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.

cell phones

Many cell phones (i.e. mobile phones, handies) now work overseas. Check with your service provider (i.e. your carrier, the phone service company) in this regard; it might be a good occasion for you to upgrade to a phone (and plan) that works well overseas. If indeed you want to be able to use your phone on another continent, you'll need to call your service provider customer support to get international roaming turned on.

But beware: such roaming in and of itself is very expensive. Every missed or rejected call will use a minute of roaming charges; every notification of a voicemail that's been left will cost a minute too. More charges will come if you use data, even unknowingly -- and the new smart phones are constantly using data that you're unaware of. Data roaming costs about $15/MB, which means a dollar fifty or so for every single web page that you view. If someone sends you a nice 2 megapixel photo from home, that'll be $30! If you want to avoid data roaming charges completely, you should disable data roaming and data synchronization before you go abroad.

International roaming is not a good value unless you have tri-band GSM phone. Such phones can be “SIM subsidy unlocked” via your service provider to accept a foreign SIM card. Calls received through such card will be charged to you as if you are using a local phone. To initiate such unlocking of your tri-band GSM phone, call your service provider at least a week or two before you go abroad. Your service provider will then request an unlock code from the phone manufacturer, but the service provider will not officially guarantee the manufacturer’s response time (it’s usually 24-48 hours) nor even that a unlock code will be provided. Moreover, you’ll need to obtain a prepaid SIM card or cards for the country or countries you plan to travel to. Those cards cost roughly 30 euros and can be bought in mobile phone shops in Europe (the primary companies in France, for instance, are Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR). Alternatively you can buy or rent them before you go abroad, from various internet-based companies. You would replace your current SIM card with the European one. (Typically they go under the battery.) Do save your current SIM card, however; you’ll need it when you return home.

See the following excellent New York Times articles:

For SIM card or special phone rental or purchase online, see the following:

renault–nissan alliance

Have you heard about the alliance between Renault and Nissan?

"declaration and power" (power of attorney) form

traveling instructions booklet

contract

Indeed many countries require of you, the foreign driver, no license apart from your domestic drivers license. However, certain countries require of certain non-resident drivers an International Driving Permit (IDP) in addition. You should contact the relevant tourist office, consulate or embassy to determine whether a country requires you to carry an IDP while driving. A good secondary indicator in this respect is the IDP webpage posted by the UK's Automobile Association. 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. The vehicle leasing company (e.g. Renault Eurodrive) 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$20. 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."

travel insurance

books

route planners

compulsory equipment

fuel prices

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.

automotive conversions

general advisories

With respect to manual transmission vehicles, it is the client’s responsibility to know, or to learn how, to drive a manual transmission. The rental company (i.e. the vendor) will likely refuse to deliver such vehicle unless all the drivers listed on the rental contract are expressly or evidently proficient in the operation of a manual transmission vehicle. There are no refunds in such cases.

Per the pick-up and return dates and locations you submit, the vehicles shown by the IdeaMerge reservation request software are presently available for booking, according to the manufacturer. However, there’s a slight chance that such availability will change between now and the time IdeaMerge attempts to book a reservation request. (The shorter the leadtime the greater that chance.) In that case we would contact you straightaway to discuss the alternatives. Of course you would be under no obligation to accept one of those alternatives.

One of the prime benefits of a French tax-free short-term auto lease in contrast to an auto rental is the precision such lease arrangement affords to you in procuring a vehicle. Which is to say, such lease contract stipulates a particular vehicle in terms of make, model and certain features (as presented on this Website) and effectively ensures that said particular vehicle will indeed be delivered to you unless the naturally ineluctable force of circumstances causes such vehicle to be actually unavailable for delivery to you on your contracted pick-up date, in which case another new vehicle reasonably considered equivalent (but not identical) to the stipulated vehicle will instead be delivered to you for your use until the contracted drop-off date. The very close temporal connection between the manufacture and delivery of these lease vehicles is what makes the aforementioned, remarkable precision of selection possible, but it likewise makes the delivery of such vehicles sensitive to circumstances such as labor strikes, vehicle recalls and natural disasters, i.e. to the veritable force of circumstances. Truly rare are the circumstances which make said replacement necessary, but they are a natural element of the industry.

