markek

I posted recently asking for advice on where to explore (long summer / nr sea / green mountains ...) in advance of moving to S France.
Well we've booked flights now for trip in Easter hols, but am getting slightly concerned with there being no automatics showing up on the airport big co's.
In Spain last year a local hire company (found via google) was more helpful. CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND A CAR HIRE CO. THAT HAS AUTOMATIC VEHICLES IN PERPIGNAN /A SHORTISH TAXI RIDE AWAY?

Thanks

(Yes I know I should have a manual licence; long story).

Chatter Static

https://www.hertz.fr Boîte automatique/Transmission automatique absolutely no issue with a Automatic for any date I picked on their web page.

markek

Thx CS.
Just checked and yes they have an automatic 'fun collection' car at 2nd highest rate (over 500 EUR for 2 weeks). Also had a v bad experience with Hertz before - "sorry no car" - and would love to avoid. But thanks for effort.

Im_and_Er

Try here: http://www.automatic-car-hire.com

markek

Thx Im and Er but this company claims far more than it delivers. It offered only a few v expensive automatic cars (pricier than most well known firms) and lots of cheaper manuals.
But thx for trying to help.
I had a little look at Fr yellow pages; will try phoning a few firms from there.

Im_and_Er

I think you'll struggle to find a cheap auto but I wish you good luck in the hunt.

capricorn2013

I had great problems with finding a small auto last year when house hunting.
Had 2 instances where I booked online and paid deposit only to be emailed 1 day later to say car not available.

In my experience car hire companies in France only seem to offer very expensive, large cc cars with auto option.

I ended up paying the b & b owner to collect me from airport and he kindly ferried me around local area to look at a couple of properties. The second time I went to France I took my own car from UK as the ferry worked out cheaper than hiring (Portsmouth to Caen).

markek

Gosh, that is surprisingly bad. A couple have shown up on the big firms, but are they really reliable? Doesnt seem so. I'm going to try out my very dodgy French and try a few smaller companies from yellow pages before booking with one of the staples.

Novocastrian

From CS's hertz link https://www.hertz.fr/rentacar/reservation/#vehicles you can have a automatic Peugeot 2008 or VW Golf for 397 euro for 2 weeks with 3250 km included. From the airport.

That sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Im_and_Er

You've forgotten that it's required for Easter and then, depending on actual dates, the price is around €600.

Novocastrian

Ah. Daft time to come then.

markek

School hols innit. Missing a day of school saves us a big chunk on air fares.
Re car hire, so far Enterprise has by far the biggest choice of automatic cars - at least 'virtually' on their website! Hope its not a false enticement strategy, to draw folks in, disappoint them on arrival, then trap them into upgrading to a big bucks Merc convertible!