 Poster: A snowHead
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@bar shaker, exactly why I don't bother having the correct bulb.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've hired direct and used the various agencies out there (if going on a boys trip - family wagon is used for family trips).
Holiday Autos were very good with some issues that we had several years ago...excellent customer service, called back when they said they would and quickly refunded the money once we provided receipts etc.
I've had the annual car hire insurance as well which was well worth it, and almost the same price as the add ons that they try to get you to pay at the counter.
Ultimately, all I need is a car that fits a few people in with our bags, winter tyres, a heater and (ideally) some way to plug an iPhone in for music.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hope this isn't too much of a thread hijack, but I am trying to find a car to travel to Arabba in Jan (so hopefully cold) ......and I have gathered from this and other threads that :
1. Petrol is better than diesel and 2. Snow tyres better than normal tyres with chains.
I only seem to be able to find decent deals for diesels with winter tyres (a Tiguan AWD or a Panda 4x4 where fuel type cannot be guaranteed) or if guaranteed Petrol with chains not tyres.
Other than cost, I am naturally trying to keep that down, if faced with a choice of petrol with chains or diesel with tyres which would be best?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@toyah807, I think Diesel with Winters. It's generally their responsibility it the car breaks down but absolutely your responsibility if you crash it. Safety first.
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@toyah807, assuming you’re flying into Italy, the. Winter tyres are hard to find
Also you can buy additives form the petrol station for the diesel
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@Ozboy, thanks, that makes sense. And to at least say something relevant to the thread the rental websites I have looked at for decent prices are....www.rent.it to get a winter tyres filter option, and www.zestcarrental.com for a more generic search (which I think is the old economycarhire website)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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+ 1 on rentalcars.com
Booked in Italy and USA with them and never a problem. In the USA for years they offered CDW included rentals which saved about 15 US a day.
I have not checked this year to see if that is still the case. Last time I booked direct with Alamo who offered CDW included rates.
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| toyah807 wrote: |
Hope this isn't too much of a thread hijack, but I am trying to find a car to travel to Arabba in Jan (so hopefully cold) ......and I have gathered from this and other threads that :
1. Petrol is better than diesel and 2. Snow tyres better than normal tyres with chains.
I only seem to be able to find decent deals for diesels with winter tyres (a Tiguan AWD or a Panda 4x4 where fuel type cannot be guaranteed) or if guaranteed Petrol with chains not tyres.
Other than cost, I am naturally trying to keep that down, if faced with a choice of petrol with chains or diesel with tyres which would be best? |
I've rented plenty of diesel cars , main thing is if you are parking them outdoors make sure you fill up with winter diesel or add some anti- waxing agent.
If the snow is really heavy you may need chains whatever the tyres.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Ozboy wrote: |
| @toyah807, I think Diesel with Winters. It's generally their responsibility it the car breaks down but absolutely your responsibility if you crash it. Safety first. |
I agree with safety first and would want winter tyres but a friend did rent a diesel car in Italy that waxed when driven and left overnight in Switzerland and ended up paying a lot of money, can't remember the details it was quite a while ago.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@toyah807, You will need to carry chains wether or not you use them is another question. If you need chains you need them. As to the diesel/petrol if you do get a diesel follow the advice and add some anti waxing adative.
Where are you flying to? I have hired cars for the Dolomites from Innsbruck before and I beleive these have winter tyres and winter diesel by default
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Just a comment to people who use sites like holidayautos.com and rentalcars.com, there's nothing wrong with using them but they are booking agencies so just search their set of partner rental companies.
Skyscanner.net on the other hand is just a comparison search site who make their money from referral fees when you click through to a deal, so in addition to searching rental companies they also search agencies like holidayautos.com and rentalcars.com.
You may search using skyscanner and find holidayautos has the best deal for you and end up booking with holidayautos, but at least you've seen how it compares with other deals for the same car. You can even see which rental agency will be providing the car in most cases, so you can compare hiring an X type car from say Hertz vs Sixt through different booking agencies, or you can look online and find everyone complaining about the huge queues at the Budget desk at Avignon TGV/praising the short ones at every other agency desk so book anything but Budget*
* No, I didn't do this but I was wishing I had after about 30min standing in the queue in the blazing sun back in July.
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You know it makes sense.
