French rates settle

As many of you may already know, there have been big increases in car hire rates for France from 01 April. These increases apply to all major rental companies and have been applied without prior warning or explanation, except for Europcars 'due to increased operating costs'. After months of uncertainty these new rates seem to have settled down and it is not all bad news. Some cars, such as Europcars compact estates (Focus, Astra, 307, etc) have very little change and one company is offering a free additional driver in their new rates. In truth French rates have been very good value in recent years and a rate review was  perhaps overdue. For 2007 we are continuing to work with Europcar, Alamo Citer and Hertz but are keeping an eye on the market as a whole in case other companies come forward with competitive rates.