Geneva Airport...Question
Discussion
I'm flying into Geneva and I'm going to be needing a hire car for the day to drive in France. When I land at Geneva do I walk into the French side of the airport and hire the car there? If I've booked the car online how do the car hire company know whether i'm driving in Switzerland or France?
eerrrmmm not so true.... if you've hired on the swiss side you must collect and return to the Swiss side (and vice verse).....
Unless you made an explicit decision to hire from the French side you will have hired from the Swiss side....
If you have hired on the French side the car won't have a Vignette so you can't go through the main Swiss/French border at Bardonex (sp?) as they will stop you and make you pay for the vignette (40CHF).... also ifyou hire on the French and return to the Swiss the surcharge is usually 110CHF.. The French side is a bugger to find if you don't know the way!
However, usually the French side is cheaper.
So all things said and done we advise clients to go for the Swiss side!
Unless you made an explicit decision to hire from the French side you will have hired from the Swiss side....
If you have hired on the French side the car won't have a Vignette so you can't go through the main Swiss/French border at Bardonex (sp?) as they will stop you and make you pay for the vignette (40CHF).... also ifyou hire on the French and return to the Swiss the surcharge is usually 110CHF.. The French side is a bugger to find if you don't know the way!
However, usually the French side is cheaper.
So all things said and done we advise clients to go for the Swiss side!
Depends whether you have hired in advance (I strongly recommend that you do). If you hire for french side and then try to collect on swiss side, they won't tell you what you need to do instead, they will just add a surcharge to your cost. It does not make a difference if you choose to hire when you arrive, but clearly you might end up getting stung, or with no car!
Marcellus said:
eerrrmmm not so true.... if you've hired on the swiss side you must collect and return to the Swiss side (and vice verse).....
Unless you made an explicit decision to hire from the French side you will have hired from the Swiss side....
If you have hired on the French side the car won't have a Vignette so you can't go through the main Swiss/French border at Bardonex (sp?) as they will stop you and make you pay for the vignette (40CHF).... also ifyou hire on the French and return to the Swiss the surcharge is usually 110CHF.. The French side is a bugger to find if you don't know the way!
However, usually the French side is cheaper.
So all things said and done we advise clients to go for the Swiss side!
Unless you made an explicit decision to hire from the French side you will have hired from the Swiss side....
If you have hired on the French side the car won't have a Vignette so you can't go through the main Swiss/French border at Bardonex (sp?) as they will stop you and make you pay for the vignette (40CHF).... also ifyou hire on the French and return to the Swiss the surcharge is usually 110CHF.. The French side is a bugger to find if you don't know the way!
However, usually the French side is cheaper.
So all things said and done we advise clients to go for the Swiss side!
If you have already booked and not sure which side you have hired from then check the ticket. 'GVA' is the Swiss side 'Gfr' is the French side. All UK sheduled flights land into the Swiss side.
If you pick up a car on the Swiss side and it doesn't have vignette (it probably will tho) you will probably get away with exiting Switzerland on the autoroute - you'd be very unlikely to get done on exit. On the way back, if you want to avoid paying you can either go through the 'other' border entrance into Geneva at Gaillard. This route involves no Swiss autoroutes. Or, if you are feeling really brave, come back through the normal border but filter through the left hand lane and nip round the left hand side of the border control. There is rarely a swiss border guard checking this lane but always one on the other lane...
... not that i've ever done this, no no no.
Edited by theboymoon on Sunday 17th May 20:17
in the winter months its always better going to the swiss side as by law they have to have winter tyres and snow chains etc plus you get the vingette this is all extra on french rented cars
In the summer obviously that doesn't matter however one thing that does make a difference is that its much simpler to find the swiss hire car return area! the french one is a lot more random to get to which makes a difference if you are late for your flight!
apparantly if you have 'accidently' strayed onto the swiss toll roads you can get away without buying a vignette by crossing the border through a town called Perly but I have never attempted that myself
you can then pick up the A40 or A41 the other side easily and vice versa.
if you are caught on a toll road without a vignette then I think there is a fine but I have never been checked anywhere other than the border - thats not to say they don't check though....
In the summer obviously that doesn't matter however one thing that does make a difference is that its much simpler to find the swiss hire car return area! the french one is a lot more random to get to which makes a difference if you are late for your flight!
apparantly if you have 'accidently' strayed onto the swiss toll roads you can get away without buying a vignette by crossing the border through a town called Perly but I have never attempted that myself
you can then pick up the A40 or A41 the other side easily and vice versa.if you are caught on a toll road without a vignette then I think there is a fine but I have never been checked anywhere other than the border - thats not to say they don't check though....
Edited by andy ted on Monday 18th May 13:36
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