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[quote]
* No, I didn't do this but I was wishing I had after about 30min standing in the queue in the blazing sun back in July.
That's why I always use Herts gold plus 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
* No, I didn't do this but I was wishing I had after about 30min standing in the queue in the blazing sun back in July.
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That's why I always use Herts gold plus
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Poster: A snowHead
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I used to use Holiday Autos a lot when you could get the VirginOne discount and Quidco cashback. There's a lot more consolidators now, so HA don't seem nearly as competitive. Expedia/Ebookers have been pretty good, they have a instant cancellation policy, so you can jump on a cheaper deal if you spot one. I've done a few with Auto Europe this year as they seem to be coming out cheaper. The consolidators are almost always cheaper than booking direct with the rental companies. I check the prices on the comparison sites like Kayak or Skyscanner first, then buy through Quidco, though it's not always the same price. In that case, I'll book without cashback if it's cheaper without.
As to which rental company supplies the actual car, I tend to stick to the big names, though there are sometimes some local companies with decent cars. A local Mercedes dealership in Split had a rental division, got a top-of-the-range A-Class off them for peanuts. I've had very good cars from Locauto in Italy who are connected to Alamo/National. A family member who rents regularly in Germany swears by SIXT. I often book the budget version of the big name and often had Hertz stickered cars after paying the Thrifty price. I guess it may be true that they might give you an upgrade/better model if you've done a Hertz booking, but I'm looking for a decent, low mileage car for the minimum price.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Couple of questions on Geneva car hire as there seems a fair few comments on this thread -
We are flying easyJet so into France side- but skiing in Switzerland. So should I hire from Swiss side (assuming we can walk through from arrivals?- I know The opposite is possible) or French? The French hires all seem to confirm winter tyres, but the Swiss hires don't! Some have a red block through what I assume to be a winter tyre symbol, others say "zusatzkosten fur winterreifen vor Ort" but the is no obvious option to add. Do they really hire out cars from Geneva airport in mid winter in summers - as anyone had this happen to them?
To be fair I'm trying to do this in German as I've got access to a German server at work - anyway seem much cheaper than UK searches.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| musher wrote: |
| Quote: |
* No, I didn't do this but I was wishing I had after about 30min standing in the queue in the blazing sun back in July.
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That's why I always use Herts gold plus |
There were people with the Avis equivalent (Budget being Avis's cheap brand and sharing hire desks). They probably only had to queue in the sun for 30min total, while it was 45min-1hr for the rest of us.
Next car hire is from Friedrichshafen where online review of Hertz are less than glowing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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And just found French hire at 1/2 the price- so any problems driving hire car from France into Swiss ski resorts experienced?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Doccam, I think you’ll find that EZJ flies into the Swiss side or. You come out out the Swiss arrivals doors if you follow the main route and exit at the doors by the luggage carousels. Upon exiting you turn right to the swill car retail desks. The Swiss cars all include winterisation (and a motorway vignette) and there is no need to request when booking.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Doccam, French side normally cheaper on paper but you need to pay for winterisation and buy a vignette if they don’t already have one. Have a look on Rentalcars.com (other sites are available)
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| Quote: |
Couple of questions on Geneva car hire as there seems a fair few comments on this thread -
We are flying easyJet so into France side- but skiing in Switzerland. So should I hire from Swiss side (assuming we can walk through from arrivals?- I know The opposite is possible) or French? The French hires all seem to confirm winter tyres, but the Swiss hires don't! Some have a red block through what I assume to be a winter tyre symbol, others say "zusatzkosten fur winterreifen vor Ort" but the is no obvious option to add. Do they really hire out cars from Geneva airport in mid winter in summers - as anyone had this happen to them?
To be fair I'm trying to do this in German as I've got access to a German server at work - anyway seem much cheaper than UK searches.
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Though you can enter Geneva airport form the French side with hand luggage and with checked baggage for internal French flight. I suspect you must enter through the Swiss baggage reclaim (I suspect there is an internal French baggage reclaim but I have never seen it. It is actually very easy to get between the French and Swiss sides but appears rather confusing at first with narrow glass coridors and 180 degree turns. I had an interesting experience once when my wife left her kindle in the French car hire and we were airside. So I left her drinking coffee went through baggage recalim, into Switzerland, up the stairs, through to France to the hire desk, collected the keys to the car, got the kindle, back though the French secrutiy check (there is never a queue) and back to my wife 20 minutes later.
