We're planning on renting a car in Brest for a week.
I doubt very much that public transport is going to be very reliable and we'd like to see as much as Brittany as possible.
Just called AutoEurope for a quote and almost fell off my chair. Who do you all recommend? I never did rent a car during summer, so this will be our first time.
Bonjour Eli,
We rented from Europcar and were very pleased but it was only for one day to get us from Sarlat to Arles. I did do a comparison between autoeurope ($494) and europcar ($440) so certainly not much savings. That of course doesn't even include the petrol and any tolls and probably not even CDW.
Before we rented I tried all the rental companies that Rick suggests as well as Hertz through Costco. We rented in April 2006.
Just to clarify - AutoEurope is a consolidator and Europecar is an actual car rental company. We have rented through AutoEurope several times - and what I remember is that you don't know who the actual rental car company will be until after you have gotten your quote. We have ended up with cars rented through Europecar as well as Hertz (and maybe Avis, trying to remember).
Anyway - don't know what you are looking at for a car but there are several things that can make it very expensive. Can you drive a manual? That is the single biggest moneysaver for us. Also - did you get a quote that included all the insurance? Check with your credit card company (very carefully) and see if it can be covered through them. My company covers me in France so again, it is cheaper without the insurance. And of course, get the smallest possible car that will fit your family. Can't remember how many people you have - but we almost always end up with something along the lines of a Ford Mondeo or a Skoda - a hatchback style wagon that is not very big and has fit our family of 4 with luggage quite comfortably.
BTW - we love renting a car and agree that for seeing Brittany it would be great to have one.
Darcy & Karen, thanks for both your responses.
Karen, my husband drives a manual so that's not a problem. We are looking for a small car and there are four of us. We won't have luggage to contend with, so that's going to help also. My brother-in-law will meet us at the airport on the 22nd (Brest), and will take us back, so we only need the car for 7 days.
Will check with our credit card. I remember reading something here about folks having problems with their credit company, especially for a claim.
