I am wanting to rent a car in Avignon and turn the car in at the Nice Airport. We are arriving in Avignon by train from Beaune. Is there more than one rail station in Avignon or is the TGV station the station I would be arriving at even though I will not be traveling on a TGV train? Does anyone recommend a car rental agency that has locations at Avignon Railstation (TGV or ?) and at the Nice airport and allows you to drop the car? Thanks for your input.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Just checked around and Sixt (sixt.com) was the only place I found that went Avignon station to Nice airport. Hold onto your hat. Price is going to be high. I think I've seen more than one station and the car rental I spotted was at TGV. Hope I'm wrong; others will know.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Europcar.com also allow pick up at Avignon TGV station and drop off at Nice Apt. Being a French company I found that Europcar offer the best infrastructure for car rentals in France. Their stations are usually right inside the train stations and airports while Hertz, Sixt and other global players quite often need to bus you to their lots...
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
Jayne, there are two rail stations in Avignon. Last May we arrived at TGV station (the other station is called the Centre-Ville station) and took a cab (real cheap)to our car rental agency (less than 1/4 mile. We should have walked; I thought we were going to go downtown to get our rental car.
The cab is the key. Don't worry abvout which station you are going to stop at...just take a cheap cab to the rental agency if it is not close by.
I always use the internet and book my rental car here. I have always found that I can pick up a car for a better price it I book it "off-airport".
I just go to the Auto Europe web site and check the prices at each location in my arrival town. For Avignon, I found a better price if I booked the car at the Centre-Ville, rather than at the TGV location. (BTW, there is a cheap shuttle that runs between the two locations.) I booked at CVille, but they took me to a TGV car rental location, where I got my lo-cost rental rate.
We ALWAYS pick up our car at one location, and drop it off at another (usually an airport drop off.)
The whole key here is for you to open up various websites, and play with the pick-up and drop-off locations. You will be amazed at the price differences. Also make sure that you get the actual address where the car will need to be picked up and dropped off, and Google map these locations. We never worry about an airport drop off location...they are usually easy to find.
For our car rentals in Europe, I have always found Auto Europe to be a wondrful agency. They are located in Maine, have a great website, offer free GPS's promotions (if you just watch their web site), and will answer any question when you cal them. They also match any competitors price. They are a broker, and use all of the major rental agencies, and this really helps to keep the price down.
Posted by
Mansfield, GA
850 posts
Jayne, also compare rates with gemut.com. The suggestion to rent before you leave is good advice and you can lock in your rates in US$$$ which will help with budgeting.
Posted by
seattle
40 posts
I agree with Lane. Gemut is a consolidator with great prices. I spent a lot of time last year researching car rental prices for a trip that took us from Munich to Milan. Gemut was almost half the price of some agencies (and the lowest overall) and you pay in dollars before you leave.
They have great customer service as we were charged an additional fee in Milan and Gemut contacted the car rental agency and had the charges reversed.
They also have some great rental tips on their website.