where to return rental car in Paris?

I've returned cars to CDG with no problems. Just follow the signs to Rental Car Return, then you are well positioned to take the RER or taxi into Paris. I would not try to return a car in central Paris.

Your rental company's website should have a list of locations, look for one in the western outskirts of Paris, like around La Defense or Porte Maillot, where there's a Metro or RER station to get you into town after you've dropped the car. Google Earth can help you "find" these addresses, and its "street view" feature can give you a preview of routes and destinations. But make sure your chosen location will be open when you need it, sometimes they're closed evenings and/or Sundays.

If you've never driven in Paris before, I wouldn't do it. I have driven in Paris on occasion, and I have dropped off a rental at the Gare de Lyon, but it was very tricky. Not sure if Gare de Monparnasse is as bad, but at Gare de Lyon, the drop off was inside a parking garage. The only sign noting that it was a drop-off location for the rental company was placed flat on the wall of the garage--a driver wouldn't see it while driving by. Fortunately, I used Google Street View before driving there to check on the location and familiarize myself with landmarks. As other posters have suggested, try a drop-off outside of the city center, such as at La Defence or Porte Maillot. Also, check to see what gas stations are relatively close to your drop-off location so that you can fill you tank ahead of time.

I agree w/ the confusion of finding the parking garage in Paris (Sept 2013). We went around the block in rush hour traffic a few times and one of my sons spotted the stupid sign. I don't know which location we used.

I'd Metro in.

Julie ... have you checked the return policy (or pricing at all) of your auto rental company? Most rentals for returns to other than point-of-origin in Europe and particularly France are charged a premium. Therefore you may save (big) by returning to the point-of-origin. Next, do ... do ... take the advice of not driving into Paris (particularly Gare Montparnasse) to return your car. You may opt to pick up a car between Paris and Caen; taking a train to and from that location. Less $$ ... less driving frustration. You will waste more time driving in Paris!!

CDG makes the most sense... I have done it a few times... it can be very busy, but just drive slowly till you see the signage for your rental car company... much better than ended up downtown. Or you could pick up and drop off your car in Reims and take the train there.

Thank you all for your replies! It's easy to say the consensus is to NOT return the car in central Paris. I have not booked our rental car yet; I was planning to go with Europcar since it seems to be a good company with a good rate.

I have checked Europcar's rates and they do not have a pricing difference between dropping at the original pickup point versus another location around Paris. I had considered dropping our car at the original location (Caen Railway), but that would involve some back-tracking from Honfleur. We do not have to stay in Honfleur on our last night in Normandy -- we thought it would be a nice stop not too far out of the way after spending a day exploring the Cidre Route, instead of backtracking to Bayeux (where we will have already spent 3 nights).

I looked at CDG and it involves more driving time and distance, going out of the way a little bit. I am slightly worried that the airport might be large and difficult to get around, also a little worried about getting from the actual car return at CDG to the RER line. Is there a big walk between the two or is the RER convenient to the car drop?

There is a Europcar location close to the RER Gare de St Ouen L'aumone stop, which looks like it would take a little bit of a walk to get to. I google streetviewed the location and it looks a little quiet and off the beaten path. I wonder if there a regular RER train running there or would we have a wait?

I also just got done looking at the Versailles location. There is a Europcar location close to the Versailles Chantiers stop, and again, it looks like it may take a little bit of a walk to get to. However, the streetview looks more pleasant and lively than the St Ouen area. I'm wondering if the Versailles location might be the easiest?

We rented a car in Liile last fall. We had intended on returning in Paris. Decided against due to previous experience driving in Paris trying to find the return office and the time it would take. We returned in Dijon and took the high speed train back to Paris. There was no extra fee to drop off at a different location. It was a Sunday and the Dijon office was closed but they had a key drop for returns after hours.

I've done a little more research and it sounds like several have returned at Versailles with relative ease. I think we will plan on going there. Thanks again!

Ok...getting ready to pull the trigger on our car rental. I researched dropping the car in both Versailles and CDG more thoroughly and it sounds like CDG might be the safer option, even though we will have to drive a little further to get there. We have purchased a GPS with maps for Europe and will be using it along with a paper map. If CDG is like Dublin's airport, it was slightly tricky to find a gas station...can anyone advise of a station close to the airport that we should watch for? Anything else we should keep in mind? We plan to rent from AutoEurope (Europcar) with the No Deductible Rate.

