 Poster: A snowHead
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Any recommendations for particular firms, ones to avoid or are they all much alike?
Sixt seem to have some good deals but don't know much about them.
TIA
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| numbfoot wrote: |
Any recommendations for particular firms, ones to avoid or are they all much alike?
Sixt seem to have some good deals but don't know much about them.
TIA |
Careful about what insurances are included in the Sixt deals, they may not be all that good once you account for this. There is a thread about it so do a search here.
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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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We used the link provided by Easyjet, and when we compared it with other companies (including the same company, Europcar, booked direct) it was better value. You had to agree to pay quite a large excess though to avoid further insurance charge.
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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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UniRent (now owned by Europcar but slightly better pricing) were really good on our trip recently.
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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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We used SixT last month. Good price, good car, good service and no surprises. Just check what the damage waiver value is. Ours was 1600 Euros and we chose not to pay for extra insurance as we had coverage provided by our credit card. There was no hard sell at all. Would use again.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No issues with Dollar this January (£195 for 8 days, Swiss side). This also included both winter tyres and chains, whereas several companies only supply the tyres.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sat 8-02-20 9:21; edited 1 time in total
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I always use HolidayAutos and tend to then pick Europcar, who I've always found excellent.
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Swiss side obviously. No need to faff around with the French side
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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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The perennial question and my perennial reply:
1. Go to the Geneva Airport car hire landing page and take a look at a couple of the ~.ch sites as a baseline. These sometimes have rates and vehicles not shown on their generic ~.com pages. This is at the GVA Car Rental Landing Page
2. When getting a price quote, make sure you're both collecting and returning the car to P51 at Geneva Airport.
3. If you are a member of a professional association, or have a company travel agent, make sure that there's no discount for the former, or that the latter can't get you a better rate than from a public website (they often can, but you need to be clear it's a private rental, not a company one)
4. Don't assume an SUV/4x4 is better equipped for the winter than a conventional sedan/estate. The former often have wheels which can't take chains, so you can end up worse off if chains are mandatory or you're faced with an icy slope etc.
5. Ferney Voltaire is in France, outside the airport perimeter. If you opt to collect/return there you must appreciate that (a) the transfer time is going to be longer (b) the cars may not come with winter tyres or chains (or an extra will be charged for them) and (c) they probably won't have a Swiss autoroute vignette (and you'll have to transfer using non-Swiss-autoroute route). Remember that a Swiss Autoroute isn't necessarily a big 3-lane motorway, it may be a dual-carriageway.
6. Use an intermediary site by all means, but appreciate this increases the risk of arriving to find you have (a) additional charges (like 'winterisation') (b) a pickup/return in Ferney Voltaire (c) lack of Vignette or (d) a journey through the terminal to the French sector.
7. If you find the Hertz quote competitive, it's worth joining their Gold Club - this is free - which gives you a priority checkin desk, a potential upgrade if possible and a second driver for free.
If you're not familiar with the Geneva Airport logistics of car hire desks, walking instead of waiting for a transfer bus, pickup/return, and escaping from P51, then you may find the first few pages of the Guide to GVA that I wrote for our apartment clients at
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/8bc80396-14e6-4fc0-8470-b11597a0b388/downloads/LTZ1%20-%20Geneva%20Airport%20to%20Résidence%20Laforêt%20-%20H.pdf?ver=1579187154716
[NOTE: You will have to copy-and-paste the whole link above into your browser because the forum software is thrown by the non-UK character é in the address.]
but bear in mind the autoroute directions are for someone driving via Lausanne along the north side of Lake Geneva to the Swiss Valais. This also reflects my decision never to rent from The French Side, given personal experience and Forum feedback on the greater risk of issues if I do. So it's Swiss side and P51 only.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Mon 10-02-20 14:54; edited 15 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Ferney Voltaire is in France, outside the airport perimeter.
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This is not the same as renting from the French side of the airport. The rental at the French side is actually in the airport. You do not need to get a bus to pick up the car
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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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| johnE wrote: |
| Quote: |
Ferney Voltaire is in France, outside the airport perimeter.
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This is not the same as renting from the French side of the airport. The rental at the French side is actually in the airport. You do not need to get a bus to pick up the car |
Indeed, and causes much confusion. Especially when intermediaries communicate the distinction carelessly. HOwever, I know from personal experience that picking-up on the 'French side' does not always mean returning to the airport. On one occasion, this has meant returning to Ferney Voltaire. Hence my recommendation to be absolutely certain about the pickup and return points.
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| Quote: |
I know from personal experience that picking-up on the 'French side' does not always mean returning to the airport.
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Never, ever happened to me or even been suggested. What company were you with?
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You know it makes sense.
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| johnE wrote: |
| Quote: |
I know from personal experience that picking-up on the 'French side' does not always mean returning to the airport.
