How far in advance to book car rental in France

I suggest Autoeurope, which is the consolidator. Europecar is one of their rental agencies. You should have no trouble picking up at a train station in Paris on a Sunday. I usually book as soon as my plans are set.

I would check all the rates at major rental companies and choose the cheapest one. I always go directly to the company and do not use a consolidator. I also do not ever prepay for my car. I then check periodically before my trip and if the rates go down I change my reservation and calcel the first one. You might not have a lot of options if you need an automatic, so I would do this asap.

I also use Auto Europe. You can cancel or change your reservation at any time. You don't know the car company until you make the reservation. You could always compare the Auto Europe price to what the company charges on their own site.

Nicole, just so you know there are alot less automatics,, so do reserve well in advance, and be aware that people have reserved an automatic and arrived to discover that none were available after arrival .. so I hope one of you could drive a standard if you have to..( I can't myself)

If you want to reserve an automatic, choose a big office. The safest bet is to rent in a major airport. And reserve well in advance.

Well, lucky me, I just found out yesterday I'm losing my job, so I may take some of my extra time and have someone teach me how to drive a standard! But thanks for the suggestions - will def look then in the next few weeks at getting that booked...job may be gone, but vaca is still on!

In Sept, we are renting a car at CDG on a Thursday, driving to Normandy, and returning the car on a Monday in Caen. I went through the consolidator AutoEurope, and they indicated the rental would be with EuropCar. There were some automatics available in the choices. On the same trip, we also have a need to return a car on a Sunday (Reims). I found that EuropCar has off-hours pickup or drop off, at "extra cost," and booked directly with them online. Neither AutoEurope nor Avis would allow me to book online, indicating the Sunday drop off would not be possible.

Don't confirm without checking www.gemut.com. They are a US company that guarantees the lowest rate. You pay in advance with $US so you don't have to worry about getting screwed on the exhange rate or getting a refund if you have to cance. The work with all the major companies.

For car rental in France, I've used AutoEurope many times, and also Kemwel (as recently as April). Both are under the same ownership, but often have different prices, possibly because they work with different rental companies. I need an automatic, which generally means that I can only reserve a car in one of the 5 or 6 largest cities in France, and often only at the airport (Paris is an exception). The booking procedure will show which offices are open at the time you need to return the car; sometimes there is a note that the office is closed at that time but there is a off procedure anyway. The one time I tried Avis or Hertz, I got a confirmation that didn't say automatic, and when I called, they said that's right, they couldn't guarantee one.