256 long term car hire/leasing

Hi. When we move to Puglia we will need to hire/lease a car until we can gain residency so that we can buy one. Two questions:

1. We know what it says in the book, but in reality, how long does residency take to come through, and
2. I read somewhere that leasing is cheaper than hiring if you need a car for more than 2-3 weeks. Has anyone tried it, any idea what companies do this - I did do a search on the web but I'm obviously not pressing the right buttons, as usual...

Thanks for any advice/tips.

J.

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/19/2005 - 04:15

Hi,just to say yesterday i just signed the 15 odd pages of a leasing contract on a new vehicle.The contract as is usual is over a 36 to 48 month span is paid monthly through direct debit and regular invoice with vat.It was necessary to supply: identity document,bank coordinates,vat number,fiscal code,residency,inscription number at the chamber of commerce,besides documents on the old vehicle i traded in contemporaneously,they did a check on me ie. a fiscal check,criminal record etc etc.The whole thing took two "meetings" of about 15 minutes.The reason for the leasing was essentially fiscal in that their are tax,vat benefits for this formula of "purchase".If the above is not your case i would suggest that you approach a reputable hire car firm to ask about a long term rental this is not unknown and you may get quite a competitive rate in the end.Alternatively if you get your residency sorted out you may consider even the opportunity of
buying a used car which,if you weren't here all the time you could leave without worries.So in the end there may be quite a few options.-good luck.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 04/20/2005 - 05:07

Thanks for the info. Our plan is to rent/lease until we get residency and then buy (as you suggest) a little second hand runaround. Whilst we will be based permanently in Italy, having seen all the dents in the cars, we decided that buying new wasn't for us as I'd get a bit tired and emotional every time it got a dent. We thought better to buy something reasonable and run it till it falls apart - less stress!

I must say, I love the Italian approach to driving and particularly parking - or rather abandonning. I got some very strange looks when at first I insisted on parallel parking and soon gave that up. Mind you, the Italian approach wasn't appreciated yesterday when I parked in Tesco's - no sense of humour some people! Regards.

J.