aswng

My wife and I are planning to travel in Europe for 3 months. We are comparing the cost of transportation. Eurail Pass is Euro 1400/each person. Renting a car for 3 months is about Euro 2600. Is there any cheap and reliable long term car rental that is below Euro 2000 for 3 months. Would appreciate if anyone can share travel experience. Is it possible to get it for less than Euro 2000?

sandralist

I leased a car through Renault for 3 months and do not remember cost. There were only a few locations in France where it was possible to pick up the car and the choices of where to return the car were also very limited (and I think now it might be that the car must be returned to France. I was able to drop mine off in Italy). There can also be restrictions about where in Europe you may drive the car (no ferries, for instance, possibly not some countries in the east). I was not renting the car to drive all over Europe but to stay in one location where I needed a car.

What would be the cheapest way to see a lot of Europe in 3 months really depends on your itinerary. Many European countries have lots of cheap airline routes servicing a lot of Europe and some countries have inexpensive domestic transportation by train or bus. Also, for some of the most famous destinations in Europe the costs of parking a car can be extravagant. Then there are the costs of gas, tolls and highway permits. If any of your trip includes countries with left-side of the driving then it is a nuisance not to have the appropriate car.

So you might want to first draw up a list of your top 10 or 20 destinations, mark them on a map, and then do some number crunching for plane vs train vs car. If you book planes and trains in advance you can get remarkably low fares. You should read a website like Man in Seat 61 to understand when a rail pass is cost effective and when purchasing other discounted tickets will save you money.

KayF

Car leasing might work for you. I think Renault and Peugeot have lease schemes, there may be others. I've only heard of companies in France doing it. A friend did it years ago, they bought the car then sold it back again at the end of their trip and the company saves on tax I think. It was all arranged before they left Australia and it worked out cheaper for them than renting a car.

I agree with the poster above, don't forget to factor in the cost of fuel, road tolls, parking etc. These can all add up to a lot of money. The first time we drove in Europe we were shocked at how high the tolls were.

If you can work out a rough draft of where you want to go, you could check online for local trains and buses and see if that works out cheaper than the Eurail pass. On a 5 week trip in Italy we were going to buy a rail pass but in the end it worked out cheaper to get point to point tickets (just tickets from one place to the next).

Kay

adrienne

Are you sure you need a car for 3 months? If you're visiting a lot of cities the car will sit idle and you'll be paying parking.

Same with the rail pass. Do you really need one or will it be less expensive to buy point to point tickets in advance and take advantage of discount rates. Do you need a 3 month rail pass or is a shorter term better? Perhaps a 15 day within 2 month pass ($823/person) would be better. Some countries have their own passes (Germany, Switzerland) which are economical.

I can't find a Eurail pass that is E1400/person. Which pass are you considering?

Have you determined your itinerary? Perhaps short car rentals, when needed, and point to point tickets (or combined with rail pass) would be best.

janisj

Unless you are hunkering down in some remote/rural area for the 3 months it is very likely you won't want/need a car for the whole time.

Depending on your itinerary, a combo of public transport and a few one or two week rentals may be better both convenience and cost-wise.

PalenQ

Have you been to Europe before? If not you will probably gravitate to the mega tourist cities you've been dreaming about visiting all your life - Paris, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, etc - most of which are terrible - simply awful to drive into let alone drive around - parking can cost a ton.

Fuel is about $9/gal and many autoroutes have very steep tolls IME.

Cars are great for rural places like Germany's Mosel Valley or French Burgundy, Dordogne, Provence, etc but suck in big cities.

If going mainly to big cities take the train city center to city center - maybe marshall all your big cities into half of the trip - buy a cheaper railpass and then rent a car and stick to rural areas for a change of pace.

For lots of great info on trains and railpasses cechk www.seat61.com (good info on discounted tickets that are more and more available - but if taking a series of trains the pass may still be better and allow you to hop any train anytime in most countries - compared to full fares that offer complete felxibility the pass then will be a boon. Discounted tickets must be booked in stone (usually non-changeable non-refundable and sold in limited numbers) weeks or months in advance - no flexibility) - other informative sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.cm; www.ricksteves.com. For train schedules I always use www.bahn.de/en the German Railways official site with schedules for trains all over Europe.

PalenQ

Cars are also isolating - you rarely get a chance to interact with the proverbial locals - on trains you see all slices of life and may have some nice conversations - many 'locals' speak some English - especially in northern European countries.

If going to Britain keep in mind the Eurailpass don't pass there - you could shorten the length of a pass by:

staying in a city like Paris for say 5 days upon landing

ending your trip in Britain for a few weeks - look at the 2-month Eurail Flexipass as adrienne suggests - or look at some one-country pass - like in Switzerland the Swiss Pass has many more benefits than a Eruailpass - being valid on lots of mountain trains Eurails are not or only give a 25% discount on and are also good on postal buses and give 50% off most gondolas and mountain trains to mountain tops - Eurail none.

So if you stay in Switzerland a few weeks - there is another chunk of time something could be better than the Global pass.

alexng88

Thank you for all the good advices. This will help me to rethink about my travel plan with a combo of public transport and rental car. The Eurail Global Pass for 3 months (continuous) is Euro 1400/person.

adrienne

alexng88 - are you the same person as aswng? I'm confused.

I just checked the rail pass price again. The 3 month Global Pass is $1468. That is the same as E1064. Where did you come up with E1400 ($1932) for the Global Pass? You're getting cheated if you pay that much for it.

This is the site I used to check the price.

http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/global-pass

alexng88

adrienne, thanks for checking.

spaarne

<i>Long Term Car Rental in Europe
Posted by: aswng on Apr 7, 14 at 6:13am
Is there any cheap and reliable long term car rental that is below Euro 2000 for 3 months.</i>

The Renault lease program is designed for folks like you. Check it out at http://renaultusa.com/. If you are thinking about buying a new car soon you might consider European delivery. For example, Volvo's site at http://tinyurl.com/ylx5mao. Driving in Europe is a bit different. See http://tinyurl.com/pdpdk26 for an illustrated introduction.

dgassa

We have leased cars from Peugeot on two occasions each time for 7 weeks. We made our arrangements through Auto Europe a US company. You can get an idea of cost on their website. It is less expensive to pickup and return in France as doing so in other counties incurs an additional charge. With the lease you get a new car and full insurance coverage. For a long term lease it is less expensive than renting. You pay no VAT with a lease, and that's where the savings are.

http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback_home.cfm

michele_d

We did the lease buyback with Peugeot for 9 weeks in 2009. I believe our price was around $2600. I do not believe you can do the lease buyback for your length of time for $2000. As stated above, you must figure gas, tolls etc.

janisj

Plus w/ a lease buy back, what would you do with the car during times you are staying in cities.

I'd do a combo of some rentals and some trains.