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Has anyone got any recommendations on who to go with or who to avoid?
And as we would be taking the car to the French Alps, would the cross border thing be a problem?
Many thanks.
Make sure you know which side of the airport you are landing in (french or swiss)
and make sure you hire your car from the right side.
It's a bit of a hassle otherwise.
I've never seen it as an issue landing in Swix and picking up in France and that's usually lugging loads of climbing gear. We've always hired whichever is cheapest on whichever side, regardless of where we land.
It's a nightmare! Very confusing airport with two halves, badly sign posted and hidden doors.
I've used Hertz lots, hired from the French side as it avoids the motorway tolls and is cheaper. You will get good directions on how to navigate through the city to the autoroute.
Don't trust sat nav as it will probably try to send you through the tolls/customs.
The real fun only starts when you return the car to the French side. If you try to drop it at the Swiss side you'll get stung so you need to ignore the 'hire car return' signs, navigate through customs and through a gap in a chain link fence down a tiny access road! This is where you come out when you leave the airport, full of nerves, fake confidence and excitement at the start of your holiday. Despite that, try hard to make a mental note of how to reverse this bit!
Good luck 😉
Do not be late. They will be gravely offended lol
it doesnt really matter which 'side' of the airport you hire the car from. except that as noted above dropping the car back at the french side it can be tricky to find the drop off point.
I find the french side normally has less queues to collect the car than the swiss side, so tend to go to that option, but if someone on the swiss side was substantially cheaper I'd go for that.
I use www.holidayautos.co.uk to find the best price, they seem ok.
You will arrive on the Swiss side, unless you arrive on a french domestic flight, so it is more convenient for international travelers to collect the car from the Swiss side. There is also the advantage that the car will be allowed to drive on Swiss roads - for non Swiss cars you must buy a vignette, unless there is already one in your hire car. But there is nothing to stop you going to the French side to collect a car if you can get a really good price on it.
Check costs on one of the comparison websites and see if a rental company on either side has a special deal. This time I am renting with Hertz because they have a very good deal for people who pay with Amex, and even better if you tell them it is Amex Centurion!
I just rented the cheapest car we could find, in advance, from the Swiss side. Car was fine (smallest one available but we got two bike cases and two riders in). Didn't use the motorway.
I personally found it quite complicated getting from the airport out to the Chatel road and also back to the car hire place at airport but we didn't have a map. Ended up being late and had the first time experience of being tannoyed to get to the gate, just as we cleared security, on the way home. Quite stressful.
I thought vignette was just for the motorways?, I presume you don't need one otherwise?.
It's needed on 1st class roads (Motorways) and 2nd class roads (Expressways). In Geneva it's not difficult to find you have got yourself onto a motorway without specifically intending to.