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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 countries  foreign 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