UKC

Looking for recommendations for car hire at Geneva airport. Previously I had trouble when the chosen car hire company would not let us take the car out of Switzerland to France and we had to hire from another company which, after a lot of trouble we did and we got some of our money back. Looking to avoid this, is it posssible to hire on the French side and avoid this issue? I have had a quick search and a lot of car hire companies charge extra to take the car out of Switzerland. Also I think previously if you hired in Switzerland you had to buy an extra to drive on Swiss roads which seems crazy when you are just crossing the border to go to France.  

https://blog.alpine-property.com/2017/01/26/french-side-geneva-airport/

Helpful info if you do get a car from the French side,  directions etc 

Hired an Espace from Sixt on the Swiss side in April. No issues crossing back and forth at all and fine to use motorways either country. Price was standard Swiss but they were really helpful. 

Hth 

b

if staying in France hire on the French side but you wont be able to go on Swiss motorways without paying  the annual charge - getting through the centre of Geneva is a good route finding challenge!

Cars hired from the Swiss side are all now registered in Germany (at least the last half a dozen times friends have come to us via Geneva airport they have been) specifically not to fall foul of the customs issue about non-Swiss nationals taking Swiss cars out of the country.

I think it's always better hiring Swiss side as its easier getting around the airport, and having a Vignette makes everything much less stressful - especially helpful if you're dropping it off against the clock. Plus in winter you get chains and winter tyres as standard. I think it might even be less eye-wateringly expensive now with the CHF exchange rate.

Although that said I was in the airport killing time after a cancelled flight on Monday and bought a trail magazine - tagged as 7eur in France - it was only when I checked my receipt, and the microscopic foreign pricing on the spine of the magazine that I realised it cost 15.5CHFs. Almost double!

It's some years ago now but I once hired on the French side.  It was cheaper but the single door that constitutes the border between Switzerland and France at the Airport was locked and despite several phone calls and requests remained locked for several hours.  As a consequence my "reserved" car went to someone else and I had to start all over again.  This neutralised any savings that I had made.  On top of this the convoluted journey, made necessary to avoid Swiss motorways, made an otherwise pleasant drive long and tedious.  I vowed never to use the French side again, it wasn't worth the hassle IMO.

Al