Rick's Recommendation for Leasing A Car

We leased for 22 days of a 30 day trip. We picked up before leaving our first city, Amsterdam, and dropped it off before our last city, Rome. Rentals were much less than pt to pt train fares or passes. Leasing was significantly less than renting. Full insurance in included in the price. Diesel is cheaper in Europe and they run great.

Leasing options are from only two French car makers, Renault and Peugot. I think it's based on a tax break for buying a used car in France. They charge extra for picking up, dropping off outside of France. Even with the charges it was a great deal.

We leased a seven passenger Renault Grand Scenic II. By European standards it's big. By US standards it's a sub-compact station wagon. It worked great for my wife, myself and kids 16, 12 and 8. We had only one carry on each. Any more and we would have been cramped.

For your trip, get a GPS and make sure it's in English and you know how to use it before leaving the lot.

Ask if it's okay to go East.

I don't drive in Europe, but my dad always does, and he always leases with Renault. His trips are always for at least three weeks.
He is leasing again this July and I glanced at the paperwork for his trip, I think they are getting a car for about 1800 dollars for 3 weeks, not the bottom level one , but two up . Diesel is cheaper, but he doesn't rent them as he says it is a bit harder to find diesel at gas stations, I personally have no idea if this is true.
These rates are for standards, automatics cost more.

For more then 2 people, or even with only two people , I think a rental car is a good deal , trains are not cheap in Europe, and while flights are ( sometimes) ,, it is fun to drive sometimes and see stuff.

My only caveat would be to get or take as much insurance as is humanly possible,, even a dented license plate can cost hundreds according to posts I 've been reading on another board.

LOL ( for Sam)

We leased a car from Renault 9 years ago for a portion of a 7 week trip through Europe. It was a great deal, everything is included, insurance (with no deductibles), taxes, roadside assistance etc. Much cheaper than renting a car. The longer you lease it the better deal it is. Check out www.renault-eurodrive.com. Peugot has a similar program.

I leased from AutoEurope during the summer of '06 and it worked out great. As another poster mentioned, you pay a little more if you pick it up or drop it off outside of France, but it wasn't a tremendous amount. They picked us up at the airport and took us to the car. I had already made all the arrangements ahead of time, so I only had to sign one paper, get the key and go! I got a 7 passenger van because the early part of my trip involved a lot of people and there were going to be 4 adults for the entire time of having the car. With a van, everyone had a comfortable seat. It was large by European standards, but I only had trouble with parking spots being too small a couple of times. When you lease, it includes all taxes and insurance. There were no additional charges. It was fantastic to pay in dollars, not Euros too. During the same trip my brother rented a car for one week and got totally ripped off. When I turned it in I just signed another paper and that was it!

One thing to add. We never had any trouble finding diesel, it was widely available. Biodiesel seems to be rare. We saw signs for it occasionally at a considerably lower price than regular diesel but never bought any because we weren't sure the car would run on it.

The reason I said to ask about going East. Auto theft rates are much higher in Eastern Europe. Some rental agencies charge extra, others won't let you go at all or only allow certain cars for Eastern Europe trips.