# Pros and cons dropping off the car not in Germany (e.g. in Nice)?



## nesterk (May 18, 2011)

We are thinking of dropping off the car in Nice, France.
(BTW, is it okey to drive the car in northern Italy-south France? Not going to large cities, or at least leave it at the hotel.)

Is there anything against doing that?

I know the price is 800CAD, and as I understand it will take about a week more to deliver the car, but except that are there anything unexpected or what I don't know?

The car will be sent to Bremerhaven on truck, that's correct?


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## gbarros (Apr 19, 2007)

I've dropped off in Paris, Vienna, and Munich. Paris and Vienna took an extra two weeks transit. Other than that, no real downside.

Italy on the other hand involves a driver driving your car to Munich. You get extra miles on the odometer, the delivery fee, and someone you don't know driving your new car  I suspect it also takes longer for redelivery.


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## dkreidel (Aug 24, 2005)

Nice is a great drop location; not quite as convenient as Munich but almost. No negatives, and re-delivery times are a crap shoot anyway.


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## akthorp (Jun 16, 2012)

Dropping in Nice is easy. The directions to the drop off are a little confusing but we found it without difficulty. We then walked to the terminal for our flight. 

It is a crap shoot as to when your car is transported to Bremerhaven I think having to do with how many other vehicles are there to transport. For me, Nice and Vienna took longer to get on a boat than Frankfurt. I’ve never dropped in Munich which is obviously the quickest.


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

Firenze -> Côte d'Azur -> Nice = best part of ED for me.


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## Trinitony (Feb 10, 2010)

*Drop-off in Nice:* 
I tracked ED cars from drop-off in Europe to their return to owner in US and Canada for a while. Here are some observations about what my data showed.

You are correct that the average time for a car dropped in Nice takes longer to get on a ship than a car dropped in Munich (16.2 days in my survey for a Nice drop-off car going to an East Coast Port vs 11.7 days for a Munich car)

As a Canadian, presumably shipping your car for pick-up in Toronto, you add a bit of a twist to the data. First, there are fewer Canadians doing ED so the time taken for a Canadian car to return home, if different from US data, is dwarfed by US ED cars. Second, not all RORO ships headed to the east coast stop in Halifax. So Canadian cars might have to wait longer for a suitable ship.

But I wouldn't lose any sleep over where you drop your car. I have only done two EDs. One was dropped-off in Munich, the other in Vienna. I chose Vienna knowing from my survey that it was likely to take longer than Munich. The averages show Munich 11.7 days and Vienna 23.2 days. And what do you think my cars took? Vienna 28 days and Munich 28 days. So my advice to future EDers is to drop your car in the city that best fits your travel plans.

*Northern Italy and Southern France: *
The drivers in Italy seem to think that the speed limit for them is the top speed of the car they are driving. Just keep to the right and you will be OK. 
Road Planners in southern France believe that traffic circles are better than stop lights. Once you accept that the car in the circle has the right of way you will have no problems.

My favorites in Northern Italy are Florence and Lake Como. Florence for its art, buildings and gelato and Lake Como for relaxing before returning home.

In southern France there is a lot to see on the Riviera and also in Provence. I would visit all the towns on the Riviera. But my favorite place to visit is the Villa and Gardens Ephrussi Rothschild in Cap Ferrat.

In Provence I enjoyed seeing the Roman ruins in many of the towns. If you are limited to one town I would visit the Roman theater in Orange. It is very well preserved, perhaps better than any theater in Italy or Sicily.

When your car returns home please complete the Online Survey which can be found in the "Stickies" or here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...Mww5yxBCzyOhF-DaXv0ZrX5A/viewform#start=embed


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## nesterk (May 18, 2011)

Thanks everybody!

It looks like I will not drive my car (cancelling my ED - see other post), but will rent one and drive this route.


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## Huncowboy (Aug 29, 2005)

We dropped our car off in Zurich on the 4th of June. The car got to Baltimore port on the 1st of July. So far we are still waiting for the redelivery which will be in Florida. Zurich is only a few hours from Munich but it depends on the truck. Where we dropped the car off, there was a 911GT3 also waiting for delivery to the USA. They could not tell us when the truck would leave but they did tell us it was going to Bremerhaven directly. So I would imagine it depends when they have enough cars to de trucked to the port, is when they leave. It is a crapshoot.


