RENTING A CAR IN EUROPE
Getting the Most out of your European Road Trip
Country, company, car class, coverage. Okay, I couldn’t come up with a C for fuel type. So, you’re going to Europe and it seems a good idea to rent a car to wander around the back roads to those small out-of-the-way villages, cruise the small country lanes through the forests and hops farms, finding those little agriturismos and B&B’s among the vineyards. Renting a car is a fairly common activity for most travelers, but driving in Europe seems a bit of a mystery to the new visitor to the continent. A few things to consider.
Save up to 20% in Europe at Hertz when you book in advance!
How are the roads? Yes, the days of horse carts on dirt lanes are long gone. Most European countries have modern, stringently maintained roads. The motorways are smooth and fast. Some mountain roads can be quite winding and often popular with motorcycles whizzing about, and a dislike for guardrails. In England and the British Isles, the drive is on the opposite side from continental Europe and English country roads are notoriously quite narrow, and don't forget those Irish farm lanes (see Driving Ireland).
What country or countries are you going to? If you plan to visit multiple countries, be aware that renting a car in one country and returning it in another will usually incur a very expensive fee on top of the rental. There are circumstances where this might be cost effective, but if you’re concerned about cost, add this to any planning. As an alternative you could think about planning a route where you end up back in the original country where you started, or rent a car for exploring one country, take the train to the next and renting one for that part of the trip. This can also be a calculation whether you want to have to pay for the cost of a rental your entire trip or only a few days here and there. Having to pay for a rental and perhaps garage parking as well while you’re spending five days in a big city with good public transportation can be a significant waste of vacation budget. Europe is ideal for combining train travel on fast modern railways with local area excursions by auto (see Fly, Drive or Rail).
Crossing borders. There are essentially no borders in the European Union as we used to think of them, so driving from one country to the next will not make much of a change except for the signs and language. Each country does have some distinctive differences in terms of traffic and legal responsibility laws. France has recently passed a law require reflective safety vest be in the car for driver and passenger. France also requires a deductible even if you buy full Collision Insurance (more on Insurance in Part 2). Americans can drive in most European countries with only a valid U.S. license (and a passport). There is such a thing as an International Driving Permit which translates your license information. It is not necessary to have but can be a form of identification. They can be obtained through the AAA for about $15.
Which rental company? Most of the large rental companies operate in Europe as well as European only and country specific companies. Prices for automobile rentals are competitive, and can vary quite a bit in location, type and extras. One thing to look for is location. If you’re renting a car from a major airport, you have a whole range of selections. If you’re looking to rent in a small town or from a central downtown location, the choices get smaller. Picking up a car from an airport location will almost always be more expensive than from a rail station or city center location. The airport is the most common and convenient for fliers, and rental companies add surcharge to the rental price. If you’re going to be spending significant time in a rental car, or plane to combine it with rail travel look for a car location at a rail station or downtown and get a shuttle from the airport. Returning a rented car to an airport does not add extra cost, so it is only the pick-up that matters. Though, airports will often have longer hours and some downtown locations will be closed on some days. Hertz, Avis and Europcar will usually have the most locations. Which company you use may depend on whether you’re reserving ahead or renting while in-country. I’ve had good luck renting with Europcar, walking up to the desk, and you get a lower price if you’ve rented with them previously. Many of the larger companies offer weekly or weekend deals that can save significantly over a daily rate, if you can coordinate your travel plans to fit in the deal time from you can save quite a bit.
For searching
locations and comparing prices and companies I like Travelocity for
it's rental interface, very useful for comparing deals and locations.
You
can
enter
one location for pick-up and another
for return and compare by company, airport pick-up vs. city locations.
One
thing I like about them is you don’t
pay them, but the rental car company directly when you pick up the car
where you've made a reservation. There are consolidators like AutoEurope who
you pay in advance and receive a voucher. They can find some
cheaper deals, but not always and its difficult to change your plans
with a voucher.
The big travel engines like Expedia can
offer deals as well, including last minute discount offers. Priceline lets
you bid a price or compare rental company deals as well. In the
end all the large companies offer deals though the power of scale. Compare
them, but the savings on a car rental will more likely be based on when
and where you're
renting
the car.
Free
Day with Avis! Rent for 5 Days and Pay for 4
Big company or small? The familiar Hertz and Avis both are quite easy to deal with as large international companies. You can find cheaper local rental companies in Europe, but should you have a problem with the rental, either during or after, dealing with a small company may be more complicated.
Avis is my hero. At least for the moment. On a trip to Europe renting from Avis and using my credit card insurance rather than taking the rental company LDW/CDW insurance, I had a pebble thrown from a truck on the highway crack the windshield. After dealing for some time with Visa and sending documents and paperwork around, I received a letter from Avis in Germany saying they would forgive the damage and actually apologized for my having trouble with the rental. (This did involve my having a problem with the first car I picked up and having to turn it in for another).
For a longer term rental you
can also consider a lease purchase-buy back option. Renault and
Peugeot offer programs where you can buy a new car, drive it
around and then they will buy it back from you. This is fairly popular
and works pretty well, but requires you get the car in France and is
possible only for a minimum period of about
3 weeks and cost effective starting at about 4 weeks. Europe
By Car offers this service... More
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Travel Europe
These articles are copyrighted
and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLEV, LLC. and may
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See Also:
BUDGETING FOR EUROPE 2 - TRAVEL BUDGET OPTIONS
WANT TO SAVE ON HOTELS? TAKE THE NIGHT TRAIN
EUROSTAR CHANNEL TRAIN LONDON TO BRUSSELS
