France via Basel Airport

[jackieclaire]

I plan to fly to Basel Airport in June then  hire a car and drive in to France making my way to Burgundy.

Has anyone done this if so how easy is it to get car hire, so far the car hire companies seem to close at 17.00 hrs in a Saturday in June. I arrive around 16.00 hrs

Any information would be much appreciated.

[graham34]

Car hire companies will take details of your flight number so if your flight is delayed they will wait for you.

When we hired a car in Basel many years ago it was cheaper to hire it on the Swiss side as the tax was lower. The airport has two exits - the French side and the Swiss side. I suspect the car hire desks will open later on the busier Swiss side.

It's usually cheaper to pre-pay for car hire from a broker than dealing directly with the car hire companies. I can dig up some URLs if you need then.

Graham

[JohnM]

If your plane arrives late in the evening then hire your car from the country that the plane was going to. I arrived in the Swiss terminal in Geneva once, but had a hire car waiting on the french side, the French terminal closed at 11pm and even though Europcar market themselves as one huge European company, they are individual country companies and hiring a Swiss car for a day then returning it the next to collect the one I had booked, was a big hassal and it cost me a lot of money. It was also a major job getting Europcar to retrospectively give me a decent price on the Swiss car / a refund on French the car I couldn't get (that they hired out to someone else first thing next morning).

 

[jackieclaire]

Thank you John  & Graham

I have taken on board what you have told me It was very informative especial the two exit out of the airport.

I have found it difficult  obtaining  information about the airport and though I knew it was close to the French boarder I had not realised how close.

Grahams suggestion about a broker is a good idea. So will try and find one.  

Jackieclaire