Car Rental in Provence

One suggestion: Gemut.com. Go to the website, read the info and contact Andy. We turned in our Europcar there last year just a few blocks from the Rotonde downtown. Andy can tell you exactly how much, for how long, for what kind of car. There are very reasonable parking garages all around the downtown area of Aix, even one right next to the Rotonde fountain and called, wait for it, Parking Rotonde. We spent a week in Aix last year with a rental car and had a great time driving both in Provence and along the coast. We went as far east as Cannes and as far west as the Pont du Gard (fabulous) and Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue. You will have a great time.

Hi Denise. To get started, just use the Hertz and Avis websites. I've had good luck with both companies in Europe. Enjoy your trip!

Sixt has had the best deals when we've been to France. Check the majors directly as well as the consolidators. You need a car to really explore Provence.

Denise, whatever you do read the awesome primer that Gemut puts together telling what to do, and not to do, when renting in the EU. http://www.gemut.com/images/stories/report/carrentalspecialreport.pdf Don't rent directly with one of the majors; you will get a much better price by using one of the brokers like Gemut or Autoeurope. We like to start with the Autoeurope web site, which allows us to play with car size, rental agency, pickup and drop-off locations, etc, and watch the change in prices. Rent here; pick up there. When there are four of us we like to rent a car similar to a Ford Focus wagon; it is small enough to drive on narrow roads with just enough room for 4 and luggage.

Both Gemut and Autoeurope have some pretty big flaws: Gemut: Their booklet is a primer, not an encyclopedia. There are enough generalizations and should/maybe/usually statements to send you up the creek. You have to tell them what you want and then wait for a response. Then negotiate if you think you found something better. Renting a car should be a ninety-second operation, not a series of emails. If you need a hand-holder for a simple operation, they might be the way to go. Autoeurope: A consolidator does not always, or even usually, have the best deal - - it depends on when they took their guess and made their obligations. Autoeurope makes you pay them in advance. If whoever they foist you off upon doesn't have what you want when you get there, you're out of luck. Otherwise, you can just take your business over to the next counter and ask them to match what you had - - they always will. If you have a problem on the road, Autoeurope is of no help, you have to work with the owner of the car. A probably rent a dozen car internationally in the course of an average year. I do it at the departure gate and use kayak. If I forget, I stick the phone next to my leg and do it on the role. Two minutes or less, normally. Kayak will show up AE if they're in the running. I put them on the crap list for a couple of years last month and won't use them for a while on account of they screwed me twice in a row again - - unless they're a real big wad cheaper, which they never are.