Toulouse car hire

[mini]

Just a heads up... when using a hire car from TLS, don't assume you can fill it up at the airport. There are two stations in the area (le'clerc & Elf) both of which are automated - i.e. you need an acceptable card. Most other stations seem to operate on a 9 - 5 ish basis so be warned if you intend returning your car outside these hours. :sad:

[lexxity]

The accecptable cards are not just any visa or mastercard either. My Mum and I had this problem, we tried all the cards we had and they were all unacceptable, we ended up taking the car back half full and paying the rental car charge for petrol.:hmm:

[knobbygb]

I was caught out with a similar thing in Italy recently - most stations there (Venice area) seemed to close at about 6pm and go 'automated' but they only accepted debit cards (Maestro/solo etc) and NO credit cards whatsoever. You could pay by cash but instructions were only in Italian and I was nervous about stuffing various euro notes into a slot which was not even next to the pump I was using. Luckily another motorist appeared and all worked fine. This was 2am in a semi-seedy area by the way - not recommended if you're a nervous lone traveller (not actually say female but you know what I mean - I admit I was nervous and I'm no female).

[mini]

I use Visa globally with few problems, it wasn't accepted at these stations. I was lucky enough to find a local woman filling up who agreed to use her card to allow me to refill the car and took the cash amount in lieu. :ok:

What other countries have posters found this situation prevalent? at the moment we have France & Italy.

[wiggy]

This is a common gotcha in France and I've had to act as a good samaritan by using my card in return for cash on a couple of occasions. Most unmanned pumps, certainly in rural areas, will only accept a "Carte Bleue", a debit card issued on a French bank account. You can try most if not all foreign cards till you are blue in the face.
Incidentally at TLS there is an Elf station, should be manned 24/7 on the periphique just East of exit for the TLS/Auch "spur"; did you try that one?

[mini]

The ELF station I tried was just past the Blagnac exit, on the right, it had what looked ike a shop but it was shuttered Sta night/Sun morning.

[wiggy]

My fault, the station on the periphique is Total, not Elf, FWIW.

On the subject of TLS and cars, "Les Flics' are at it again with their speedtrap on the way into the airport.....they often ( I reckon twice a month at least) set up outside the terminal complex, on the far side of the first roundabout you get to after leaving the autoroute. The speed limit abruptly drops to 50 kmh as you round a left hand bend and the cunning chaps/chappess set the trap up to look across the roundabout to catch people who haven't slowed down soon enough...they seemed to have plenty of trade yesterday tea time.