 Poster: A snowHead
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I've been getting quotes for car hire from Geneva for various trips next season. I've tried lots of different online brokers (eg HolidayAutos, ebookers, Travelsupermarket, AutoEurope, EasyCar) as well as quotes direct from the rental company's websites. Last year HolidayAutos was usually the cheapest, but this year they seem much more expensive. The best quotes I've had so far have been via ebookers: one direct with Hertz, and then for another trip with easycar (but actual rental provided by Alamo). Any recommendations for other places I should try for car rental at Geneva?
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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 found http://arguscarhire.com/ the most competitive when booking for Easter next year. But that was for Italy, not Geneva .... still, could be worth a shot.
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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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rob@rar.org.uk, how close are holiday autos to the price? If it's within about 5%, let me know.
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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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masmith, thanks. They get included in the trawl that Travelsupermarket does, but they were a bit more expensive than others for Geneva. I'll try them direct to see if they are cheaper that way
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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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Any rates quoted by car rental brokers etc. are negotiable ... in a downward direction.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Wear The Fox Hat wrote: |
| rob@rar.org.uk, how close are holiday autos to the price? If it's within about 5%, let me know. |
They were way off. For example, I've booked a 10 day hire over Christmas via ebookers costing approx £145, HolidayAutos offered the same grade car for £230. For other rentals that I've compared prices the gap hasn't been so large, but still much more than a 5% difference.
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
| Any rates quoted by car rental brokers etc. are negotiable ... in a downward direction. |
Only works if they do phone bookings as well as web bookings. Some places are website-only. Also relies on negotiating skills, which I suspect I don't have! Maybe snowHeads should set up a corporate deal?
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rob@rar.org.uk, just checked, it's 10%, but that's still not bringing you near the ebookers price.
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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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Wear The Fox Hat, the HolidayAutos price I quoted included the FleetEurope discount, which I think is 10% of their regular price.
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rob@rar.org.uk, ah, ok. Mine was with IAM.
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brian
brian
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rob@rar.org.uk, about the only one I can think of that won't be included in the searches you've already done is the budget arm of Sixt, www.sixti.de
May be cheap if you can fit in a smart car ! Watch out for the relatively low inclusive mileage.
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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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rob@rar.org.uk, I'll PM you a link - see if it's any good...
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Michelle, you touting business for Gray? 
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You know it makes sense.
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rob@rar.org.uk, I find Budget on the Swiss side is the cheapest. If you're looking to book the cheapest of cheap always choose the lowest car group as they don't keep any at GVA, so we always get an upgrade... not good if there are four of you mind... handy if there are one or two of you and size of car doesn't matter.
FWIW if you are driving into France to go skiing IME renting from the Swiss side is better as winter tires are standard... a few years ago this wasn't true for the French side. Accessing the Swiss / French side is quite easy.
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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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| parlor wrote: |
rob@rar.org.uk, I find Budget on the Swiss side is the cheapest. If you're looking to book the cheapest of cheap always choose the lowest car group as they don't keep any at GVA, so we always get an upgrade... not good if there are four of you mind... handy if there are one or two of you and size of car doesn't matter.
FWIW if you are driving into France to go skiing IME renting from the Swiss side is better as winter tires are standard... a few years ago this wasn't true for the French side. Accessing the Swiss / French side is quite easy. |
I always book on the Swiss side for the winter tyres - a handy tip I picked up here on snowHeads. It also means I won't get lost to or from the French side 
As there is normally one or two of us I always book a Mini-Economy or whatever the lowest grade is called. As you say, I've always got at least a slightly larger economy grade car, and sometimes slightly bigger than that.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Wear The Fox Hat, NO! That would mean that we'd have to move to the Alps......................................
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Michelle, and the problem with that is?
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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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........(she's gone)
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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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Michelle, Hang on wait for me, you did say you needed a dishwasher 
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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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Linds, Wear The Fox Hat, please don't tempt me - okay... go on!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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5 days hire at GVA in January with Holiday Autos for an Espace sized vehicle was £238 and was the best deal I could get
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I found Alamo the cheapest at Geneva last time I hired there, but I often find EasyAutos (NOT Easycar) to be the cheapest from other airports.
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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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Helen Beaumont, Thanks for that. This would save us £20 on the PSB car hire as compared to a direct entry to the holiday autos site 
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PS> I have just checked out that link for the PSB. We need hire from Sat 28th-Sun Nov 5th, Mercedes A class £180 as opposed to £198 on the normal site.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Helen Beaumont, Mondeo estate, £194 - £214
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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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Helen Beaumont, I always use the Fleet Europe link for Holiday Autos, and last season it was always the cheapest bar one occasion. This season it has not been competitve on the three rentals I've booked so far, eg £90 more expensive that ebookers on a 10 day hire over Christmas. I also checked out Travelsupermarket because of one of your recommendations, and they were only slightly more expensive than ebookers.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Wed 30-08-06 21:47; edited 1 time in total
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Frosty the Snowman, I know ,the prices are really good. We have been upgraded every time we use them, so it's tempting to book a smaller car. We won't really need the Mondeo estate and the Merc is surprisingly large inside, and the back has plenty legroom for large kids. I think Ray Zorro may have posted the link originally.
