Pre-paid Visa Cards

Prepaid cards are accepted, but you're better off purchasing one once you arrive in France. The cards sold in Europe have the smart chip embedded in them, so you can use it more easily to pay for gas and tolls at automated machines. The US prepaid cards just have the magnetic strip on them.

In the past when I looked at pre-paid visa cards that had a lot of fees associated with the card which put the card in the range of 8 to 12%. The pre-paid WalMart card does have lower fees but still more than the fees paid using a standard debit card. Michael's recommendation about buying it in Europe makes a lot of sense.

An alternative would be to choose a "designated payer." EVeryone chips a selected amount and that person pays all of the bills. When the money is gone you each add more. Be sure to agree in advance what will and not be paid from the kitty.

An alternative would be to choose a "designated payer."

I think this is a better idea. The main problem I see with the prepaid card is, you don't know exactly how much you are going to spend on gas. And, what if there is a balance remaining on the card when trip is over? How will you refund that balance to those who paid into the card?