Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site harvard.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!macrakis From: macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) Newsgroups: net.travel Subject: Car Rental in Europe Message-ID: <230@harvard.ARPA> Date: Mon, 1-Jul-85 19:14:38 EDT Article-I.D.: harvard.230 Posted: Mon Jul 1 19:14:38 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jul-85 03:49:21 EDT References: <62800001@hpfclr.UUCP> Organization: Aiken Comp. Lab., Harvard Lines: 113 > ...a few questions concerning transportation...: renting a car ... Some information about (1) rental; (2) driving; (3) purchase. Rental Renting a car in Europe is certainly very practical, but straight rental be quite expensive. Prices vary considerably by country: I know that Greece (GR) is especially high (although everything else is quite low). In France (F), there is a far more attractive alternative: you buy a (brand-new) car with a guarantee that it will be repurchased at a given price. This is a program supported by most of the major car companies, including Renault and Citroen, and in fact functions just like rental. Minimum period is 3 weeks, maximum 6 months. Rates are low; all formalities (registration, insurance) are taken care of. You get a brand-new car in warrantee (choice of model and color!) at the manufacturer's offices in Paris (a couple of hours wait) and must return it there. I have done this with a Citroen 2CV and a Renault 5, and had excellent results in both cases. The bureaucracy worked well (you need a bank reference, I think). The 2CV was fun and practical (great on bad roads); the R5 (Le Car in US) was somewhat less fun but more practical: it got something like 45mpg (in actual driving) and was a pleasure to drive both on highways and back roads--the 2CV had a smaller engine but only got something like 35mpg. As a previous message mentioned, gas is expensive in Europe (2-3x here), so mileage can matter. Anyway, for more information, call or write Europe by Car or Auto-Europe both in NYC. They are agents who handle all the arrangements. Plan some time in advance, especially for high season. It may be possible to do this through dealers, too, although I don't know (and of course you won't get the whole list of cars). Driving Italian (I), German (D), Belgian (B), and French (F) highways are excellent. Tolls are fairly high in F and I; no tolls in D or B. Of course, you should only use the highways for long legs.... Secondary roads are often very pleasant and scenic, but beware of old (non-toll) highways with heavy truck traffic. GR roads are generally very good, except for the main highway from Athens to Salonika, which is narrow and crowded; many secondary roads wind. The best route from Western Europe to Greece is the Brindisi ferry, unless you want to visit Yugoslavia (not a bad idea, but don't expect to zip along). Yugoslav (YU) roads are generally fairly poor, except for the coastal highway, which is spectacular and well- maintained (and full of German campers); the main interior highway (Ljubljana-Beograd-Skoplje) is narrower, more crowded, and more unpleasant than the GR one. Avoid it. Eastern European roads are generally mediocre, except the East German autobahns. Turkish roads are generally terrible, especially in the East, but roads on the Ionian and southern coasts are pretty good. For guidebooks for car travel, see my posting of a few months ago for Italy. For France, probably Michelin Red and Green(s), although I haven't tried the new Hachette. Also Michelin maps. For Greece, Michelin map with Companion Guides or Michelin. Use Blue Guide for supplementary information. For Eastern Europe, I don't know of any good guides. As for gas, most European countries used to have tourist gas coupons, but I don't think these programs exist any more in Western Europe, except perhaps for I, which may have a program available through their auto club (TCI) for foreign-registry cars; unfortunately, you have to buy an (unredeemable) fixed amount in advance and you only save 10% or so. Do ask the tourist offices. As for Eastern Europe, several countriesforeign registry cars to buy gas with coupons which are more expensive than cash at the official rate! (otherwise you could really get a deal with black-market cash) In much of Eastern Europe and Turkey, gas stations are spaced rather widely, so keep the tank filled. Purchase Another feasible alternative if you plan to stay a long time is purchase of a car. You can buy a used car or buy a new one to bring back to the US. I believe the latter has already been discussed on the net. In brief, Mercedes et al. are currently taking advantage of the strong dollar to charge very high prices but which are still cheaper than US, while there are companies that will take European-spec cars and convert them to US spec. As for buying used cars, it is possible. The main problem is registration. Naturally you also have to buy insurance, pay taxes, etc. on your own. It is said that the best place to buy a used car is in Holland, which has the most relaxed registration etc. laws. It can be done in F (you must establish a legal residence, but this can be fudged). In I, registration laws are said to be more stringent (a legacy of the days of terrorism designed to make cars used in terrorism easier to trace). The additional problem in FR is that to sell the car, you need a `certificat de non-gage' which indicates the absence of any liens on the car. This makes it hard to sell the car without returning to the original city (hall of records) where you purchased it. Anyway, used car lots are not great places to buy cars in FR; private garages are good if you have a lot of time to look; but the best is probably the Officiel des Occasions, a weekly tabloid composed of classifieds. Do get it the morning it comes out, and start calling immediately. Like anywhere else, you have to budget a certain amount of time and allow for some uncertainty with this procedure. And when you go home, you either have to sell the car, garage it, or junk it (the last may actually be a rational alternative). -s