I have tried to obtain a car on a 2-

Cannot help with anything UK oriented, however, have you checked out the lease/buy options from the French auto companies like Peugot (sp). I know they have six month deals so perhaps they have longer offers.Fred

thanks for this.  I would be up for such an option if it can be used by UK residents who have no address in France.  To keep life simple, I would prefer to have a UK registered vehicle.

I can second the Peugot option. It can be used by anyone other, I think, than French residents (not sure of that - there's one exception, but UK passport holders can certainly do this). It's an extremely good deal with none of the hassles associated with Italian car hire companies.

Peugeot Open Europe stipulates you must be resident outside the EU.  Or are you referring to some other scheme?

Yes, that might be true. I thought it was outside France but it might be outside EU. The most recent person I met using the scheme was from Australia. Is it "resident" or depends on Nationality?