I don't see how you'll save time returning a car at CDG, which is out of the way and adds the RER time onto your trip. Both Rouen and Versaille are on your route back to Paris. If you have a GPS, you'll find the Versaille or Rouen drop off easily. La Defense and Porte Maillot, which were suggested, are two good options as well. FYI, all the train stations in Paris have their car rentals in garages whose signs can be very difficult to spot; Gare du Nord is the worst.

If you still need a gas station near CDG, just go to "points of interest near destination" on your GPS and type in gas stations. There are several within a couple kilometers. Finally, if you change your mind about drop off location, you can alter it even after your trip has begun by calling AutoEurope. They'll give you their special French 800 number.

Finally, I don't know if you've ever been to CDG before, but it's minimum five or six times larger than Dublin airport with many more access roads, freeways, overpasses, etc.

Bets, from what I read and looked at on the booking pages, the Versailles location closes for two hours at lunch. Another forum poster reported that the office closed even earlier than reported...so, I thought to avoid the hassle of them closing before we could drop the car off.

For the life of me, I can't find the La Defense option on AutoEurope's webpage. Is it listed under something else?

Also, for Porte Maillot, I can only find a Hertz option (I was going to book Europcar through AutoEurope).

Are either of these two options closed over lunch hour? If someone can please help me figure out where to find the La Defense option on AutoEurope's page, I'd really appreciate it!

You're right about Hertz at Porte Maillot, and La Defense isn't coming up as a location on AutoEurope's site, though the address is: 34 PL.DE LA DEFENSE PKG CTRE NIV - 92911 PARIS LA DEFENSE. You could call AutoeEurope and ask if it's an option.

And my bad about passing by Versaille; it does take you slightly out of the way a little. We did it because we were going to Burgundy. Two other agencies on the western entrance to the city: Neuilly-sur-Seine seems to be National/Citer instead of Europcar. The Ave. Foch return is big wide streets right on the edge of Paris, but if you miss your turn you could end up going around the Arc de Triomphe--whoa. See https://www.google.com/maps/@48.8739164,2.2919265,17z

Conclusion: I agree with you that CDG may be a good bet if Versaille won't work due to lunch time.

I called AutoEurope and La Defense is not a return option for them...even though Europcar lists it as available on their website...???...I asked the service person about any other locations they might suggest and he started with the Louvre location...I'm guessing we don't want to drive in downtown Paris!

I have found an option for Europcar return at 38 Avenue Des Ternes. This is about a 15 minute walk through a residential-looking area (I google-walked it) to the Porte Maillot RER station. This location appears to be open all day (8am-6pm) without a lunch break listed on their hours. So, we'd have some flexibility if we showed up around lunch time I hope?

We are staying in the Latin Quarter close to the Saint Michel Notre Dame RER stop so the Porte Maillot location would be convenient for us. However, the RER line forks -- how do we make sure we go the right direction? Is it a matter of hopping on the right train?

So, is the des Ternes location a viable option?

The regional bus/metro/RER site (RATP) has a planner: http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ratp/recherche-avancee

The planner suggests you walk to Place d'Etoile and catch Metro 1, a straight shot, and get off at Chatelet. From Chatelet, you walk to your hotel near the St. Michel stop, which is on a different line. The RER A runs the same route and comes into Chatelet at the same end of the station, so you could use that too but it's further underground--ie. more escalators to get down.
That Av. des Ternes location shouldn't have you driving very far in Paris; it connects to both ring roads--the boulevard that circles Paris and the autoroute that circles Paris. Please report back as people are always asking about dropping a car near Paris.

Bets, thanks for the advice on the other metro stations -- I was focusing on the Maillot location, not even thinking about the other options close by. I'm thinking we may still want to walk to the Maillot station since it's a straight shot to our stop, but I'll just have to do some more research.

I'll definitely be reporting back. I've gotten a lot of great advice here and I can't wait to share our tips and story!

Hi,
You are sick of replies by now.

