The issue of longer-term rentals for 30+ comes up occasionally here. For what it's worth, I got an email today from Auto Europe promoting their short-term leases (21-175 days ) in Europe. Prices and vehicles vary, but there are a lot of pick up cities, and no additional charge for a second driver. I did a couple of dummy bookings, for six weeks r/t Paris, I was coming up with about $1900-2200, and $2000-2300 for an automatic economy and compact cars.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
487 posts
We did 30 days last summer picking up and dropping off at Marseille airport $1500 small SUV. This was through Auto Europe but with Renault. As easy as any regular car rental. Very good service. Brand new car. Automatic transmission. All insurance included and second driver free. I booked about 6 months ahead. At some number of days before the rental start the price became nonrefundable. I thought was very good value given how expensive rental cars have become.
Posted by
Beverly Hills, MI
813 posts
I have leased nine times and overall feel it is the way to go if your time timing allows. I have always liked the fact that the car is built for your lease and is what you reserved, not whatever they have on hand. The last timer I rented, the "Did you really want an automatic transmission?" finally got settled after three rounds and my explanation of what would be left of their manual transmission if my wife ever had to drive it. The only warning I would have is that that with the chip shortage you may or may not have a nasty surprise waiting for you. This year, after a 2 year pause in traveling, I got a surprise email a month before the pick up date with the news that due to the chip shortage my car would not be built, but they were working on finding a substitute. My Peugeot 403 sedan turned into a Citroen C3 with all the same equipment and the Citroen was just fine and I plan to lease again next year, hopefully the chip situation will improve.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10603 posts
I leased on my first trip to Europe. I later discovered that if you have any issues with the car you have to deal with it because it’s “yours” instead of a rental. If it’s a mechanical issue you have to wait for it to be fixed. It could be a quick fix or it could take an extended period of time. If you’re in an accident and the car can’t be driven you are out of luck. There’s no rental company to just give you another car. The lease comes with full insurance, but that’s only a financial benefit. You won’t get your time back. I revisited the thought of a lease this year in France because of the high cost of rentals. The prices were essentially identical so I stuck with a rental. I don’t care about an extra driver because I prefer to do the driving myself.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20226 posts
I've only rented a car once when traveling, so this is nothing I know anything about.
But there was a post a while back where I was surprised how inexpensively someone had rented a car in Croatia, so I checked the costs myself; yes cheap, very cheap.
What concerned me was that the insurance packages that were offered only covered the rental car, I couldn't find any mention of liability coverage.
Someone educate me, when you rent a car, you are getting liability coverage somehow? I mean, just in case you run over someone or something?
Maybe I just missed it in all the fine print?
In the states, my auto policy covers this on rentals, but not out of country.