 Poster: A snowHead
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Am about to book a hire car for the weekend, can anyone tell me, do they include snowchains etc? Am I better to book in advance or wait until we get there?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Am I better to book in advance or wait until we get there?
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Book in advance, having shopped around. you can sometimes get a better rate, and grenoble is a small airport; you might be out of luck if you don't book. French car hire often doesn't include chains and sometimes you can't book them in advance, and sometimes you can't get them on the day, either. In which case you'll have to buy some, looking at the forecast....
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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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Watch out for Europcar.
Chains are extra.
Snowtyres will quite literally double the price of a small cheap car.
The other problem was that they have a deal with Easyjet so the queues for the Europcar desk can be very long (in fact queing for our last Europcar hire car took significantly longer than the flight from Luton).
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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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It may be worth someone going to get in the carhire queue while the others wait for the baggage. I have done this the last couple of times and it has worked well.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for that, will book it now and send mr feefee off to queue!!
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Can i second what Ray Zorro, has said...we didn't last year,waited for everyone to get bags by the time we got the car hire desk the queue was a mile long,took over an hour to get our cars!
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Just booked a megane and a clio from Grenoble autoeurope - £280 for the week. There was an option for a winter pack (which I expect is a set of snow chains and a St. Bernard in the boot  ) but we haven't taken it. Don't know if this is folly or not but last time we were there the roads were pretty well looked after, grit-wise.
Not convinced that the two cars will be big enough for six people, three board bags, luggage and a loads of shopping that we'll do on the way but I was outvoted on getting an espace with a roof box...
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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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Don't know if this is folly or not but last time we were there the roads were pretty well looked after, grit-wise.
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given the cost, I think that's a reasonable decision, because you will be able to monitor weather just before departure and buy some chains in a supermarket if you are likely to need them. If there's fresh snow on the horizon I would not, personally, risk being without them. Even a few centimetres of slushy spring snow can stop you getting up quite ordinary gradients.
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Ryanair seem to do some very good deals on car hire. Decided to go to Lyon in the end so didn't follow through, but worth a look. You don't seem to need to fly with them either.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Good advice Pam. I don't think there'll be a problem with us picking chains when we collect the cars. I suppose a few quid extra is worth it compared to being stuck on the side of a mountain!!!
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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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Specialman, my brother in law couldn't get chains from Europcar in Geneva (French side) and then had to buy in resort, as they arrived on a Sunday with no supermarkets open. It's a good job there were clear roads when they arrived or they would have had to hope that the motorway service area at Bonneville had the right size. They bought in resort when the forecast suggested snow this last weekend, and just as well, they'd had 30cms when they left, yesterday, and would have had no chance without chains. Also you can get stopped by the police if you don't have them; this does happen, it's not a theoretical possibility.
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We always use Europcar when we fly to Grenoble for 2 reasons
Ryaniar have a deal with Hertz meaning that the queues are horrendous
As the dublin flight doesn't land till 8.30am the Europcar desk is often closed and the keys left at the info desk which is much quicker
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You know it makes sense.
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Second what Talltone says. We found Ryanair - Hertz the cheapest at Grenoble in February this year - £120.00 for a Vauxhalll Meriva but the excess was 900 Euros but no queues when we landed (we were on a Easyjet flight). We hired with Europcar last August and the excess wasn't as much as this - with Hertz you are able to take out an optional insurance, can't quite remember the cost of this. I didn't bother with the insurance as only really using the car from the airport to the resort and back. Chains were extra. We noticed that you could buy chains in the small supermarket in Monetier Les Bains for around the 40 Euro mark so it might be worth risking not hiring as buying a set may not be much more than renting them.
We hit a problem when tyring to refuel the car before taking it back to Hertz. We were flying on a Sunday afternoon and forgot that everything is shut including the kisoks at petrol stations. We couldn't get our cards to work in the petrol pump machines when we found a petrol station at one of the villages near Grenoble airport. There is a service station not too far away from where you need to come off the motorway and there is also a pump at the peage at the exit for Grenoble airport but I went straight past this as I was expecting a service station. Fortunately the lady at Hertz was very helpful and was able to get us a fairly reasonable rate for refuelling when we took the car back half empty.
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