Posted by IanLocke on November 26, 2008 under Ski Blog News, Ski Travel | 
I’ve been flying to the Tarentaise and Three Valleys ski regions for several years with my family, and I know the airports and motor routes like the back of my hand. I’ve also picked up plenty of handy insights into the way the different airports are run, and where the best deals are for motor hire. When you’re booking from far away, it all looks simple, but many a slip from the cup to the lip…so read on for some tips that could save you precious hours on your quest for the slopes…
Insurance Excess – don’t get caught out
In the majority of cases, your car rentals package will include Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Theft Waiver(TW), which will insure you against the costs of the vehicle being damaged or stolen, beyond a stated excess.
It is well worth checking what this Excess amount is though, as for some car hire companies, it is a significant amount - more like £250 than the £50 you expect with your normal car insurance at home.
When you pick up your car at the airport, you will generally be given the opportunity to ‘top-up’ your insurance to cover the Excess as well, although this further adds to the cost of your car rental for the week, so that ‘cheap car hire deal’ that you got, doesn’t seem quite so cheap any more!
For this reason, if you’re likely to rent a hire car for 2 weeks or more during the year, we recommend the Annual Excess Car Hire Insurance product from Insurance4CarHire. We’ve used this product ourselves for several years, and have been glad that we did, as we’ve had 2 occasions when our hire car has been damaged, through no fault of our own, when without the Excess Insurance we’d have had to cough up twice for an excess.
Queue tips
One final tip - if you are booking your car hire direct with the rental company, possibly via the Low Cost Airline that you are flying with, it’s possibly worth considering avoiding the airline’s recommended ‘partner’ rentals company, simply because a lot of people arriving with you on your flight will have booked through them, so often they will have a massive queue, while other rental desks alongside will be deserted!
The Ski Airports
While it’s not likely that you’ll change your choice of airport just to make your life easier in terms of car hire, it is worth knowing the pros and cons of each, so that wherever you do fly to, the process at the far end will be as smooth as possible.
Geneva Airport
The French car hire minefield
The key thing to consider with car hire at Geneva Airport though is whether you want to rent from the French side of the airport or the Swiss side, as there are significant differences!
As regular users of car hire companies at Geneva Airport, we’ve found that you can invariably get cheaper car hire through car hire agencies / brokers such as Auto-Europe (Swiss and French side) Holiday Autos Car Hire (French side) than you can by going direct to the car hire company themselves.
Fun and games on the French side
The one and only benefit we can see in renting on the French side of Geneva Airport is the cost! Even this is however not quite what it seems, as rental cars on the French side don’t generally come with snow chains as standard (so an additional €40 a week to add for those), nor a carnet for the Swiss motorway (so 35CHF if you want to use the short stretch of motorway through Geneva).
If you decide not to buy a carnet for the motorway, it’s quite a difficult task to avoid the motorway when leaving the airport, and you’re adding about 30 minutes to your journey - assuming you don’t get lost in Geneva itself! Getting back to the airport is an even bigger nightmare, probably adding an hour to your journey.
Another complication is that you’ll land Swiss side, go through Swiss Customs, then have to go back out through French customs to the car hire desk. Finding how you get to French Customs also isn’t easy, as it’s through a little door at the right hand (as you’re looking at the departure gates) end of the Departures level of the airport!
And if that’s all not got you truly wound up, the car hire parking area on the French side is total chaos, with a lot of the hire cars double-parked, thus delaying you further!
Swiss car hire benefits
Stop Press 26th January 2009 New changes at Geneva Airport create extra hassle for car rentals. Read more>>
As you’ll have gathered, we much prefer the organization on the Swiss side - and if you book early enough, the prices aren’t that much more than the French side, especially as they automatically include winter equipment and a carnet for the motorway.
The whole rental process is that much simpler - you just come out on the Arrivals level, go to your left to the car hire desks, sort out the paperwork, then walk back to your right, cross the road and collect your hire car from the civilised multi-storey car park!
Then out of the airport, hit the motorway, and follow the sign to Annemasse or Annecy, depending on which ski resort you’re going to. There’s a good step-by-step of the route at Driving from Geneva Airport to Val d’Isere, which is relevant for the Three Valleys, Paradiski and other Tarentaise resorts as well as Val d’Isere.
On the Swiss side, we’ve in the past had some good deals from Auto-Europe and AutoReservation.com (need to book early though, and check prices regularly, as they do fluctuate quite a bit).
Lyon airport
Not a lot needs saying about hiring a car at Lyon airport - it’s a big airport, close to the motorway, and on the ‘right’ side of Lyon for the ski resorts, so no need to get into Lyon itself. Access to the airport and its car parks is very easy.
Again, you can book through a broker such as Auto-Europe or Holiday Autos, or shop around direct with the major car hire companies.
Grenoble airport
The main thing to say about Grenoble airport is that it isn’t in Grenoble, or even very close to it! It’s stuck in the middle of nowhere about halfway between Lyon to the north, and Grenoble to the south.
It’s a very basic airport, and as yet isn’t that well equipped to handle the volume of skiers that pass through it in the ski season!
The car hire offices are across the road from the airport terminal in a portacabin - if you wish to book direct, Hertz, Europcar and Avis have car hire desks there, or book via Holiday Autos Car Rentals or www.auto-europe.co.uk.
When you leave the airport, if you’re going to resorts in the Three Valleys (Meribel, Couchevel, Val Thorens etc) or Tarentaise (Val d’Isere, Tignes, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Sainte Foy Tarentaise), it’s best to head north towards Lyon rather than down towards Grenoble, as the ring road round Grenoble can be a nightmare for traffic.
Chambery Airport
Again, not much needs saying about car hire at Chambery airport - it’s a small airport, not far off the motorway outside Chambery itself, and a number of car rentals companies operate there. Or again, book through a car hire agency such as Auto-Europe Car Hire or Holiday Autos.
Hope that helps. Got any comments? Please post to the blog or if you prefer, email me at iml @ internet-cottages . com
www.internet-cottages.com is offering a great ski deal at the recently renovated Chalet Genevieve Verchaix in Samoens. With 4 double bedrooms, sleeping 8-10, this chalet is fully catered and has a relaxing hot tub. Your hosts offer a free shuttle service to the Grand Massiff’s 78 lifts. 
