I've been doing a lot of research about leasing vs renting a car. We will be spending 9 weeks in Tuscany next year. My thought is to fly into Nice, lease a car, and drive 4 hours to Florence. I think I can save several hundred dollars vs leasing a car in Italy. Has anyone made that drive from Nice to Florence? Appears for longer stays like this leasing is the way to go. Thoughts?
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Leasing is a fine value for longer stays, and since the program is based in France, there should be no fee for pick up in Nice, but there would be a fee to pick or drop in Italy. You can drive to Florence via AutoStrade (major toll roads), which is very easy driving; I drove the portion from Lucca to Genoa this fall. Presumably, you'll back-track at some point to visit Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa, or other stops in that region.
Plan to park outside the city center of Florence. See www.firenzeparcheggi.it, the intro to the Florence chapter in Rick's guidebooks, and/or Roberto's driving/parking advice on other discussions in this Travel Forum. Major suburban parking lots have a shuttle service into town: www.ataf.net.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23671 posts
A couple of questions? Are planning to return the vehicle to Nice or drop in Florence? Be very clear with the rental or leasing that the car is going into Italy. Some rentals do not want their cars going to another country. Be sure you have appropriate or required insurance for both countries. Driving between countries in Europe is not the same as driving between states in the US.
Posted by
OP
Virginia, USA
792 posts
I plan on using Renault Eurodrive. I will pickup/return in Nice. The lease includes a brand new vehicle with full comprehensive no-deductible insurance, unlimited mileage to any country in Europe, 24/7 roadside assistance, and no extras fee for additional drivers Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Posted by
santa cruz, California, USA
135 posts
we will be leasing a vehicle for our 11 weeks in france and italy in the fall of 2015, probably peugeot in avignon or marseilles, and will return the car back to france. nick from santa cruz
Posted by
OP
Virginia, USA
792 posts
that is what I did last year. flew into Marseilles, rented the car and dropped it off in Avignon...easy enough
Posted by
Portland
3648 posts
Last May we picked up our car (rental, not leased) in Nice and drove around Tuscany for a couple of weeks. We made a big loop and then spent another two weeks touring Provence. I checked out all possible options, and that was by far the cheapest for the amount of time we spent I suspect that for nine weeks leasing is better. Any plan that involved picking up a car in Italy was a great deal more expensive - - on the order of $1000 more! Two caveats: if you return the car in Italy, you'll be assessed a fee of around $400. Secondly, I'm remembering the drive into Tuscany as being longer than 4 hours; but we didn't go directly to Florence. However, there are plenty of attractive places to stop for a night or two if the drive is longer. I'd say that the car pick-up in Nice is the way to go.