winter tyres on car hire in grenoble

help please. we normally hire a car in france, Austria, Switzerland etc. in fact we hired one to go to sauze with the j2ski group a few weeks ago and every time, ive had the option of adding winter tyres. we are going to tignes on 8th march (add us to your sleeps list ally) and I have tried every car hire, comparison website etc etc and nowhere can I find the option of adding the snow tyres. all it gives me is an option of chains and on some it says snow tyres not available.its very very frustrating. we are flying into Grenoble. any ideas or enlightenment would be most welcome . thanks folks.

They are not fitted as standard in France, but they are available for some models. Try the search string: voiture location avec pneus neige site:fr or http://www.europcar.fr/promotion/pneus-neige

I'd be really surprised if you rented a car at Grenoble at it wasn't already fitted with winter tyres. I picked up a car in Munich a few years ago, they tried to charge me extra for them, I declined, and sure enough all the cars already had them fitted.
I have a feeling its a money making exercise.

In France and Italy there are no laws that require the use of winter tyres, so the hire companies only fit them as an extra, but they don't replace them with summer tyres when a customer that has requested them brings the car back so you might find that the car you are given already has them fitted.

In Germany there is a situational law that requires their use between 31.10 and 31.03 when road conditions are 'wintery' so the hire companies fit them as standard. When the law first came into force they charged extra for them, but now the cost is included in the price. If you hire through an agency you might still be charged extra for them.

Winter tyres are also fitted as standard in Austria between 01.11.-15.04. and in Switzerland between 01.11.-31.03.

It's only law in certain areas in Germany.

It applies to the whole of Germany, it's part of their Road Traffic Regulations. It also applies to foreign registered vehicles, see paragraph 3a http://dejure.org/gesetze/StVO/2.html

Good work. So, rent a car in another country and drive to France is the answer!!!!

I have just gone through a similar difficulty with Venice airport. While "winterization" is now a requirement in the North of Italy during the winter months (not exactly sure where the North starts for this purpose), winter tyres are definitely not the norm and do not expect them unless you have confirmed at time of booking. All the car hire companies offer chains and this is sufficient to meet the legal requirement :roll:. I don't think this is adequate and would not drive into the mountains without winter tyres.

The main carhire booking agents, e.g. rentalcars and cartrawler, were not much use. I eventually managed to get something through Europcar but only by going through the local, i.e. Italian website, which offered a greater selection of cars than on the international website :shock:. It was a bit of a challenge to be sure of what you were getting because of the language issue but I got there in the end. It even proved a little cheaper as they offered a limited mileage option at a discount - up to 800km for 8 days hire - as I will mainly be using the car to get to the resort from the airport, I should be able to remain comfortably within this allowance.

So bottom line is, have a look at the local websites of some the main car hire companies and you may find more options :wink:

Its astonishing and deeply disappointing that the car hire companies are not more responsive to the needs of skiers :twisted:. I would have thought it was good business for them. If I hand't gotten sorted out, I was ready to book a taxi for the transfer so they would have lost the business because of their failure to properly provide for the needs of a particular, and not insignicant, market segment :shock:.