geneva car hire

A snowHead

any advice on who to use for car hire from geneva (swiss side). I usually use holiday autos. any advice on whehter to go direct to hire companies or stick with hol autos or use another agent
(please dont tell me to go do a search as i tried that first and got 32000 results !!! the first page was totally unrelated to the terms geneva and car hire !!)

thanks !

A snowHead

backhojo, I've no idea about Geneva car hire, but it sounds as though when you did the search you selected the option for any of those terms (the default) rather than for all of those terms. Using the 'all terms' option should focus the search results rather better Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Cheapest price I found was Holiday Autos via Quidco (£10 back) using the link on the Virgin One Account page. Had to fiddle a bit to get an Alamo quote so that snow chains were included, but discovered that had I needed an additional driver then Budget is cheaper for that, and might have been cheaper overall as they don't charge for the bus.

From a 'which is the best hire company' perspective I haven't been yet, so can't comment.

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backhojo,
Good idea hiring on Swiss side its easier in every way. I use www.auto-europe.co.uk for all car hire everywhere. They search all the hire companies and offer good prices and a great selection of cars. I used them to hire 3 cars from geneva this year. I needed to change 2 bookings late it was done with no hassle. Additional drivers will need to be added and paid for at the airport so only do this if you really need to. Snow chains and tyres are compulsory and supplied as standard but you will have to pay for them locally the charge is fairly nominal. The Swiss motorway vignette is also on cars from Swiss side.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We always used holidayautos, they were about the best on price, and generally good customer service.

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I normally do a check against travelsupermarket.com, but I can't remember the last time they were cheaper than Holiday Autos using the Virgin discount code. This season I've also booked via Quidco rather than direct with HA so saving £50 so far.

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thanks ! never ever ever ever ever will I hire a car on the french side after what happened to me and the family 3 yrs ago. Flight was slightly delaye and we got to geneva about 11pm only to find the france was shut !!! YEP - we could not get through as the customs guys had knocked off and gone home. we coudl not get our car. not good with the parents with us and a 2 yr old. The same hire company on the swiss side did not want to help us and there was nearly a riot as there were about 20 other guest affected. The hire company called the police as we were all getting a bit hot under the collar. Had to take a taxi to the hotel (luckily we hadbooked a hotel nearby as we didnt fancy driving so late at night) then I had to take a taxi back again the next morning to the airpor to pick up the hire car.
so always swiss side for me as that is the side you land in !!
i shall investigate the options you suggest. Not happy about paying for chains as we have some. should be able to take them as hand luggage and use them on a ford focus type car as that is what they were bought for a coupld of years ago.

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we use Europacar, always nice, swift and easy - if you fly easyjet you get an extra discount with them - as long as its not pre-booked.

Also, dont a rse about with the shuttle bus, if you have wheels on your luggage its a dead easy walk - especially coming home, theres always a big queue in the car park.

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You can tell by the description of the car - Budget said the car would have "snow tyres or snow chains" and when I got to the final booking screen asked me to tick a box to pay 50CH extra for chains and Alamo said "winter pack" and didn't. The Budget extra person charge was 50CH and the Alamo one was 70CH

When I originally got a quote for a compact car it said Winter Pack, when I went back the next day it said 'Snow Tyres OR Chains' so I called Holiday Autos who said one was Alamo the other Budget. I couldn't get the site to show me the Alamo option again, so I then went for a quote for an Economy car, and got the 'winter pack' description, so then all I did was click the 'upgrade to a Compact' option - and voila - a compact car from Alamo!

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skimom, that's very interesting. I shall look for that next time I book. I used to prefer to be with Alamo as they always provided chains, but now they've started to charge automatically for the use of the shuttle bus (9 chf) so I'd like to avoid them from now on.

Well yes rob@rar, but aren't you cutting your nose off to spite your face? The 50CH charge that Budget *might* make for snow chains would far outweigh your saving on the bus?

Someone did say that you probably would get chains anyway with Budget and not get charged, but for a first-time car hirer I didn't want to take the risk.

You know it makes sense.

skimom, I very rarely have to use chains if I have winter tyres on the car, especially with economy grade cars I normally hire. Maybe once in the last 30 times I've hired from GVA. I also have two or three pairs of chains in my apartment of varying sizes which have been collected over the years so I would probably be able to use those in I really needed to. But more than anything it's the principle of being required to pay for a service that I don't use, and you aren't told about until after you have confirmed your booking.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

if you go direct to the alamo website the booking automatically adds on chains and the bus charge. so if you (like me) will be arriving before your other guest with one bag and have legs and can walk to the bus and you dont need snow chains then you are paying £32 for stuff you dont need !!

