Car hire Geneva airport for driving in France

[fretaway]

I am getting myself confused, there appears to be a French and Swiss side at the airport and I am looking at car hire as flying into Geneva to travel to the Alps in the summer.

I have read some people say to hire a car in the French sector but when I search on Skyscanner etc the location of the car isn’t specified other than being at the airport.
Has anyone who has done this before advise what I need to do? Please 🙏

All international arrivals to GVA land on the Swiss side. But you can exit the terminal through a door that leads to France.

Most of the main car hire companies have desks on the French and Swiss sides, because they can only legally rent you a Swiss-registered car in Switzerland and vice versa. You can drive a car from either country in the other. For Switzerland you would want a motorway sticker, which a car rented on the Swiss side will have but one from the French side won't. For driving in France it doesn't matter too much.

I would not rent through Skyscanner if they don't "know" that there are two sides. By all means look up prices with them, but then go to the web site of whatever company comes up with a good offer and see which side it is. Alternatively, go to CarJet.com (a rental broker) and put in "Geneva" in the search box - it will let you choose which side you want. As always with rental offers, make sure you understand what excess you are taking, whether you need a credit card, what the fuel policy and mileage are, etc etc.

@samarrange good answer thank you. What if you’re driving a French rental car into Switzerland? How do you get a motorway sticker? Is there anything else you need?

Look at Zest. We used them in Italy last year - mainly because they are Which best buy for car rentalsxand all was good. Most cars come with a really good insurance package included in the price and it's very clear which side you are renting from on their website.

The sticker is called a vignette. You can buy at the border - google has lots of tips.

@samarrange Thank You for that explanation, it makes a lot more sense now!

I’ve had a look and there isn’t a huge difference in price between the 2 sides for when we are going. I have read that some people find the route back to the French sector a bit more complex and can take longer, is there a benefit to either getting a vignette/hiring from the Swiss side to taking the easier route on the motorway?

The vignette is an annual pass to use the Swiss motorway, you buy it once a year and must purchase it even if you are only travelling on the motor way once. You can drive from France to Switzerland on the small roads, they just take longer and require a little more navigation, the vignette is not a crossing the border tax but you will be stopped and have to pay it if you travel in from France on the motorway.

Hiring from the French side is fine, just involves more faff and takes a little longer to walk in the airport and navigate once in the car. Give your self plenty time if you choose that option.

This reminds me of when we nearly missed our flight back having mistakenly somehow driven back into the French side not the Swiss side to return the car and being confused by all the French number plates and then twigging and having to rush like mad. So don't do that!