 Poster: A snowHead
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I know its been done to death but has anyone noticed that HOLIDAY AUTOS have a check button in their booking process inviting you to add a winterpack (tyres ,chains and scraper) to your booking for the bargain price of £80!! seemingly regardless of supplier.
This seems a new development to me as in the past I have assumed that all cars in CH have winter tyres included and it is up to the individual supplier whether or not there is a local charge.
HA now seem to want you to add this £80 or risk the local charge. Hmmm. Decisions ....Decisions....
Do we have a definitive list on which suppliers apply a local charge for
A)Winterisation even though it is obligatory.
B)Snow chains.
HA seem to be cheapest on balance at the moment especially as I am travelling over New Year BUT £80 does bump the price up to uncompetitive levels. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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hedley, I seem to recall seeing that in the past and ignoring it, but I may be wrong.
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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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Yes hedley, it does seem to be a new thing this year. I'm not using Holiday Autos this year - all 3 bookings are with Easycar. They were cheaper and it's not using the slightly dubious discount link for HA. However with Easycar some of the vehicles include snow chains whereas others don’t and will add a mandatory charge later. The way to check is to click on the car you want, then on the next page click on the “continue” button under “New Customers”, then on the next page scroll down to the “local supplier’s terms and conditions” hyperlink in the text just above the “Make Payment Now” button. Rentals including snow chains say so under “Child Seats & Special Requests”, whereas rentals not including snow chains say that “Winter Equipment are provided between 1st November and 15th April each year at a mandatory cost of CHF9 per day” under the same section.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Has the charging for the courtesy coach been sorted out yet or is it still being added to credit cards after the hire regardless of actual usage of the bus??
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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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Sorry, no idea Boredsurfing. Last I heard was snowbunny's report at the beginning of July when Alamo were still charging (see this thread. I'm off over Christmas so can let you know after that!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Holiday Auto prices nave dropped considerably from a month ago 
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| mfj197 wrote: |
| Sorry, no idea Boredsurfing. Last I heard was snowbunny's report at the beginning of July when Alamo were still charging (see this thread. I'm off over Christmas so can let you know after that! |
In THAT thread I reported in September that there was NO transfer charge with HA and Alamo.
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hedley, this is one of my bugbears too, I think HA should be consistent on this and either the charge is included or it isn't but not that it depends on which supplier they allocate. For the record last season we got Sixt and had a local charge slapped on for snow tyres (which I didn't expect) and had to pay for chains (which I did as I requested them at the desk when there were none in the car). I argued with HA to no avail about the fact that I had not 'opted' for winterization and so did not see why I was being charged for the tyres when they were on the car anyway and that other HA suppliers don't make this charge.
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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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Frosty the Snowman, Maybe not if you add £80 into the equation?
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We are flying into Austria at half term and the HA offer is £52 for a snow pack. I e-mailed HA and that includes snow tyres (lol) chains and a ski rack. Not bad value IMHO.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oooh! I do apologise altis, I didn't see that when reviewing the thread! Thanks for the update. Just checked prices for March - Easycar generally cheaper than HA with discount code, once the £80 is taken into account.
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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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Buy chains at the supermarket on the way to resort.
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hedley, Yes - we spotted that too. Have always used Holiday autos in the past using the discount code but this time we found OPODO the better value for our needs. You can see which hire company you are booking with (and check their terms and conditions I recall) and have booked a Hertz car through them for 19 - 26th Dec. Having followed previous threads we are hoping this may avoid some big queues at the Alamo/National desk and hiring from the swiss side so assuming winter tyres will be included.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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It is 10% cheaper to hire for 7 days than for 6 with HA 
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Poster: A snowHead
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I can thoroughly recommend an inflatable ski rack. I know it sounds daft but this works well. There's plenty of space for 4 pairs of skis - more at a push - and it weighs, IIRC, under 2kg.
http://www.handirackuk.com/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ive just spent a couple of days trawling the web and cant find one supplier that states winterisation is included as standard.If it was I,m sure it was reflected in the crazy prices.