The Swiss car hire needs a shuttle bus from the far side of the airport whereas the French car hire is actually next to the terminal. Other posters here say that all the Swiss hire cars have winter tyres from December to the end of March hence no need to book them seperately. From the French side you may have to request them otherwise they come with standard all year tyres. If you rent from the French side of the airport you will need a motorway vignette to travel on Swiss motorways, which you must purchase.
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@Ozboy, Easyjet do use the French side of the airport for internal French flights. You see people queueing at their checkin
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ok it's less than 1/2 the price in the end- £60 for compact car for a 4 day weekend in January! For reference it was the HappyCars.fr site through a German server. When I tried to book through a UK server price went to £180- exactly same criteria.
Anyway there is a 48hour free cancellation (not sure if that's from now or before hire- better check that!) so I can clarify that it's suitable for our needs at no loss.
Still keen to hear form anyone with experience of hiring on French side and driving into Swiss resort.
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@Doccam, What swiss resort are you looking at? IIRC you do not need a vignette to get the Verbier by cutting though the centre of Geneva to Ammasse and joining the French motorway there. I cannot see any difficulties.
BTW I almost always end up renting from the French side, but very occaisionaly the Swiss side ends up cheeper so look at both.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Our trip out early December follows the standard pattern we use: I always hire from the Swiss side via the GVA Car Hire page at http://www.gva.ch/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-72/ which link to the Swiss (.ch) pages rather than the generic .com as the .ch pages sometimes have offers and rates not shown if you go to the .com pages. We usually go through Hertz as I registered (for free) for a Gold Card and book the smallest car and generally get upgraded. I also get 20% off as I'm a member of a trade association whose members get a standard discount at Hertz (check your employer or professional association etc doesn't get you something similar). Overall this almost always gives me a competitive rate, but occasionally, another company does better. All the Swiss cars have winter tyres and chains and a vignette. We often just walk the 250m to the Swiss Car Hire building in less than 10 mins, which is quicker than waiting for the shuttle bus if you've just missed it.
You can manage without a vignette and use non-primary roads (note: a few primary roads aren't autoroutes i.e. are like UK major dual-carriageway routes, so be careful how you route if you've no vignette). For me, it isn't worth the hassle - I'm on holiday and a bit extra for a vignette is fine, but I understand, some people like to save every penny.
Be aware that the French car hire site at Fernay Voltaire are some way outside the airport itself. If you have to pick up or drop off from Fernay, allow extra time - as far as my own experience goes, it's a long walk, outdoors, to/from Fernay (which is at the NW corner of the airport perimeter. But there may be a shuttle in peak times: others can comment. I've previously posted a friend's experience last winter, where he picked up from the main Swiss car hire zone but found to his surprise the return was at Fernay.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| LaForet wrote: |
| ... members get a standard discount at Hertz (check your employer or professional association etc doesn't get you something similar). Overall this almost always gives me a competitive rate ... |
Good point. I just checked and one of my bank accounts gives me 15% there. I'm always suspicious of those, but it's worth checking.
I recently had a "special" discount offered by a Fairmont hotel (now owned by Accor) which turned out to be negative versus an internet search, the cheeky chappies.
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@LaForet, never had to pick up or drop off a car from the French side outside of the airport, certainly not from the town itself. The car hire desks are just beside the checkin desks, from there you walk down the stairs or take the lift and the car hire pickup and drop off car park is just there. You are ouside for a maximum of 50m. I must admit that a walk from the border post to the airport would not fill me with glee. I'm not even sure there is a path.
What company was it that had you walking so I can avoid them? As far as I can see all the major ones are actually in the airport.
In fact one of the reasons I use the French side is not just because it is usually a lot cheeper is that it is more convenient - no shuttle bus or long walk to the actual car park
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You know it makes sense.
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@johnE, Most people are probably unaware that the Swiss car park is a very short walk from the terminal and does not require the bus, which takes longer as it had to drive around the one-way system. I've only rented from the french side once, bit I don't think there is much in it if you include walking back to the French sector. Wondering also which way to you go to get to Verbier via the French motorways?
