camper van hire france
  avis car-away accessories
camper van hire france

Cooking utensils, dishes, and silverware* are included by default at no extra charge. (* See near the bottom of page the list of items.) The vehicle comes with two gas bottles, one full and the other half full. All our France rentals include unlimited kilometers.

Which if any portable GPS navigation option on the open market is best for you?
See IdeaMerge's analysis of portable GPS navigation solutions on the market.

If you want your France-based motorhome or campervan rental to include any of the following, you should order such items upon placing a reservation. Our online order software will prompt you in this regard.

  • appropriate camping table and chairs: 4.00 Euros/day (maximum 80 Euros)
  • bicycle rack: 4.00 Euros/day (carries up to 3 bicycles; maximum 80 Euros)
  • safety seat***: 4.00 Euros/day (maximum 80 Euros)
  • bedding: 35 Euros/person (2 sheets, blanket, pillow, pillow case)
  • portable GPS navigation: 10 Euros/day, available at Paris only; (maximum 200 Euros; increases security deposit by 200 Euros, and not covered by insurance)
  • tire chains (to aid driving in bad snow): 4.00 Euros/day (maximum 80 Euros)
  • private transport each way to or from the depot (Paris only, and 8am–3pm only, and the customer's valid mobile phone number is required; transfer must be booked at least 7 days in advance; no refunds of booked transfer fee if client ends up taking other transportation instead): 90 Euros/4-passengers, 110 Euros/5-passengers, 130 Euros/6-passengers; if bicycle(s) are involved, the initial figure increases by 30 Euros, the second by 40 Euros, and the third by 70 Euros; bicycles are not available for rent from the vendor. (Note: regular taxis in France typically do not take bicycles.) The airport meeting points for such transfer are the following:

    CDG - Terminal 1: outside, at Exit 8, Arrivals level; an associate will be there holding a card bearing your name.
    CDG - Terminal 2: Avis car rental desk, "le boutiquaire" level.
    CDG - Terminal 3: exit gate just after Customs; an associate will be there holding a card bearing your name.
    Orly: exit gate; an associate will be there holding a card bearing your name.

    This transfer service can also be arranged from/to Paris train stations and hotels.

    Of course flight or train or hotel details are required. Last-minute transfers to the rental depot cannot be booked; only transfers which are booked and pre-paid at least 7 days in advance will be arranged. Due to potential traffic problems beyond the vendor's control, precise pick-up times of this transfer service cannot, of course, be guaranteed. In the event a client who has pre-paid for this service takes instead a regular taxi or public transportation, said pre-payment will not be refunded.

    • Likewise if you want to order the following insurance addendums, you must do so upon placing your reservation:

  • collision damage waiver (CDW): 16 Euros/day (minimum EUR112, maximum EUR850)
  • special assistance package**: 8 Euros/day (maximum EUR300; IdeaMerge strongly recommends you purchase this option; see at bottom)
  • cancellation insurance: 5 percent. When cancellation coverage is subscribed, Avis Car-Away will reimburse the insured person for motorhome rental costs as a result of this rental being cancelled or curtailed due to:

  • Death, accidental bodily injury, or illness of:
  • the insured person and/or any person with whom he/she has arranged to travel
  • any close relative or business associate of the insured person or of any person with whom he/she has arranged to travel
  • Others:
  • jury service
  • witness call
  • unemployment through redundancy, after the date of booking and before the commencement date of the motorhome rental
  • pregnancy of the insured person and/or any person with whom he/she has arranged to travel

    • SORRY, BUT SATELLITE TELEVISION IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE VEHICLES. And only the Group E vehicles have a television.

    There is no charge for an additional driver (maximum two drivers per motorhome).

    The vehicle will be delivered with a full tank of fuel. (Likewise it should be returned with a full tank.) The water tank, propane tanks, and toilet chemical repository will also be full. The interior and exterior will be clean, and the water and toilet tank will be empty of waste. Likewise the vehicle should be returned clean. Vehicles returned in an unclean condition will be subject to a modest cleaning fee.

    A thorough explanation and demonstration of the rental vehicle will be provided upon pick-up. This orientation, together with completion of the relevant paperwork, requires approximately one hour.

