Avis and rates for car rental with Leclerc (France)

Leclerc offers vehicle rentals at unbeatable rates, but may be a little fussy on the billing of damages (even minor) upon return of the vehicle. You can read some feedback in the commentary of this article.
To avoid this inconvenience, we strongly encourage you to take out specific insurance with Serenitrip. For 5 € per day of rental or 70 € per year, Serenitrip will reimburse you for the repairs that Leclerc may charge you. Read our feedback on Serenitrip.

When we return to France, we like to settle temporarily in an isolated place or make a road trip.

We have gotten into the habit of renting a vehicle at Leclerc Location.

It’s not well known, but Leclerc offers a car rental service at unbeatable prices.

During our Parisian years, we occasionally rented a car for a weekend at the classic Sixt, Hertz or Avis, we regret not having discovered the services of Leclerc earlier.

Price of a rental at Leclerc

Leclerc therefore offers vehicles of different sizes for a price ranging from 4 to 9 € per day.

4€ corresponds to a small car such as a Twingo or Fiat 500
9€ corresponds to a mini bus with 9 seats

To this basic price is added an invoice per kilometer (no kilometer is included in the basic price).

The price per kilometer depends on the type of vehicle and the rental period (see table below). In our case (30-day rental of a fiat 500), the kilometer costs us 7.5 cents.

As a comparison: at our last rental at Sixt, we paid 35 € / rental day. With 500 kilometers included and 24 cents per additional kilometer.

The rates below are as of August 2018 at the Leclerc agency in Levallois.

It would thus be necessary to drive 400 kilometers per day for 30 days for the rental price to reach that of Sixt!

The rates below are those of Sotteville Les Rouen in August 2020.

At a new location next to Rouen in August 2020, we got this document detailing the additional pricing.

Please note that some agencies require you to fill up at the nearest station and will charge you a penalty if you do not present a receipt. I find it rather a good thing, it is rather unpleasant to recover a car and quickly lose a bar of fuel because the previous tenant had filled up 50 km before returning the vehicle.

Two small constraints with the Leclerc offer:

You cannot choose two different locations for vehicle pick-up and drop-off
Impossible to return the vehicle outside of store hours

Booking procedure

The reservation of the vehicle is simply done online. The Leclerc stores being franchises, each one has its own fleet of vehicles which aren’t mutualized. If the store nearest you does not have availability, try another one. If you wish to reserve a vehicle for a long time, get there as soon as possible because each agency has only a few cars.

The basic price is then paid directly online. Mileage will be billed upon return of the vehicle.

On the day of withdrawal, we go to the Leclerc de Levallois (Brico Leclerc) where we made the reservation. The procedure is classic, photocopy of ID and driver’s license (possibility to add a 2nd driver at no charge). Bank imprint for the deposit then inventory of fixtures of the vehicle.

Check with your bank that you can spend €1200 with your card (the amount of the excess). Many people have weekly spending limits below this amount and therefore cannot withdraw their car! If you are stuck, try to contact your bank advisor to increase the ceiling (this is also possible with the mobile application of some banks like CIC).

The vehicles are generally in very good condition (I don’t remember having a vehicle with a mileage of more than 10,000). The inventory of fixtures can be more or less meticulous depending on the Leclerc: make sure to mention any degradation even minor and do not hesitate to take pictures to have evidence in case of dispute.

Franchise buyout

The basic deductible is €1,200. This means that in case of damage, you will have to pay a maximum of € 1,200 (even if the vehicle is totally destroyed).

Leclerc proposes a partial repurchase of franchise allowing to reduce this franchise to 300 €.

For this, you will have to pay between 5 and 10 € per rental day depending on the rental period.

I find it quite expensive and I preferred to take out an external insurance: Serenitrip which offers a total repurchase of deductible for €5 per day or €69 per year.

Our different locations

We have so far used Leclerc’s services 4 times for the rental:

Saint Raphaël in October 2017: 3 days rental of a Fiat 500
Levallois in July 2018: 30 days rental of a Fiat 500, 3 977 km for a total of 418 € or 14 € / day
Levallois in March 2019: 30 days rental of a Fiat 500, 3 045 km for a total of 349 € or 12 € / day
Sotteville-lès-Rouen in August 2020: 30 days rental of a Renault Clio, 5 003 km for a total of 585 € or 19 € / day.

Our Clio rented in August 2020 had barely 7,000 km on the odometer.

In case of a fine?

Unfortunately I was flashed for a speeding ticket in August 2020, the fine was waiting for me at Leclerc when I returned the vehicle.

In addition to the fine, Leclerc charges a 15 € management fee PER fine. I think all rental agencies proceed in the same way but it is never a good surprise

In case of damage?

In August 2020, I returned for the first time a degraded vehicle (narrow road in the Ardèche gorges). We are worried about two tiny shocks on the front and rear bumpers. In the end, these two small shocks were not raised but the Leclerc employee immediately saw the scratches on the right front rim that we hadn’t even noticed! (even if in retrospect I understood when it happened)

Leclerc started by charging me 35 € for administrative fees.

A few days later, I received the painful: 243,5 € of estimate which were taken from my deposit (without even waiting for my validation…).

Luckily, I had taken out insurance (Serenitrip) which reimbursed me in full. Only the 35 € of Leclerc file fees remain at my charge.