Renting a car for a cross-contintental European trip?

Biscuits Brown

I'm currently living and working in Eastern Europe and my job will soon come to an end.

If possible, I'd like to drive home to Ireland as this will (a) give me an opportunity to bring all my stuff, and, more importantly, (b) give me the adventure of a lifetime (hopefully).

I don't have a car (here) so I'm thinking about renting.

This would be a one-way trip.

I have heard about people making similar type trips with rental cars, although usually just across continental Europe.

I know it might get costly with petrol and all that, but I'm prepared to pay for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

So, do you think it is in any way possible to rent a car from a company branch here in Eastern Europe, and then leave it at an Irish branch, say 2 weeks later?

Should I contact all the major companies and ask them?

Thanks for reading

wesf

Doubtful as they would need the car transported back, ferries etc. Worth asking though! Get a diesel while you're at it

Mr.Fred

Could you not buy a cheap car van that'll be part of the adventure

I drove around australia in an 81 hiace

Biscuits Brown

^^^I am thinking about buying an old car/van here, but they can be quite expensive here I think (for what they're worth).

I agree about the adventure aspect of it though!

The only problem would be - what to do with it when I get home? I'd have a heap of junk rusting in the back yard...

CiniO

To be honest I doubt you will find any company that will rent in Eastern Europe with returning point in Ireland for any reasonable money.

What country will you be starting your journey?

Possibly just buy a car, drive it back to Ireland and sell it here.

wesf

Buy something you could resell here!

Mr.Fred

Sure sell it to an eastern european going back the way

sure what you'd have lost in renting a car (if you could) would be massive in comparison and you'd have scrap value in the car/van.

Or else a motorbike cheaper to run and fix although it'll mean having to ship your gear home.

I should add I bought my van for 3.5k and sold it for 4700 a year later and with a clock that had made more than one trip around.

CiniO

Mr.Fred wrote: »

Sure sell it to an eastern european going back the way

Exactly.
LHD car in good condition should easily sell in Ireland.
Different in price OP will have to pay to buy it, and what he will get for it in Ireland, should be way less than cost of renting a car for 2 weeks with return point over 2000km away.

Del2005

I doubt you'll get a rental one way across Europe. Most of the hire companies only operate in one country. In the USA or Australia the hire company would be the same at both ends, in Europe you'll be trying to return a car to a completely different company that you hired from but under the same brand.

Buying a car or van would be the easiest and cheapest option. Did you try costing a one way rental that you are thinking of doing in the USA or Aus versus the cost of returning to the same location?

dmc17

Biscuits Brown wrote: »

^^^I am thinking about buying an old car/van here, but they can be quite expensive here I think (for what they're worth).

I agree about the adventure aspect of it though!

The only problem would be - what to do with it when I get home? I'd have a heap of junk rusting priceless memory in the back yard...

Look for the positives

CiniO

Biscuit Brown...
I find in interesting that you are describing a car journey from Eastern Europe as "adventure of a life time", while I actually do this route there and back once or twice a year every year.
Anyway - are you planning on going straight the shortest route, or are you hoping to drive around different places with some sightseeing, etc...
If you need any advice about travel, feel free to ask as I might be able to give you some advice.

Biscuits Brown

CiniO wrote: »

Biscuit Brown...
I find in interesting that you are describing a car journey from Eastern Europe as "adventure of a life time", while I actually do this route there and back once or twice a year every year.
Anyway - are you planning on going straight the shortest route, or are you hoping to drive around different places with some sightseeing, etc...
If you need any advice about travel, feel free to ask as I might be able to give you some advice.

I actually would love to hear more about this trip that you do. From where to where and how long does it take you?

I'm literally as far east as you can go before you hit Asia. So the journey for me would be from one extreme to the other.

I would have between 7 and 11 days to do this. Would this allow for some sightseeing? I'd like to take some country roads and see the 'real' parts of places like Bulgaria, Romania etc. ...as I can always see the cities on a weekend break some other time.

And to finish up the journey, is there a ferry from Holland to Ireland? Because I've done the France/England one before...

CiniO

Biscuits Brown wrote: »

I actually would love to hear more about this trip that you do. From where to where and how long does it take you?

I'm literally as far east as you can go before you hit Asia. So the journey for me would be from one extreme to the other.

I would have between 7 and 11 days to do this. Would this allow for some sightseeing? I'd like to take some country roads and see the 'real' parts of places like Bulgaria, Romania etc. ...as I can always see the cities on a weekend break some other time.

And to finish up the journey, is there a ferry from Holland to Ireland? Because I've done the France/England one before...

OK I wouldn't have any experience on going from that far.
All I do it run between Mayo and Eastern Poland which is about 2500km.
To do this comfortably, you need about 3 days, which would involve driving for about 8 to 9 hours each day, mostly on motorways.

Obviously if you want to see some stuff on the way, take country roads instead of motorways you need more time.