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

We'll be dropping off my wife's M3 at TT Transit at CDG on Monday, July 30. It looks like there's a car wash very nearby.

Anyone dropped off there in the last year or two? Any suggestions?


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

FWIW, my Nice car made it to me faster than my munich car. So, there's more to it than location alone.


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## Fun MiLes (Jun 8, 2011)

Does anyone have recent experience with drop off in Paris? Is it possible to do a drop off during the weekend?


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## CTSoxFan (Oct 20, 2006)

Fun MiLes said:


> Does anyone have recent experience with drop off in Paris? Is it possible to do a drop off during the weekend?


I did a Paris drop off in June. They are only open M-F from 9-5. Drop off is right at the airport, and they will provide a shuttle to the train station so you can take a train back to Paris. Drop off process takes about 15 minutes.

I would recommend dropping it off when you get to Paris rather than driving in Paris. Lots of traffic and parking is tough/expensive, and there is plenty of public transit/Uber/cabs.


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## dkreidel (Aug 24, 2005)

CTSoxFan said:


> *I would recommend dropping it off when you get to Paris rather than driving in Paris. *


^^^ This ^^^^


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## Fun MiLes (Jun 8, 2011)

CTSoxFan said:


> I did a Paris drop off in June. They are only open M-F from 9-5. Drop off is right at the airport, and they will provide a shuttle to the train station so you can take a train back to Paris. Drop off process takes about 15 minutes.
> 
> I would recommend dropping it off when you get to Paris rather than driving in Paris. Lots of traffic and parking is tough/expensive, and there is plenty of public transit/Uber/cabs.


So the Wiki is still right. I was hoping they'd have something better. I arrive Paris from the South on Friday. My hotel has free parking and I leave on Sunday from CDG, so I had hoped I could have dropped the car on Sunday. Alas, not...
Going to CDG after dropping the luggage is not something I'm looking forward to


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## CTSoxFan (Oct 20, 2006)

Fun MiLes said:


> So the Wiki is still right. I was hoping they'd have something better. I arrive Paris from the South on Friday. My hotel has free parking and I leave on Sunday from CDG, so I had hoped I could have dropped the car on Sunday. Alas, not...
> Going to CDG after dropping the luggage is not something I'm looking forward to


It took me around 2 hours total I would say to go from Paris out to the airport, drop the car, grab a train pass and take the train back to Paris (we had 15 min of traffic going out and missed the turn the first time around, plus getting the train pass took time time in queue). If you were staying longer I would recommend getting the week pass as it is good for all public transport, but seeing as your only there a day I would just grab an taxi/Uber back to Paris and buy subway rides as needed. I would say you can do the whole trip in an hour, depending on traffic of course.


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## Asteroid (Aug 17, 2005)

CTSoxFan said:


> I did a Paris drop off in June. They are only open M-F from 9-5. Drop off is right at the airport, and they will provide a shuttle to the train station so *you can take a train back to Paris*. Drop off process takes about 15 minutes.


As long as you're not pressed for time, train is OK.
I say this because France is the land of frequent workers' strikes. On the day I dropped off a couple of years ago, the RER train workers were on strike. I had no idea there was a strike until I got to the station and saw that there was still service provided by another non-striking union, but it made ALL the stops along the line.


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## Asteroid (Aug 17, 2005)

Fun MiLes said:


> So the Wiki is still right. I was hoping they'd have something better. I arrive Paris from the South on Friday. My hotel has free parking and I leave on Sunday from CDG, so I had hoped I could have dropped the car on Sunday. Alas, not...
> Going to CDG after dropping the luggage is not something I'm looking forward to


TT Car runs the BMW drop off in Paris and they're actually open 7 days a week because they also run other programs (e.g. Europe by Car and other rentals). But maybe their contract with BMW is for weekdays only(?) I emailed them ([email protected]) last year about Saturday but they said no. I would email and see if they are willing to accommodate.


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## CTSoxFan (Oct 20, 2006)

I emailed them in June to ask about drop off and they told me M-F 9-5 only.


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