Questions about Car Rental in Cannes port

[Coachyo]

Going to Cannes in Aug on NCL Epic and thinking about renting a car for the 3 of us.

 

Is there a close rental place to port?

Will my US drivers license and auto insurance be enough or do I need something else?

 

Anyone have pre ilus experiences renting here?

 

Thanks, CoachYO

[Hlitner]

Since we have not rented a car in Cannes since the COVID mess, I am not sure if the one rental car place (it was a local  company) that is near the tender pier is still in business.  Otherwise, all the local rental car offices are a good 20 min walk from the tender pier.  The rental car companies will rent with a US License, but it is always advisable to have an International Drivers Permit (sold by AAA) which can be helpful is you were to somehow get stopped by the police.   Any search engine should give you multiple options (in terms of rental cars) and we have usually rented from one of the companies on the Rue d'Antibes.  Using Google maps will give you a good idea of the walking distance.  Do not count on being able to get a taxi for the short haul from the tender pier area.

 

One caution about using a rental car on a port day is that you should get back to Cannes a couple of hours early, because traffic can sometimes cause delays.  

[Hlitner]

I spent a little time looking into the current rental situation and did notice that rentacar.fr has a location that is a little bit closer to the port.  I have long had mixed emotions about using rentacar.fr (we have previously rented from them in Villefranche where I do not think they currently rent) because they generally price-out with only 100 Kilometers.  One needs to carefully consider this in conjuction with your driving plans, and the pricing from the usual majors who include unlimited kilometers.

 

Hank

[Dancer Bob]

OP also asked about auto insurance. I haven't rented in France for years, but this gets very tricky, very quickly. Assume nothing. Hlitner would have better information than me.

[Hlitner]

17 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

OP also asked about auto insurance. I haven't rented in France for years, but this gets very tricky, very quickly. Assume nothing. Hlitner would have better information than me.

Missed the insurance thing.  Rental cars in France (and just about everywhere in Europe) come with some insurance (I believe it is the law) but, just like here in the USA, the devil is in the details.  The "excess" or deductibles can be high, so many folks may want to pay for extra insurance to lower the deductible.   For those who want to take some chances, many US major credit cards include some rental car insurance although the procedures (if you need to use it) can be a hassle.  I agree that the insurance thing is "tricky" and folks should read the fine print and look at their options.

 

Hank

[Dancer Bob]

Also, the legal contract is in the local language. An English version is only a marketing tool.

[Coachyo]

Thank you for the info.