Mobility versus Rental Car and other suggestions wanted

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Hi All... thanks as always

We will finally be making our move from Geneva to Vaud (yay!) at the end of the month.

We had expected to have our car by the middle of this month, however CdL hold ups (I don't want to get into it), make it likely that we will not have a vehicle until December. That's mostly fine as public transportation and walking are easy enough.

Still we will need a vehicle for some of the days at the beginning - mainly to get our several large suitcases, acquired cookware, and other household goods from Geneva to Vaud (Gland area). It's probably two station wagon (estate) loads or one large van full.

I am meeting the folks for the inspection and key transfer at 10:30 AM, and figure that I would start transferring items after that, and knowing that everything takes twice as long as planned, I figured that I will use a vehicle from morning through the evening (as late as 9PM?) because I will likely be doing all of the loading and unloading on my own (unfortunately the wife has an unchangeable meeting most of the afternoon, and the kid will be at school/distracting her mom afterwards). And it'll be my first time driving in the area, so I expect to get lost.

So while I am hoping that the CdL/plates/our car miraculously get sorted by the 29th, I am planning for having to acquire a vehicle for the day. And I'll need it to either work with my cellphone's map feature or have an English GPS.

I have heard a bit about Mobility Flexible motoring, and have rented cars elsewhere previously, but have never done so in Geneva. So I am looking for suggestions, recommendations, experiences, alternatives, advice, and/or solutions.

Folks here have often come up with ideas and solutions that I wasn't previously aware of, so please offer your thoughts and recommendations. Cheers!

2
Mobility works fine. But there's a learning curve and I made some noob mistakes:

1) Find the car parking before renting. The app is great, you see the nearby parkings and available cars. You push the button to reserve and go find the car...but the car's not there at street level Well, the car is there but sometimes it's in a parking 2 levels below ground and without signs to lead you to the car. So, find the parking first.

2) How to get the car out of the parking. This was a really noob mistake. I collect a mobility car in Basel train station. I see there's a parking card behind the windshield, drove to the exit and tried to leave with parking with this card. It didn't work. I stopped the traffic a little and made a couple cars go in reverse. Return to step 1, call to mobility help line, got told there's like a dozen parking cards either in above the sunshade, the glove box, or somewhere else around the car (i.e. center console) is the driver below misplaced it. I found the Basel parking card in the glove box next to the fuel cards.

3) They have to make a profit somehow, so they do it with late return fees. The reservation price for an extra hour or two is nothing compared to a late return fee.

4) Reserve as soon as the app lets you, the kombi/shooting brake cars are harder to reserve. They are highly demanded.

3
Best of luck for the upcoming move!

I'm afraid I can't give you a comparison, as I have rarely rented cars here (they seem terribly expensive), but I am a regular user of Mobility and I'm a huge fan.

The app is very easy to use, and it's all in English. You have the option of picking up a car from a location, and either returning it to the same place, or a different one. You don't require a Swiss driver's license to sign up and start driving, and all the cars I've used so far (I've used one from each class) have been clean and fueled up.

Your ROI decreases rapidly as you rack up the kilometres, so it's worth thinking about how far you'll be driving. Rates can be (varying so this is approximate) around 3 Sfr an hour + 0.80 Sfr per kilometre, so for example a car for 10 hours where you cover 50kms in total would be approx. 70 Sfr. Much cheaper than what you'd spend at Enterprise / Hertz etc.

You'll also want to get your booking in the app ASAP if you want it for multiple consecutive hours.

I'm sure others will be able to share their experiences too, but best of luck

4
Thank you !!!

This is all very helpful, and of course leads to some new questions.... LOL

How do I pay to get out of a parking garage in general here? In Japan and the US, it's usually done by a ticket, but cash, and credit are also common. Japan also has tire locks, and you pay at a vending machine. The US occasionally has attendants and in NYC, often you leave them with the keys.

Another question that I didn't see on the mobility page... cancelling? Is there a charge? I may reserve a van this week... but then not need it if my car comes through. Can a cancel easily? Is there a fee?

5
For mobility, look for the parking card. Sometimes it's a magnetic one you hold close to a sensor at the exit, sometimes it's a punched card foiled in plastic that a machine grabs a returns, but it's always a fun quest to find the card in the car.

For gated parking places, it's a ticket that you bring to a machine to pay. During covid a lot of these machines were upgraded to pay with RFID card. But, there's still some machines that only take coins...so carry 5-10 CHF in coins in the car, just in case.

To park on the street on places marked with blue lines, you need to get familiar with a blue disc you use to show the time you parked. This usually applies Monday-Saturday. Sunday's usually free. https://tcsgeneve.blog/2019/03/26/pa...ues-en-suisse/

For street level parking with parking meters, coins or twint (payment app you link to debit or credit card). twint is nicer because if the parking time is about to expire, you can add extra time until 30 min before the period you paid before ends.

6
Mobility FAQs show that if you cancel >6 hours before the reservation start time, the fee is 2.50 (more for a One Way reservation).

<6 hrs before the start time, the fee is 2.50 + 1/2 of hourly booked rate

Also if you want a starting credit, send me a PM, I can 'recommend' Mobility to you and it gives us both a credit

7
Yes, this.

Here's some info in English:

http://www.geneva.info/parking/

https://www.geneve.ch/en/themes/mobi...ing/blue-zones

The parking disc

This must be placed on the windscreen in a clearly visible manner. The arrow must be placed on the line following that indicating the actual time of arrival. The blue disc allows a driver to remain parked for 60 minutes during working days from Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Lunch break: When arriving between 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., parking is authorised until 2.30 p.m.

In the evening and at night: From 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., the parking disc does not need to be displayed, as long as the vehicle is no longer parked by 8 a.m. the next morning.

On Sundays: the parking disc does not need to be displayed, as long as the vehicle is no longer parked by 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Public holidays are treated as Sundays in the blue zones, unless:

- the sign carries an additional panel stipulating a different rule;

- the sign indicates ‘disque 3h’ or ‘disque 15h’, without any further information. For residents of Geneva, an annual parking permit for the blue zone in one's area of residence costs Fr. 200 per annum, for a specific number-plate.

In Zurich, it is possible to buy such a card for just one day... does anyone know whether this can be done in OP's part of the world?

8
One can rent an IKEA van for an evening or a Sunday for CHF 100, of course, it is a gamble if they have one available.

9
There used to be a company/app called Sharoo which was perfect for such a situation, we used a lot. But it interfered with others business cases so was bought out by the big dogs I think.

Generally Mobility is great for low mileage trips. The hourly rate is pretty cheap and you pay the premium on the mileage.

For a days rental or unlimited mileage you want a rental car probably.

I think in your situation you will find a rental cheaper. You should book at least 2 weeks before and you will probably get quite a decent deal, maybe 50--70 for an estate for 1 day. Check out Kayak which I have found cheap for Swiss rentals and with a flexible cancellation policy