UKC

 We’re picking a hire car up in Nice to use on a trip just over the border in Italy. It will go back to Nice at the end of the trip.

The only info we can find says there will be a ‘fee’ even the hire company are unable to tell us (at the moment) what it will be. We’re waiting on an answer at the moment. 

Does anyone have any experience of this and can suggest a ball park figure?

Is it just an admin fee or is it a lot? 

In reply to biscuit:

I assume you're talking about the cross border fee?

I hired in Czech and prove to Poland. Think the fee was in the order of £20. I don't remember the exact value, but it was small compared to the hire cost.

In reply to montyjohn:

Thanks for that - yes the cross border fee. hopefully it’s just a basic admin fee. 

it’d be good if anyone has any experience of the Italy/france border. 

In reply to biscuit:

I'd question how the car hire company would know you'd crossed the border, unless there's an integrated GPS tracker on it somewhere, presumably in the sat-nav app. We drove from Nice to San Remo one evening a couple of years ago and there's [obviously I suppose] no border control etc.

In reply to biscuit:

Spent a while looking at this for Germany > Austria. €10per day typical, capped at €65 per rental. If you know your hire car company. google their T&Cs+ the country and it wasn't too hard to find the info.  

In reply to biscuit: Have a look on Rentalcars.com, several of the options set out the cross border fee, typically €10 day

In reply to Fraser:

They would definitely know if you had a major accident. And since the policy for damage to the hire car would now be void they would likely sue you for full costs.

I think 3rd party insurance would still be valid as still in the EU, so it may be legal. Just unwise.

In reply to montyjohn:

Yes, obviously. But being statistically realistic what percentage of hire cars are involved in a major accident? The question is: what's the cost-benefit analysis? I've hired cars at Nice airport on many occasions over the past 25 years (and other holiday locations, as recently as last week in Spain) and have never been asked or informed about border crossing charges. (yeah, I know, it's likely to be somewhere in the small print) It would be interesting to know which company is being discussed here.

But just to be clear, if we're only talking about a €10-20 charge, I'd happily pay it.

In reply to Fraser:

I would guess higher than non hire cars.

I think for me, I wouldn't know how likely an accident is when hiring abroad. In the UK I know the roads, I'm familiar with the driving style and I know the rules.

I remember driving across Russia and nearly having a pretty nasty accident on my first roundabout there. I just didn't know they work the other way round, where you give way to those entering the roundabout, instead of those already on the roundabout as you do in the UK.

The other driver who I nearly whacked into was very angry based on his extended horn usage.

Point is when driving abroad, there's always an element of you don't know what you don't know so how can you know if you are taking a risk you are comfortable with?

In reply to montyjohn:

Agreed, but I'll bet they're still very low. Like I said though, I'd still pay the extra just in case! 

In reply to biscuit:

Guess the cost will depend entirely on the rental company... With Sixt I paid around €18 cross border charge for up to a week.

In reply to biscuit:

Thanks all. It seems most are agreed it will be a minimal fee. 
 

It would have been a massive task to contact all the possible hire companies to ask individually before booking so we booked based on price and then asked. It seemed a bit odd they didn’t know being so close to a border so it got me a bit worried. 

Thanks again. 

In reply to biscuit:

In case anyone looks at this in future it was about 30 euros with Europcar for a 10 day trip. 

In reply to biscuit:

Whenever I've hired in Europe I've never seen cross border fees quoted. Is this a new thing?

From my next rental agreement -

"There are no additional charges for cross-border journeys. No prior authorization is required to leave the country with the vehicle.

Vehicles can be driven in all European countries except Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Russia, Turkey, Kaliningrad, and Ukraine."

In reply to biscuit:

It seems to vary. I've been charged extra on occasions to take a car from Spain into France.