I need to return a car by about 4 AM on a Saturday to NCE. My understanding is the location technically opens at 7 or 730 AM but 24 hour returns are permitted.

Has anyone ever returned after hours and/or know the process? As a very poor French reader, I wanted to understand the process in advance so I avoid the inevitable perplexed mistake.

Thanks!

I don’t have an answer for you today, but will be going through this myself in the next couple weeks and will be happy to report back on the experience after I do.

Update for anyone else who may come across this post in the future, or Woodsmit if still relevant for you:

When returning to NCE before opening hours, it's really simple. Just follow the signs for the central car rental location. Pull up to the double gate and it'll open automatically. Find the SIXT (or any other brand)-specific line. Park car, lock it, and then drop the keys in the orange box that says SIXT. All the companies have a drop box along the line facing you when you pull in. If it's before opening hours I always suggest doing a video walkaround and/or taking photos of the car to document as-returned damages as well.

As an aside I suggest filling the car up the night before if possible, as the on-airport gas station was closed at 3AM despite the 24h sign on the billboard.

How was the overall experience with Sixt @ NCE? We will be there in November and are deciding between them and Hertz.

I had another reservation at Hertz. They assigned me a car in the reserved class the day before I arrived, with no upgrade despite being PC. I wasn't thrilled about that. So I checked SIXT prices from the plane before I arrived and sure enough, they'd dropped like 50% from when I'd made the original reservation so I made a new booking.

The SIXT line when we arrived was probably 35 people deep. Fortunately I have Platinum status with them so I skipped ahead to the dedicated Platinum line, which only had a few people in it. That suggests to me they are more focused on the leisure market / non-frequent traveler at this location so if you can, try and get a status match before you go.

I did get an "upgrade" from my reserved vehicle class - I didn't want the bigger car they gave me but they told me nothing in my smaller class was available. This proved not to be true when I walked out into the parking garage and found no less than 5 vehicles in the class I reserved, but oh well. On the plus side the car I received had low miles on it, didn't reek of cigarettes, and was reasonably well equipped, so I can't complain too much. The fleet seemed to be a 75/25 mix of French and German-registered cars, which is interesting because the German ones tend to be better equipped. The pre-existing damage on my vehicle was correctly marked and consistent with my own inspection of the car before I left the garage. I took photos and video of the car at both pickup and drop off which I recommend you do too. I was especially concerned about drop off as I did so after hours with no one checking me in. I did get my bill the next day and no surprises.

Would you be allowed to take a car registered outside the country if it's not a one-way back to its origin?

Yes you can, Sixt has plenty of mostly German plated cars scattered all over Europe. I rented from Nice several times and got German and Dutch registered cars that I took across the border into Italy and back to France.

Though you need to ensure the vehicle class you're renting is good to be taken across borders because as you head deeper into Eastern Europe Sixt has restrictions on vehicle classes you're allowed to cross borders with (theft issues). Insurance in some places (Italy notably) is also something you need to think about in case you decline Sixt's coverage because most credit card affiliated insurance policies exclude a handful of countries.

Wow. So I guess Germans do a lot of outbound roadtrips? It reminds me of frequently seeing rental cars with TX plates scattered around the US. Someone I know who went to school there confirmed long distance roadtrips are indeed part of the regional culture.

Not quite the main reason, Sixt is a German company and has its largest operations (and fleet by extension) in Germany. Not only a single one way rental from say Germany to France can leave a vehicle getting juggled between French stations for months but also the corporate-run stores can run on excess inventory from Germany.

from my rental contract from last week from a Sixt location in SW France:

I had no issue with Hertz. Gave me a Fiat 500c with 4km (yes, 4km). Granted, it wasn't very quick going up the hill on the autoroute 8, but I had zero issues.

Took like 15 min to get the car but there's no real ultimate choice type selection.