How to Hire a Car in France

Since moving to France in October last year, I've had to hire a car 4 times. Once when I moved from Paris to Oyonnax to spend a couple of weeks with Ferbent's brother, then from Oyonnax to Carnon (near Montpellier), from Carnon to Montpellier (we had a lot of suitcases, a printer, and a TV to move), and then finally, more recently, from Montpellier to Paris (and back). If you want to hire a car in France then these are my recommendations:

1. Avis is very expensive and unless you find a good special I wouldn't recommend them. The one plus is that you can get $0 excess and they have branches pretty much everywhere.
2. Hertz are little cheaper and if you book well in advance and on the internet then you can get a good deal. The good thing about them is that the price they quote is normally for $0 excess so you don't have to worry about any damage to the vehicle. This is good for me because I have a particularly bad record with hire cars.
3. Rent a Car is a good cheaper option. I rented a van through them when I moved house. It was significantly cheaper than the competition and I only booked it one day in advance and not on the internet. The staff were very friendly and I was happy with their service. The only reason I probably wouldn't go with them again is that the insurance excess was 600 euros and that was after paying a little extra for a reduction of 600 euros. I don't know if this is just for vans and trucks or it's the same for a regular car but I didn't like that. I was quite worried that I would hit something or someone would hit me.

Thankfully it is very easy to rent a car with any of these companies. All you have to do is show your driver's license (you don't need an international license), your passport, and a credit card. I recommend using a Gold Card if you have one as they provide some insurance in case of an accident if you haven't taken out the $0 excess option. I wouldn't recommend relying solely on that insurance though, as I'm not sure how comprehensive is.