How do I get us all home?!

[CeciliaMars]

I am in Europe on holiday with my husband and 3 primary school age kids. We have a hire car that only he can drive. He has badly injured his hip, he’s been to hospital and is on strong painkillers and has crutches. He can barely walk and is in agony. We are meant to be flying home on Friday. How do we get the hire car to the airport and all of us into the airport? I am going to request assistance once we get to the airport. Also at the other end, how do I get him to our car? We are a shuttle bus away from our car. He literally can’t walk and is in agony. I truly can’t figure out the logistics of this.

Ps he needed a fit to fly certificate which the ski resort Dr did provide. If he’d known the cost he’d have explored other options (including getting a local friend put on the insurance or even flying someone out and doing the same). Hire car companies are a bunch of charlatans.

The hire car company will be able to arrange to collect the car. There may be a cost but I'm sure they have a solution.

Sorry OP, I dont have much to suggest that hasnt already been said but solidarity!! I can't drive hire cars either as I'm not old enough (most overseas hirers want you to be 26, 28 or even 30). This is such a big fear of mine too.

No advice but i hope you get sorted and that your husband’s pain eases very soon.

I would not drive abroad in a strange car.

I can drive in the UK because I'm in my car. I just wouldn't be happy in a car I'm unfamiliar with especially if it's wrong side drive. I just wouldn't do it. I am a happy confident driver in my own car because I spent a long time finding one that suited my height. Cars are designed for average males and that's much bigger than me and I find driving some cars very difficult. This doesn't mean I can't drive - it means I am being sensible in what I drive.

I don't drive DHs car for this reason.

I do not blame the OP for one second.

Yes just get car collected by hire car company.

Hire taxi for you all, get like a mini bus or disable one so he can stretch leg out. If you email taxi company you can do in English or with google translate to add why you need it.

Use airline chat. Ask to talk to someone not chat bot. You might have to upgrade to front extra leg room seat if possible and get assistance booked

No one is blaming the OP, it just wasn’t overly clear and is a fundamental piece of info in answering the question she asked with regards to logistics.

Really? How short are you? I am barely 5 foot with a short leg length, even petite length trousers have to be taken up and have driven everything from a mini to a 7ton truck with pretty much every size car in between. I have never not been able to safely reach all the pedals.

Are you in a hotel? Could they suggest someone that you could pay to drive you to the airport and return the car. If you have space of course. Airport Assistance can help at both ends?

No-one is obsessed, but it was a pretty straightforward question that you were not answering.

Get a taxi to the airport and instruct the car hire company to collect the car.

Keep your insurers informed, and keep all receipts for extra expenses such as hire car pick up and taxis, to claim later. Hope DH feels better soon.

Download the Uber app onto your phone of you haven't already then you can get your taxi sorted for when needed

People really are obsessed with driving on here.

I can longer drive because of debilitating arthritis & medication. And so what?? I get taxis instead. It’s not rocket science. (I actually save a fortune not running a car.)

Good luck with your phone calls, @CeciliaMars. Your insurance company needs to pull its finger out for you. Keep every little receipt.

I don’t drive abroad either, DH does. But in this scenario I am capable of doing it, so I probably would leave the kids at the hotel with DH and drive the car. It is an emergency situation and it strikes me odd to insist you (the royal you) won’t do something that you are capable of and would solve the problem.

But even if it is a hardline don’t want to and not willing to drive, it would be helpful to know that.

If I can't reach the pedals, can't use an electric and can't park the damn thing because I can't see out of it, it's be dangerous and impossible for me to attempt to drive in such circumstances...

And to be fair, calling the car hire company to ask them collect feels as obvious as “add yourself to the insurance”, so if we’re making assumptions about seemingly obvious solutions the OP has already ruled out, then she’s not going to get helpful advice and we’ll have to say she’s stuck until DH can drive.

If it's a case of driving on the german autobahns, it can be pretty damned scary if you're not used to it.

Why wouldn’t you be able use an electric car??

Being unable to park is entirely surmountable in this scenario - stop it where you can at the hire car place and ask them to park it.

If you can’t reach the pedals, then say so and the people you’re asking for advice from won’t suggest anything that requires you to reach the pedals.

Honestly just call the airline ASAP and request wheelchair/PRM help for both ends - they’ll handle almost all the airport logistics for you, it’s way more common than you think.

The OP doesn't need to bloody justify herself to people like you. If she isn't happy driving a car she shouldn't. End of conversation.

How do we get the hire car to the airport and all of us into the airport

Because you want to know how to get the car and you all to the airport. If you cannot drive fair enough, but if you're a "don't really fancy it" or "I'm scared of driving abroad" then that makes the advice different. I get you are stressed re DH being injured, but its a valid question.

Finding a longer route avoiding the autobahns might be an option in that case though, thus demonstrating why it’s helpful to know WHY certain options aren’t viable when coming up with a solution.

You have to get yourself to the nearest care hire branch with your driver's license and get yourself on the renting agreement. It shouldn't be that hard. Worst case, get your husband to be on standby on the phone for them to get his consent if necessary (as he made the booking).

Well if she wants meaningful help from me, then she does need to explain the parameters of the problem.

Anyway, the only option seems to be to get the hire people to collect the car, and if they can’t then the OP is going to have to live where she is now for the rest of her natural life, until her DH can drive or until they are forcibly deported from the country but I can’t believe the OP couldn’t come up with “ask the hire company what she should do” as an option all by herself, so assume she wanted more lateral thinking from a forum.

Get yourself on the insurance is starting feel like a bit 'cancel the cheque'. The OP has said she's not driving the French hire car.