I am looking for a place to drop my Italy rental car, train across the border into France, and easily rent another car for my French journey. I will be staying in Alba. I could drive a few hours in any direction to drop off the car. Time is important, Is there a fast option for this?
The reason I'm doing it is to avoid paying the international drop fee of 500-700 euros that I was quoted from Auto Europe.
Turin is about a one hour drive from Alba. You could train almost anywhere from there ... ~ 2 hours to Chambery, 4 hours to Lyon, 6 hours to Paris.
This seems like a question for the consolidator, AutoEurope. They should be able to tell you which rental company you will get your car from and where you can drop it closer to the French border if you need to do that.
If possible with your rental company, you could drop the car in Ventimiglia. There are 3 route options according to Rome2rio, from Alba to Ventimiglia. Then you could take the train across to the best rental town on the other side. The driving takes from 2.5 to 2.75 hours depending on the route you take. Click under "Drive," then on "Driving directions" to see the 3 options.
But you don't say where in France to want to go. That could be convenient if you are going to the Cote d'Azur. Not so much if you are headed farther north. Again, Rome2rio could give you a hint on the best routes if you put in the actual destination city. You also don't say what time of year you are going, so weather could be a factor.
Again, AutoEurope should be able to help you with this. Personally, we always used Gemut.com because of the great free downloadable brochure on car rental and driving in Europe and the personal service from Andy there. They are actually in Oregon. They work through AutoEurope, but somehow they have always been able to get cheaper rates for us than when we try to do it ourselves.
From Alba you could drive to Turin, return the car there, then take a train to Chambery or Lyon (Chambery is closer) and rent a car there. Both have rental car offices at the station.
If you are headed to the French Riviera, you could return your car in Savona, then take a train to Ventimiglia, and from Ventimiglia another train to Nice. There are no rental companies in Ventimiglia, so you cannot drop off there.
The Turin option is probably faster, but you didn't tell us where in France you are headed.
Pay attention to Roberto's advice, he has given you the two best options depending on where you are headed in France (up to Paris or staying down in the South).
We once did what you're asking about, when we were heading to the Cote d'Azur. We were able to drop the car in San Remo. From there, a train ride to Nice was not very long and quite cheap on a local (intercity?) line. If that fits your itinerary, just put in San Remo as your drop-off point and see what rate AutoEurope comes up with.
