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The short-term tax-free car leasing program was devised by the French government way back in the 1950's
to stimulate the French tourism and automobile industries.
Under this program you as a visitor to Europe become the first registered "owner" of a truly brand new French
automobile already fully insured with excellent, zero-deductible insurance — effective in some 40 European countries —
and supported by a full factory warranty and breakdown assistance service (including a replacement-car protocol
for the unlikely possibility your brand new car ends up in a repair shop).
You get precisely the car model you choose. The registration and insurance are in your name. In a sense you own the car.
But you must only complete a couple pages of paperwork after booking and make one small upfront, tax-free payment commensurate
with and probably cheaper than the cost of an "equivalent" car rental.
When your car lease duration ends, your ownership of the car ends. You just return the car and walk away.
That's that. There's not even an inspection of the vehicle upon return, because the included zero-deductible insurance is
there to take care of any and all damages that may have occurred — no ifs, ands or buts.
The vehicle can then be sold on the open market by the leasing company as a used car. It's used, yes, but of course it's still quite new.
Nevertheless, a used car in France can be sold at a much lower tax rate than can a new car. Thus the short-term tax-free car leasing program
puts myriad virtually new yet remarkably inexpensive cars on the open market in France. As you can imagine, there's great demand
among the French public for those cars.
Thus you win, the French carmaker wins, the French public wins.
Such lease is often referred to as being a "buy-back" agreement. The term buy-back implies
negotiations and complex paperwork requirements upfront and upon return. That's not the case; you do not have to go through
a buy-back process per se, and there are never any additional fees or charges beyond the upfront lease cost
— which cost our online order software renders completely transparent. Instead, you merely
need to complete a short contract with Citroen, which will be e-mailed to you after you submit your order.
On this website we carefully and accurately represent all the important aspects of that contract; we don't want
any surprises in it. You will
send that contract back via e-mail, along with the requisite copy of your passport. Thus you will give Citroen
the ability to register and insure the vehicle on your behalf for precisely the duration of your lease.
Note: All the vehicles in the tax-free short-term leasing program are left-hand drive vehicles (i.e. steering wheel on the left, even if delivered in England.)
Your
IdeaMerge Citroen Euro Pass brochure.
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