Bikes and rental cars in France

rottenhat

Heading off to France in a couple of weeks with Mrs Rottenhat and the bikes - anyone have any experience with transporting bikes in rented cars there? Can you generally get two bikes in the back of a smallish car? Would car rental places have racks for rent also? Or would you buy a cheap rack there just to use for the holiday?

fenris

make sure that you get a car that doesn't have a stupid plastic spoiler that will prevent a bike rack being mounted even if you bring a rack with you - new focus I'm looking at you!

doozerie

The first question that springs to my mind is whether the car rental policy allows you to use a bike rack on the car. It might have implications for the insurance cover so I'd check that carefully in advance. Safest bet might be to go for a bigger car that'll accommodate the bikes inside, though that'll almost certainly cost more to rent.

Another concern that I'd have is whether you'd get the actual car that you booked. I've only rented a car once, a few years back now, and it was from Rennes airport - we booked it online but when we got there the specific car we had booked was not available. In our case it worked in our favour as they gave us a better car (bigger engine, more comfortable) than we had booked, for no extra charge. However if you had booked a car based mainly on a specific attribute such as boot size it might not work out so well to be given another car instead. Presumably they are under obligation to fulfill their contract and give you something at least close to what you booked but beginning your holiday with a fight is no fun. One thing that may have contributed to our chosen car not being available is that we chose an automatic and maybe they are less plentiful than manual cars from rental companies (maybe, just guessing here). Anyway, that may not be a common occurrence but it certainly left me a little wary and next time round I'd contact them closer to my arrival date to confirm availability of my chosen car.

In terms of cars that will take two bikes internally, presumably plus luggage too, my experience of cars is very limited. I can say that you'd be hard pressed to squeeze two bikes plus luggage into a VW Golf, I wouldn't want to try. On the other end of the scale a Renault Grand Scenic (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what it was) can comfortably accommodate 2 bikes, standing upright with front wheels removed, plus luggage.

07Lapierre

rottenhat wrote: »

Heading off to France in a couple of weeks with Mrs Rottenhat and the bikes - anyone have any experience with transporting bikes in rented cars there? Can you generally get two bikes in the back of a smallish car? Would car rental places have racks for rent also? Or would you buy a cheap rack there just to use for the holiday?

How are you getting to France? Ryanair? Are you bringing your own bikes on the plane in a Box? If your bringing two bikes in there own bike boxes, then I imagine you'll need a a large car. (Estate or People carrier).

I brought my Bike to Spain last year and i had difficulty getting the bike box (and Luggage for 2 people) into a Citroen C5! (which is a pretty big car).

rottenhat

Flying over, but with the bikes packed in cardboard boxes which will be disposed of on arrival.

Part of the problem is that I know very little about cars - I can drive one but after that my interest more or less ends - so I wouldn't readily be able to tell from the name of a model whether it's fairly open in the back and you can put the seats down or not.

07Lapierre

rottenhat wrote: »

Flying over, but with the bikes packed in cardboard boxes which will be disposed of on arrival.

Part of the problem is that I know very little about cars - I can drive one but after that my interest more or less ends - so I wouldn't readily be able to tell from the name of a model whether it's fairly open in the back and you can put the seats down or not.

You don't need to know much about Make/Models, as most car hire companies will not guarantee to supply a particular make/model anyway. What you do need to know is what "class" of vehicle to hire. I would suggest you hire a "Standard" or "Medium SUV" class vehicle.

C3PO

Flew to Nice last October for the Roc D'Azur. Very little room left in "budget" car with me, other half, bike bag and luggage. I would definately go for mid range car and would bring some padding to protect frames etc if you're not using bike bags in the car!

Diarmuid

If you drop the back seats you might get two bikes in a small car. But I guess it depends on the size of the car.
One option is to call to the local Decathlon or GoSport when you arrive and pick up a bike carrier.

It may be cheaper and/or more convenient to try and rent something like an Opel Meriva? I know Hertz use them a lot and are much cheaper than a Scenic.
The advantage of having the bikes inside the car is security and fuel consumption.

Crippens1

Hi, best advice I'd have is to go on the Frence car hire sites (e.g., www.hertz.fr) where you will get better prices that the .com sites and then look for a mid-size 7-seater (Opel Zafira or Renault Grand Scenic). With all the boot space you won't need a bike rack and you'll have greater security. At end-June this year I got a Volkswagen Touran (from Europcar.fr) for €375 for 8 days which is pretty good value for that size.

August, however, is peak season so rental prices are higher.

If you still have the chance you can often get good value renting in association with the airline.

Boardnashea

I have never taken a bike abroad but would suggest your original "bring the bike rack with you" idea. May even be able to flat pack it into the bike box? If you were able to book a Renault Kangoo or similar You will very easily be able to carry two bike internally without removing any wheels but be wary of getting oil and dirt on seats and incurring extra cleaning charges on return. I was stung for UK£50 extra when returning an car with (not excessive) muddy footprints.

blorg

If you don't have boxes and are two people you will get two bikes in the back of anything with wheels removed. We have done it with a Peugeot 106.

The issue is boxes if you have them which are a nightmare.

scotty_irish

if it's just two of you, rent a small commercial van.

07Lapierre

blorg wrote: »

If you don't have boxes and are two people you will get two bikes in the back of anything with wheels removed. We have done it with a Peugeot 106.

Why bother with a hire car at all? what about a Motorbike?

rottenhat

scotty_irish wrote: »

if it's just two of you, rent a small commercial van.

I used to have one through work...those were the good times.

blorg

scotty_irish wrote: »

if it's just two of you, rent a small commercial van.

Complete overkill IMO unless you are able to get one as cheap as a small car. Speaking from experience (Renault Espace) many 7 seaters are a very bad idea as they actually have minimal luggage space with all the seats in and you can't just fold down the third row of seats- you have to remove them, and the rental agency won't store them.

Also bear in mind that the rental agencies will often not give you the exact car you order but something they deem "similar" - we ordered a Kangoo once and got a Mercedes A-Class. Both have five doors apparently. We got three bikes and three people into that car after persuading the rental agency to store the bike boxes.

Honestly there is no problem if you don't have bike boxes, don't waste your money.

07Lapierre

scotty_irish wrote: »

if it's just two of you, rent a small commercial van.

A van? in France? in August? mmmm..plenty of storage alright, but I hope it has Air con.

rottenhat

Thanks chaps, cheap medium sized car booked for the week, I reckon we should be grand (well, there might be some messing around on the way to the airport when the bikes are boxed back up again....)

Caroline_ie

2 people + 2 bikes fit in a peugeot 107/Citroen C1 which is usually the smallest cars they have.