Renting a car in Europe is a major pain. First, you basically need to know how to drive stick or else you have to pay an extraordinary amount extra for an automatic if they even have one available or in their fleet of cars at all (For my readers in Europe, most people in the US don’t know how to drive stick, me included, although I have improvised from time to time-shocking I know). Second you have to pay in Euros which is a terrible exchange rate for Americans right now, as is everywhere else. Finally, gas is charged in liters instead of gallons so you end up paying a fortune more than you would in the States-add in the exchange rate and it’s even more. The bottom line is that Europe is really expensive and renting a car stinks.
When I first started traveling in 1998 and before the birth of the Euro, the dollar was incredibly strong and you could get by on $10-$20 a day in Europe-London aside. Nowadays, forget it…Virtually anywhere in Western Europe you will end up spending at least $2-300 a day if you are staying anywhere half decent. It’s crazy. With oil prices the way they are and the liters versus gallons thing along with the Euro, plus standard cars, insurance, etc…you’re better off taking the bus.
Renting a Car in Europe
June 1, 2007 by 3 Comments
It’s expensive for Europeans as well. I live in Scandinavia which is the most expensive part of Europe.
It is expensive up there, Iceland is the worst but they are all bad
I hate rental cars, such ripoffs. The insurance is such a shakedown and then they try to stick you with nicks and little things. I hate them all, I’d rather take the bus