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hmm, we've just changed our Holiday Auto booking from Alamo to Budget (and have specified snow tyres). Have therefore probably cut off nose to spite face as per skimom's observation, since it is, surely, a bit of a risk to leave Geneva with a hire car but no chains - what if it snows hard on the way up to resort? Similarly, I understand that the hi-vis jacket is extra to hire. Damn all these hidden charges. Twisted Evil

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anyone got experience of easycar as hey come out cheap on travelsupermarket ?

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backhojo, compare them with this discount code from Holiday Autos.

rob@rar, yeah, Paul phoned them and I think said that we'd heard bad things about Alamo and unauthorized charges. We wanted to change the type of car as well, so he did it at the same time, no problem as I understand it. Then I looked at the voucher - which said snow tyres or snow chains - so I phoned to specify snow tyres, which was when I discovered that hiring chains and hi-vis vest would be extra.

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I'm a bit annoyed with HA and the extra charges inconsistencies, I am currently in dispute with them as I received a bill after my return with charges which I had not agreed to and was not made aware of at the time of booking. I'm not holding my breath!

rob@rar, if you are trying to avoid Alamo then just make sure you don't get Sixt. With Sixt you don't get tyres or chains included and you get a bill after the hire.

I knew about the chains as they weren't in the boot, I asked for them and was told about the charge and I took them, fair enough. Although it does annoy me when some of the other providers HA uses include them. But the tyres are on as standard, when you make your booking with HA there is no mention that an extra charge will be payable locally. But then you get a bill for it afterwards. When you query it, they direct you to look at your voucher and sure enough it does state the charge on the voucher. However this is the voucher which is issued after you have agreed the booking and you are not alerted to the extra charge during the booking process. This is my gripe with them, that they tell you only after you have booked Mad

Re. snow tyres, it's my understanding that all swiss hire cars have the winter tyres as it is mandatory. Has anyone ever had a car during the season which was not fitted with snow tyres?

FWIW Sixt don't charge for the bus and do include hi-viz jackets.

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sarah, aaaargghhhh!

Hurtle, Maybe you could change again? I could be wrong about the tyres, I'm not certain but I think it is a legal thing, they have to be fitted with them. That's what gets me, the tyres are not an 'option' they are on the car as standard, you can't ask for them to be removed (if you wanted to) and yet they still charge you extra, it is driving me mad Mad

To top it all off I am dealing with some jobsworth at HA who keeps on spouting about their Ts & Cs and telling me that I agreed to the charge when I clicked. If you go on their site and read the Ts and Cs it doesn't mention that you will be surcharged for winter tyres. The first mention of this is on the voucher after you make the booking.

You know it makes sense.

i cantr believe winter tyres are required by law ? what if you live in geneva and drive in the city all day ?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

backhojo, on hire cars.

A snowHead

backhojo, it's Switzerland. There are laws telling some people that they can't take a shower after 10pm in case the plumbing noises disturb the neighbours. And even in the city, winter tyres are safer when it's cold.

A snowHead

sarah, no, at least I haven't got that problem with Budget - snow tyres are clearly included.

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Actually the description on Holiday Autos does tell you that you get either tyres or chains... but then when you get to the bit where you specify extra drivers, child car seats etc. there is an option to add snow chains - this option doesn't appear if your quote is coming from Alamo because the description says it includes 'Winter Pack' and if you check with HA the winter pack is tyres AND chains.

So sarah, I think you might well have clicked to say that you agreed with the extra charge - because I think (from memory) that the page that offers you things like car seats etc. says that you can click now to get them, or ask for them at the desk when you pick up the car - because even if you click to have them you are only 'prebooking' them - HA don't charge you for them.

The only thing on my voucher that wasn't up front (and therefore I will be attempting to get back, but without much hope) is the bus service.

I did say to HA that they obviously 'know' which company they are quoting you for (because the descriptions and options change) and therefore they should be upfront on their website - that way people could 'vote' for their favourite.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

skimom, thanks, very useful post and your previous one too about how to 'fiddle' to get the company that you want, I will be following that advice in future.

However I really don't think I agreed to anything because my car(Sixt) was not described as having either tyres or chains and when I got to the 'options' page I didn't add any. I remember this because I asked on here to rob@rar and I am pretty sure he said he never requests them and never pays a winterization fee and that the cars always had tyres and mostly chains too.

I just wish HA were more transparent with their charging and that they would agree a 'standard' with all their suppliers so no matter which supplier you would know what was included and what not.

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think i am leaning towards easycar as there website and charges appear to be transparent...i could be wrong so will look again in the morning !

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After all it is free

My Experience is the same as rob@rar - always get winter tyres regardless of actual company, get chains with Alamo, generally not with Budget. Luckily to get to Chamonix there is no legal need for chains, though there is if you want to drive out to ski GM or the Balme (but you could always use the bus if anyone is stopping traffic).

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