Car Leasing
 

We are to be in France and Italy next summer. Planning on about 11 days in each (4 in the big city, rest in the country).

While in the country, we will need a car that can handle 3 adults and 2 children.

At first, I was hoping to rent in France, return in Italy, but there seems to be a large cost for doing such ($200-300). And, I figured I would rent from Avis/Hertz, etc.

But, then I read a little about car leasing. Requires 17 day rental, but includes insurance and taxes. So, it sounds like it might be better than a normal rental (they too charge extra for dropoff in another country).

Can anyone tell me stories about car leasing (not rental), whether good or bad? Both Peugeot and Renault offer the services. See these URL's:

http://www.renaultusa.com/TravelPartners.asp

http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback_home.cfm?aff=writing

We have used www.auto-france.com, which is the Peugeot company. We've leased for as little as 3 weeks and as much as 3 months at a time, all without incident. I highly recommend it. You get a brand new car of your choice. Their website gives good details on sizes, costs, mileage, etc. And you can call them for very friendly extra advice.

Although we once dropped off at Rome airport for a pretty hefty charge, an alternative is dropping off in Nice or Geneva for no fee. As I recall the dropoff fee in Milan is also less than other places in Italy.

Some people used to provide the "negative" that you had to take the car in for service. We used to have to do that, but it was a breeze -- I think taking us about a half hour total in Bordeaux once, but in any case, that is no longer a requirement until something like 10,000 kilometers, a figure I'd doubt you'd even reach.
Although there is a bit of paperwork involved, it is easy and safe as can be, and you do receive TOTAL insurance included.

We've used the Renault program (p/u at AMS, d/o in Barcelona) and agree - no problems, great value, would/will do it again.

One note - and this might be out of date - was that our car came with very distinctive red French number plates that mark the car as leased or intended for export. While we never had security problems, it's safe to say that the car attracted more attention than others. If you go the leased route, and if the car's plates are unusual, redouble your efforts at protecting your luggage or the car's contents when parking it or overnight.

The prices have gone up considerably since last year, so if rental prices have not risen as much, it might be better to stick with a rental. The plates are still the red tax-free plates. Check out the Renault site (www.renaultusa.com, I believe) for pricing. Peugeot will have similar prices, although the Peugeot 206 with AC was considerably higher than the similarly equiped Renault Clio.

Oh yes! We had leased through Renault for a 3 week plus period last summer and unfortunately, had a ghastly time. I will try to be brief.
We picked up our car at a farmhouse/agency office in Munich on a Saturday morning. The agent started up the car once; on the premises, we started up the car once. The agent advised us to go immediately to a local gas station, because the car had almost no gas.
We then got into the car, started it, drove 700 meters to the station, filled the car, and then couldn't restart it.
The agent came, couldn't start the car, got jump cables but did no better. He phoned his boss who told my husband that since the car had started on their lot, we must have broken it. He also explained that we owned the car via the lease arrangement and therefore would not be given a different car. A call to the Paris rep eventually led to a tow truck arriving, now some 3 hours later.
The driver towed the car and us to a local Renault dealership, where the car would not receive attention until Monday. We were given a loaner car.
Renault reserves the right to repair its vehicles for up to a 10 day period, with the new "owner" responsible for retrieving the car up to that 10th day. After 10 days, Renault will replace the car.
Our plans had to be altered, given all this. It turned out we were given a car that had received no attention during its weeks long stay on the farmhouse lot and therefore had a dead battery.
AutoEurope told me they would have given us a different car, under the same circumstances.
STAY AWAY FROM RENAULT LEASING!!!
Carol L

I did the Peugeot program in 1999 for 8 weeks and loved it--saved $1000.
You can drop it in Rome or Milan in Italy, but a charge does apply.

I can't speak for the Renault program that caroll used, but with AutoFrance, if you have any kind of disabled vehicle, they replace the car. The fact that the one you have is registered in your name (which it is) has nothing to do with their giving you a "loaner" or "replacement".

