Leases Europe autos with Kemwel

The subscriber’s letter about leasing a car for 30-plus days in Italy (Nov. ’09, pg. 51) led my husband, Klaus, and me to contact the agent at bonvoyagebycar@yahoo.com. The agent claimed he could get us a better price than we would with a lease/buyback via Peugeot or Renault.

We then contacted Kemwel (Portland, ME; 877/820-0668, www.kemwel.com) and were told that, as the direct agents with the manufacturer, they handle 80% of the lease/buyback contracts with Peugeot in the US, thus no one else can offer a lower price.

Indeed, we have used their lease/buyback service in Europe three times over six years, driving a new Peugeot each time, and in every instance the price of renting for the 30-plus days’ time period has been best with Kemwel.

One year in advance of each trip, Klaus, who was a tour-coach driver all over Europe for 34 years, thoroughly researches car rental and lease prices as we make our arrangements for car, flight, hotels, etc. We have not found any of the major, “trusted” auto renters (Budget, Hertz, Avis, etc.) to provide a rental price for a brand-new car that is all-inclusive.

With an all-inclusive Kemwel lease, however, there is no additional-driver fee, no added fees for insurance and no exceeded-mileage fee, let alone no 70-plus age restriction. Kemwel provides two keys, and our only other cost is fuel.

There are restricted countries, mainly in the far eastern part of Europe.

There is something to be said, we truly believe, about the confidence felt in driving a new car versus one with previous users’ abuse, quality-of-maintenance issues by the leasing company, etc. Questions or difficulties with the car can be resolved at any Peugeot dealer’s in Europe at no cost, per the agreement.

We first dealt with Kemwel.com in 2006 for a 54-day, 10-country European trip with another couple. We did a lease/buyback of a Peugeot 407SW Executive TDI station wagon with manual transmission. It had five kilometers on the odometer when we picked it up at Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near Paris.

The all-inclusive cost was $2,358 plus $547 for the GPS kit, which, at the time, included Western Europe maps, with Eastern Europe maps costing extra. Dropoff was at CDG, for which there is no pickup/dropoff fee.

Our second lease/buyback was in 2008 with a Peugeot 308 Premium TDI with manual transmission. We brought our own TomTom GPS with Europe maps, so our all-inclusive cost was $1,808 for 35 days in Germany, France, Luxembourg and Denmark.

Again, we picked up the car (nine kilometers on the odometer) and dropped it off at CDG. We did pay to have a stone removed from a slowly leaking tire, just as we would have done at home with our own car’s insurance. (We still have the stone.)

Our third lease/buyback will be in 2010 as we travel to Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy. We have arranged for a Peugeot 407 Comfort Pack TDI with manual transmission. The minimum lease/buyback time frame is now 30 days, so we have paid $1,745 plus an additional $420 to pickup/dropoff in Zürich, which was our choice. We will bring our own GPS again.

CAROL SCHMIDT

Hastings, MI