Tips On Buying A Car To Tour Europe

Craig, You might want to consider short term lease programs. Several operations handle this - AutoFrance, AutoEurope. Once again my attempts to create links have failed (isn't technology fun) and I am too tired to figure it out so here are the URLs: http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback.cfm
http://www.autofrance.net/?gclid=COyQ3_GwtrECFUgDQAod1mUA5g

Go over to Fodors. This seems to be a popular thing to do with the folks over on that travel forum.

We leased a car though Auto Europe. It was an easy process. All paperwork is taken care of prior to arriving in Europe. We were picked up at the airport and transported to where the vehicle was. One more paper so sign, keys in hand and we were off. We returned it according to prearranged directions, signed another paper to 'sell' the car back to them and we were done. The cost included everything, including insurance. To actually purchase a car seems pretty complicated. If you landed somewhere and found a place to buy a car you would then have to deal with insuring it. Who knows how long it would take you to sell it. Can a visitor even legally purchase a car? There are European delivery programs for some European built cars. You prepurchase here, pick it up and drive it there (they pay for insurance for some time period), then they ship the car back to the U.S. for you. Some companies will even fly you there for free. If you are in the market for a car, that might work for you.

I have friends who have purchased cars through the European delivery plans. If you look at the BMW, Volvo, etc. websites, each of them will have a section on how to do this. It can be a great deal-the car is cheaper than in the US, and some include R/T airline tickets with your purchase! All insurance, registration, shipping is included. Of course, this is only useful if you want to keep the car.

I agree with Mike. What you want is a lease-buyback car. You can do it with Autoeurope, or you can deal directly with the car companies. The two most established programs are Renault and Peugeot. You can find the details at the links below: http://www.renaultusa.com/ http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/ If you don't plan to keep the car, there's no reason to subject yourself to the hassles of buying & selling (registration, insurance, taxes, transport, etc). Lease-buyback cars come with full insurance coverage and 24/7 roadside assistance, and the car you get will be brand new. These lease programs are only offered by French auto companies (because of quirks in the French tax laws), but you can pick up & drop off the car in other countries.

Note that if you lease and pick up and/or drop off in a country other than France you will pay extra. The options for pick up and drop off in other countries is also limited.