international driving license
international driver's license

car leases







 
international drivers permit
  resources
new 2010 Renault Scenic
Pictured is the new Renault Scenic.

portable GPS navigation solutions

Which if any portable GPS navigation offer on the market is best for you?

See IdeaMerge's analysis of portable GPS navigation solutions.

renault–nissan alliance

Have you heard about the alliance between Renault and Nissan?

"declaration and power" (power of attorney) form

faxable version of the "declaration and power" form, including instructions

contract

an example of a contract form as it is sent to a client for completion

international driving permit

First, let us reiterate that the minimum age limit for the French auto lease program is only 18 years, and there is no maximum age limit. The only other requirement in this regard is that you've held your valid drivers license for at least a year. In France your domestic drivers license suffices for operation of the vehicle.

Indeed many European countries require of you, the foreign driver, no license apart from your domestic drivers license. However, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, and Vatican City do, by law at least, require non-Europeans to carry an International Driving Permit (IDP) along with their domestic license. (See the country listings posted on the New Zealand Automobile Association's Website.) Basically an IDP is a means by which police in a foreign country can know — in terms of translations in nearly a dozen different languages — that your domestic driver's license is indeed recognized as being valid by the proper authorities in your country. See the excellent article at Drivers.com. Is it really necessary that you obtain an IDP if you plan to drive in the aforementioned countries? In practice of course it depends on the particular police officer who might happen to pull you over. Renault doesn't care whether or not you have an IDP; it's up to you whether you cover yourself in this regard.

The local office of your auto club (AAA, CAA, etc.) sells IDPs for about US$10. If you need an IDP, take your license, two passport-sized photos and the requisite cash to the club office. (Though for about US$6 the club may snap Polaroid photos for you.) Ten minutes later you'll be able to legally drive on any European road—assuming you're at least 18 years of age. If you plan to operate a motorcycle in Europe, be sure to have the auto club certify your qualification to do so. The USA's AAA now has a Webpage whereby drivers licensed in the USA can obtain an IDP: AAA's application for IDP. Web searches will bring up a host of Websites selling documents that conform to the model delineated in annex 10 of the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (1949); but according to Article 24 of that convention, a truly valid IDP is one which is "issued .. by the competent authority of another Contracting State or subdivision thereof, or by an association duly empowered by such authority ...." The US State Department says it has empowered only the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA) to issue IDPs. The AATA offers IDPs through the National Automobile Club.

maps

Maps are not provided with your leased vehicle. We recommend that you invest in a top quality map or maps, or a very good atlas. You can buy your map(s) domestically, from the likes of Amazon.com, or once abroad from a bookstore (present in most airports) or service station. Everyone wants a free map, but in addition to death and taxes at least one further fact will always be generally true: free maps are not good maps. And no matter what map you get, remember the words of Thomas Ottavi: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are maps."

michelintravel.com
maps.com
delorme.com
garmin.com
tomtom.com
magellangps.com
thegpsstore.com

travel insurance

The lease plan includes insurance which covers injury to occupants of and theft of your leased vehicle, but it doesn't include insurance to cover theft of your belongings. IdeaMerge recommends you consider purchasing travel insurance to cover, among other things, such an eventuality. You can start your research in this regard by visiting IdeaMerge's choice travel insurance providers:
travel guard insurance
legend travelers

books

frommer's britain's best-loved driving tours
driving in britain: a north american's guide
frommer's germany's best-loved driving tours
frommer's france's best-loved driving tours
france on backroads: the motorist's guide to the french countryside
on the road around brittany, normandy & the loire valley
on the road around southern france
frommer's ireland's best-loved driving tours
frommer's italy's best-loved driving tours
frommer's northern italy's best-loved driving tours
frommer'scotland's best-loved driving tours
frommer's spain's best-loved driving tours
frommer's tuscany & umbria's best-loved driving tours
Especially for persons who do not reside in Europe, Britain or Ireland:
mike & terri church's rv and car camping vacations in europe
mike & terri church's traveler's guide to european camping (the book above is provided in the McRent vehicles)
camping europe 3rd ed.: incl. scandinavia & eastern europe
europe by van & motorhome

