 Poster: A snowHead
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The French side might be cheaper, but I’ve never had a seamless experience there.
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I always have a seamless experience on the French and Swiss sides. Never had a problem (apart, that is, from finding the way out of the Swiss side to the motorway) Cannot say the same for Italy, however. On one occaision in Milan the hire company wanted a mobile phone number. As I didn't have a mobile phone this was not possibe. Eventually they accepeted 01234567890 as my mobile number. They were also the company that wanted the car returned empty of fuel.
Just note not all so called upgrades are upgrades. A group of friends rented a car for a climbing trip to the Dolomites. They were offered an "upgrade" to a BMW which the driver, a car snob, accepeted. The "upgrade turned out to be smaller and less suitable to the roads they travelling on than the original. All but the driver were very pissed off.
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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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Just booked car rental at GVA for 7-11 December 2023 and prices seem to have subsided. Paying around £43/day for a small automatic from Hertz.
But it's always worth checking the car rental prices against Swiss train CHF 52 Saver Day Passes if you're going to Switzerland and can get to your destination by train/télépherique/PostBus. Saver Day Passes are available from 60 days prior to the day of travel, but the price goes up the nearer to the travel date you buy the tickets. It gives you unlimited travel across almost all SBB, public transport télécabines (like Le Chable↔Verbier) and PostBuses on the stated date, and the next day up to 5am. You're not limited to a specific train.
Obviously, there's an equation around the number of people in the car and length of hire vs the train ticket cost. Sometime the train wins and sometimes the car is better. Personally, given I'm usually the main driver, I prefer the train at the end of the holiday - I just hop on the bus in the resort and end up at GVA airport station. No digging-out the rental car from a snowdrift, traffic on the A9 'round Lac Léman, searching for a place to re-fuel near to the airport, transfer bus, and worrying about being charged for previous drivers' scratches. But I appreciate that if you have a load of luggage/equipment and/or the timetable is against you, dropping everything in the car and getting away is equally attractive.
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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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It seems like an age ago since I started this thread. I took the advice and held my nerve.
Just booked an estate car for 9 days for £475 which I thought was as reasonable as it gets.
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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 always use Europcar at Geneva as we’re in their loyalty scheme, which means that now we get a free 2 level upgrade (we almost never do, but as we book EVs it’s not big deal) and (more importantly) a free second driver. We’ve never had any problems, though as others have found the prices have been pretty eye-watering at times. They seem to have settled down to about £50-70 a day for a medium sized EV (usually an ID3 or the Cupra equivalent). We rent EVs as we only go to Morzine and have a charger at the apartment - and with Europcar you don’t need to return the car with a particular battery % left (unlike both Hertz and Avis who require 75/80% battery left). So no need to refuel - just drive in and leave the car.
Contrast that with Europcar at Lyon, where I rented a car during the RWC to drive up to Morzine between games - arrived an hour early to be told I had to sit and wait or they’d charge me for an extra day. Then observed them trying to upsell models to every single customer, including convincing some Kiwis that they “needed” a large SUV and to pay about €500 extra. They tried to upsell me to “try” a Tesla (which had I thought about it I would have been entitled to as part of my loyalty status), wouldn’t come out to confirm a scratched alloy that they didn’t have noted (thankfully the return agent was happy with my photo/video of the damage) and pushed super-hard for insurance upgrades. None of which I’ve ever had with the folks at Geneva.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Booking my main trip to CH in Jan-Feb and found that GVA flights seem very busy / expensive Thu 1 ~ Sun 4 February 2024. I assume there's something on locally that weekend.
So if you're planning to go/return Sat 3 or Sun 4 Feb 2024 it might be an idea to start looking now.
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@LaForet, We have grown accustomed to very cheep flights. So I had a look at your dates on Easyjet flights out from Birmingham on 1/24 They start at £30.99 and go upto £132.99. I've never seen such a variation in a single day before. Similarly on the Saturday £204 for mid morning down to £41 mid afternoon. I wonder if a tour operator or big party has block booked.
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From Edinburgh to Geneva, Easyjet have amalgamated a lot of their flights. For example on Saturdays, where there were three flights in a day, they've amended the schedules, often combining two of them to whittle it down to two per day. Result is that the flight that was originally two separate flights is quite busy, so probably more expensive? I would imagine they've done the same with other routes.
That could explain the lopsidedness of fares on single days, though not sure why 1-4 Feb is more expensive than other dates.
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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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Could someone please clarify the situation about winter tyres and snow chains for me.
As I understand it, on the Swiss side of the airport you get winter tyres as standard, but on the French side you don't.
So, you have to add the price of snow chain hire(around €75) to the French price as well as dealing with the anxiety of driving on slushy roads on regular tyres.
Is this right?
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yes, that's about it. The extra cost of snow chains varies though, and now with the new French law, perhaps they HAVE to provide chains. Even if you rent a car with winter tyres you might still need chains as well, of course.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have a car booked through Easyjet (Hertz) for early Jan and have just checked pickup and it's on the Swiss side.
I should be lucky and get proper tyres then!
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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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| WD40 wrote: |
Could someone please clarify the situation about winter tyres and snow chains for me.
As I understand it, on the Swiss side of the airport you get winter tyres as standard, but on the French side you don't.
So, you have to add the price of snow chain hire(around €75) to the French price as well as dealing with the anxiety of driving on slushy roads on regular tyres.
Is this right? |
It varies... you're correct that the Swiss rentals include winter tyres, but often charge extra for chains.
The French rentals sometimes can be with "guaranteed" winter tyres, but the guarantee (at least from Avis) is pretty loose in my experience.
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| ciderinsport wrote: |
I have a car booked through Easyjet (Hertz) for early Jan and have just checked pickup and it's on the Swiss side.
I should be lucky and get proper tyres then! |
You’ll definitely get winter tyres and quite often there’s a set of chains left in the boot. Worth joining Hertz’s loyalty scheme as you can save some time on check in. They will generally charge you €30 cross-border fee if you’re going to France.
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You know it makes sense.
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We're only going to Les Contamines, so should be able to avoid having to get chains if we have the winter tyres. Or at least that's the theory.
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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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so should be able to avoid having to get chains if we have the winter tyres
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yes you should. And if the weather's really bad you can probably get chains on the way for less than 75 euros.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I had an email today from Europcar with a Black Friday offer. Had a quick look, and managed to get our car hire down from £878 to £664 for our trip to La Plagne 20-27th Jan.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dominicpriestley, well done!
Avis prices for December have halved in the last month. I cancelled and rebooked this week.
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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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It's a good saving. Hopefully others who have booked will be able to save a little on the costs.
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FAQ
