Togo

I'm planning a trip to Norway next summer, and Lofoten is top on my list. To get around Lofoten, it appears that rental car is almost mandatory. But I'm getting shocked by how expensive car rental price is, especially for automatic! Yes, I'm from LA, and manual is not an option for me. I see on this forum that there are few local car rental companies renting out older cars for cheaper price. Has anyone used them before? Any bad experience with them? Do they offer full insurance coverage? If not, how do I obtain insurance coverage?

Ackislander

As a resident of an island, I can tell you that things cost more on islands.

Our groceries cost 20% more than on the mainland, our gasoline costs twice as much, and our electricity is as expensive as Manhattan. I don't know what a car rental costs in the Lofoten Islands, but a week's rental here costs about as much as a month's lease on the mainland.

But we don't have to live here.

If you don't like the cost of car rentals in the Lofoten Islands, go somewhere else. No one _needs_ to go to the Lofoten Islands. It is a luxury.

janisj

and if you have a credit card - it should cover your insurance.

Do you expect Norway to be cheap -- car rentals are not the only thing you'll pay more for.

. . . Out of curiosity -- I just checked Europcar (one of several options and Autoeurope might be cheaper) and in June it came back approx $52 a day for a compact w/o excess (in other words you'd have to use your credit card to cover the deductible or buy insurance from the agency). That is picking it up in town - not at the airport which costs more.

Doesn't seem at all out of line for 1) an island, and 2 Scandinavia

nytraveler

Norway is probably the most expensive country in europe. Have you looked at prices for other things yet - lodging, food, etc?

And $52 per day is cheap for car rental - here it's more like $100 a day except in the lowest season.

Fra_Diavolo

"As a resident of an island, I can tell you that things cost more on islands.

Our groceries cost 20% more than on the mainland, our gasoline costs twice as much, and our electricity is as expensive as Manhattan."

I live on Manhattan, which is an island, and everything is more expensive here, too. I think it's because it all has to be imported . . .

janisj

Ackislander

Ok, I promise not to hijack this thread any more, but your electric prices in Manhattan probably aren't based on the cost of generation but reflect the distribution costs of getting it by underwater cable all the way from Queens. Whaddaya expect? ;-)

nytraveler

Um - I don't think it comes from Queens There actually is a power plant in Manhattan, as well as all over the area. And we're part of the northeast power grid which covers all of that part of the US and much of eastern Canada.

The cost of power is very high through out the area due to real estate costs and salaries - the same reason everything is more expensive here - including most everything in supermarkets.

Christina

If it were about $50 a day, that would be very reasonable, rentals can cost that much where I live in the US.

But I checked a couple places and suspect the issue is the automatic requirement. In fact, a couple rental places I checked did not even have automatics (including Europcar and Avis). Avis did quote about $50 a day for a small manual next June when renting for a week, though. I don't know the rental location, I just looked at Narvik airport. Kemwel wouldn't quote an automatic, nor would Autoeurope.

I rent an automatic, also, when traveling and it isn't that difficult in France in big cities and only costs about 10-15 euro a day more when I've done it. But it appears this is just not so easy to do in that area.

jubilada

If you really want to you have almost a year to learn to drive a standard. It's not rocket science.

bilboburgler

I think the automatic thing means you will be charged more coming to those many places where automatics are very very rare.

ahdibuao

Have you tried Budget car rental? I'm also renting a car this October and after checking out all the rental companies prices, Budget was the cheapest at USD125 for 3 days rental (without excess).

nytraveler

To learn how to drive a manual car you would either have a friend wiling to lend you one to learn on (and perhaps not wanting their gears stripped) or take lessons from a company that has manuals. The only people I know that have non-automatic cars have sports cars and would never let anyone learn on them.