Airport Transfer or Car Hire?
One question many travellers ask themselves is ‘Would it be better to hire a car rather than book an airport transfer?’
Well, I run a transfer company so you might expect me to be biased, but I have tried to give a balanced opinion – as follows;
Price
On the face of it, transfers may seem expensive, but you need to bear in mind that an airport transfer with Alpine Eagle will include; fuel, motorway tolls, snow tyres, snow chains, baby seats, a trained, professional driver, on board complimentary water, and a high quality fully licenced and professionally maintained vehicle.
There is also no excess or deposit to pay on the vehicle so you don’t have to spend your holiday worrying about being charged 1000 euros for that scratch or dent that wasn’t your fault. (That actually happened to me, so on that point I reserve the right to be biased).
Convenience
Our driver will be waiting for you at the airport, so when you arrive having collected your baggage, you can be sure of a speedy and efficient departure of your transfer from the airport to Meribel, Courchevel or Val Thorens.
There is no need to queue at a crowded desk to get your keys. Then take the shuttle bus to collect your car and then, having carefully inspected your car to make sure you dont get charged for someone else’s accident, you can begin setting up your SatNav to get you where you want to go. And don’t forget to study the manual on putting on the snow chains should you need them! You will also need to factor in the price and availability of car parking in resort, fuel and tolls.
Safety
Hiring an ‘economy’ level car may bring the cost of your journey to resort down below that of a transfer and make it appear cheap. However, at Alpine Eagle we use high quality four wheel drive vehicles for all our airport transfers for smaller parties – and for transfers of larger groups our Mercedes Sprinter minicoach has snow tyres, chains and a trained driver on board. We do this to maximise our customers safety and comfort. To compare this to an economy level hire car on price is like comparing oranges to apples.
Freedom
Do you really need to have a car in resort? There are usually free shuttle buses in all resorts and most resorts are small enough to negotiate on foot.
We operate our airport transfers to Lyon, Grenoble, Chambery and Geneva and serve the resorts of Meribel, Courchevel and val Thorens. If you are thinking of hiring a car, call us for a quote, you may be surprised.