Europcar

I have used Europcar in France extensively for the last 25 years. I believe a major reason was that their price has always been significantly lower than the others. I have always been very satisfied with Europcar, until recently. I would recommend going through AutoEurope, which is what I almost always do. When there have been problems, they've been very helpful at interceding with the rental company. Believe me, you don't want to have to deal with Europcar directly if a problem comes up.

I've used them for our two rentals in France via AutoEurope. Our second time, we ended up putting a huge scratch on the car. In trying to get our money refunded (we used Amex to rent, which included coverage)...I sent a half dozen emails to Europcar to get the damage breakdown that Amex needed, to no avail. I finally got in touch with AutoEurope and had what I needed in less than 48 hrs - moral - I should have went right to AE since they were the go between.

It hasn't turned me off Europcar - I just know for next time if there are any issues to directly contact AE, and, more importantly - pay the little amount for the extra coverage Amex offers - I think it's 'no questions asked', basically...I'll look into it more next time we rent.

And via AE, Europcar was ALWAYS the cheapest option - we got nice, newer cars (the 2nd one only had 10,000 KM on it), both of which - as luck would have it - had integrated GPS. Never had anyone try and upsell us on insurance either.

I sent a half dozen emails to Europcar to get the damage breakdown that Amex needed, to no avail.

That's exactly what happened to me a few years. So then I contacted Auto Europe, and even they weren't able to get the info from Europcar.

Never had anyone try and upsell us on insurance either.

Neither did I, until last year. The agent at Europcar Bordeaux tried to upsell me on everything, and was shocked each time I refused ("You don't want to add a 2d driver? But you could become disabled and then no one would be authorized to drive."; "You really don't want a GPS?")

I used Europcar last year (pick-up in Brive, drop-off in Avignon) and was very pleased. The car type I reserved was not available so they upgraded me to a new Audi (sweet!). The GPS they provided me "spoke" French, but the clerk was happy to assist to change it to English. My 10-day rental with GPS and a zero-deductible was about $700.

Thanks to all of you. Great tip to do Auto Europe and book through them. I just did that and think that will work out.

They may have asked us both times if we wanted to get the insurance, but we just said - nope, used the Amex and that was it.

We lucked into the integrated GPS. But GPS rentals can be very pricy - honestly, you could probably buy a cheap used one on ebay for much less. The first time we had been going to rely on a map. The second time, we had borrowed my sister's GPS - she lives in the UK - and the darn thing kept talking to us like we were driving in the UK! Maybe it thought we were driving a UK oriented car - thank goodness for the integrated GPS!

I would check with whatever credit card you are using and see if they offer additional coverage for a small fee - I'm mostly sure the Amex coverage was something like $30.

Now - also - we had to pay about another 50 euro or so over and above what AE quoted us - because we picked up at the train stn in Avignon (extra fee) and there were daily environmental fees (a few euro a day) and I think an extra fee because we had an automatic. It was all in French, so I couldn't quite get the translation because of some abbrev. Those were paid at the time of drop off at the Europcar office.

Wondering if anyone knows why a Europcar rental (2 weeks in France picking up at Charles De Gaulle and dropping in Marseille) is so much more inexpensive than the rates I was quoted for Hertz and Avis?

For the same reason, I booked in the US with Thrifty (operated by Hertz in Spain). Picked up in Seville and dropped off at Malaga. At a rate ~30% lower than Europcar, AutoEurope and Gemut (they need your info just for a quote and the most expensive).

Brought my own GPS and got the AMEX insurance.

https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do