Rent or buy a car to drive around Europe?

What are the pros and cons of each, for Australian nationals?

Msg: #1 86 days ago, September 5th 2009

Hello all,

Can you please help me with travelling with a wife and 3 kids around Europe from London. I am coming out from Australia to London then we plan to travel with another family 2 Adults, 2 Kids arcoss Europe. Probably starting in Amsterdam, then to Belgium (monastery visits for beer) down to Paris etc. (disneyland for kids) and finally to Spain (south coast) for relaxing prior to returning to Australia via London. Travel will be July/August 2010.
My plan is to travel Amsterdam/Belgium/France by car then head back to London before flying out to Spain then back to London then out to Australia. We would like to travel through these countries with the family in a car so we have the freedom to stop etc. with the kids if need be.
My question is "Do we travel by train to the major cities and hire a car in each country we go to ? Or as my mate suggested should we buy a car in London and then sell it when we get back?
I have a mate in london who I could leave the car with to sell. Better still maybe I should register it under his name so he can have it when I get back and sell it if he likes.
The buying option seems the go but what are the costs and issues that go with it? Eg. insurance , tax etc. taking it to Europe.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

PA Leslie

Pierre-Alexandre
Post Count: 866

Msg: #2 85 days ago, September 6th 2009

Hi Sam,

If you go for 2 months, there is a system by most european manufacturers....you"buy" the car, and than "sell" it back to them. I'ts cheaper than renting, and both side are making savings. Not sure of the exact name in english of the system, I know Peugeot is big in the market in Europe.

For two months, if there are a lot of you, look at renting either service appartments or flats in each city...it will be way cheaper. Europeans are not very good at putting more than 3 people in a room.

If you do rent, make sur un pick up and return the car in the same country, way cheaper. Train for a lot of people will be more expensive. Flights, yes, but only low cost. As they are many of you, you should be able to save some money on their luggages charges.

Hope this help,

Peter

Slowfeet

Slowfeet
Post Count: 14

Msg: #3 78 days ago, September 14th 2009

G'day Sam

We recently spent 2 months travelling around some of Europe. We leased a car under one of the schemes Peter is talking about. You can only do it if you are foreign, that is, not a French national. You get a new vehicle that is fully insured. You can drive it all over Europe and there is no mileage limits or such.

You can do it with Renault, Peugeot or Citroen. There are a few firms that will organise it. We used Renault Eurodrive. There is normally a lead time of about 6 weeks from time of order to pick up.

It came out a lot cheaper than hire cars and, for 4 of us with the travel we wanted to do, much more convenient and cheaper than trains. We had to hire one for a week for 4 of us plus luggage and it cost about $A80 per day. The Renault that was plenty large enough for the 4 of us - all adults - came out at about $A44 per day over the 2 month period. If you are able to pick up in France it will be cheaper and they do have a lot of smaller cars as well.

David

PA Leslie

Pierre-Alexandre
Post Count: 866

Msg: #4 78 days ago, September 14th 2009

Hi David,

It has actually nothing to do with your passport, but with residence. You have to be a resident of a country outside of Europe to use the scheme. Thanks a lot for giving a lot more details than I did.

Peter

system

TravelBlog System User
Post Count: 923

Msg: #5 73 days ago, September 18th 2009

1 posts moved to this topic: New members, introduce yourselves.

Fevola

Sam Ody
Post Count: 8

Msg: #6 72 days ago, September 19th 2009

Thankyou for your replies,

I guess it sounds like the lease buy and sell back is the way to go with anything over 17 days.
I am thinking of maybe picking up and dropping off in Calais (ferry terminal) to avoid additional costs. Can anyone suggest a decent car that would accommodate our family of 2 Adults and 3 kids (4, 6 & 12) ?? It seems that for 17 days a Citreon of approx. size is around $2500 - $3000. Does this sound reasonable? Works out around $160 a day ??? Sounds a little high. Has anyone leased a car for a family of approx. our size?? If so, where from and how much?
Any help would be greatly appreciated cheers

Sam

perthcpl

tony
Post Count: 1

Msg: #7 67 days ago, September 24th 2009

Hi, thanks for the info regarding eurodrive (leasing for non EU residents)

- We will be taking of the Peugot leasing agreement - (min 17 days) even though the Renault (21 days min) is basically the same ( a matter of choice). If you do a search there are heaps of listings; showing car sizes and prices etc. renault-eurodrive.com

My question is - Does one try and park in the city area or does one take the metro in? (capitals etc.)
Tony

PA Leslie

Pierre-Alexandre
Post Count: 866

Msg: #8 67 days ago, September 24th 2009

Hi Tony,

Most cities in Europe these days...the rule is park and ride...and I mean, ride the public transports.

Peter

leo strang

Leo Strang
Post Count: 5

Msg: #9 28 days ago, November 2nd 2009

I was traveling over Europe for 3 months and I had similar problem when I was planning the trip. I was traveling to Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
I could not decide what to do, but then I sent out some information about my traveling plans to some worldwide car hire companies that I found on the web, asking about discounts and better deals for renting a car for a long terms in several countries. And I got a really good deal from Decode Car Hire. As I understand they are new in the global car hire business and they are fighting for their place in the car hire industry. They are a brokerage company, but the commission that I paid for their services was less than 3%.

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