France Roadtrip with Discover Cars - Opening New Horizons

How do you go about booking a hire car? Have you ever used Discover Cars? I must admit that I fly so often that I really do try to lighten my carbon footprint by taking public transport whenever possible, once we’re in a destination. However, sometimes, especially in rural Europe, it means missing out on remote villages and countryside wanders when we are without our own wheels. And then, when I do need a rental car, I have always preferred to deal directly with the big guys…. Well, DiscoverCars.com has taught this old bird a few new tricks.

Take a drum roll, Discover Cars, who kindly supplied the car for this road trip in Southern France.

Road tripping with Discover Cars Mount Ventoux in background — Mount Ventoux

When planning our recent trip to France, we booked the Eurostar from London to Paris. We then headed south by train and bus to Uzès and Avignon. However, Chateau Neuf du Pape and beyond required a hire car. We wanted to explore a wide area of Provence, including the Luberon, Drôme Provençale, Gard, and Vaucluse.

The trip needed a hub-and-spoke approach. Public transportation is available to access the major hubs of Avignon, Nîmes, Arles, and Uzès. Then, we need to rent a car to reach those off-the-beaten-track places that epitomise Provence.

Table of Contents

Who is Discover Cars

Discover Cars was founded in 2013 with a simple mission: to deliver the best possible car rental experience. They partner with all the major brands and many others (over 700 in total), are present in more than 145 countries, and do all the hard comparison work for you.

They are so good that travel companies like Skyscanner and Kayak use them to handle their car rental work.

Why book with Discover Cars

Along the way, DiscoverCars.com has earned several awards and been featured in the Financial Times’ list of Europe’s 1000 fastest-growing companies (Discover Car Hire) for two consecutive years, ranking first in the car rental sector. Additionally, Trustpilot has recognised them as one of the top 10 car rental agencies.

Here at Little Wandering Wren, I have always booked my car hire directly with Europcar, having worked my way up to their VIP Privilege Elite Status. This offers me benefits such as a double upgrade and a free additional driver, both of which are worthwhile perks.

Given this, what is important to me when hiring a car? Easy pick-up and drop-off, transparent terms and conditions (no hidden extras!), and trust. And that is where DiscoverCars.com was unknown to us.

As we researched the benefits of booking with Discover Cars, we found the following:

Value for money

We were stunned when booking through Discover Cars, realising how much money we could save by using their services to shop around for the best deal. Their prices were so good!

Choice

The second surprise was that I could use Discover Cars and save money while selecting from all the top-tier rental companies. We could have returned to Europcar; however, on this occasion, we chose Budget Car because it was the most affordable option.

Reviews

A quick look at the reviews for Discover Cars reveals a Trustpilot rating of 4.6, based on 200,000 reports, and a string of travel awards.

Based on these three points above, we could see that they are serious players in the rental car market, so we decided to try them out.

Discover Cars road trip view from Crestet, Vaucluse — View from Crestet, Vaucluse

Booking Through The Discover Cars Website

The booking process with Discover Cars was refreshingly smooth. Their platform compares trusted rental providers worldwide, making finding the best deal for your route, budget, and comfort level easy.

Now, Mr Wren is no IT genius, but he’s been on the DiscoverCars.com website, and even he says it’s easy to use. There is lots of good advice on selecting your car rental company and minimising the cost, and the results come through lightning fast in a convenient and straightforward format…so making the choice is easy! Try it!

Choosing our Car Hire Company and Car

We needed a car for 12 days, with pick-up and drop-off at Avignon TGV station (as we all know, one of the cost-saving tips is always to drop off at the same location as pick-up). We put in the pickup and drop-off dates and times, and before you could blink, we had a load of options. All the major car rental companies and a wide range of cars were represented.

One helpful feature is a summary of the cheapest car for each category at the top of the options page. It’s worth checking because sometimes the smallest isn’t always the most inexpensive. Each option is then summarised with key points covered, including cost, deposit size, mileage limitations, and payment due dates.

We chose an economy car from Budget, which was just about the same cost as a car in the Mini category, and it gave us loads of room for Wren’s idea of ‘travelling light’.

Pinterest Pin Road trip — *Save & Pin for future use!*

Discover Cars Booking Tips

Just so you know, the website’s top tips for car hire are:

Book early
Pay attention to customer reviews – opt for suppliers with ratings of 8.0 or higher for a smoother experience.
Ensure the main driver has a credit card.
Understand the deposit arrangements.
Know the fuel policy – Select Full-to-Full fuel policies to avoid unexpected fuel charges.
Pay attention to allowed mileage—unlimited is best for longer trips.
Carefully read the pick-up instructions to avoid surprises.

Our Review of Discover Cars

Dealing with Budget

Our arrival at the Avis/Budget centre was as smooth as silk. It really was as if we had booked directly with Budget. We even extended our hire period by a day, and this was no trouble at all; amazingly, it only cost an additional 11 euros. It is worth working out how the pricing algorithm works to secure the best deal possible.

Our Citroen Car

Our trusty steed was a Citroen C3 with only 800 kilometres on the clock. It was a great car and did everything we needed. That said, it was comforting to know we had the Budget service backup behind us if we ever got into trouble.

Returning the car was just as easy as the Discover Cars website advises: Always fill up before returning. Having done this, we handed back the keys, confident that we would be happy to use DiscoverCars.com the next time we need to hire a car to get to those out-of-the-way places that Wandering Wrens love to explore.

Any disadvantages to booking with Discover Cars?

Without my Europcar VIP Privileges, what we booked was what we got (no double or triple free upgrade), and we lost the benefit of a free additional driver. So Mr Wren kindly opted to be the designated driver. Given the hairpin bends and mountainous roads we encountered, I was not too unhappy about this.

Our route

Avignon -> Chateau Neuf du Pape -> Colorado Provencal De Rustral -> Apt -> Oppede –> Menerbes -> Cabrieres-d’Avignon -> L’Ilse sur la Sorgue -> Gordes -> Saumane de Vaucluse -> Crestet -> Nyons -> Vinsorbres -> Avignon.

Final thoughts on Discover Cars

We had a fabulous time exploring Southern France thanks to Discover Cars. New places and new experiences are never out of reach when you have your own wheels. The car was easy to drive and never let us down. We really enjoyed the Sat Nav, which helped us easily find our way around, without the usual which way now arguments! Whether you’re cruising through France, the USA, or anywhere in between, we are happy to have discovered Discover Cars.

So much so that we have already rebooked with them for a future trip to Slovenia!