Geneva airport car rental for France

[Matt..]

At GVA it’s fine to rent on the Swiss side for a trip solely to France isn’t it? I’m going next week and sites like Expedia don’t have the French side as an option. Expedia is far cheaper than direct (I’d normally go direct).
We’re only out there for a short trip to Grenoble/Ecrins and Chamonix to look at mountains next week.

[Lotus Notes]

Absolutely no issues with doing that. At this time of year, make sure you have snow tyres or chains in the reservation.

[marksx]

Yes. We did this earlier in the year to visit Annecy.

Side note, some of the best condition roads I've ever driven on.

[Bill]

Lotus Notes said:

At this time of year, make sure you have snow tyres or chains in the reservation.

Will be standard on the Swiss side. Think (well, my brother does and we were talking about it his evening... it's now law in France too.

[shirt]

As said it’s fine. I’m only replying to say that if it’s the Swiss side, winters will be fitted as standard. Do still check if there’s a Swiss vignette covering the plate, it’s online nowadays so its absence isn’t a guarantee there won’t be one. Not a mega deal but if there is one then it makes it a touch more convenient getting out and back in to the rental centre.

[The_Doc]

Swiss side cars are all winterised and have vignettes for the swiss motorways
French side rental cars do not. They have summer tires

Keep it in the EU and they don't mind what you do with it,

[The_Doc]

Lotus Notes said:

Absolutely no issues with doing that. At this time of year, make sure you have snow tyres or chains in the reservation.

You don't need to do this, they are already spec'd

[Chucklehead]

Matt.. said:

At GVA it s fine to rent on the Swiss side for a trip solely to France isn t it? I m going next week and sites like Expedia don t have the French side as an option. Expedia is far cheaper than direct (I d normally go direct).
We re only out there for a short trip to Grenoble/Ecrins and Chamonix to look at mountains next week.

Expedia struggles to show the french side due to the way they code their Airports, but due to a glitch you can often pick up Budget and one other on the French side. Search for the surrounding area and open up the Map view and you'll see it. If you don't use the Map view, find the location with the higher review score (75-77% I think) and when you click through it'll say GGV airport with a french address.

Edited by Chucklehead on Sunday 28th December 14:35

[Exiled Imp]

The_Doc said:

French side rental cars do not. They have summer tires

Since 2021, it is also a legal requirement in many French departments

https://www.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/chacun-son-m...

[Matt..]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

It looks like we'll be getting snow on Saturday so hopefully the small car can handle it and has good winter tires.

[fooman]

I just rent from the Swiss side, probably done so 20 times, you do get winter tyres, recently though I was charged a small fee 20eur to take car into France something to do with cross border recovery if there was an issue. One of the big players too, wish I could remember who, the info was on their website t&c.

[Matt..]

fooman said:

I just rent from the Swiss side, probably done so 20 times, you do get winter tyres, recently though I was charged a small fee 20eur to take car into France something to do with cross border recovery if there was an issue. One of the big players too, wish I could remember who, the info was on their website t&c.

I am using Alamo via Expedia and the T&Cs say it's free to cross borders in Europe other than the obvious countries (eg. Albania). Hopefully it's correct!

[The_Doc]

fooman said:

I just rent from the Swiss side, probably done so 20 times, you do get winter tyres, recently though I was charged a small fee 20eur to take car into France something to do with cross border recovery if there was an issue. One of the big players too, wish I could remember who, the info was on their website t&c.

I've never been charged this and we do 3-4 trips to Geneva each year,
I think you were charged a surcharge for "second country" breakdown/retrieval.
If you say no to this, the extra charges for going across the swiss/french border are zero,

They never stop you at Bardonnex or Thonex, the two commonest borders.