Fifty years or so ago, the French government wanted to encourage tourism by offering long-term car leases to tourists. The Government offered an incentive scheme to the French car companies – Renault, Citroën and Peugeot – to offer the leases.

Padma and I are travelling for two months so we took advantage of the program. On arrival in Rome, we picked up a Renault Clio Hybrid straight from the factory. A brand-new car for us. A rep of the agency gave us a tour of our new car and showed all the razzle dazzle stuff the new Clios have. Our decision to lease a hybrid will pay off given the super high petrol prices now in Europe.

There are a number of differences with rentals. First the price. For rentals more than 21 days, a leased car is cheaper. One-way pick up and drop offs are charged out at a small rate … normally rental companies charge outrageous fees if you don’t return the car to the same depot. There is no confusing talk of upgrading to insurance to get a reduced excess. The car has full comprehensive insurance with zero excess. We can total the car and not be out of pocket. We’ve got 24/7 roadside assistance anywhere. The car was given to us with enough petrol to get to a station but we can return it on fumes … no last minutes rushed fill ups at the airport. With a leased car, I am the owner (for now). The car papers are in my name and we have a special red number plate to indicate we are non-EU residents. At the end of two months we’ll drop it off in Munich … after that I’m not sure what will happen to our Clio.

Padma and I love our Clio. So far we’ve driven from Rome to Amsterdam via the Spanish Pyrenees. It’s small enough that we can park in tight spots and manoeuvre narrow city streets or windy mountain roads. And it’s got enough umpf to travel comfortably at 130 kph. We’re waiting to see what it’ll hit once we hit the German autobahn.