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A friend asked me to do research for him. He wants to travel to the Loire Valley in August. It is his first MH holiday and we are both clueless. Should he hire a MH in England before he travels to Calais or pick one up in Calais. It would have to be a left hand drive.
They are a family of 5 and are looking to rent a roomy MH,any suggestions?
Also all the different rules and regulations when travelling through France are mind boggling!!! Or maybe it is just me being clueless. And there are additional charges for everything i.e. toll charges, omission charges(???) and so much more.
This is a practice run for the family to travel through America in an RV for 5 weeks next summer.
I can't help with hire information but don't worry about travel in France. It's no more difficult than anywhere else.
I think you are too concerned about what you call additional charges. You will only pay tolls if you use toll roads which you need not do. There are no emission charges that I know about and I drive in France quite a lot. I can't think what the other charges you are worrying about might be.
France is very motorhome friendly and a good place to start.
Read a little about driving rules although they are not much different and obey the speed limits is my advice. The main one to know about is that as you enter a town or village the speed limit is automatically 50 kph as you pass the town name sign, even if there is no speed limit sign.
Speeding seems to be high on the French government agenda for this year so be careful, Alan.
Last edited by erneboy on Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:41 am; edited 1 time in total
I hired one in the region in France I wanted to visit as a way to convince my wife we should get one. Just found it on the internet through searches. We drove down left my car with the hirer and had a great week.
I doubt you would get a left hand drive in UK.
Tolls are on Auto routes (main motorways) which I avoid unless I want to do a long journey in a day.
Join the this site (only £10) and do searches under France Touring for help on the Loire.
Driving in France is easier than here - quieter roads, places to park and loads of camp sites or aires.
Mr Google has plenty of options for "camping car hire France"
it means they would have to travel out with all their kit, not having a full idea of what is in the camping car....
French MH are not equipped in the same way as UK ones (or USA), they rarely have ovens and may have only a couple of burners and a microwave - which is OK if the weather is good and you have a barbecue or eat out a lot....
Advantages; left hand drive, "looks local" designed for France
Disadvantages; not being used to left hand drive, not being a local but still being treated as one - could cause problems as not familiar with French driving styles and regs even though vehicle is French registered, cost not known, but will probably have to be paid in € - use a credit card if possible for insurance purposes,
2) rent in UK and drive over via Calais,
may be easy to rent in UK and find vehicle that can inspect before getting it, but not so likely to be left hand drive (ours is right hand drive and with care is quite OK in France), so driving from "wrong side",
Advantages; dealing with English rather than in French, vehicle can be equipped before going to France, can try out things before leaving, vehicles equipped to UK standard and with UK electric fittings e.g. plug sockets - so do not need adaptors, entirely UK company so easier to sort out problems under UK trading regs, in France are NOT treated as local but as tourist - has the advantage that you are not expected to know French driving style etc, even though still bound by French law for e.g. high vis jackets, breathalyzers, speed camera warnings etc.,
Disadvantages; driving from right hand side makes it harder at junctions and overtaking (particular care needed here), vehicles lights may need adjustment as dip to the wrong side, may have to pay extra for hire and insurance to take to France, need vehicle details with you (normally registration certificate and insurance policy), may require sorting out prior to hiring
so it's swings and roundabouts, hope that gives you a few things to talk about - feel free to ask more questions, the only daft question is the one that you forgot to ask!
Yes, I garee that £10.00 (or is it £12.00 now?) spent to become a subscriber on here will be the best investmant you could ever make. When we got our motorhome 4 years ago we knew nothing.
Now we have visited more countries than I can count on both hands, been to Africa in it (Morocco, like many others) and all armed with information on any aspect of motorhoming and travel that you could imagine.
It will be the best investment you could possibly make
Done France many times and here's my twopennyworth..
Dont worry on the Right hand drive, rent in UK as you may find a better choice, you can check it all before you go and you will be more familiar with the conditions in the rental agreement etc.
There are some considerate drivers over there and if they realise you are "foreign" and driving on the wrong side they can be a bit more tolerant if you make mistakes, ie changing lanes last minute.
Regarding driving rules and equipment, easy. Most info is available on line all you have to do is make a list. You will gain much of the info here on this site.
My 2 conserns for you are.;
August, busy time but if thats when you can go, make the most of it. Book campsites or if you want to use the free / low cost Aires then just make sure you arive early to get a space.
5 people... When you look at renting a van check the payload and seat belt arrangements, these vans may look big but some dont have enough seat belts for the number of people who can sleep in them and others may become overloaded once all the people plus their kit is loaded.
Good luck, you will find it a great adventure...
______________________________________________________________ Steve Tonks...
We have used the chain Avis Caraway previously and found them to be efficient with modern well maintained vans. Nearest depot to UK is close to Orly airport. In our experience though it is cheaper to hire in Germany than either France or the UK but then you would have to go for the Moselle not the Loire ! In Germany we have used McRent who I think also operate in France.
There is a wealth of information on this site, much of which will lead you to other sites, again with much information both general and specific. A reader could spend hours, probably days going through items and deciding which are of interest and reading them.
May I suggest you friend would be better off subscribing and reading directly instead of hearing from you, as it were, second hand.
Last edited by iandsm on Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:08 pm; edited 1 time in total
For 5 people you are going to need a van with a MASSIVE payload, (unless the majority are less than teenagers that is) Most people average about 75 Kg so thats 450Kgbefore you start
I would doubt if there are very many of that size/capacity available for hire
First thing is weigh EVERYONE that will be in the van and then deduct that from the ACTUALLY AVAILABLE (not makers quoted payload) figure
What you are left will have to account for everything else. Water weighs in at a 1Kg per litre, 125 litres = 125 Kg weight, plus clothes/fuel/food etc etc. Do not underestimate what stuff weighs.
I have 500Kg payload on my van and with just two of us in touring mode we are very close to max weight (and the water tank isnt full either)
I would be inclined to have a "trial run" in the UK before venturing abroad.
May I suggest you friend would be better off subscribing and reading directly instead of hearing from you, as it were, second hand.
You beat me to it Ian.
There are so many important ponderables, especially for a family of five (See MrPlodd's post above) that relaying question and answer will be frustrating - to say the least.
Stitch - Do you have a motorhome of your own, or intend to buy one?
Not much point in you joining if the answers are No and No!!
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