Renting a car in Toulon: the honest guide

In Toulon you can pick up a rental car in three places: Toulon-Hyères airport, the railway station district, and the agencies in the city centre or on the outskirts. The right choice depends less on the headline price than on your arrival time and on what you actually plan to do with the car: a week on the Var coast, a drive up Mont Faron or a there-and-back run to La Tour Fondue for the island boat do not call for the same vehicle or the same pick-up point.

The rest of this guide is about what is not on display in the window: what the advertised price has to cover, how the deposit blocked on your card works, the difference between the excess and the insurance, parking in town, and the simple habits that spare you an unpleasant invoice on return.

Airport, station or city centre: where to collect the car

Toulon-Hyères airport, at Le Palyvestre, is the most practical pick-up if you arrive by plane and your stay revolves around Hyères, the Giens peninsula or the beaches of the eastern Var: you head straight for the coast without crossing Toulon. The railway station suits you if you arrive by train and sleep in town, but it sits in dense urban fabric, with one-way streets and bus lanes, so work out the way in before you get there. City and outskirts agencies answer an occasional need better: a house move, a van, a weekend of walking in the Massif des Maures. One last thing, often overlooked: opening hours. An airport desk follows the flight schedule, a city agency closes in the evening and sometimes on Sundays, so get the out-of-hours procedure in writing. And since Toulon is easy to cross on the buses of the Mistral network or on the bateaux-bus, the harbour shuttle boats to La Seyne-sur-Mer and Saint-Mandrier, renting only for the days you actually drive is often smarter than renting for the whole week.

What the advertised price must include

A low rate that swells at the counter is not a good rate: it is incomplete information. Before you pay, you should be able to read all of the following in black and white.

• Mileage: unlimited or capped, and the cost per kilometre beyond the cap.
• The compulsory insurance included and the level of excess that comes with it.
• The fuel policy: full tank out, full tank back, the only genuinely neutral arrangement.
• The add-on charges: additional driver, young driver, child seat, return in another city.
• The service fee of the platform or the agency, shown on its own line rather than buried in the total.
• The deposit: how much, which means of payment are accepted, and how long until it is released.

Deposit and excess: two things people mix up

The deposit is not a payment. It is an amount blocked on the main driver's card for the duration of the rental, then released after you hand the car back. It must be stated before you book, together with the type of card accepted: many agencies require a card in the driver's own name and refuse prepaid cards or certain entry-level cards. Turning up at the counter with the wrong card is the most ordinary way of losing a rental you have already paid for.

The excess, by contrast, is the share of the damage that stays on your side if the car is harmed and you are responsible. You will be offered a buy-down at the counter: it is not compulsory, and some premium bank cards already cover part of the risk, which is worth checking with your bank before you leave rather than in front of the agent. If you would rather decide calmly, choose an offer where the extra protection is added online, at the moment of booking.

Parking in Toulon without losing your day to it

On-street parking in the centre is regulated: the city distinguishes a short-stay zone, meant for errands and appointments, from a long-stay zone aimed more at people who work in town. You pay at the machine or through the app shown on site, during the day, with exemptions on Sundays and public holidays. Hours and tariffs change: trust the sign in front of you, not a guidebook.

• The covered car parks of the centre, towards Mayol, Peiresc or Les Facultés, cost more than the street but settle the question of scratches and theft.
• Never leave luggage visible in the cabin, especially overnight near the port or Le Mourillon.
• In July and August the approaches to the Mourillon beaches and the road onto the Giens peninsula clog up in the middle of the day: leave early.
• Note the height of your vehicle if you have taken a van or a campervan: several underground car parks in the centre will not take them.

Driving in the Var: the rules to know

French speed limits apply, and they drop in the rain. Around Toulon you move between narrow corniche roads, hairpin climbs up towards Le Faron and stretches of tolled motorway.

• Motorway: 130 km/h in dry weather, 110 km/h in rain.
• Dual carriageway with a central separator: 110 km/h in dry weather, 100 km/h in rain.
• Ordinary two-way road: 80 km/h, raised to 90 km/h on some roads by decision of the département.
• In built-up areas: 50 km/h.
• In fog, or as soon as visibility drops below 50 m: 50 km/h everywhere.
• Licence held for less than 3 years: 110 km/h on the motorway, 100 km/h in rain.

The blood alcohol limit is 0.5 g/L of blood, that is 0.25 mg/L of exhaled air; for a licence held for less than 3 years it drops to 0.2 g/L, which in practice means zero tolerance. The car must carry a warning triangle and a high-visibility vest: check they are there when you pick it up, because you are the one who will be asked for them at the roadside. Finally, beware of priorité à droite, the priority given to traffic coming from the right, which still applies at some unmarked junctions in older districts and in the villages of the Var.

Most French motorways are tolled, paid by bank card or by an electronic télépéage badge: ask the agency whether the car has one. Several French cities also operate a zone à faibles émissions, a low-emission zone where access depends on the Crit'Air sticker, which grades vehicles from 0, for electric, to 5; Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble are among them. The rules, the list of cities and the penalties change often: check the situation on the official French government source before you travel, and ask which sticker the car carries.

The mistakes that cost real money at the counter

1. 1Signing the condition report without walking around the car: have every scratch written down, however small, and photograph the four corners, the windscreen, the wheels and the roof.
2. 2Not checking the fuel level at pick-up, then throwing away the receipt from the filling station.
3. 3Forgetting to declare the additional driver: without their name on the contract, you are no longer covered.
4. 4Confusing category with model: you book a category of vehicle, not one particular car.
5. 5Handing the car back without having its condition recorded: get the return signed or, failing that, repeat the series of photos as you leave the keys.

Going through a local agency rather than an anonymous counter

The Var has a great many independent rental firms, often more flexible on hours and unusual needs than the big chains. DRIVO is a European marketplace that lets you rent directly from those local agencies and from private owners, across Europe and North Africa. Every cost is shown before you pay, including the DRIVO service fee, presented on its own line and refunded with a free cancellation or an agency cancellation. Confirmation is instant, cancellation is free up to 48 hours before pick-up, and you see the security deposit and what is included before you book. An optional full-protection add-on can be added at checkout to lower the excess. Listings and support exist in five languages, with help over WhatsApp and in the app; beyond cars, you will also find vans and utility vehicles, motorhomes and campervans where local agencies offer them.

Where to go from Toulon with a car

• La Tour Fondue, at the tip of the Giens peninsula: the departure point for boats to Porquerolles, where visitors' vehicles do not circulate.
• The port of Hyères and Le Lavandou, for Port-Cros and Île du Levant.
• Mont Faron, by the hairpin road that overlooks the bay: a slow climb, tight bends, limited spaces at the top.
• The Massif des Maures, between Collobrières and La Garde-Freinet: chestnut woods, hilltop villages and winding roads.
• The western side of the bay, towards Sanary-sur-Mer, Bandol and Le Castellet, for the vineyards and the coves.

In summer these small coastal roads are slow and the beach car parks fill from the morning: a small car parks anywhere, a large one becomes a problem as soon as you leave the motorway.