven in Boston and D.C. of those you've listed, and L.A. too many times to count. I've been driving in San Francisco since I was 16 years old. That was many years ago. I'm not afraid to drive in any city in the U.S. I've also driven in many European countries, including cities. No big deal. On my first trip to Europe, after having a car for over 2 weeks, I was returning it in Paris. If you've never been there before you don't know how difficult it is to even see what street you're on, not to mention the other challenges. In 2014 I rented a car at Gare du Nord to drive to Normandy. This was my 4th trip to Paris and after having spent 4 weeks cumulatively there I felt better prepared to drive. I was caught in the Friday afternoon traffic with seemingly everyone trying to leave the city at once. It wasn't difficult, but it was frustrating. The trip took 1+ hours longer than it should have. If the OP has been to Paris and is an experienced city driver, renting there wouldn't be a problem. If this is a first trip, I recommend against it.

I trust any advice Bets gives about Paris.