Lease versus rent a car for 4 weeks in France

[Janie]

The Husband and I are planning for 2019, a big splurge of 4 weeks in Provence. He is looking into leasing a car and then selling back to the manufacturer as an alternative to just renting from a EuropeCar or some such. Does anyone have experience in the leasing option? Any gotchas?

 

[phirhon]

We have both leased and hired cars . Years ago leasing was often the cheaper option for longer trips. However, for a four week trip I would expect hiring to be a lot cheaper. We have been leasing since 2010, but our trips are longer than yours. 2012, 2014 and our trip later this year are all ten weeks.
I think for that length prices were similar. You will always get the car you request while with hiring it will be something similar . It will come registered in your name and will be fully insured. When we hired we always had travel insurance which covered the excess and fortunately never had to use it. With leasing that is not an issue. Last trip we were bumped in a car park and ended up with a dent over the back drivers'wheel. There was no problem when we returned it . It will come with some fuel - perhaps 150 kms worth - and you do not need to return it full.
There will not be as much choice on where you pick it up and drop it off but that has never bothered us. We did pick up at Avignon TGV stop in 2014 but that option is no longer available. In 2016 we flew in and out of Lyon and collected it at the airport and will do the same in September. We are leasing a Peugeot which we booked through Autoeurope.
We lease a 208 diesel manual ( in 2016 they upgraded us to a 308 )with a GPS. We find them very economical to drive. I have read that when hiring it is not always guaranteed you will get an automatic if that is an issue. We have always found the booking process easy and quick. Our experience is that you pay straight away while sometimes when we hired we paid at the end. We have booked and paid for our lease already.
Leasing suits us but does not suit everyone. You can do your own research and decide what suits your needs. As I said, I would expect hiring for that length to be cheaper.
Bon voyage.

 

[phirhon]

We are Australian so our experience may be different from yours if you are from the US.

 

[Janie]

We're Canadian and also totally fine with driving manual shift. Thank you for the vote of confidence on leasing, that the leasing alternative works. So now it's down to doing the math of one versus the other.

 

[Fletch]

Another Australian. We have leased a Renault twice and were very happy with the experience. Once we picked it up from Avignon ( as phirhon said no longer available) and returned it in Rome for a hefty fee. The second time we picked it up in Barcelona ( another hefty fee) and dropped it in Lyon. All quick and easy, in fact the drop off was so easy we wondered if we had handed the car over to the wrong person!
They have red number plates and some people worry that they are targets for thieves. We had no problems and parked in some public car parks overnight. Always glad to see it still in one piece the next day!
We are renting this year because we only need the car for a week, but would definitely lease one again happily.

 

[phirhon]

I forgot to mention the red number plate. Some see this as a advertisement that you are tourists. But we have never had a problem. In fact we have been asked several times by French people about it, so obviously a lot of people do not know about it.
My husband , who does all the driving , likes to know what car he will have when it is for ten weeks. We leased from Renault in 2010 and 2012 and were happy with them , especially as we drive Renault at home. But they became quite expensive and Peugeot is cheaper . We have been happy with them too, obviously.

 

[Janie]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to provide spot-on advice!