Avis in France is really terrible. The car I rented had no maintenance at all. After just two days, the brake pads had issues, grinding down to the metal discs. It was terrifying. I went to a nearby branch in a different city to see what could be done. They offered to replace the car, but only had manual transmission vehicles, which I couldn't drive. They then directed me to another location. I nervously drove the car with the faulty brakes to the next branch, where the staff didn't believe me at first. After a brief test drive, they agreed to switch the car. I asked if we needed a new contract, and they said they would email it to me. At the end of the rental period, I returned the car with a full tank and no damage. The staff said there were no issues and that the invoice would be emailed to me. After returning home, I found a charge of over 100 euros on my credit card. I never received the invoice, and only found out through the rental portal that the charge was for not returning the car with a full tank. I find this disgusting. When I appealed, they asked for evidence that the car had issues. How am I supposed to provide evidence of faulty brake pads? The car was replaced and the staff tested it. Shouldn't that be enough proof? Do they expect me to fill the tank before risking my life driving to an unfamiliar branch? Who compensates me for my time and fuel spent searching for a branch?

The staff recommended us to buy insurance, saying that if we did not, we would have to pay a compensation of EUR 1300 in case of an accident. We found it confusing since both parties' English was not perfect. After analyzing, we thought this might be a CDW insurance, which means no compensation would be needed if an accident occurred. Buying this insurance at the counter costs EUR 28 per day, which felt very expensive. Considering our situation, we decided not to purchase it. There were three service personnel at the counter, two were for gold members, and only one was for regular members like us, so it felt slow. We reserved a manual Peugeot 3008 or C4 Picasso or a similar car, but got a manual new model Opel Zafira instead. The car had driven 5000 kilometers at handover, was in excellent condition, diesel-powered, had a large front windscreen, and spacious seats.

The car was quite small, and in France, they gave us a car with Dutch license plates. Luckily, there were no driving restrictions in France.

The service was very good. Even though I returned the car two hours late, I wasn't charged any extra fees.

The car did exceed my expectations, really good for our purposes. There was damage to the bonnet of the car that had not been reported and had I not noticed it I could have been held liable hence I have marked down the condition of the car. As there were 2 off us in the car it should have had 2 hi- visibility vests. It’s law in France that every person in the car has a vest in case of an issue. There was only one but when asked for we were supplied with one after 10 minutes or so. None of the staff seemed to know about this requirement. Other than that, very happy and would rent here again.