Hiring a car in UK for France holiday

[parakitaMol.]

Has anyone hired a 7 seater in UK to drive to/around France?

I've been told by a travel agent that this is not possible.

If it is, can anyone recommend a good rental company?

[marshalla]

It's possible, but you need to talk to the rental company and may need a formal letter of permission from them in order to get the car across the border(s).


Europcar's FAQ suggest that they may allow it, but it's definitely on a case by case basis.

[parakitaMol.]

Thanks that is very helpful

[johnnyreggae]

Shouldn't you ask a hire company rather than a travel agent ?

I've done a similar rental from Budget who surcharged it and required proof of overseas RAC cover

[parakitaMol.]

Our company uses a travel agent for everything travel-related. He's told us that 'no company will do it' which I found hard to believe.

[Silver993tt]

A couple of years ago I asked AVIS UK if I could rent a car and take it to Germany. They said yes but there would be an additional fee of something like £100 on the standard weekly charge. In the end I rented a car from AVIS Germany and drove to the UK. There was no extra charge from AVIS Germany to do this.

I really can't see why UK rental companies are so stuck up about taking their cars abroad, after all the larger companies have offices all over Europe anyway and their continental offices don't have a problem with their left hand drive cars being driven in the UK.

AVIS allow you to take their rental cars abroad for additional fees:

http://www.avis.co.uk/Continental_Cover

Edited by Silver993tt on Thursday 19th July 15:21

[Truckosaurus]

marshalla said:

It's possible, but you need to talk to the rental company and may need a formal letter of permission from them in order to get the car across the border(s).

The "permission to take a rental/lease car out of the country" form is called a VE103.

Would it perhaps be cheaper to rent a UK car and drive to Dover, go as foot passengers on the ferry (assuming they have airport style luggage trollies) and then hire another car in Calais.

[parakitaMol.]

Truckosaurus said:

marshalla said:

It's possible, but you need to talk to the rental company and may need a formal letter of permission from them in order to get the car across the border(s).

The "permission to take a rental/lease car out of the country" form is called a VE103.

Would it perhaps be cheaper to rent a UK car and drive to Dover, go as foot passengers on the ferry (assuming they have airport style luggage trollies) and then hire another car in Calais.

That's helpful, thanks...

Unfortunately that wouldn't work in this instance though.

[Silver993tt]

parakitaMol. said:

That's helpful, thanks...

Unfortunately that wouldn't work in this instance though.

Why don't you just rent one from Avis (for example) and take out the extra cover for continental Europe?

[parakitaMol.]

Silver993tt said:

parakitaMol. said:

That's helpful, thanks...

Unfortunately that wouldn't work in this instance though.

Why don't you just rent one from Avis (for example) and take out the extra cover for continental Europe?

Yes, that's the ideal solution - thanks.

[Fas1975]

As others have mentioned, there's an extra payment to cover taking the car out of the UK.
Europcar definitely do this. I think it was around £50-£60. EU and named countries, but there were some exclusions so double check. But yes, speak to the rental car company, not the travel agent.

[hidetheelephants]

parakitaMol. said:

Our company uses a travel agent for everything travel-related. He's told us that 'no company will do it' which I found hard to believe.

Otherwise known as 'I can't be bothered/don't know how so I won't try, let's fob them off with a bit of flannel'; time for a new agent?