@LaForet, Good tip re joining Hertz gold membership.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@johnE my experience with The Long March to Fernay Voltaire was with Avis. But I was aware of the trek, and it wasn't a big deal, albeit summer and we just had hand luggage. So that put me off using anything to do with Fernay in the winter. However, your experience implies that French Sector hire may have shuttles or operate in the terminal car parks in peak holiday season: so I suppose the lesson is to just check what it involves at the time you're hiring.
@ozboy GVA>Verbier: You could do GVA-Verbier by driving 'round the lake on the local roads. It would take longer than the 1h55m via the A9 (well, quicker, if the M25-like A9 had any sort of accident/hold-up). Looking at ViaMichelin it says 2½ hours via Chamonix and 3 hours via the south side of Lake Geneva. Personally, I'd prefer to go on the longer lakeside route as it's all on the valley floor to Le Chable. The Chamonix route means going via the Col de la Forclaz which is quite high.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@LaForet, It not just in peak holiday times that the French side operates directly from the terminal but all times. I just got back on Sunday from a weekend away and picked up and dropped off the car with about 100m of walking from the desk. We were with Europcar and their allocated space in the carpark was further than Avis.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
The Chamonix route means going via the Col de la Forclaz which is quite high.
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You could end up going through the railway tunnel if the pass is closed
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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All I'm saying about hiring at GVA is to check that you're not picking up or dropping-off at Fernay Voltaire if you are assuming it's the terminal building. As I said, it was last winter that my friend picked up at the terminal and didn't notice he had to return to Fernay (and yes, when he booked on-line all that was mentioned was the airport terminal). It may have been a one-off, but he almost missed his flight because of the time it added. I must say, until then, I would have done the same and not checked that I was returning to a different location. He said they even had maps of the route to drive from the GVA terminal to Fernay.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@johnE, @LaForet, surely the extra fuel costs by going along the longer French route for a couple of trips vs going along the CH motorway will negate any savings gained by not buying a Vignette.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sorry missed a lot of the feedback before last posting as site hadn't refereshed.
So it is Verbier. Prefer to get there soon as so Vignette cost not a worry and Swiss sites I looked at had that as an add on anyway.
Didn't realise EJ flew to Swiss side. JohnE see you use French rental and you've had no difficulties too'ing and fro'ing with luggage between the two sides there and back so that's good News!Also HappyCars goes through Carrental.com site- and Budget seem to be the ultimate car hire people. There's no option to add winterisation/get snow chains (just baby seats!) so have you ever been given a car with summer tyres on a rental in winter from the French side?
Cancel window is too days before so I'm able to sort out wrinkles!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Doccam, IMHO unless the price difference is significant, you are probably saving yourself a lot of grief, and potential hidden costs, if you just rent from the Swiss side where all the cars are equipped for Switzerland, are winterised and you are right by the motorway. The latter is important if you are running late on your return journey as the French side can be hard to find and is not intuitively sign posted. I appreciate if you are on a tight budget and have no time pressure then its worth the grief. Seasoned French side users on here will probably disagree with me.
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In my opinion regarding Geneva, I would much rather hire from the French side (so easy to walk to the hire car/cheaper most of the time and I find, an easier drop off) but we hire from the Swiss side in Winter due to the winter tyres and so far, snow chains in the boot. But I find the shuttle bus a complete pain in the rear, especially since there are no toilets in the drop off so if you've had a longish transfer you could be desperate (my friend!)!
Just for the record, you can hire from either side, at any time of the year. The only difference is you go upstairs to France and there's no transfer bus.
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@Doccam, The only tyre related problem I have had was a puncture going from Les Arcs to Tignes last year. It cost 10 euro to get repaired in Bourg. I don't think the cars I hired from the French side had winter tyres (I don't think there is such a thing as summer tyres) it certainly didn't have snow chains but these are for sale along the route if you need them. I have had no problems.
Enjoy Verbier - it is a great ski area
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Do you definitely need winter diesel if parking outside? I'm not sure how that will work as you pick the car up full and i'm going to assume that its normal diesel thats been put in there from the previous hire. Its only 91 miles from Geneva to Les Coches which isn't going to use that much fuel so topping up with winter diesel at the other end isn't going to add much?
Also i'm not sure if the car i have will be petrol or diesel is there a concept of winter petrol?
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@Russeh,
Petrol isn't a problem because it doesn't wax at low temperatures.
I think diesel from Geneva will be winterised anyway.
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FAQ
- I meant to say snow 