Where and when road or weather conditions, and perhaps laws or ordinances or such, dictate the wise or requisite use of specific tires or specifically embellished tires (e.g. tires fitted with snow chains or socks), it is the driver's responsibility to abstain from driving until such tires are installed on his or her vehicle. It is nevertheless the client's responsibility to return the vehicle with the initial (i.e. original) set of tires installed or co-present; otherwise the client will be billed for those initial tires. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden, for example, have laws which dictate the use of winter tires. It is the client's responsibility to research and understand such laws in relation to his or her itinerary.

Unless otherwise indicated, the tires included with a French short-term, tax-free car lease are multi-season tires. By "multi-season" we mean tires that are not specifically designed for muddy and snowy conditions (which tires bear the code "M+S") or for snowy conditions in particular (which tires bear the international symbol of a snowflake); i.e they are not — we repeat, not — the sort of tires which are colloquially referred to as "winter tires" or "snow tires". Rather, multi-season tires are the sort of tires standardly delivered on new cars. Renault Eurodrive has instituted a new service with the Eurodrive Road Assistance in order to facilitate, upon client request, the change from multi-season tires to winter tires, this via the Renault network in Switzerland and in Germany. This service consists in identifying the closest Renault garage to the place where the client is or will be and then arranging an appointment for the client with the garage. The purchase and labor costs for the change of tires will be billed directly by the Renault car dealer to the client, and the client will still be responsible for returning the vehicle with its initial tires.

You can study the UK Automobile Assocation website to learn more about winter tire requirements and other compulsory equipment per European country.

Regarding snow chains, it is vital that you check and if necessary maintain the tension of the chains frequently, and certainly after every short journey. Also, with the chains fitted do not drive faster than about 35 miles per hour (60 km/h).

IdeaMerge suggests that our clients do not plan to rely solely on any one guide nor even on any collection of such guides (whether they be in book form, software form, or online) to determine the location or quality of appropriate hotels and campgrounds. Such a guide — especially if it is provided free of charge by the vendor or another entity — should not be considered suitably thorough and up to date, although in many cases they are very useful. Even if a vendor’s policy is to provide such guide with every rental vehicle, they occasionally run out of supply because too many clients lose or abscond with the guide, or for other reasons beyond the vendor's control. IdeaMerge therefore suggests a sort of rule of three: use at least two published guides (in book form, software form, or online), and rely on your own on-the-ground research (e.g. following local signage, questioning local people, and so forth) to complete the picture. Market forces usually take care of the rest because they result in hotel and campground locations per the general demand and thus near where you are most likely to desire such location.

Neither IdeaMerge nor the vendor is responsible to assist in locating or recommending hotels or campgrounds to clients. Any assistance IdeaMerge or the vendor does give in that respect should not be interpreted as sanctioning or signifying the suitability of the services or products provided at the hotel or campground.

Check all accessories at the depot to be sure they are in working order. If there is a problem say something at the depot before leaving.

Ask questions during the vehicle orientation; refused to be rushed.

Test drive the vehicle at and near the depot where you begin your journey. If you notice anything unusual about the vehicle, especially the clutch, return it to the depot immediately.

Please carry a mobile phone with you so the vendor can easily contact you if necessary and in case of emergency. Please confirm that your phone service provider and contract allows you to call toll-free numbers.

Upon returning the vehicle the client should report to the vendor any ticketed parking violations, ticketed traffic violations, and toll-road violations and such that the client knowingly incurred during the rental or lease, along with any documentation thereof (e.g. the ticket itself). The cost of any associated fine or fines devolves upon the client, even if the client was not directly ticketed for the violation or was otherwise unaware of the violation. Moreover, the vendor might charge to the client an administration fee for processing each such fine.

Also see our General Disclaimers & Notices.

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.

And some very useful links include:

special-case documents

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

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 all the drivers whom that person authorizes are covered under the insurance) 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. However, proxy pick-up is not allowed with TT Special leases.

And finally, the forms required of clients who are applying for a TT Special lease (maximum duration 355 days, depending on pick-up location). Clients can qualify for a TT Special lease according to the following categories and the associated forms: