Thetownend.com

Hi all...

So, I'm off to the south of France in August.. we're flying in to Bordeaux. Looking at car hire..

Firstly, does anyone have any advice on cheapest sites to use? Cheapest I've found for the week so far is around £250 for a Corsa/Fiesta/similar.. which is fine, we're only using it to get from the airport to the house we're staying in and back.

Secondly, some of the sites are saying that there's a deposit on arrival, some up to 900 euros? We're sourcing our own excess coverage and taking our own GPS and booster seat, so is this figure an actual reality?

Thirdly, it states this deposit needs to be paid by credit card? Neither of us have one..

Any tips/advice would be welcomed.

First, 2 hire companies to avoid like the plague. Goldcar and Green Motion.

I think a credit card is a must to hire a care. They take a deposit off it in case you wreck the thing and refund it after a week or so after you return it. Don’t think this is possible with a Debit Card.

Went to France a couple of years back and put diesel in my petrol hire care! Fucking nightmare that was - l’imbecile Anglaise was heard a couple of times when they thought I couldn’t understand them.

soapy tit wank. Tu est incompetente!! Or is it Tu As?

to be fair Audrey, they had a point :)

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/

I tend to go for the respectable ones like Avis or National. There's a good car rental arrangement I've used where you can get good deals from private owners called drivy.com  but I don't know how far you'll get without a credit or debit card.

I have a debit card, of course.. just not a credit card.. which most companies suggest you need.

They don't really make the distinction in France. As long as they can take a deposit which they don't cash as security against the rental, you should be fine.