We have recently completed our drive through France in a Peugeot 208.
The GPS was set to English and everything went smoothly from the beginning. Although we were taken off-road a little, we think this was because it was programmed to take the fastest route. Not the best setting, so you should learn how to change that!
Tell your customers to buy a good road atlas. I bought a 2019 Big Road Atlas France, online out of the UK before we left NZ. It proved to be invaluable for daily route planning, and really helpful when the “fastest” route was not what we wanted!
I did not pay enough attention to the distances and travel times when planning our trip. As a consequence we had a couple of long days, by the time we fitted in sightseeing. Using Google to get time/distance and alternative routes, each night to plan the next day, was therefore invaluable. We were able to set up a schedule with the travel and sightseeing allowances and had a good idea of when we would be arriving at our accommodation. (As we used AirbnB and a home exchange, we were able to give hosts a reasonably accurate time of arrival.)
My wife made a bold sign, LOOK LEFT, and I wedged this on the dash, so it was visible. It was helpful on a number of occasions.
Roundabout ettiquitte was an adjustment. The French are not good with indicators at roundabouts and if there are two turning lanes, they most often cut across both lanes! We found that slowing and taking our time was the best, and we didn’t end up with many toots at all!
We went on a number of toll roads and we used our NZ Debit card that, although loaded in Kiwi dollars, worked fine. We probably paid a fee for conversion, but it felt safer than seeing our Mastercard disappear into the machine.
Speeds on the motorways varied between 110km/hr and 130km/hr with warning lights at places often reducing the speed to 90km/hr. Mostly, the speed limits are adhered to – due to lots of speed cameras and ensuing fines/demerit points. Passing needed attention as the outside fast lane is often doing 130km/hr, so you need to either wait if you want to pass at a slower speed, or speed up and signal well in advance. Indicators are used well for over-taking, and everyone moves quickly right again once they have completed their passing.
Nearly all the (more scenic) D roads are limited to 80km/hr and people generally stick to this limit.
Petrol averaged around €1.60 per litre, and we used our Euro loaded Visa Cash Passport card for purchases. Fuel was readily available, but we kept the tank topped up so we were not stressing about it.
When setting out to return the car, we asked whether it had to be returned to Pau airport, as per the instructions you provided. Turned out it suited the agent to have it dropped off at their garage in Pau, and they emailed the address. This worked well for us - we dropped it off, then one of the mechanics drove us to the bus stop for our onward journey.
PS - we suffered a cracked windscreen on our last big driving day from Bergerac to Pau. It was so good to know that this was fully covered and no cost to us!
Bruce - 2019