My fiance and I are planning a 7 week tour of Europe for our honeymoon. We are thinking about renting a car for the whole time but are wondering about parking the car outside the cities and taking the train in to tour around. Is this possible or recommended? Also, what about parking at hostels, is that available? Is Autoeurope the way to go?

For seven weeks, I'd definitely look at one of the tax free lease plans for some pretty major savings. You get to pick your actual model of car and the options you want and it comes with total insurance.
I like AutoFrance which is the Peugeot company. Renault has similar deals.
The French ones are of course best if you pick up and drop off in France (although other countries are possible for a fee).

You might consider starting and ending your trip in major cities without the car for starters. Pick it up when you leave the starting city, and turn it in when you arrive at your final one. I do know sometimes people park at airports at major cities to save money and then take the usual mass transit into the city.
See www.autofrance.net

You want the lease buy back program for Peuguot or Renault---much better plan for long term. Autoeurope has it for Peuguot but also look at the RenaultUSA plan to compare. Pick up points will dictate strategy---why not see some of the biggies by train before you get the car. Parking will not be easy nor cheap.

thanks for the advice. on a different subject, (this is my first time posting so I apologize if I am not doing this right) we are going the end of August, the month of September and first week of October. How necessary is it to make firm hotel reservations at this time? Will we be ok if we travel more "by the seat of our pants?" Many thanks!

May I politely suggest that you read my reply on http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34701889

Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

You may want to try to start in France and end in France to avoid the pick-up and drop-off charges.

Peugeot and Renault have comparable buy/sell prices, but the Renault prices are posted on the web:

http://www.renaultusa.com/

For two persons, I would recommend a Clio, diesel and manual to save on the total cost.

Seven weeks is a really long time (meaning, expensive) for car hire in Europe, even for the buy-back programs run by Peugeot and Renault.

Let me just throw out a crazy-ish idea; discard it if you want.

The money you'd spend on that lease would without a doubt cover down payment costs, and a couple of months insurance, and then some, on a new car at home.

Try this - go to http://www.volvocars.us/FinancialSer...CarsInProgram/ and click on the S40 (or any other model eligible for pickup at the factory. Look at the prices on the .pdf file. Read the info about how to set up European Delivery on the car. Click on the &quot;added incentives&quot; tab. What will you see? You'll see that Volvo will comp you 2 tickets to Sweden to pick up the car. It will cost around 7-9% less than the same car delivered in the US. They will ship it to you for free after you've driven it for your 6 or 7 weeks, during which time you won't be paying for rental. It will be a nicer car than you'd likely be able to afford for a rental. <i>Even if you sell it</i> as soon as it gets to the US, you'll likely have saved a bundle given the airfare and no rental, even though it may have depreciated a couple of grand in the meantine.

May sound crazy, but I think crazy like a fox.

And congratulations, by the way!

Hi D,

Interesting idea from Gardy.

&gt;..wondering about parking the car outside the cities and taking the train in to tour around.&lt;

What is your itinerary? A car might be a good idea.

Try these guys. They were cheaper than Autoeurope for us.

http://www.fastcarhire.com

Thank you for all the suggestions! We are just in the beginning planning process, but looks like we are going to start in London, then head to Paris. As we are leaving there, the thought was to pick up car to have for the rest of the time as we tour Italy, Austria, Germany and possibly the Czeck Republic.

If your credit card covers your insurance and damage waivers for a rental in Europe, it may not cover you in every country so be sure to check ahead of time. Also, many cards do not cover more than a 2 or 3 week rental. And if you return a car and rent another one after 3 weeks, they won't cover it back-to-back.

We will be traveling the end of August, September, and first 10 days of October. Any other suggestions for where to park the car so we don't have to deal with it in the cities?