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Never, ever happened to me or even been suggested. What company were you with? |
Avis
Picked up from the airport. Returned to the airport. No space left at the airport. Told to drive to Avis Ferney and drop off there. No transfer bus. Had to walk. Almost missed the flight.
They had a pile of pre-printed maps of How To Get To Ferney Voltaire, so clearly, this was not unexpected. May have been very unlucky, as presumably, a full car park could happen to any rental company if customers return more cars than expected on a particular day. Also some lack of clarity as to whether the original booking mentioned a Ferney return or not. It may be a one-off but as I said, worth checking your return location on the booking and also when you collect.
For all I know, this is a generic issue - if loads of people unexpectedly return cars early/late on an already busy day, then all the hire companies may end up diverting people to their sites at Ferney, out of necessity. So I wouldn't advise against Avis particularly: more a case of being aware that on a busy change-over day, you may need to leave a bit of extra time just in case. The pile of pre-printed How To Get To Ferney maps implied to me that this must happen often enough for them to bother with printing them.
And yes, this is just once in 25 years of my using car hire at GVA. But I thought it worth mentioning as a missed flight is still non-trivial.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Mon 10-02-20 15:12; edited 1 time in total
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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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Used Avis via Rentalcars.com at New Year and was perfect - got upgraded cos they were short of cars.
I always check lots of sites for comparison, and use Quidco for cashback - but just booked for Grenoble in March and the cheapest by a long way was JET2 - they sent me a link presumably cos we are flying with them, so its worth checking out the airline sites.
Last year the cheapest to GVA was Ryanair (booked with the flight).
I would always book from the Swiss side of GVA - then you get winter tyres included. The cost of snow chains can vary significantly so if you do hire in France check the small print carefully.
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Poster: A snowHead
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These days I generally use www.skyscanner.net. You get a search across loads of both car hire companies and brokers, with simple 'value' score out of 10 for each deal (higher marks for things like full-to-full, the more insurance cover included and the size of the excess). When you look at a specific result in addition to seeing the broker you also get to see the provider - and generally if it's one of the big ones you've heard of you should be fine. When it's a company you've never heard of before a quick google for "<company> reviews" will flag any concerns.
Sixt are quite a big company who've been around for years so, provided you don't gg drect and get caught in the insurance is extrra trap you should be fine. I hope so anyway - got 2 minibuses booked through them from Geneva for next week!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The biggest saving we make is having annual excess insurance so we don't need to pay each supplier
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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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When you land, get one of your group to go straight to the car hire area to beat the queues when the others get the bags. They queues can get quite big and hanging around is very frustrating.
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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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Thanks for the guidance, but there is still a problem with the second address - My guess is that the parser in the forum code apparently can't handle non-UK characters, so it stops at the 'é' in the URL and renders only a partial link address. If I manually place the [url] and terminating [/url] the whole text of the post from start to end is rendered blank. Not your fault, but I'm surprised the platform software can't handle non-UK character link addresses.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Mon 10-02-20 15:14; edited 2 times in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Worth taking out separate excess cover (carhireexcess.com or similar). Usually about a tenner a week and saves either the £1000 euro excess worry or the £50/day for a zero excess (those were the numbers we were quoted last year - think it was Avis).
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| Dashed wrote: |
| Worth taking out separate excess cover (carhireexcess.com or similar). Usually about a tenner a week and saves either the £1000 euro excess worry or the £50/day for a zero excess (those were the numbers we were quoted last year - think it was Avis). |
You will still have your card pre-authorised for those amounts (or more).
I also have excess insurance (with Questor), it just means you can claim back any excess you have to pay, because of damage during your hire period.
As you say, much cheaper than the hire company's alternative policy.
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Quick heads up for anyone using Hertz in Innsbruck.
We always check the car over before we move off and take photographs.
But on our return the agent came out as usual and went straight to the boot of the car. Opened the boot, and immediately accused us of damaging the internal plastic trimming. Yes there were scratches, loads of them from suitcases and skis, but nothing of significance, other than one particular one. She suggested possibly skis had scratched it. I brought to her attention that we had put skis in the other side where the back seat split down with the single seat side. She was adamant we had done the damage and wouldn't engage with us at all.
The outcome is we eventually two weeks later receive an invoice from them for 258 euros of damage to replace the trim. Ive got excess Insurance but feel on a point of principal cant let them just get away with it. No way will they be replacing the trim. It had loads of what Id call wear and tear scratches.
I know that ultimately the contract says we should bring to attention anything that we see on the pick up. But insignificant internal scratches to trims are not what I can honestly say Ive ever been concerned about previously...……….until now.
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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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On a similar note, don't forget about alloys. We picked up from Hertz at GVA and noticed a minor but unrecorded bodywork scratch and brought the rep over. She also picked up some trim damage, plus a number of alloy scratches. She said that people don't realise alloys are actually more expensive to repair than minor bodywork. So make sure you record alloys too.
