Automatic Car versus Manual Stick Shift
For car hire / car rental, we partner with NATIONAL - ENTERPRISE because they have the highest amount of automatic cars available in France. In France, people usually drive manual shift vehicles. Automatic transmissions are considered as luxury features. For your peace of mind, we usually highly recommend to hire an automatic car.
Insurance Package
We book the cars with the full insurance coverage, also called "all included / zero-excess" - which avoids to our travelers covering for any damages to the cars.
- The car rental package includes: unlimited mileage, collision damage waiver (CDW), theft protection (theft liability waiver), windshield and tire protection, station/airport pick up fee, second driver fees, returning the car in a different location than pick up. No excess fees or deductible.
- It does not include: gas, tolls and any intentional damage to the car (like filling the tank with the wrong gasoline).
Car Category
The rental car included in our packaged itineraries is a CDAR Category with Automatic Transmission, such as a Citroen C4, Peugeot 308, Toyota Auris or Mégane Renault. This car category can easily accommodate 2 pieces of sizeable luggage as well as carry on. Travelers often make the mistake to go for bigger cars - which are not easy to drive on smaller scenic roads or park in France.
For the parties of 4 or 5 travelers we hire a IVAR-FVAR Category with Automatic Transmission, such as Peugeot 5008, Citroen Grand C4; Ford Grand C-Max or Wolkswagen Sharan. They are 7 seats so taking out the back row gives enough space to accommodate the luggage of 4 to 5 travelers.
If you would like to drive a manual transmission vehicle, or choose a different category from Economy to Luxury, we will be glad to provide you with a new quote for your itinerary.
GPS
- If you have one, bring your GPS from home (such as Garmin with the updated French map). It will save A LOT of time and frustration figuring out how the French GPS works.
- A French Smartphone with WAZE and GOOGLE MAPS apps is included in your package. According to us, they are the best tools to navigate in France.
- If you want to get a portable GPS from the car rental - it can be booked for EUR 10 per day (plus a repositionning fee if you return the car in a different agency from pick up).
French addresses can be different from other countries and we will explain you how to set up GPS with French street and town names.
Train Tickets
Depending on your routing, it's somtimes wiser to use the train on long legs. We can also include train tickets to our packages.