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brian
brian
Guest
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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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This link should give you a better Holiday Autos deal: http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xOneAccount
(A 15% discount I think).
This gives £151.30 for Helen Beaumont's A class car hire in October...
The thing I've found with Holiday Autos is that it's consistently cheaper when taking into account insurance coverage and the fact that the car is guaranteed to be winterised and have chains. It's not the case with all Swiss rentals.
I've found www.sixti.ch to be reliably the cheapest when you don't need to worry about snow chains. BUT they don't wait for late flight arrivals (although they would if you'd booked throug www.sixt.ch) - so be careful...
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Poster: A snowHead
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In all seriousness, there must be an opportunity for SnowHeads here. Agents get 20% off Holiday Autos prices. If the site got an agency and passed on 15% to us then I'd book...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Reading through the thread again, I'm not sure why rob is being quoted so much more though.PhillipStanton, the total comes to 171.30 with your link, once the insurance is addded.
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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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Helen Beaumont, it's a puzzle, as last season HolidayAutos were almost always the cheapest. But for this season they have been consistently above other brokers, for four rentals that I've got quotes for. Having said that, they did offer the best price for the car we hired in California earlier this month.
PhillipStanton, thanks for the additional HA link. I'll try that in the future. I like the idea of snowHeads offering a sensible discount and getting a % of the rental price - is it difficult to negotiate an agent's deal with Holiday Autos?
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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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rob@rar.org.uk, I'm still finding them only a couple of pounds more expensive though than some of the others I've used, If I knew the cheapest used Alamo, I'd be happy.
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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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Helen Beaumont - always difficult to know what you'd selected...
I agree with you on Alamo - I always find them "reasonable" in all respects - like they often don't charge if the tank isn't quite full on return.
| rob@rar.org.uk wrote: |
| ...is it difficult to negotiate an agent's deal with Holiday Autos? |
I've no idea sorry - any idea "who's in charge" and how I raise it?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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A few things to watch in Geneva, which I'm sure you guys know, is that if you're arriving on a late evening flight, it just needs a small delay and most of the car hire desks close down. Hertz is good for staying on. So if you don't get a good company deal with Hertz, book through Holiday Autos and tell them the possible problem.
Also insurance excess in Switzerland can be eyewateringly high. Holiday Autos last year offered to cover the excess, whatever the car hire company has got on their docs, so worth checking if they are doing that this year. If you're stuck with a high excess, then:
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/
for around £50 a year (Europe) will cover your excess for unlimited trips.
And, for fanatics, checking your car for pre-damage in the depths of that gloomy car park is not easy - 3-4 flash pics on your mobile before and after renting might save you a few hundred francs - most of the Swiss car hire outfits are ruthless with zapping charges on your card at the end of your rental for damage.
Also gas stations near the airport are elusive - there's one which takes banknotes in Parking 51 (follow the signs and then loop back to the airport) but try and stop en route - the last one on the Montreux/Lausanne/Geneva motorway is 10kms past IKEA.
Remember to pre-book kid seats - they're in short supply peak season....
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 31-08-06 9:49; edited 2 times in total
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I guess the point I'm trying to make is that shaving a few quid off the rental is chocolate kettle stuff when you're faced with SFr850 excess and a hire desk closed at 2200!
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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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| Boswell wrote: |
And, for fanatics, checking your car for pre-damage in the depths of that gloomy car park is not easy - 3-4 flash pics on your mobile before and after renting might save you a few hundred francs - most of the Swiss car hire outfits are ruthless with zapping charges on your card at the end.
Also gas stations near the airport are elusive - there's one which takes banknotes in Parking 51 (follow the signs and then loop back to the airport) but try and stop en route - the last one on the Montreux/Lausanne/Geneva motorway is 10kms past IKEA. |
I got charged by Alamo for a small dent on a passenger door last year (£200 I think it was). Fortunately I have the insurance4carhire policy so it didn't cost me anything other than a bit of form-filling. I'll check the car a bit more carefully on collection from now on, although it's not that easy in the gloomy car park especially when you're keen to make a quick getaway.
I always fill up in the last service station on the A41 from Annecy, just before you join the A40. It's about a 20 minute drive from the airport, but filling up to the very top means that the fuel guage still reads full when you return the car at GVA. It's probably not the cheapest petrol, but it is very convenient when returning the car.
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brian
brian
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If you head into the airport as if you're going to go into the hire car return but stay in the left hand lane and keep going past it, you come to a small Agip petrol station (unmanned, 2 pumps).
... or if you head across the bridge towards the Ibis hotel as if you were heading into the centre of town, there are 4 or 5 petrol stations clustered on that road just over the bridge.
Swiss petrol is a bit cheaper than French.
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FAQ
