I want to plan a 3 weeks trip with my family (2 adults and 2 girls 18 & 12) through Europe at the end of July. We were thinking to start in Barcelona and finish in Zurich or Munich where we have friends. Our plan is to drive a car to the south of France and from there to Paris. Do you have any suggestions. How are the fees for returning a car in a different country. I welcome any suggestions for routes, changes, etc.
Thank you
"How are the fees for returning a car in a different country." Not insignificant, but not as fearsome as legend would have it. I've only done this once. It added about €250 to the total. Not something to completely overlook, but considering we had the car for almost 3 weeks, it was a relative cost.
The fees for dropping a rental car in another country are very high. Think $400 or so. You can get a good estimate by going to the AutoEurope website and plugging in your dates and cities. On the other hand, trains are not free, and avoiding hassle might be worth a lot. You probably won't want a car in Barcelona, and you can easily take a train to the first French town where you can pick up a car. I suspect it would be easy to get from Paris to Zurich (again, places where you won't want a car) by train, or to Munich on cheap a flight. Keep in mind that fuel is very expensive in Europe. You can get an estimate for the cost of your itinerary by going to www.viamichelin.com. It also will give you the cost of tolls, which can be surprisingly high. Lots of issues to consider.
Several ways to look at it:
From where are you flying home? If you have to get back to Paris to fly out, then you're probably not spending much to keep the car for a few more days (but also gas and highway tolls to get back to Paris).
If you don't need the car the whole time that you're with friends, that might allow you to cut the rental shorter, offsetting the second-country drop fee. Flights from Zurich or Munich back to Paris can be reasonable; see www.skyscanner.com. In addition to getting price quotes from Auto Europe, also check the price of a 3-week lease through Europe By Car (but since the program is France-based, there can delivery and drop-off fees in neighbor countries). If you fly out from Geneva, for instance, there are car rental offices designated on the French side of the airport, that count as dropping in France, and Basel-Mulhouse airport is actually in France.
