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Want to hire a van in the UK for a short trip to France - any suggestions


nectarine
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We'd like to hire a self-drive van - either a small box van or a large Mercedes Springer/Transit type - to take stuff down to near Villeneuve (47), stay about a fortnight and then return, but I'm having trouble finding a UK rental company that will allow, or charges a reasonable fee, to take their vehicle down to France.  Does anybody have any recommendations?

An alternative might be to whizz over to Dieppe or Calais, hire a van then, back to the UK to load up and then back to France for the majority of the trip.  That might reduce the 'overseas' and insurance cost of having the van in another country.

I'd welcome any ideas or your recommendations for a self-drive company at a economic price.  Many thanks in advance.

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Nectarine- I had a feeling that this subject had been covered recently.  Have a look at the following threads and see if they help:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1107255/ShowPost.aspx

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1114848/ShowPost.aspx

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1090440/ShowPost.aspx

It's a real problem.  I ended up leaving my big stuff in the UK and buying second hand here.

 

 

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I recently trawled through local and national firms, finding quite a few who were happy for the van to go abroad albeit at extra charge. The best for us was ‘1van1’ - £518 for 8 days/ 2 drivers for a hi-top lwb - they are a national firm. Also, there is a London firm (WVC or some such) who seemed ok but the nearest pick up to the west was Heathrow and so too far for us, but they had a number of other London pickup sites.  I can confirm that size does matter! The van we really wanted (Merc sprinter lwb) was classed as freight (over 6.5m) by tunnel and ferry and so crossings proved prohibitively expensive. We opted for a Renault Master instead.

Pouyade

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we used a company called affordable rentals (in bisley, surrey but I think they have other surrey/west london depots) who have unlimited mileage and were loads cheaper than everyone else when we took some of our stuff to Cahors.  you have to sort out your own insurance for the trip which I think we did through the rac so you aren't even getting extra charges over and above the real price of insurance. 

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One word of warning. A potential problem with the idea of paying for your own insurance was highlighted by one firm I wanted to use: The van hire firm told me that if it broke down in France and as a result of that it was delayed in being returned, then the cost of the extra days of delay would be down to my account.

Sometimes it can take a week or more to get a vehicle back to UK if broken down, so what with this issue for "cheap" rentals and OK but hugely expensive brand name renters we just abandonded the whole idea.

There is a clear need for an economical way to hire to go from UK to France..

Maybe the best bet is to hire in Calais drive to UK, load up and go back to France!!

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WE hired a van from Choice rentals who are mainly Surrey based. My OH was convinced that it would break down (oh she of little faith) which it did...

We would have hired from Sixt, the cost was very reasonable for the two week hire we wanted a LWB Luton for. Popped in to the local office to check on dimensions and book when the person there told us 'all our LWBs are out on long term hire'. There was an extra charge for taking it to France, but one good thing was that they had outlets in France.

So back to Choice. If I had wanted a 7.5 tonner, which at the end of the day I should have hired, it would have included breakdown cover. As it was, I needed to take out cover for it. I was covered via the Caravan and Camping scheme with the RAC which covers vans of any age and there is not a size restriction so I extended that to European cover, something that is now useful as we now drive down to our house.

Now the van was fairly elderly and used, but it went ok. The problem was that the starter motor went and took out some of the wiring. There were a few problems in the wait to get the company to agree to reimburse me for the repairs. All was repaired and we made it back, albeit a day late. Fortunately, we had booked with Sea France on changeable tickets for the return. I was refunded for the cost of repairs AND the days that the van was in for repair.

As to the RAC - they were excellent. From my call to the centre at Lyons, they arranged a mechanic to attend who then decided they had to take it back to the workshop. They then phoned and spoke of hotel accommodation and getting a hire car but that would not be until the next day. When I said our house was only about 60 kms away they swiftly laid on a taxi. There were several phone calls making sure that I did not want a hire car. When the van was fixed a taxi back to collect it. An excellent service.

Paul

 

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Hi

We hired a LWB Mercedes Sprinter in May 2006 for 11 days with both of us as named drivers to transport goods from portsmouth to the south of france.  The cost was about £700.  We were booked on the LD Lines ferry for the return journey, and though I can't remember what the cost was, I know it wasn't excessive as the van fell within certain dimensions, and wasn't classified as freight.  The company we hired from was Thrifty, but I think they were being taken over and may now be Swift, but don't quote me!

Hope this helps[:D]

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