I think this year there are going to be a lot of unhappy punters having to cough up at the desk or getting an extra bill on their return.
HA with the magic link still coming out cheapest at £274 for an estate for 8 days over New Year for me.
Question is do I cough up the £80 winterisation fee or do suck it and see.
Ive never had to pay extra in previous years but there does seem to be an industry wide stance this year?
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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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That's strange. In Switzerland it's basically obligatory to put snow tires on from November to April. I doubt it would be possible to hire a car without snow tires! So I can't see how they could charge you extra? And with snow tires you don't need chains unless you are driving through really deep snow which is very unlikely if you are sticking to main access roads.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| sarah wrote: |
Take a chance! Book HA and fingers crossed you will get a supplier which doesn't charge extra, if you are unlucky I don't think you pay more than the £80 anyway if you are lucky you save £80! Sixt charged me, but AFAIR several other  s got other suppliers and didn't get extra charges for winter kit, although they got charged for the shuttle bus but Sixt didn't charge for that. It really is a lottery with HA as to which supplier, which extra charges you get stitched for!
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The big problem with HA is you don't find out the supplier until you have paid, I'm guessing this is due to contractual agreements with the suppliers to not explicitly undercut their prices.
I think there's a way around this, it worked for me when I wanted to find out the specific conditions (not snow tyres, but the same should apply) for a rental I booked once. It was suggested to me by the girl on the Customer Support line, they couldn't divulge supplier info without a quotation reference.
You use the 'email me this deal' on the HA results page (having used the VM discount link, not sure about the Quidco cashback though), pick a few different cars (the XS info will give an indication that there are different suppliers lurking there) this will generate quotes with reference numbers, call the Customer Support line (saynoto0870.com to find the geographical alternative to the 0871 number) ask nicely and they'll tell you which supplier the quote is for. You can then ask (or check yourself) what that supplier's snow tyre policy is. Then go ahead and book it online. If you really want the Quidco cashback as well as the VM discount you might have to start the booking process again, but at least you know which car/price on the results page relates to which supplier, I don't think this would change if you did it all on the same day.
I'm pretty sure this would work.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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In April 09 we used Carhire2000. They included the ski pack in the price. I've used them on 3 occasions now with no problems. Twice from GVA and once from Innsbruck.
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The below now appears on the HA site
| Quote: |
From 01 November - 15 April it is mandatory for all rentals to have winter tyres. The quotes below do not include the price of winter tyres.
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I've got to say in my experience snow tyres worked up to a point but that point was some not particularly deep snow on a slope. I would be very twitchy about relying on snow tyres on anything other than fairly benign roads.
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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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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
The below now appears on the HA site
| Quote: |
From 01 November - 15 April it is mandatory for all rentals to have winter tyres. The quotes below do not include the price of winter tyres.
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Very interesting. That's presumably dented the 'you must hire in Swiss Geneva' argument a bit.
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| hedley wrote: |
| Ive just spent a couple of days trawling the web and cant find one supplier that states winterisation is included as standard.If it was I,m sure it was reflected in the crazy prices. |
See my first post in this thread - Easycar will rent you a car with winterisation as standard, but you have to check the terms and conditions of the specific car you are planning to rent to find out whether it's included.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just buy snowchains from the supermarket. I hired snowchains from Europcar last season. Got to the Aire du Chainage and found them broke. Had to drive all the way back down to the valley and buy some from Casino for less than the cost of hiring them in the first place. Then I got back to the AdC and the Gendarmes told me not to bother with the chains...
Anyone want to buy some unused snowchains?
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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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Hurtle,
Frosty the Snowman wrote:
The below now appears on the HA site
Quote:
From 01 November - 15 April it is mandatory for all rentals to have winter tyres. The quotes below do not include the price of winter tyres.
