Questions about rental cars in Europe

[US 41]

   In 5 or so years I am wanting to drive across Europe (from Lisbon, Portugal to Warsaw, Poland). A one way rental according to Kayak and other websites would be $700 per day. Is that really accurate? If it is, could I drive to Warsaw and then back to Lisbon and get it for $22 per day? (There's no way in hell I'm paying $700 a day for a rental car.) Would I have to buy multiple insurance coverages from the rental company, pay extra fees for taking it out of the country, or is insurance in Portugal good in the rest of the Schengen Zone?

[GCrites]

Learn to drive stick if you don't already know. There is a significant premium for automatic rentals overseas and they are often in short supply.

[mtantillo]

Presumably you will be there for quite some time (couple weeks) to make such a lengthy drive. Look into short-term leases rather than rentals. The prices may seem more but they are all inclusive (including insurance).

Basically, it works something like this... France has a very high tax on new cars. So there is a huge market for "slightly used" cars where the tax is less. But how does the car get "used" without the first owner paying the tax? Simple, if the owner is someone not subject to EU taxes, such as a US Citizen. So in effect, your lease is actually you buying the car, using it, and then selling it back at the end so the company can sell to a French buyer at the lower tax rate.

Renault Eurodrive is one such company. They will quote you a lease rate for France pick-up/drop off...other countries have a drop charge because they have to get the car to you and then back to France after. But the drop charges were much more reasonable then a rental car. Insurance is included. You can drive it wherever you want (it is temporarily your car after all), though insurance is only valid in the EU, EEA, Switzerland, the microstates, turkey, and some of the western Balkans. They have pick up/drop off in quite a few places in Europe. The prices are based on 3 weeks of driving, but you can do it for longer (will cost you more) or return the car in as few as 17 days (but still pay for 21).

If you rent a car, you will have to pay insane rates to do a one way rental from one country to another, if you can do it at all. Most countries will make you return it in the same country you rent from. Also, many rentals in Western Europe cannot be taken into Eastern Europe. Your typical airport rental from Paris can go to Germany, but not past there into Poland. Insurance is pretty expensive. Your US policy won't be worth squat. So you either need to pay for the rental company's or rely on your credit card company (a big obnoxious hassle, and read the fine print very carefully). At any rate, credit card coverage is not valid on higher end luxury cars, and is almost never valid in Italy or Ireland. So if you rent from one of those countries you have to buy the rental company's insurance, and if you rent in another country and use your credit card to cover it, you won't be covered in Italy or Ireland, with limited exceptions.

I was in Italy in May, and we rented a car for a week. We needed an automatic, and we had all of the insurances from the rental company....the grand total was something in the range of 1,300 Euros, or over $1,700. Not quite $700 a day, but darn expensive for only a week. With Renault Eurodrive, you could get a short term lease for that price for 3+ weeks. 

Another way to get a car to use in Europe...if you are in the market for a European car in the USA (not Volkswagen tho), buy it at a US dealership and take delivery of it in Europe. Basically, you go to Europe, pick it up from the factory, they give you a tour of the factory and treat you to lunch and a couple night hotel stay, then you drive off in your car to explore Europe for up to 3 months, then you drop the car off, it is shipped to the US, and you take delivery of it again at your dealership. It is actually cheaper than buying it for normal US delivery (the dealer doesn't get all their commissions), but the perk of a free car in Europe for a few weeks is enough to make me want to try it. Some car companies (Volvo) even throw in free plane tickets from the US to Gothenburg. The catch is that you have to pick it up at the factory, but many companies will let you drop it in various locations in Europe for free shipping to the US. One catch is that if it is financed, you are making a car payment on a car you can't use for a couple months between your Europe trip and when it comes off the boat in the US (it is being shipped, but it is still your car to make payments on). But still, those 2 extra car payments are nothing compared to free use of your own car in Europe for a few weeks, plus some hotel nights, maybe even free airfare. If I were in the market for a European car id totally do it!

[US 41]

Since I would only be traveling to Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Poland which are all EU nations, I'm assuming my insurance through the rental company would be good in all those countries. It would be fairly reasonable just to rent a car in Lisbon, drive to Warsaw, and then return back to Lisbon.