Especially for persons who do reside in Europe, Britain or Ireland:
aa caravan & camping europe 2007
aa caravan & camping britain & ireland 2007
aa caravan & camping france 2007

cell phones

Many cell phones (i.e., mobile phones, handies) now work overseas. Check with your service provider in this regard; it might be a good occasion for you to upgrade to a phone (and plan) that works overseas. Otherwise, consider the following rental vendors; but understand that the latter two will charge you about US$80 for the shipping (to and from you), about US$1 per minute for calls between persons within Europe, US$2 per minute for calls coming from or going to a person outside Europe, and perhaps a daily rental rate as well:

mobal world phone
cellular abroad
cell hire
roberts rent-a-phone

route planners

royal automobile club's route planner
automobile association's route planner
mappy.com
maporama.com
royal automobile club's route planner
map 24
via michelin
mapquest
google maps
drive alive

fuel prices

Over half the new cars sold in Europe are now diesel; and high-quality diesel fuel is of course available wherever gasoline is sold, the pumps being on the same service islands as the gasoline pumps. Some stations even provide disposable gloves which customers may don to pump fuel. Make sure you do not mistakenly pull up to a truck diesel pump. The size of the nozzles for the truck pumps versus the car/motorhome pumps is different. A truck fuel nozzle is too big to fit into a car's or motorhome's diesel fuel pipe, and the flow rate is much greater. LPG (i.e. propane) pumps always occupy their own island.

BEWARE: A diesel fuel pump nozzle (for cars and motorhomes) is considerably wider than either a leaded gasoline pump nozzle or the even smaller unleaded gasoline pump nozzle and indeed will not fit into either such tank. Consequently a gasoline nozzle will fit into a diesel tank. Therefore, be careful not to put gasoline into a diesel tank!!! Even a liter of gasoline added to the tank of a modern diesel car or motorhome can cause irreversible damage to the injection pump and other components due to its relatively low lubricity. (Diesel in a gasoline engine — while creating large amounts of smoke — does not normally cause permanent damage if it is drained once the mistake is realized. Similarly, older diesels using completely mechanical injection can tolerate some gasoline, which has historically been used to "thin" diesel fuel in winter.) A green pump holds unleaded gasoline or else diesel, a blue leaded gasoline. Diesel pumps are sometimes colored black, sometimes green. Diesel pumps are chiefly signified linguistically, either with the very word diesel or with one of the equivalents: gas-oil, gaz-oil, gasolio, gasóleo, dieselolie, mazot, motorina, or nafta.

fuel prices in europe

automotive conversions

automotive conversions

other resources

The best place to begin further researching your journey may be our Moto Europa Website at www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa. The Moto Europa site is a full and free online guide and Web portal devoted to the topic of European motor travel.

Some highlights from that Moto Europa Website include the following:

eight myths about european motor travel
why drive europe?
accommodations
borders
conversions
fuel
general driving
parking
phrasebook for motorists
roadsigns
theft & safety

And some very useful links include:

london gatwick–heathrow transfers
european train schedules
eurostar passenger train (via channel tunnel)
raileurope: motorail
intra european flights
direct ferries
aferry.to
dan youra's ferry guide
ocean 24 ferry booking
ferries/chunnel to/from england
channel tunnel vehicle shuttle
about driving in europe
driving in the uk & ireland
all-hotels.com
accor family of hotels
vacation rentals by owner
american express travel services
oanda currency convertor
tourism offices of the world directory
embassy web
telephone directories on the web
cybercafe finder
handicapped accessible travel in europe
satcure.co.uk's satellite tv pages
renault's "safety for all" website
association for safe international road travel

special-case renault documents

The forms required of clients who are traveling under a passport issued by a country which is a member of the European Union:

  • If you are a non-French EU national employed in the US, you must submit the imd6.
  • If you are a French national employed in the US, you must submit the French nationals form.
  • If, on the other hand, you are an EU national residing in the US but are not employed, you must submit instead the so-called letter of honor.
  • Optional "Proxy" form whereby the individual in whose name the lease is arranged (and, yes, these leases do need to be in one person's name only, even though the insurance is indeed still effective when family or friends drive the vehicle) can give his/her parent or spouse or son or daughter (i.e. an immediate, nuclear family member, siblings not included) the right to pick-up the vehicle in his/her (i.e. said singular individual's) absence. (Whew! That's a mouthful!)

    imd7

    And finally, the forms required of clients who are applying for a lease duration longer than the durations allowed for mere tourists. Persons going on paid assignment or paid sabbatical to or studying in Europe can qualify for a lease of up to 360 days:

    imd1 (for trainees only)
    imd2
    imd3
    imd4 (for students only)
    imd5 (for student's parents)
    imd8 (for non-students only)

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