Have done it twice - easy peasy - and yes you save a lot of money. I think however you need to give a french address - borrow one from a friend if need be.

Are you bringing the car back here?

I rented a car last week from Monaco to here, bringing it back here or the french side saved me 120 to 160 euro, depending on the company.

You do not need a French address, you can rent a car everywhere worldwide with any address.

I think if you return the car here as well, there will be no big difference, 

Thanks a lot to you both for your replies.  The difference in my case is a saving of literally hundreds of francs so obviously I want to do it.  I can't see how there could be anything legally wrong with choosing to hire a car in one country rather than another but I don't want to find out I'm wrong about that on the day we start our holiday.

JenniferP - what's that about a French address... why is that necessary?

Francois - have you ever had problems renting a French-side-of-the-airport-rented-car into Switzerland?

Thanks!

Hi Jimbo,

I have rented cars both in Geneva city center and in the French side of the airport. In both cases I used the services of major rental companies and never had a problem with my address in Geneva. Besides the money question, you also need to compare the service you get, for instance, rentals in the French side of the airport do not include the vignette for the Swiss highways, and you have also to deal with getting there and back (crossing to the French sector by car is not as easy as on foot) ... and usually renting cars in airports is slightly more expensive that doing so in an agency in the city; so, depending what your plans are, it might be worth or not ... My two cents would be compare the prices between agencies and locations for the service and extras that suit your needs. Generally speaking, it should be cheaper in the French side of the airport, but how much cheaper it certainly depends on the service and the extras you're getting.

Pascual

Hi Pascaul,

Thanks for all the information.  I've looked for quotes from a big company for a rental we want to make of 16 days, so it is expensive but the difference between French side and Swiss side is several hundreds of Francs, so even considering other factors, I still think it's a much better deal.  Could you tell me, if we don't have the vignette for Swiss highways, can we just 'pay as we go' on the Swiss roads or is it more complicated?  We're planning on doing nearly all our driving in France and just passing through Geneva to pick up our stuff.

On the subject of getting from the french side to Geneva by car, is it any more difficult then say, driving from Ferney?

Hi,

When you drive from Ferney-Voltaire to Geneve you can find the road access to the French sector of the airport close to the border. It is signalled, though the signal is quite discreet. I don't think there are any signs on the swiss side of the border ....

Regarding the vignette, you only need it to use the Swiss highways (autoroutes) but you still can use the normal roads. If you plan to make an intensive use of the autoroutes in Switzerland, you can always buy your own vignette in a post office

Pascual

On the two occassions that we rented a car from the french sector of the airport last year it came with a vignette for the swiss motorways, you can of course ask for clarification from your chosen company but we always were provided with one. Another tip is to actually ring the desk at the airport for a quote. On both occassions the quote we got via this method was considerably cheaper than the internet quote. No idea why.  

sorry, technical malfunction with last post. It should continue:

Another tip is to ring the desk at the airport (make sure you ring the french sector) and ask for a quote on the phone. On both occassions we got a significantly better quote by booking over the phone than by doing it on the internet. Do not know why but we weren't going to argue!