I just thought I'd post my personal experience of the French car leasing scheme, which allows you to lease a brand new Peugeot, Citroen or Renault for up to six months. This is usually cheaper than hiring a car once you're beyond about 18-21 days, plus all insurances are included, along with the fact that you receive the exact car you book (none of the car hire companies "or similar"!).
So we're currently living in Canada (Australian citizens though), and we need a car for almost six months from August 2016. Peugeot, Citroen and Renault have different leasing agents in various countries, and they all quote in their local currencies. I got several quotes from US, Canadian and Australian leasing agents, including
- driveaway.com.au
- globalcars.com.au
- renaulteurodrive.com.au
- autoeurope.ca
- autoeurope.com
- renaultcanada.com
- renaultusa.com
Anyway, the US and Canadian prices were drastically lower for all car types compared with the Australian quotes, which I still don't understand - the eligibility for the leasing program is simply that you must be a non-EU resident. Anyway, most of the online booking engines ask for your residency, but what they seem most interested in is actually your citizenship. Pretty much all of the Canadian and US agents would NOT allow me to book with them, despite fulfilling their listed criteria in their T&Cs (ie they only said one must be a non-EU resident, not that one had to be a Canadian or US citizen, which is what I kept getting back in emails).
So I was resigned to booking with one of the Aussie agents (renaulteurodrive.com.au) when I tried renaultusa.com. End of story? Renault USA were happy to do the lease for me (with all residency and citizenship information provided accurately), and the cost was $5890 AUD ($4250 USD) compared with the Australian quote of $8057! A huge saving, especially given it's the exact same product.
Another side point to note is that several European countries require by law that winter tyres be fitted to the car during some winter months (mandatory in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia, and Sweden). Amazingly, almost none of the lease websites tell you this - I only found out when one of the Aussie agents mentioned it by email. I started to investigate how much it would cost to buy 4 new winter tyres and have them fitted, but then found out that when you return the car you must return it with the original tyres. So you'd have to store the original tyres or take them on your journey with you! I don't think there'd be any room for luggage carrying around 4 spare tyres... The only practical way to fulfil these rules then is to lease a car which already has snow tyres installed, or avoid countries which require these tyres.
Moral of the story - renaultusa.com was the only overseas leasing agent who would provide a lease to an Australian citizen, and at markedly lower prices than the equivalent quotes in Australia.
So we're currently living in Canada (Australian citizens though), and we need a car for almost six months from August 2016. Peugeot, Citroen and Renault have different leasing agents in various countries, and they all quote in their local currencies. I got several quotes from US, Canadian and Australian leasing agents, including
- driveaway.com.au
- globalcars.com.au
- renaulteurodrive.com.au
- autoeurope.ca
- autoeurope.com
- renaultcanada.com
- renaultusa.com
Anyway, the US and Canadian prices were drastically lower for all car types compared with the Australian quotes, which I still don't understand - the eligibility for the leasing program is simply that you must be a non-EU resident. Anyway, most of the online booking engines ask for your residency, but what they seem most interested in is actually your citizenship. Pretty much all of the Canadian and US agents would NOT allow me to book with them, despite fulfilling their listed criteria in their T&Cs (ie they only said one must be a non-EU resident, not that one had to be a Canadian or US citizen, which is what I kept getting back in emails).
So I was resigned to booking with one of the Aussie agents (renaulteurodrive.com.au) when I tried renaultusa.com. End of story? Renault USA were happy to do the lease for me (with all residency and citizenship information provided accurately), and the cost was $5890 AUD ($4250 USD) compared with the Australian quote of $8057! A huge saving, especially given it's the exact same product.
Another side point to note is that several European countries require by law that winter tyres be fitted to the car during some winter months (mandatory in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia, and Sweden). Amazingly, almost none of the lease websites tell you this - I only found out when one of the Aussie agents mentioned it by email. I started to investigate how much it would cost to buy 4 new winter tyres and have them fitted, but then found out that when you return the car you must return it with the original tyres. So you'd have to store the original tyres or take them on your journey with you! I don't think there'd be any room for luggage carrying around 4 spare tyres... The only practical way to fulfil these rules then is to lease a car which already has snow tyres installed, or avoid countries which require these tyres.
Moral of the story - renaultusa.com was the only overseas leasing agent who would provide a lease to an Australian citizen, and at markedly lower prices than the equivalent quotes in Australia.