    Also included will be a French/English operators manual, a list of select campgrounds in France, a list of service areas in France, and suggested itineraries in the various regions of France.

    IdeaMerge suggests that our clients do not plan to rely solely on any one campground guide nor even on any collection of such guides (whether they be in book form, software form, or online) to determine the location or quality of appropriate campgrounds. Such a guide — especially if it is provided free of charge by the vendor or another entity — should not be considered suitably thorough and up to date, although in many cases they are very useful. Even if a vendor’s policy is to provide such guide with every rental vehicle, they occasionally run out of supply because too many clients lose or abscond with the guide, or for other reasons beyond the vendor's control. IdeaMerge therefore suggests a sort of rule of three: use at least two published guides (in book form, software form, or online), and rely on your own on-the-ground research (e.g. following local signage, questioning local people, and so forth) to complete the picture. Market forces usually take care of the rest because they result in campground locations per the general demand and thus near where you are most likely to desire such location. Neither IdeaMerge nor the vendor is responsible to assist in locating or recommending campgrounds to clients. Any assistance IdeaMerge or the vendor does give in that respect should not be interpreted as sanctioning or signifying the suitability of the services or products provided at the campground, although IdeaMerge never provides such support unless we believe the company or institution we name is reputable and engaged in the business or service they purport to. Inclusion or exclusion of mention of such entity by IdeaMerge does not necessarily signify the suitability of their services or products.

    * Included items:

    Kitchenware: 6 plates, 6 dessert plates, 6 glasses, 6 bowls or mugs, 6 knives, 6 forks, 6 spoons, 6 tea spoons, 1 potato peeler, 1 kitchen knife, 1 can opener, 1 corkscrew, 1 bottle opener, 1 frying pan, 2 sauce pans, 1 salad bowl, 1 platter, 1 strainer, matches.

    Vehicle kit: 2 bottles of propane gas (1 full, the other half full), 1 bottle of toilet chemicals, 1 fire extinguisher, 1 water hose, 1 jerrycan (20 liters), 1 electric cord + European adapter, 1 broom + dustpan, 5 clothes hangers, 1 kit of spare fuses and bulbs, 1 bilingual "User's Manual," 1 map of "Aires de Services" (service areas), 1 printed list of select campgrounds in France, and suggested regional itineraries.

    ** The fleet of vehicles is modern, secured, and continually upgraded — no vehicle being more than two model years old, and 80 percent of the fleet being renewed each year. Thus breakdowns and thefts are kept to a minimum. Repairs necessitated by breakdowns or accidental damages to the motorhome are naturally by default at the expense of the vendor — subject of course, in the case of accidental damage, to the applicable insurance deductible/excess, and subject to vendor approval of any repair estimated to cost over EUR100. (The client should call the vendor to obtain such authorization.) The client may be held responsible for mechanical damage or theft of the motorhome resulting from negligent use of the motorhome or from failure to effect normal maintenance. Moreover, the vendor is not obligated to secure the repair of the radio, air conditioning, refrigerator, propane gas units, and 12V appliances in general during a client's use of the motorhome; which is to say, the client accepts the risk that the motorhome's appliances may become and remain inoperable during the rental duration. Likewise the client by default accepts the risk that the motorhome itself may become and remain inoperable — due to breakdown or to theft of the vehicle — during the rental duration; and this is to say, in such cases the vendor is by default not obligated to pay for the towing of the motorhome, nor to replace a motorhome with another motorhome nor with a car nor minivan nor other vehicle nor tent. However, for an extra EUR8 per day the client can purchase the vendor's special assistance package which, in the event of breakdown or theft of the vehicle, covers towing costs, lodging (up to EUR38 per person per night), and alternative transportation — i.e. motorhome rental, or automobile rental or rail tickets, depending the client's preference and depending upon availability. (If no motorhomes are available for rental — as is often the case in, say, July — the client who has purchased said special assistance package would choose relative to a set of alternative forms of transportation and accommodation.) This optional assistance package is strongly recommended by IdeaMerge and is effective in all the countries in which the default insurance is effective; but like the default assistance, it does not apply to the motorhome's radio, air conditioning, refrigerator, propane gas units, and 12V appliances in general.