I've done the whole trip once in one go, and it took me 40 hours door to door. I had two naps of 2 hours on the way on the Continent plus I was also sleeping on the ferries between France-Uk and UK-Ireland. I arrived like zombie and there is absolutely no point in killing yourself like that.

Generally speaking travelling on the motorways you can county 100km/h as average speed, so if you would want to do 500 - 800km a day, you would need 5 to 8 hours driving.
If you want to do some sightseeing, it'd be probably better to have shorter distances per day, so you still have energy to visit some places locally.

Which countries will you be crossing?

unkel

Mr.Fred wrote: »

Sure sell it to an eastern european going back the way

I was thinking the other way around. Get in contact with a polish person in Ireland returning home to Poland (for good). They can use their own (Irish reg) RHD car to bring all their stuff back and they'll still get a reasonable price (below Irish market value) for their car. You can buy a RHD car that can easily be sold back in Ireland for more than you are paying for it

Win / Win!

CiniO

unkel wrote: »

I was thinking the other way around. Get in contact with a polish person in Ireland returning home to Poland (for good). They can use their own (Irish reg) RHD car to bring all their stuff back and they'll still get a reasonable price (below Irish market value) for their car. You can buy a RHD car that can easily be sold back in Ireland for more than you are paying for it

Win / Win!

I think OP is returning from way further than Poland.

unkel

CiniO wrote: »

I think OP is returning from way further than Poland.

My bad, missed that in his subsequent posts.

Biscuits Brown wrote: »

is there a ferry from Holland to Ireland?

Nope. You can do Hoek van Holland - Harwich in England then drive through to Wales and ferry over to Ireland

Cedrus

wesf wrote: »

.......................'' Get a diesel while you're at it

I wouldn't make any assumptions about the cost or availability of fuel, a bit of research will go a long way. Also learn the names of your chosen fuel in every country you'll be passing through. I've seen a terrible mix up where petrol was substituted for paraffin.

testicle

Most rental companies will not allow their cars to be taken on ferries.

ardmacha

No rental company is going to rent a car to be dropped off 2000km away as they would have to pay someone to bring it back, to say nothing of several hundred Euro for fuel and ferries bringing it back.

derry

Consider to buy cheap old car online (ebay )from Germany around the €500 to €1000 mark .They are reputed to the cheapest in Europe along with Holland and Belgium .Then probably for less than €1000 euros you can ask then as part of the sale to stick it on a train and or get car delivery company to collect it and export it to your local region city town train depot .Then drive it across Europe.Cars from outside EU region can be very hard to sell as they do not conform to EU rules regulations .My Friend who has many years experience in living in Ukraine says the locals are cannibals but that might be because he is Hungarian and does not like them .LOL. For the trip probably Best to only do 300 kilometers a day other wise its getting tiring .I always do France to Spain non highway routes and speeds are about 50MPH and i stop for coffees and stuff and do about 300 kilometers a day . Petrol or diesel car not much of difference for this type of journey . If its a non EU country your in their car Insurance will be a pain but proabbly dirt cheap less than €100 but not worth a toss iff you crash in the EU .It wont realy effect you as once you have a Irish Passport or British passport or any EU passport the treaties with other countries means your passport states that the government that issued the passport will pay for any damages you cause .Without these treaties in place travel would require huge personnel bonds to pass through all the countries .However it might require a few weeks in some EU prison while they sort out that mess .If you use this country from outside the EU car insurance it will require a green card for all the EU countries you go to so that could be painful and could need them translated to suitable EU lingo like German and English .If you got Irish Insurance with all the Irish companies they automatically insure you third party (not comprehensive ) in all EU countries (all year around)and will make green cards for the other non EU countries (often at extra costs) .
The biggest hazards are EU countries and their broken down by side of road rules . If you break down the local AA vans will often pitch and screw you for €500 to €1000 for towing if you haven't AA insurance membership.Its often illegal to leave cars by side of roads in many EU countries so not accepting the tow is often not a option .AA membership outside of the EU is expensive and even in EU for few months costs a lot .
Another alternative is send all your junk back to IRL in container or shipping company
Empty cars are best they break down you step out of them with your small suitcase and abandon it and go catch a bus or train or plane for the rest of the journey . Lost Track of how many junkers I dumped across Europe when they broke down.
Alternatively you could forget the car idea ship the gear and just hitch hike it or bike it with small tent .If your lazy fat type then electric bike it Getting electricity oin route is issues so then then buy a small trailer and buy small 750 watt petrol generator and run the generator to charge the bikes battery and cycle with no range limits .
The only direct ships are from France Cherbourg ,Rosscoff or le Harve so you can get extra run down to North West France and avoid to have to do UK routes

If your willing to pay all the huge costs you can always find a rental company that will do a deal but the cost will tend to be orbital .Often as you cross frontiers or borders the rates change to higher rates and they never tell those hidden costs and they know as the rental cars have GPS inside them .
Sometimes you can be lucky and find some EU rental company like Germany that wants one of their cars from those far flung places returned to the EU region .Then hire another car from say Germany to go Ireland
Lots of ways to skin a cat

Derry