Rose

Will be renting a car in Italy for 3 weeks. Just received information about Renault Eurodrive. According to the brochure we would receive a brand new car to lease. The rates were reasonable which included the cost to deliver the car to the Milan airport and drop it off at the Rome airport. Any other suggestions for car rentals. How about the size....I am concerned about our luggage fitting in the trunk.

John

Hi, Rose, <BR>We've used them and had a fine experience. They offer a range of car sizes, from small to roomy. We had a Laguna, as I recall, and it was more than adequate for our luggage (of which we had too much as usual.)

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Rose, The reason the car is always new <BR>is because you are BUYING the car. That <BR>is how it works. Of course, they agree <BR>to buy it back fom you but that is how they can rent so cheaply--they are able <BR>to avoid the 22% tax on new cars by <BR>selling it to a non-EU person and then <BR>selling it on the French market as used. <BR>Still a great deal--have fun.

Rose

BoB & John...thanks for your reply about Renault Eurodrive. We are about to send in our deposit and I was a bit leary. I do feel better now. Thanks much. Rose

RDN

Avoid Renault Eurodrive like the plague. I had rented from them several times with good success. However, my last experience was disastrous. To begin, nstead of a flat rate covering everything, there were various add-on fees. They also worked with Europcar, which apparently they own. The cars used to be new. This one certainly was anything but. It had several thousand kilometres on it and also had several scrapes and a major dent which were documented. But they later tried to claim that I caused them. Most serious was the fact that after prepaying in North America, they then double charged me in Paris, which I am still fighting with them about. They have been most uncooperative. With all the other car companies out there offering comparable rates, I would very strongly suggest you look elsewhere. Despite having had success with Renault previously, I won't be going near them again and I'm making sure that other people I know who use the Eurodrive rental scheme stay well away.

adrienne

RDN - you're responding to a 12 year old thread.

mobilemc

I know this is a post from 1999 but I still need to comment on RDN's reply post in case someone gets the wrong impression about the Eurodrive program.

Europcar may be owned by Renault Eurodrive (that's news to me) but they have completely different operating themes - I've used both. Europcar rents cars on a day to day basis. Eurodrive only leases cars - I believe the minimum lease period is 17 days, but the financials probably only make sense if you're keeping it for 21+. Eurodrive only leases new Renaults - it never gets involved in used cars. We leased a brand new Renault Clio Estate this past May. The delivery was exactly as promised (Montpellier airport) and the return process (Paris) was easier and faster than I imagined. The overall process was far faster, simpler and more authentic than any rental process I've enperienced in the US or Europe.

Our car was brand new and the lease included ALL insurance - no add ons, no CDWs, no deductibles. When we returned the car in Paris they didn't even look to see if the car was scratched or damaged. I asked them about why they didn't check - they said there was no need since it was all covered anyway by the lease.

I calculated the Eurodrive lease was approximately 1/2 - 2/3 the price of an equivalent rental. No question, it's a great deal!

hkto

There is similar program from Peugeot. New car, 17 days min, etc
http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com But the price doesn't look as such a bargain; e.g. 308 gas model with manual transmission works out to over $100 per day in May

bobthenavigator

Something wrong here---the French buy-back program ONLY works if the car is new---that is how they get their margin by reselling the car without any tax.

Michael

<i>I calculated the Eurodrive lease was approximately 1/2 - 2/3 the price of an equivalent rental. No question, it's a great deal!</i>

Not if you waive the CDW because it is covered by your credit card and are willing to drive a standard shift car.

This is what I wrote about our rental last summer, and I doubt that the lease can meet the price for the 31 days we had a car:

We chose to stay in Bordeaux for two nights because that meant that our car rental would fit within the Visa CDW coverage guidelines. Otherwise we would have had to rent cars for two separate periods. We needed a small car for the first half of our stay, and a larger one for the second half because our visitors would otherwise have been uncomfortable in the back seat. I stuck to the idea of splitting the rental, thinking that it would reduce the cost if we took a small car for the first two weeks, but the Kemwel representative called me back to tell me that the rental of a compact for the entire period of time was cheaper than the total of two separate rentals, not even taking into account the saving in not paying for a second RR station pickup. The total cost for the rental was $785.31 plus $102 for the RR station pick up and the obligatory road tax. With the add-ons, our rental cost came to $28.56 per day. For that we were given a Peugeot 308 diesel which appeared to go 1200 km. on a tank of fuel (I had gone 900 km. when there was a quarter tank left), driving mainly on back roads.

qwovadis

Done it Pugeot also good best way to go for car lease more than 2 weeks I always save with them...

Michael

As far as I know, there is no such thing as a lease for less than 17 days. And if price is not given, how can one tell if you really got the best deal available?