    *** Child safety and booster seats:

    We can address these safety devices in terms of law or, more wisely, in terms of one or another more general and more conservative (i.e. child-conserving) consensus about child safety. Nevertheless please note that IdeaMerge is neither obligated nor qualified to present to clients nor to the general public the full set of relative laws nor the letter of those individual laws; the comments below, whether about law or consensus are merely intended to indicate the nature of the general issue of child motor vehicle safety. In many cases (such as Canada and the United States) the law applies based on the state, province or territory in which the vehicle is registered or in which a particular rental commences. In Canada such law is strictest in Quebec and in Ontario. Which is to say, these are the only provincial units in Canada that require booster seats. The general North American consensus considers booster seats necessary for children weighing 18–36 kg (40–80 lbs), forward-facing safety seats necessary for children weighing 9–18 kg (20–40 lbs), and rear-facing infant seats necessary for children weighing up to 9 kg (20 lbs). Age-wise these ranges correspond to 4.5 years through 7 years, 1 year up to 4.5 years, and 0 years up to 1 year. In Germany, however, the high-end figure is more conservative, in the sense noted above. German law puts this figure at up to 12 years or up to 1.5 m tall (4 ft. 11 in.); moreover, children under age of 10 may not travel in the front passenger seat of a car, the exceptions being: (a) a child younger than 1 year old seated in a rear-facing safety seat, (b) a vehicle with no rear seats or seats that temporarily cannot be used, and (c) a situation in which all rear seats are already occupied by children under 10 years old. French law puts said high-end figure at up to 10 years but enforces the same 1.5-meter height threshold as Germany and likewise requires that children under 10 years of age be seatted in one of the rear rows of seats. In Ontario a child need not use a safety seat if (a) his/her weight is over 36 kg (40 lbs) or (b) his/her age is over 8 years (i.e. he/she has turned 8 years old) or (c) his/her height is over 1.45 m (4 ft. 9 in.).… Generally a rear-facing safety seat should not be used in a seat equipped with a functional frontal airbag. Also generally speaking, children under 12 years old should sit in a rear seat.… In the context of the whole IdeaMerge Website it is appropriate to address a few more specific cases. The state of Washington in the USA is relatively strict: children up to 1 year old or less than 20 lbs must be seated in a rear-facing infant seat; children from 1 year old through 3 years old or 20–40 lbs must be seated in a forward-facing child seat; and children from 4 years old through 5 years old or 40–60 lbs must be seated in a booster seat (in the rear if the front passenger seat is equipped with an airbag). In the state of Oregon children from 0 through 3 years old or less than 40 lbs must be seated in a child seat, and children 4 years old through 5 years old or 40–60 lbs must be seated in a booster seat. In the state of California, children from 0 through 5 years old or less than 60 lbs must be seated in an appropriate child seat, perhaps a booster seat. In the state of Nevada children from 0 through 3 years old or weighing less than 40 lbs must be seated in a child seat. In the state of Colorado, children from 0 up to 1 year old or weighing less than 20 lbs must be seated in a rear-facing child seat; children from 1 year through 3 years old or 20–40 lbs must be seated in a front-facing child seat; and children from 4 through 5 years or less than 55 in. tall must be seated in a booster seat. In the state of New Jersey, a child 0 through 17 months old must be seated in a child seat; a child 18 months through 4 years old must be seated in a child seat if riding in front; and a child less than 8 years old or less than 80 lbs should sit in the rear, if rear seating is available.… In Australia a child from 0 up to 1 year old must be seated in a child seat, and this seat must be fitted with a top tether that is in turn attached to a suitable mounting point on the vehicle; other constraints apply per territory, but the general rules noted above should nevertheless be applied and are typically indicated by vehicle rental vendors. In New Zealand a child from 0 through 4 years old must be seated in an appropriate safety seat; a child from 5 through 7 years old must if seated in front be seated in a booster seat or, we are told, secured with an adult safety belt (although this latter option seems too lax); and again the general rules noted above should neverthless be applied and are typically indicated by vehicle rental vendors.