Transport > Europe > Car travel

Driving in Europe

Sometimes the best way to really discover a place is to buy or rent a car and get off the beaten track. Although a car can sometimes be an inconvenience, especially in cities where parking can be a problem, the independence to discover the countryside often outweighs any disadvantages.

Although the cost of buying or renting a car is often quite high, especially on shorter trips, this form of transport is much more affordable when split between a group of friends over a few months.

Most travellers base themselves in London for at least a few months before hitting the continent, and often buy a car there. In London it is easy to buy, register and insure a car, mainly because of less bureaucracy and the ease of getting all the paperwork sorted out in a place where everyone speaks English. Because of the number of travellers looking to buy a car, the UK is also the easiest place to sell your car when you have finished with it. There are a number of publications such as Auto Trader, Exchange and Mart and Loot plus online services like Carcraft and Motorpoint advertise second hand vehicles. In London there is even an informal traveller's van and car market on Market Street, near Caledonian Road tube station.

Although the UK is by far the most popular place to buy a secondhand car, vehicles made for British conditions are not always the most convenient for exploring the continent. Because England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Cyprus and Malta are the only European countries where people drive on the left, you will be stuck with a right-hand-drive vehicle which is less than ideal once you have to drive on the right side of the road. If you plan on spending more than 70% of your time in continental Europe, you might find find it easier to buy your car in Europe. If you have friends on the continent, things will be much easier (and cheaper to insure) if you get the car in registered in their name. Some countries, such as the Netherlands, no longer allow non-residents to buy and register cars although other countries like Andorra make it very easy (although Andorran law doesn't allow you to register anything older than three years). If you are looking to buy a car on the continent, try the classified papers such as J'Annonce (France).

A compromise between buying and renting a car is the EuroDrive programme operated by Renault. This allows you to obtain a car on a short-term lease of 17 days to 6 months, split between a group of friends this can work out surprisingly affordable and because you get a new car, fully insured with roadside assistance there's no worries if something goes wrong.

For a shorter term, renting may be the better option. Some travellers may prefer to see Europe by bus or train and then choose to explore a particular region in depth with a rented car. There is a big choice of rental companies, from the big companies such as Avis, Hertz, Sixt/Budget, EuropCar, Alamo and EuroDollar along with smaller companies which may give you a better deal if you are keep the car confined to a particular geographic region.

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