Long Term Parking in Paris?

[Mattyj198]

I have just bought a house in the

Charantes region of France. So far we have been renting a car at the

Paris airport and driving down witch is about 2.5 hours. I really

don't mind the drive at all. We have not bought a car for getting

around in France yet but we would like to. Our problem is where to

keep it while we are away. We will only be visiting the home once or

twice a year and we are traveling from Canada so we would be landing

in Paris.

The house is about 45 min away from the

closest train station and that station has no long term parking and a

taxi is to expensive. We were looking for some long term parking

around the Paris airport. Does anyone know of any good websites

where I might be able to find some information on this?

Thanks

Matt

[Anton Redman]

I would start with Google.fr

http://www.google.fr/#hl=fr&cp=9&gs_id=y&xhr=t&q=parking+paris&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=parking+p&aq=0&aqi=g5&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=d72580fd0933a196&biw=1527&bih=749

and use Parking Paris Airport as a start.

My feeling is that unless you are in France for nine or ten months a year then car hire islikely to be the cheaper option.

Best of luck any way

[EuroTrash]

Don't ANY of the stations between your local one and Paris have suitable parking? Out of Paris would be cheaper and safer surely. You could catch the train part way and then hop off and into the car, vice versa on the way back to Canada.

[Pickles]

If you are only going to visit the place once or twice per year, even if for a month at a time, I would think VERY hard before buying a car. I would very strongly suggest that hiring will work out less expensive in the long term, particularly if you take into account that you will not have the hassles of CT/insurance/maintenance and will be hiring very new cars. Leaving cars unused for extended periods is a recipe for battery/electrical/brake problems etc (even if you use "dis-car-nect" systems), to say nothing of the potential problems of the security of your long-term parking. I suspect that our car gets more use than yours will, and with the benefit of hindsight we might be better off hiring.

Regards

Pickles

[Loiseau]

I would go with the advice above, to rent a car for your visits.  My "voiture secondaire" has cost me quite a lot in maintenance over the years, on top of the usual insurance, CT etc.

Another possibility, I suppose, would be to buy a French car that you will leave at your house.  Then hire a car in Paris on arrival just to get down there, and arrange to drop it off at the nearest Hertz/Citer/Europcar (or whatever) depot to your house.  Reverse the process when returning to Canada.

Angela

EDIT

PS  If you are determined on the second-car thing, you could also try to cultivate good friends in the neighbourhood of your house, who might offer to drive you to/collect you from the station in order to enjoy a day's shopping or whatever in "town", plus a contribution towards fuel costs.   Some friends of mine in the Vendee get someone to drive to pick them up in their own "voiture secondaire", so it costs the driver nothing but their time.

[Mattyj198]

Thank you for all your help.  I understand your concerns about buying a car for France when we are only going to be there a few times a year.  I am just doing some research for future years.  In a few years I plan on spending more then half the year in France.  Until then I do plan on only renting a car but when I start spending more then most of the year there I would like to know how to handle the car I have while I am there.

So far yes, renting a car to drive to the house (where I store my car) seems to be the best idea.

Thanks for all your help guys!