ILUVPARIS

We're looking to rent a manual transmission compact size car. The pickup will be in AMS on Sep 3 and drop off in MXP on Sep 17. Actually, the rate for the rental isn't that bad, it's the drop-off charge that exceeds the two week rental rate that's killing me! The drop-off seems to be anywhere from $600-$800!

Can anyone recommend a company besides Auto Europe, Europcar and Rail Europe that we could try? Any suggestions on how to get a lower rate would be greatly appreciated. Somehow paying upwards of $1200 for a compact car just blows my mind!

Intrepid1

It might help if you posted your proposed itinerary. I doubt that if one agency levies a hefty drop-off charge that all the other agencies aren't going to do the same thing.

If, and I realize this is a big "if" your trip will be mainly in one country it might be better if you took a train into that country and rented the car there; or at least used an alternative means of transportation to cross borders.

LoveItaly

ILUVPARIS, you will be arriving in Amsterdam obviously and flying home from Malpensa (outside of Milan, Italy). What is your itinerary the from the time you arrive in Amsterdam and leave from Malpensa?

offwego

I think the Italy part of the equation may be the problem. Can you drop your car north of the Italian border somewhere and then train the rest of the way?

tcreath

I don't think its necessarily that Italy is the problem; unfortunately most car rental companies charge this huge drop-off fee if you pick up in one country and drop off in another. Basically to avoid it you have to pick up and drop off in the same country, which will probably be difficult to do given your itinerary. You may want to look into various train/car combos, or renting a new car in each country you visit. Otherwise I don't know if there is a way to get around it.

I've tried to get around this many times and usually end up tweaking my itinerary because of it.

Good luck!
Tracy

ILUVPARIS

Okay that's a fair question...
We were planning to pickup the car on Sep 3 at the end of our stay in Amsterdam and dropoff on Sep 17 at MXP. The itinerary is still in the works but here's a rough draft...

Amsterdam
Brugges
Ardennes
Strasbourg
Switzerland -this is the part that's up in the air
Lake Como
Last night overnight in Milan at the airport for an early morning flight home.

I thought of taking the train from Amsterdam to Brugges and then picking up a car at the end of our stay in Brugges but it doesn't seem to make THAT much of a dent. The drop charge was slightly less but it wasn't worth the cost of the train tickets. We definitely need a car after Brugges to tour the Ardennes.

One more thing,...trains are really not an option for us. We do a lot of photography so we like to be able to stop where we see something picture worthy along the way. We try to minimum the amount of trains we take.

Do you think the Italy drop is the big problem? Would Switzerland be THAT Much cheaper? I'd hate to not have a car in Lake Como. It seems like a destination where you'd really need one but since I haven't been, I'm not an expert.

Michael

Might taking the train from Amsterdam to Lille, picking up the car, then driving back to Bruges and continuing on your trip, going to Lake Como and then back to Geneva or Nice to drop off the car, actually make more sense? I believe that you can drop off the car in Geneva on the French side of the border. That would eliminate cross-border fees.

ILUVPARIS

Thank you Michael, you had a great idea! I didn't do exactly what you suggested but picking up the car Lille instead of Amsterdam or Brugges made a HUGE difference in the drop off fee. I guess in the long run it's worth the 1 hour & 20 minute train ride to save several hundred dollars! We can't really do much about the Lake Como/Milan portion since there's really no time buffered in to do that --and that's okay. There becomes a point of dimishing returns so we don't want to spend our precious vacation time driving hours and hours out of our way just so we can drop off a car.

Hey, you helped me shave off a substantial amount so I'm very happy!

Thanks again for the GREAT suggestion!

Michael

Your Swiss itinerary is vague. You might have some time buffered in if you chose to see some of the high Alps while going back from Como to Geneva instead of on the way to the lake region. And of course, why fly out of Milan and not Geneva or Nice?

dina4

Hi ILUVPARIS,
Not sure if you're still rental company shopping, but I did find out some interesting info when I was desperately trying to save $$ with a one-way drop off fee (Paris to Rome)
This was for a mid-size 12 rental (pick up Paris - drop off Rome). I was surprised that Autoeurope was the MOST expensive quote I got, although they said they would "beat" other quotes.
Avis: $890
Hertz direct: $925
Hertz thru Autoeurope: $1000 ($950 if I pay in full now)
Budget-doesn't do one-way from Paris to Rome

At least I have the reservation. I will keep checking for cheaper rates.
Has anyone used NOVA before? I think I read somewhere that they don't charge a one-way drop off fee, which so far has ranged from $220 to $370.

Good luck!
Dina

ILUVPARIS

Michael,

The air is already booked so Amsterdam and Milan are it. We plan to arrive in Como on Sep 14, stay two nights, drive to MXP on the 16th, drop the car & then overnight in MXP. We fly home at 8:00am in the morning of Sep 17. There's just no time for us to go to Geneva or Nice to drop a car and at this point I can't change our gateways. It's just too hard to get European flights using miles.

Dina, make sure when you're getting quotes from Avis, Hertz, whatever, that they're quoting w/VAT, taxes, drop fees, unlimited miles...etc. When I was playing around with this earlier I noticed that one of those companies only allowed 2200 free km and after that it was .16 per mile. I believe Auto Europe is always unlimited miles. I know that Auto Europe also includes a lot of the taxes that are not referenced when I call the other car companies direct. Interesting information though. I'm sorry, I've never heard of Nova.

Enjoy Paris!! ..oh and Rome too!

RufusTFirefly

We've used Nova a few times with no problems at all.