This whole thing is almost getting to the point where it's best to simply call the rep over on pickup and get them to go over the car with a fine tooth comb .... My suspicion is that especially when it's busy, they simply don't check the cars before going out and leave you to take the hit for damage they haven't picked up from a previous customer.
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| LaForet wrote: |
On a similar note, don't forget about alloys.
This whole thing is almost getting to the point where it's best to simply call the rep over on pickup and get them to go over the car with a fine tooth comb .... My suspicion is that especially when it's busy, they simply don't check the cars before going out and leave you to take the hit for damage they haven't picked up from a previous customer. |
I don't think any of them ever check the state of the car before going out. This process is done by checking the car when it's returned by the previous customer, which they're almost certainly not skipping.
So essentially one check is performed to establish the state of the car on customer a's return, and customer b's collection.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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"So essentially one check is performed to establish the state of the car on customer a's return, and customer b's collection."
In theory, yes. But in practice, no. Otherwise our car wouldn't have had an unrecorded bodywork scratch, an unrecorded trim scratch, a whole A-pillar and rear window top beading with the transit covering still on it, and a couple of unrecorded alloy scratches (apparently the most serious omission).
The problem is that this lack of diligence is your problem, not theirs. A busy period and a lot to do and it's natural a rep may not have time to be as thorough as they should. They know it'll get picked up eventually, so where's the pressure for them to be diligent? And let's face it, many pickup locations are so dark that it's all to easy for the Rep or you to miss something.
Our Rep was very helpful and thorough - I sensed she was annoyed that her colleague had obviously missed a lot of damage and the non-removal of the transit protection tape. And her advice to particularly focus on alloys as well as bodywork was the first time I'd heard this.
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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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So Hertz have now admitted that as the plastic trim isn't a safety issue with the car, they wont be replacing the trim. They are happy to send me the paperwork when they sell the car back to the dealer, the reduction in value due to the scratch. Okay, that's realistic enough, but how often are they charging out the same 258 euros for a scratch on the trim that they wont be replacing?
How will I know that they have highlighted the scratch on every new rental agreement between now and April, when they say they will be handing the car back.
Im handing this over to my Card company who have indicated they hate this type of practice and will look into it.
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It's quite a lucrative money earner isn't it. Attempt to charge as many customers as possible for the 1 incident when the damage was caused.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thought i should share this link to ten European Car Rental Conciliation Service who have bee set up by the industry to deal with u resolved complaints. They publish their stats which suggests they are even handed. It seems to also apply for UK residents post brexit.
https://www.ecrcs.eu/
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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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If using Hertz, be wary of what they call the "pick-up" time.
I had an unsatisfactory experience with Hertz at Geneva last season. Turned up 20 mins before the slated time to "pick up my car", only to be told to go away and return at the actual pick-up time. I duly did this, and found myself waiting in line for 20 or 25 mins, then there was about 10 mins of paperwork, and a long walk... so I eventually got to actually pick up my car more than half an hour later than the scheduled time. (I was told I couldn't complain on the spot - I could only fill in an online feedback form after the end of the hire.)
Interestingly, the hire conditions stated that Hertz could charge me a penalty if I returned the car more than 30 mins late. Sauce for the goose but not the (paying) gander?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would not be so categorical in ruling out the French side of GVA Pick up - I have done this dozens of time - simply because that was close to half price of the Swiss side. It is actually much shorter walk INSIDE the terminal to the car park (no shuttles, no nothing).
The cars would often have no Swiss vignette, but it's very minor inconvenience: route your GPS to Geneva centre avoiding toll roads and then navigate to whatever French resort you want to go to.
They are likely to have summer tyres, but again, I had never had a problem - only once it was snowing hard, but I just bought snow chains for 50 euros at a petrol station (chains are way better than winter tyres, and often is the only way to go up even with winter tyres on).
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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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Just back from a trip to La Tzoumax. Hired car via Easyjet and ended up with a Nissan Micra from Alamo. Great service at the desk, no queues and very friendly staff.
Return process was a doddle as well with no issues. I like the fact that they email everything to you, including the form showing previous damage and confirmation of your return, without delay.
Very happy and will use them again.
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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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Quick report back on my Sixt car hire experience at Geneva:
1. Sixt queue was much shorter than the Hertz one.
2. 'Checking in' was reasonably painless, even for the second car in our group who were about 2hrs late picking up (I'd love to say due to flight delays but actually due to one couples being useless).
3. No issues with the cars at pick-up and both nice and clean and new.
4. At drop-off the inspection picked up a scratch on one of the plastic wheel rims...which the guy said wasn't worth putting down and charging us for.
So to the OP, I'd have no issues recommending Sixt at Geneva.
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FAQ
