how the French redefine their relationship to the car

Brigitte is 71 years old when her husband falls seriously ill. Now she has to look at tasks that until then had not been her responsibility. The car, for example, essential for the trips to the hospital, and which arrives at the end of the race. “My son recommended the rental system to me, telling me that I would be quieter with a recent model.” Since then, she has been on her third vehicle – always gleaming: “For me who lives alone now, it’s one less concern.”

The “leasing” – in French, “leasing” or “rental with option to buy” (LOA) – is the rental contract most often offered to individuals. The principle? With a starting contribution and a monthly rent, the car is made available to you by the dealer, which remains owner. The monthly payments are a function of the model, of course, but also the maximum annual mileage. The maintenance is optional. At the end of the contract, generally lasting three or four years, the tenant can definitively acquire the vehicle or continue with a new LOA contract.

More accessible but more expensive

It is this last option which is favored by dealerships. Bertrand (1) is a car distributor in the Var. He testifies: “In my four concessions, we do everything so that customers do not buy, but sign a new contract, for a new model and its maintenance. The goal is to retain them. ” The incitement seems to work: in 2024, 59 % of new vehicles led by individuals were rented through a LOA2.

Fear neither the breakdown, nor the revival of technical control, nor the difficulty to resell … The rental seduces because it promises “a relief of the mental load”, as Sandrine points out. This 41 -year -old teacher, who rents her vehicle, wanted the interview to be included: “I have no bad surprises. When I was younger, with my old cars, I was traumatized by my mechanic’s bills, to whom I had to ask to pay in three or four times. ”

But this tranquility is expensive. Take the example of the Peugeot 208, one of the best sales in recent years. On the manufacturer’s site, the electric version is displayed at 26,520 euros including tax. It will cost 31,424 euros including tax to the customer who will buy it after a LOA contract. However, this calculation does not prevent the contractors from being motivated by financial reasons. Hedi is at the start of his career.

At 27, this lawyer, currently director general of the services of a small town in the Rhône, was finally able to relegate his “old diesel bought 1000 euros on leboncoin.fr” for a brand new electric Opel, for which he spends 122 euros per month. There is no illusion: “I benefited from the conversion bonus. Without that, the LOA is more expensive than cash purchase and even classic credit. But I got my side: having a car is expensive. ”

The temptation of the electric

“Admittedly, we do not have the car at the end, but the monthly payments of our first LOA were weaker than those of a classic credit,” recalls Sandrine, who made this decision with her husband. For their second contract, the idea of ​​testing an electric vehicle won, even if the monthly payment has almost doubled: it amounts to 400 euros monthly. “I don’t know if it’s a good calculation, recognizes Sandrine, but it was the only option at our reach to have a recent vehicle.”

In fact, today, the average cost of a new vehicle is around 34,900 euros, when it was necessary to pay 28,100 in 2020. An increase of … 6,800 euros, or 24 % (3), while purchasing power is far from having brought such a leap. In short, we rent because we cannot buy or “to ride in a car that could never be affected”, as Hedi recognizes, the young lawyer.

For most French people, driving a recent car remains out of reach anyway: the second -hand market represents three quarters of private cars purchases (4). Historian Mathieu Flonneau, a specialist in motorism and road civilization, notes that “the car gradually becomes luxury good, which it was no longer since the beginning of the Thirty Glorious Years. The automobile was invested with a societal project to share prosperity. This is no longer the case. “

The car, disposable version?

At the wheel of his Opel, Hedi remembers: “At the beginning, I had the impression that it was not mine, then I got used to it. It’s my car, I love it, but I am already looking forward to parting in a few months for another. ” His testimony corroborates the observations of the sociologist Gaëtan Mangin, whose research focuses on the automobile and the household budget: “We do not focus in the same way to his car if we change every four years or if we think we keep it fifteen years. In the first case, it is a simple good consumption. In the second, we take care of it, like a long -term companion, we try to make it last. “Mathieu Flonneau confirms:” Consumers take more account of the risk – ecological, security -, but develop less attachment, personalization, fetishization, idolatry sometimes. “

And the two researchers to deplore a form of entouroupe, which the sociologist summarizes: “Under the pretext of ecological virtues, consumers are pushed to a“ disposable ”vision of the car, towards a pure consumption ratio.” However, to have a more reasoned use, on the contrary, it would be necessary to strengthen the attachment to the car and the responsibility of its owner, rather than to dispossess it. This is at least the hypothesis of Gaëtan Mangin.

In terms of manufacturers, the future imagines otherwise. From his Var garage, Bertrand announces: “Soon, it will work as for clothes: we open the closet and choose according to the weather. With your rental package, you will call your dealer to book a small city car for a stay in a large metropolis, then a utility to move your student girl, then a pick-up to go to the recycling center, then a family because you welcome your grandchildren … You will pay, in a word, a mobility solution. ” Renault 16, 504, ladybug … The models of our cars were as many milestones in our family biographies. In the future, our memories could be subject to other traffic rules.

(1) His first name was changed at his request.

(2) Source: SDES, RSVERO.

(3) Source: Mobility Institute in Transition, May 2025.

(4) Source: sdes.