Hey all - just wanted to check on renting cars that have the GPS already in it, not as a separate unit.
We've rented three times in France (last time was 2018. I think) and all three times, there was the built in GPS in the dash. Has that been your experience lately? It seems pretty much all new cars have the GPS built in and I would assume they don't disable them. (We'll be renting in France again and no, we don't have a smartphone so we can't use that for driving)
That has been our experience as well. One caveat is that you will likely need one of the counter attendants to come to the car with you to ensure the GPS instructions and guidance is in English. On multiple occasions, we have had to get someone to help find the section for GPS language and have them choose English on the system for you.
~Darrel
Hey Nicole P
(sorry I don't have an answer)
but I really wanted to say "HI". You used to post all the time and I've missed seeing you at the old stand.
So good to see you again!
Maybe it’s a French thing. Were your rentals somewhat upmarket cars, not the cheapest basic model available? In Greece (Crete) in 2019, our car had a plug in, stick-to-the-windshield GPS device. It was more trouble than it was worth, with difficult graphics and unreliable internet reception. Renting in Italy in the fall of 2021, we were unexpectedly “upgraded” from a small economy car to a Ford Puma (maybe the only car they had?), and it had Navigation built into the dashboard, along with novel things like displaying the current speed limit on the dashboard, and displaying the car’s speed with digital numbers, rather than on a speedometer. The speed limit part was sometimes useful, but it didn’t always match the limit posted on signs along the road, or it took many seconds to change on the dash, after the roadside signs changed.
As for the navigation system, we tried it for a while. Setting up the voice prompts in English was easy. You could even pick a male or female voice, and, I think, British, American, South African, and other accents. It would say to “bear right,” rather than to “exit” on a highway, which was disconcerting each time.
Subsequent trips with car rental but no included GPS were Italy 2022 and Ireland 2023. Later in 2023, Norway, was an all-electric VW. It had all digital displays, including a navigation program and map display, which helped getting around fjord country, mostly for providing an ETA for the destination, but sometimes for trying to locate a compatible charging station.
It looks like this won’t be an option for you, but our best strategy the past several trips has been for my husband to do the driving, and me to use Google Maps navigation, on my iPhone, calling out exits on highways and roundabouts, and how far until the next change in direction, and whether it would be a right or left. He could focus on other traffic and keeping eyes on the road (especially when that was on the left side of it) and not having to worry about whether we were on course.
The bigger display of an integrated car GPS beats a small plug-in, but it can still involve fiddling with entering destinations, orienting the display, and the driver potentially having to monitor it while operating the car. Not every rental car in Europe has GPS (or electric windows). Every car does seem to have an elaborate radio system and display, which we don’t use, but it’s sometimes hard to get rid of it to get to the heater, defrost, or other controls.
A smartphone can be a good thing for navigation aid.
Darrel…that gives me memories of the first time we rented in Paris. Whoever had the car before us had the GPS set to German. We didn’t really have experience w/in car GPS and we messed around and put our destination in (which was out of the city - I even went w/a rental place past the Arc so we wouldn’t be trying to drive out of the centre of the city) but somehow ended up going to the last spot the previous driver had been - which was over near the Eiffel Tower. We were in a “restricted” area I think, but it was a Sunday morning so maybe it wasn’t restricted because we never got a charge. We did eventually get it speaking English and got out of the city.
Nigel…thanks for your kind words. I really do need to get on here more! I fell out of the habit when Covid/no travel happened.
Cyn…we always need an automatic, so usually getting economy size and up. Our first was a VW Tourag (or Touran), 2nd a Citroen Cactus and last time was a brand spanking new Fiat 500 (bigger version) - it had like 17km on it and still had plastic cling wrap on a couple of the inside handles. I rem that one of the Europcar employees set our GPS to english. My mom is coming with us this time. When I checked Europcar, its economy size is Corolla or similar.
My recent experience suggests that almost all rentals accommodate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which to me beat built-in GPS hands down. Google Maps FTW. For the OP, of course, without smartphone, this is useless information. :o)
It amazes me that there are folks who can negotiate life in 2024 without a smartphone. Kudos to those with the ability; I certainly don't have it.
Why not buy a Garmin or Tom Tom.and take if with you or use Here We Go Maps in your cell? I can download offline maps really easily and update it. The language is in English and it's free.
