Traveling throughout Europe in rented car

Usually, when you rent a car in one country and drop it in another there is a huge drop charge. It is better not to do that.

I suggest that you check rental companies to see what the drop charge is and if it is huge, then plan your trip to drop your car at a city close to the border, then take the train to a city across the border then rent another car.

One thing that I learned renting in Europe was it is that if you use Europcar that if they don't have the car you book and want to give you a comparable vehicle, it might not be what you want and they will force you to upgrade and pay way more than you booked. I have used Thrifty and Budget in Europe and never had that problem.

Compare on Kayak.com

You should not drop off a rental car in a different country from the one where you rented it.
Drop the rental car off in Spain near the border with France and take a taxi across the border to a town where can pick up a French rental car.
We did that and avoided the 1000€ drop fee we had been quoted. You can do research for rental car locations on AutoEurope’s website.

If you book directly through the rental company, start by getting a quote from Hertz. You will likely have an extra charge for turning in the car in a different country - maybe $500 or $600 or more.

Consider renting in a country, then turning it in before moving to the next country. Take a train, and rent a new car. There could still be a charge within the same country, but a different city - check the prices.

Or, pick up in one country, drive around, then turn the car back in the original country. One year we rented in Venice, Italy, drove through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia, and then drove back to Venice to turn in the car. We used Europcar for that rental - check with them, too.

Prices vary significantly depending on exactly where you are renting the vehicle from; how many insured drivers are required; how many countries you are visiting and the type of vehicle required. There isn’t a “best” that fits all requirements.

Use a consolidator site to ascertain the parameters and costs.

You may find the one way drop fee to be prohibitive.

As Suki mentioned, the border is easy to cross by taxi on the Basque side. On the Catalan side, you might take a train to connect cities from which to drop one car and pick up another. Either way, I echo all the cautions about trans-border return fees.

AutoEurope is my go-to for cars. They're a Maine-based 3rd party consolidator, but they're reliable and get good rates.

This trip may be long enough to justify leasing rather than renting. I've never done either in Europe but have read that leasing is likely to be cheaper because the lease cost includes insurance. I don't think a lease will get around the border-crossing issue though, and I've not heard about car leases being an option in Spain. I think you'd probably have to pick up and drop off the car in France.

Gail, you haven't posted enough information to get the best replies. We need a more detailed itinerary, time of year, and likely sleeping locations-or at least details for some countries. Number of persons, luggage quantity, budget level. Have you read our host's free Travel Tips top left menu?