We used the Renault leasing this Sept/Oct. and were very pleased with the service and product. We picked up our Renault Kangoo at CDG and returned it there; however, you can drop it off at other France locations with no surcharge or internationally with surcharge.

We had RENTED the year before for the same amount of time and it cost us about $400.00 more. Had we had the keyed car that year it would have cost us the deductible as well.

We chose the Kangoo for its larger covered trunk capacity, but were thrilled to discover great height and window surface area for marvelous visability (we like to film while en route) and the red plates ended up being a help in locating the car in a crowded parking lot. It will handle your number of people, I believe, and the sliding side door makes it easy to get in/out.

While we didn't have trouble with theft, our car did get "keyed". All we had to do was write a letter explaining when/where it took place and turn it in at the end of the trip with the car's papers. No hassles. No extra charges.

We wouldn't hesitate to use Renault again. (sorry someone else got a Lemon. It happened to us years a go with an Avis car. They fixed it, but it was inconvenient. It can happen to any company I guess). We were pleased to have A/C and though not mentioned, it came with a CD player.

Good luck w/the decision making process!

Hi klondike. Can you (or anyone else reading this) tell me what "keyed" means?

Thanks in advance.

Anselm

Having a car keyed is when someone takes a key (or any other sharp instrument) and runs it down the length of your car making a long, long scratch. It's one of the worst forms of "mischief".
I know. It happened to my brand new car in the Contemporary Hotel parking lot at Disneyworld.

Ouch.

Thanks, Patrick.

Anselm

Patrick,

I try to connect to www.auto-france.com but I get a pop-up requesting a user Name and Password?

To you have other site address for this leasing company?

Thank you

jet29

I just got it, it is:

www.autofrance.net

jet29

Ah, good. I guess the site I gave you is for members but is what I have bookmarked.

I've had no problems with either Renault or Peugeot, although in both cases repairs cost us a day of travel. Since the Renault and Peugeot pick up point in Munich is the same, with the same agent (we did it last summer), I doubt that problems would necessarily have been resolved faster with a Peugeot lease. But I can't understand why a dead battery took so long to discover and repair.

Hi Casey,

We did a Renault lease for about 27 days, pick up in Avignon and drop in Rome at the airport. Even with a $175 (then) drop charge, it was cheaper than rental. We loved it. Price (Sept, 2004) was good, insurance complete, new car, no hassles, good road side assitance. At turn in, they barely looked at the car. Get a covered cargo area. Look twice at the added charges like insurance if you check out Avis or Hertz. Great fun!

Michael asks a reasonable question; i.e., how come it took so long (3 hours plus) to discover a dead battery.
In fact, that discovery didn't occur until the following Monday. The Renault agent couldn't jump start the car, the tow truck driver also couldn't start the car either with his cables or pushing the car and couldn't diagnose the problem, and the dealership maintenance department was closed until Monday morning.
It isn't that I don't expect mechanical problems periodically but rather the Renault corporate attitude about our being stuck (remember the 10 day clause) and not able to proceed with our planned journey into Italy. What would Renault have done for us had their car not started up the once or twice on their lot?
Carol L

Carroll--Not to be picky, but it still does not sound right. If the car started once, I have difficulty believing that it was a dead battery. Are you sure that you did not have a diesel in which you put gasoline, or vice versa? I know someone who did that with a rental, forgetting that it was a diesel. At any rate, I doubt that you could have gotten more than a loaner from Peugeot since the car is officially purchased and a complete replacement would have required quite a bit of paper work. If it makes you feel better, we lost an entire day because the dealer would pick us up only at the end of the day and the dealership was miles out of Honfleur; the check of the problem probably took only an hour or so.

Michael:
I appreciate your curiosity on this dead battery business. I am no mechanic, but the one who was, the tow truck driver, Andras, could not understand the problem. The Renault we received was a car that started with the insertion of a card, similar to a credit card. In fact, the car would start without the card, after a new battery was put in. Whether that played a role, I dunno.

The dealership was where we first understood about the car's problem...they diagnosed the problem and then replaced the battery.
We lost two days...and Renault could not have cared less.
Carol L