 Poster: A snowHead
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So we finalized our plans this year.
We are a group of 6-8 that will be traveling from the US to the three valleys (St. Martin de Belleville) in the first week of Feb for about 8 days. A car hire seems like a good alternative to an airport transfer.
This site has been very helpful for me, but I just want to make sure I have everything covered.
I checked out the hertz site and saw a van that seats 9. Would that auto be adequate in the valleys?
It seems the consensis is that I should hire from the swiss side in geneva and take the highways instead of thru the city
Chains should be included, but I should call to confirm. Same with the ski/snowboard rack
Did i miss anything?
any comments would be appreciated
regards,
koon
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
Did i miss anything?
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er, yes. The sticky on this in the Travel section of this site, and search function in the user facilities drop down (top left of this page).
The info you're looking for has already been requested and answered many times on this site.
Welcome to Snowheads, by the way.
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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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koondog, yep...don't book direct with Hertz, you'll pay much more than you need! Check out http://www.fleeteurope.co.uk/main.aspx?page=wwh a discounted route into HolidayAutos, we use them all the time and they seem to offer the best deals....chains will be extra though!
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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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koondog, glad that you're finding snowHeads helpful. When you collect the car, check that the chains are there, and make sure that they are at the top of your luggage.....better than having to unload the whole car to find them!!
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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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homphomp, I have checked this site which have good headline rates but which charge an additional €34,00 per day for snow chains, tyres and ski rack. Seems excessive!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bernard Condon, Certainly does....we payed 21 euros for a week last year!
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As far as I'm aware all car rentals in Switzerland must come complete with winter tyres and chains. When hiring from Geneva between 1 Dec and 1 April I've never paid a supplement for chains and they have always been in the car when I collected it from the rental garage. I've used that Fleeteurope link a lot but recently found that ebooker.com has been consistently cheaper.
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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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thanks for all the hints... look forward to an awesome week in france
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Make sure your car/var has a Swiss motorway permit (I think a "Vignitte" but not sure of the spelling), otherwise you may get charged during the journey.
Have also heard that hire rates for one-way hires are much cheaper if pick-up and leave are both in France. The journey is only a litte harder from the French side of the airport, as I recall just a couple of road junctions and then you are back in Switzerland and on the road going past the Swiss entry to Geneva airport.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Adrian, NOoOOoOOOoOoooo! Never hire from the French side!
You Don't get the use of the motorway
You Don't get winter tyres/chains included
You Do get to be totally lost in Geneva airport finding the dodgy back route to the car hire pickup
You Do get to be horribly lost in Geneva trying to find France and avoiding all the nice fast straight motorways you are not permitted on
You Do get to nearly miss your flight driving ever decreasing circles around Geneva trying to find the French bit of the airport (repeatedly driving past the nice and easy to find Swiss side drop off)
Any slight saving in € is probably wiped out by chain hire, and NOT WORTH it for the other hassles!
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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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fragglerock, try reading what I said. Try reading road signs.
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Although I've not hired from the French side of GVA, three of my friends have. All of them got lost on the way back to the airport and two of them got lost on the way out. These are not normally the kind of drivers that make a habit of getting lost, so you can read into that whatever you want. All three of them now hire from the Swiss side 
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You know it makes sense.
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rob@rar.org.uk,
I too thought Snow chains compulsory from CH/GVA, Last two weeks of Jan 05 hired a car from GVA via holiday Autos got a 'BUDGET' car and guess what i didn't check for chains doh!!! Second week it dumped all week!!!
When I phoned Budget they said you only get them when you ask and pay for them!!!
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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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rob@rar.org.uk, I have hired on both sides of the airport, got lost from French side not on Swiss. Took ages to get back through Geneva to get to French side to avoid motorway.
Also the Swiss side has more cars, child car seats, ski racks so you do not get let down when you get therekoondog, Swiss side for me now every time.
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Poster: A snowHead
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NorthWestFace, thanks for that - I'll double check before leaving the rental garage. It's been a little while since I was allocated a Budget car, mostly National or Hertz which have always come with chains.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Adrian, Sorry if what I said seemed like a personal attack! it was meant to be obviously over the top 
If you do hire from the French side you wont have a motorway ticket and so following the road signs will get you into trouble!
Compare and contrast the directions for French/Swiss hires on this page
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~dougmacarthur/FromGenevaAirport.html
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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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NorthWestFace, Ditto...but I spotted it in the airport. Having spent half an hour treking back up to the desk to arrange them, finally got underway only to find the driverside window wouldn't open and I couldn't get out of the car park! Back to Budget....sorry Madam, it's the only car available, tell you what, we'll give you the chains for free? Okey dokey says I, spend next week getting out of the car in the cold and rain to get toll tickets, pay tolls, enter/exit car parts. Get back to blightly and what do I find....a bill for snow chains. Grrr!
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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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| homphomp wrote: |
| koondog, yep...don't book direct with Hertz, you'll pay much more than you need! Check out http://www.fleeteurope.co.uk/main.aspx?page=wwh a discounted route into HolidayAutos, we use them all the time and they seem to offer the best deals....chains will be extra though! |
homphomp, I checked out the prices at fleeteurope and it looks good. Just one question, I couldn't find if the minivan (9) seater had ski/snowboard racks or if we could add them to the van. we will have 8 people and 8 pairs of equipments. any ideas?
Also, do i add the snow chains when i get to geneva?
koondog
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