I just returned a car in May to CDG. No real problem. Watch the car return signs and follow them. We returned ours between terminals 2 and 3. The last sign and turn are quick, But drive slowly and carefully as you would at any airport and no problem.

How ever...Make sure your car rental agency is being homest or should I say straight forward with you about charges. Hertz had some real big hidden fees (I found them before I picked the car up), while Europcar was what they told me.

Back to CDG and car return...Just drive into CDG and start the big road loop inside the airport. I really don't think it matters one bit which return you use, just park it in the proper car rental agency's area. they are all next to each other and if you follow the signage, you willknow where to go.

Oddly, I picked up in Caen and returned to CDG 29 days later.

wayne iNWI

Since you were looking at Versailles, I would go just a bit further and return it at Orly. Easy to get to, easy to find transportation (both expensive and inexpensive) into Paris, and all the long hours of an airport. As to cost: I have rented through Autoeurope twice for trips to France. In both cases, there was never a charge for dropping off at a different location than I picked up AS LONG as it was in France. (things change, so always good to check. Autoeurope will advise you during the process of renting if there is a charge, then will get back to you later on what that charge is.) However, as I said, there was never a charge for us if we did both in the France. (We picked up Lille once and dropped at Orly...the second trip we picked up at Versailles and dropped at Lille).

Julie: Have you thought about returning through Chartres? The drop off location is about one mile or so from the train station which has hourly trains into Paris. You also have the opportunity to see one of the world's best gothic cathedrals while avoiding the Paris traffic and aggravation of trying to find the drop off location. In full disclosure, we will be picking up a rental car for a few days in Lille. We will be driving through Honfleur, Bayeux, D-Day sites, and Mont St. Michel. We will return the car in Chartres, and go visit the cathedral again.

Chartres is an excellent idea. You see one of the most important cathedrals, train is one hour into the center of Paris, not too far from where you are staying. You'd be losing at least an hour going out to CDG and even Orly and then back into Paris. With Chartres even if the agency closes for lunch, you have the cathedral to visit.

I'm also wondering if Orly wouldn't be a better choice than CDG. Check LesCars buses run by Air France. It's a pleasant, easy way to get to central Paris, if any of their stops is near your destination . . . Montparnasse, Invalides, Etoile.

Near Porte de Saint-Cloud is also a Europcar location. You can take the A13 all the way from Normandy into Paris till it hits the Périphérique (just near Roland-Garros). Follow direction Lyon – Périphérique Sud / Paris-Pte de St Cloud. Keep right, first exit “Pte de St Cloud”. As soon as the uphill exit lane is at street level, the Europcar location is directly at your righthand side, there is a gaz station too in the same building.

Metro station Porte de Saint-Cloud (line 9) is some 10min walking, change at Michel Ange Molitor for line 10 to Quartier Latin.

Thank you all for your replies! Everyone is so helpful. :)

I had thought about Chartres, but thought maybe it was too far out of the way. And, since I hope to come back to France to see more, I thought it might be better to save it for another trip that made more sense logistically for a Loire Valley itinerary...Based off your feedback, we will reconsider it. If we do go to Chartres, I would really like to catch one of the famous Malcolm Miller tours. I've emailed him to see if the tours are still running and what time.

We're now also considering dropping our car in Rouen and taking the train back to Paris. We will already be very close to Rouen. When traveling, we like to try to make the most of the area we are in, so maybe it makes sense to spend a little time here. I had also originally wanted to see Jumieges Abbey, but was worried about having enough time in the day to do everything and get to Paris for our 8pm walking tour. Unfortunately, the museum that Rick lists in his guidebook that will hold luggage for you is closed on Tuesdays...so we will have to schlep our luggage around Rouen if we have to drop our car before we can sight-see.

Wil, the Porte de Saint-Cloud is an excellent suggestion. I found pictures of the station from Google. It looks like it would be pretty easy to locate and an easy drive off of the E5. I think it could be easier than the Des Ternes location since it is right off of a major road?

Decisions, decisions, decisions...it's so hard to know what to do! Just need to decide which is more appealing to us. Beautiful cathedral in Chartres, time in Rouen/Jumieges Abbey, more time in Paris...I guess it's a good problem to have. :)

I'll be reporting back this fall when we're back. Can't wait to share our experiences.