The first thing you would need to worry about if living in Nice is where you would park a car. It is not easy to find parking, and when you do it is expensive. If you don't have parking where you live you could buy a garage, but they cost, last time I looked, in the region of €35,000. Hiring one occasionally would be the best bet, the public transport is really good, and even if you wanted to go visiting other places you can often get there by bus or train. We took our car to Nice once and the parking near our apartment was €27.50 a day. Now we fly and find we have no need of a car. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is so freeing not to have one there. We live in Brittany and even though we are three, plus dog and cat, it is actually cheaper for us to fly than drive. Have you settled on a place to live there?

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Dear Xantippe,
Thank you for your reply, and no, we have not yet settled on a specific place in Nice. There are neighborhoods, or districts that we like...Musiciens, Carre d'Or, le Port, Cimiez, etc. But you are right about parking. In none of these places is parking easy. So, I understand the parking dilemma, and I'm sure that for a while, at least, until we've managed to "take root", as it were, we will be using public transportation and short term vehicle rentals. Like most Americans, I'm sure the feeling of freedom, that you can go anywhere you want, maybe on the spur of the moment, has a tremendous lure. However, what I was inquiring about in my query was finding the best way to get a vehicle. Again,thank you for your advice.,
Sincerely,
antifreeze

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Hi antifreeze,

The rule of thumb is that leasing is less expensive if you rent over 21 days, and there are advantages to leasing as an expat, but you will want to do a price comparison for the exact duration you're looking at.

You would only pay TVA if you buy a brand new car from a dealer. The used car market in France is extremely active, so I would suggest buying a new-used car and saving the TVA and that initial depreciation on a brand new one. Many garages will offer warranties on new-used cars.

If parking is a real problem, you may just want to rent a car when you want to get out of town.

Best of luck,
Dennelle
www.renestance.com

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