We are retired people who love to travel. Our student days when we hitch-hiked through Europe with Frommers "Europe on $5 a Day" have long since gone. But we have discovered that there are other innovative ways of seeing the world on a limited budget which can be as interesting and rewarding. In this blog we want to share our experience and invite others to share their ideas for affordable travel.
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Friday, February 12, 2010
Affordable Travel by Car
If you plan to travel in Europe for more than 17 days, there is a wonderful way to solve the transportation challenge: buy a car and then sell it back to the company. That's right! Both Peugeot and Renault have a program that allows the tourist to select a new vehicle from their fleet and then sell it back to the company when leaving. On one occasion, we picked up our car at Schiphol in Amsterdam, toured Europe for 6 weeks and returned the car in Amsterdam upon our departure. Recently we picked up our car in Biarritz, France, stayed for a month and returned the car at Biarritz. The cost for a small car, a Renault Megane, came to about $60 a day and that included insurance. Not only is this competitive with rental rates, it also allows someone who is older than 70 to obtain a vehicle because most rental companies have an age ceiling of 65. In Biarritz we were met at the airport upon arrival and returned to the airport upon departure. Everything was arranged in advance from within Canada before our leaving. Renault has an office in Montreal (Renault Eurodrive) and I believe Peugeot also has an office in Canada. We have nothing but good things to say about this excellent program.
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That sounds an interesting option.
ReplyDeleteMost home exchanges include an exchange of cars, but this option is useful when this is not the case.
ReplyDeleteI should also point out that payment is made in advance and is only for the period during which you will be using the vehicle.