autoeurope in France

I think you covered it as far as fees go, I mean, there are taxes, etc, just like here, included in the final billing. The main decision you've already made, which is to reduce your financial exposure to zero re damage to the car.

Have you thought about leasing a car from them? It is a 17 day minimum, but there is no penalty for turning it in a few days early if you need to. With a lease, all costs are included. There is only an additional charge if you pick it up or return it outside of France. They provide you with a brand new car of your choosing. We did the lease program in the summer of 2006, picking the car up in Frankfurt and returning it in Paris. Because I didn't want to have the car in Paris, we dropped it off after taking our luggage to the hotel. I think we had it 15 days. It was a great experience we plan to do it again next year. It does take advance planning. You can inquire on their website and compare the costs.

Prepare yourself for the VAT, or Value Added Tax. AutoEurope is a good company, and probably includes this in their quote, but look at the fine print just to make sure. At almost 20%, this tax adds quite a bit to the basic rate.

First, thanks for all the replies.

I never paid attention to the leasing program since it usually mentions the 17 days threshold. After reading the post, I actually went and calculated the cost. It is about the same as a 10-day rental with zero excess insurance. It has the advantage of getting a brand new car, but probably a (minor) dis-advantage of having somewhat less pickup/dropoff points. Also, you can back out on autoeurope any time, but I am not sure about the leasing program. I will certainly look deeper into it.

For the VAT, I tried to go through the booking process on autoeurope before I entered my credit card info. But I don't see any mentioning of VAT. I assume it is included since I have not seen complaints about this hidden cost from autoeurope customers on the web. Am I too naive?

No you're not naive. Autoeurope's quote includes the VAT. They do a good job, in my opinion, explaining what is and is not included in their quote. You're most likely to pay an extra charge for pickup at and airport, not a train station, but they will tell you what such charges are. The best thing about Autoeurope is that they have a 24 staff at their 800 line based in Maine. They are very good about working through any questions. You should have no reason to be surprised if you rent through them.

Unlike North American Sales taxes, VAT is included in the price quoted on almost everything.

We had a great experience with AutoEurope -- needed. Family of 4 drove from Paris - Switzerland - germany - Italy. It worked really well.

I forgot to mention that with the lease, they pick you up at the airport and take you to the vehicle. When we dropped it off in Paris (at Orly) we took a cab back to town. If we had kept it until we flew home then we would have already been at the airport! Paris had three options for dropoff, the two airports and a place in town. You didn't say where you are flying into/out of, but I think any major airport would be doable.