Very interesting. That's presumably dented the 'you must hire in Swiss Geneva' argument a bit.
Looked into this a bit further and interestingly it only appears when you want to book from Switzerland (tried getting a quote from the french Geneva side and the message wasn't quoted) so I think it's business as usual on the Swiss/France Geneva car hire debate.
Also, I found the message a bit confusing - did it mean that as 'the quotes below did not include the price of winter tyres' but 'it is mandatory for all rentals to have them', then you would HAVE to pay extra ............
Further digging on their website under terms and conditions revealed:
"Additional information for Switzerland rentals -
Winter tyres are mandatory for all Switzerland rentals from 01 November 2009 - 15 April 2010. As result, the pre-bookable ski package option will be automatically selected for all Switzerland bookings. You can deselect this product but if you do so you will be charged locally."
We have used HA with the discount code in the past and I would be very interested to hear how snowheads get on this year but I am quite glad at the moment that we have booked through Opodo this year. 
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I once whiled away half an hour waiting for a late flight into Geneva by actually walking round and asking the hire companies about this. I was no wiser by the end. The nearest to a sensible explanation I got was (when I queried the fact that the winter pack was extra) "all bookings made from the UK will automatically include that charge, so there will be nothing extra to pay". Possibly that doesn't apply to bookings made through third parties like HA,though.
And, just in case anyone missed it - you won't necessarily get chains, SO CHECK.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Just checking on the AutoEurope site and they now say:
RENTAL DOES NOT INCLUDE
* Local toll, highway fees, or travel stickers required by local authorities. Mandatory Winterization Fee of approx. 7.90 CHF day (max charge of approx. 79 CHF per rental) for rentals commencing Nov. 15th - Apr. 30th.
yet their prices are much higher than HolidayAutos. I think I'm inclined to go with HA and see what happens.
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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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bump
Car hire quote GVA 7 days April 2010
Holiday autos using the code £180 BUT
| Quote: |
From 01 November - 15 April it is mandatory for rentals to have winter tyres. If you choose not to include the winter package (£70.00) as part of this booking you will be charged locally
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So actually thats £250
Easy Europ Hire £237 BUT
| Quote: |
Rental charges include Winter tyres
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Appears to be a no brainer...or have I missed somethin?
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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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I've used HA for the past 3 years, never paid the supplment for winterisation, but it has been there as an option. It's the law in Switzerland that all cars must have snow tyres, and mine always have.
Latest car I actually got from Hertz with work in Geneva was a 4WD volvo with a big sticker saying it is forbidden to fit chains!!
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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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Boredsurfing, I use HA 6-8 times per winter (including this one), I have never paid the supplement, and never been asked to.
The no-brainer option is HA at £180
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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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| rungsp wrote: |
Boredsurfing, I use HA 6-8 times per winter (including this one), I have never paid the supplement, and never been asked to.
The no-brainer option is HA at £180 |
Not so. It depends on the supplier they give you as has been said before. You WILL always get winter tyres in CH as they are mandatory whether you pre-book them or not. You MAY get lucky and not have to pay extra. We were allocated a car from Sixt last season and got stiffed locally for the winter tyres, other suppliers may not charge you extra but then they might charge you for the minibus to the car park 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Used Car Hire 3000 again for the EoSB transfer. Been allocated in the French sector but it includes the ski pack. It's around £335 which divided between 4 of us isn't too bad.
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| Quote: |
Been allocated in the French sector
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one advantage being that you don't have to hike off down the road or get on a bus to pick up your car.
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kitenski, that isn't the law in CH, at least for privately owned cars. It is just recommended, and the insurance may kick up a fuss if you don't have them and are involved in an accident.
I know that when we insured our car here we had to pay extra for cover against 'gross negligence' which includes not having winter tyres on, so maybe certain car hire insurers requires this to be the case.
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brian
brian
Guest
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Whitters, I think it is the law for hire cars, even if not for the private motorist.
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