Renting a Car in Italy is so Expensive?

Old Sep 26th, 2015, 10:44 PM
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Renting a Car in Italy is so Expensive?

Hi all,

My family (me, my husband and our 9 year old twins) will be traveling to Italy and France next June. We fly into Venice and after staying three nights, will spend nine nights in Tuscany and then will make our way to Nice and the Cote d'Azur. We want to rent a car when we leave Venice, and my thought is to return it in San Remo and take the train to Nice from there.

I have checked Auto Europe, Kremwel, Kayak, and Carrentals.co.uk, and have only been able to get a quote from Auto Europe (no search results returned from the others). The rental would be from June 11 - June 20 and the quote from Auto Europe for a compact Peugeot wagon seating 5 with space for 4 suitcases is $706 (includes the one-way car rental fee, unlimited mileage, theft and liability).

So, my question is this: This rate seems high to me. Is it? And, can I wait to rent and see if it goes down? Or do I need to reserve soon?

I know this is totally different, but I just rented a larger car (a mini van) for 10 days for an upcoming trip to Kauai, and it only cost $265 so the price above just seems painful.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Daria
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Old Sep 26th, 2015, 10:49 PM
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Also, I tried looking on the Italian version of Auto Europe and the rates were even higher.
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Old Sep 26th, 2015, 11:33 PM
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Are you sure the mini van in Hawaii included taxes and fees. I just did a random search and found the base price did not. After selecting and looking at the final price, it was another $140. That did not include insurance and it was dropping off at point of pick up.

In Italy, they are adding insurance, drop off fees and probably all taxes, etc. Still a lot, but not as much more as it first seemed. Others more familiar with different companies can probably point you to the best deals.

Rent now or later? Who can predict exchange rates then?
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Old Sep 26th, 2015, 11:35 PM
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How much is the one way drop off fee?

It could be as much as half the total.

Italy has always been one of the most expensive countries in Europe to hire, usually down to the large insurance costs.

We rented a VW for a week in Spain during the busiest week of last August. We paid £120 through AE.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 02:27 AM
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Is it any cheaper to rent the car in Tuscany rather than in Venice?
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 02:56 AM
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I realize everybody has got a different budget, but for five people, but your car rental works out to about $15 per person per day.

Adding the cost of buying five train tickets to Tuscany, even as a discounted family package, is unlikely to bring down the cost, especially if you need the car immediately in Tuscany. If you are going to a city for a couple of days first instead of immediately touring the countryside, then it would make sense to delay renting the car.

Hate to add to your pain, but the cost of gas/diesel in Italy is quite high, so if you are on a tight budget, you need to budget for that as well. You will need to pay tolls in between Venice and your Tuscan destination, then again along the autostrade to the French border.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 03:09 AM
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Good reminders from Sandralist!
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 04:09 AM
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"Good reminders from Sandralist"

It does seem that the EU "common market" has achieved very little.

We are Scottish, in the past 12 months we have visited 4 European countries in order of financial severity they are : Norway, Sweden, Italy and Spain.

I know Norway is outside the EU but of the other three there are still huge price differentials. It was actually to spend our money in Spain, goods were so cheap.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 04:20 AM
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$78-a-day is way too high for me, even if the price includes Italy's mandatory CDW. I would never pay that. Prices will fluctuate, depending on when you reserve, so you have to keep checking. The wonderful thing about Auto Europe, they will credit you if the price drops during your pre-paid reservation period, but you need to stay on top of changes in price and call them when you find something cheaper. For my last trip to France, the price of my rental car dropped twice during the reservation period (I booked the car almost a year in advance). I saved over $100, and they credited my Visa both times. Love their customer service.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 04:50 AM
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Are you renting an automatic? As others said, US prices are deceptional. They are allowed to quote prices different from what you will be paying.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 05:16 AM
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Off topic: BritishCaicos, the only way prices would equalise throughout the EU would be to have a federal system, with centralised taxation, something which would have the UK heading for the door even faster than it already is.

Daria, are you comparing prices correctly - Italy prices include all compulsory insurances, taxes etc, whereas US prices (for US residents) don't normally include all that.
Consider renting the car somewhere else that you can get to by train. It may be cheaper to do that and still save, even with the train fare added.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 05:22 AM
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It must be the season you are renting. We just checked prices on Auto Europe (they are having a sale that ends on Sept. 30) and got really reasonable prices. But, it is for next month, and we only have two people, and we can drive a stick.

I think this is waaaaay to soon to book a rental car.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 06:09 AM
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I would never consider booking a rental car 8-9 months in advance. The reason those websites don't show prices is because they won't even take bookings that far in advance. Some hotels won't even do that so far in advance.

Comparing a weekly rental in Hawaii to Italy isn't really a good comparison, I don't think.

A lot of websites don't show the best rates when it is so far ahead of the time period. I'd think you could get a midsize car like a Renault Scenic (that in theory seats 5)for about $350 a week, and an SUV like that for about $450 if you try booking with a more reasonable leadtime. I would not count on getting it for what you paid in Hawaii, when you include insurance.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 06:17 AM
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Further off topic:

Even a federalized system is not going to even out regional differences in costs and laws of supply & demand, and economies of scale. It costs more to rent a car in some parts of the US than others, including parts that are no more than 100 miles from each other.

Anyway, it seems rather a moot point since the eurzone looks rather unlikely to last, and possibly the EU will disappear with it.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 06:56 AM
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The highest prices we pay for a car rental in Europe are always in Italy because of the insurance requirements. We have rented a car in Nice and also in Switzerland to tour around Italy, much, much cheaper.We always return it to country where we picked it up. If you are renting an automatic transmission, your price may be double that of a manual transmission.
It is way too early to be booking your car for next speing. When ready to book, talk to the staff at Autoeurope in Portland, Maine and they will answer your quesrions and concerns.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 07:21 AM
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" and possibly the EU will disappear with it."

The way in which the EU has handled the huge migration issues has negligent.
The way in which the debt crisis was handled was pathetic.

At times it seems that the EU only functions for the benefit of the elected and non elected individuals who milk the system in Brussels and throughout the EU.

Car hire timing :

For the first time in 25 years, we left the booking to a week before arrival in Spain. Normally we book when sorting the flights out (6 months in advance).

Out of interest we checked AE for booking three days before departure, there were deals for small cars in Malaga for £20 a week.

But this (as ever) clearly proves nothing.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 08:30 AM
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Thank you all so much. I needed confirmation that I should wait, and I am glad to hear that it is fine to do so. I may even book with Auto Europe at some point a little later, but continue to check prices.

I do realize that the Hawaii rental isn't comparable, but given that I literally just booked it, it was hard to see such a big difference in prices. I booked it through Costco, so it was a really good deal and even included an extra driver for free (although, in the U.S. I never add insurance since I already have it).

The rental in Italy that I quoted above is manual. Also, we are heading straight from Venice to the countryside (an agriturismo outside Siena) so I really do want to pick up the car there.

Thanks again everyone.

Daria
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 08:32 AM
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Also, the quote that I got from Auto Europe didn't break out the one-way fee, so I don't know how much it is. Usually it seems like their site adds it on later after quoting you the base rental price, but this time it was not even an additional add-on, just included. Perhaps because of the sale it was already included.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 09:27 AM
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Kemwell usually has better prices than Auto Europe. I called Auto Europe (main office in Portland Maine) and they explained why but it didn't really make sense, and 'why' didn't matter. But they are 'sister' companies, apparently their offices are across the street from one another.

When Kemwell uses Europecar (the actual rental company, Kemwell and Auto Europe are just booking agents) the prices are often half what they are through Hertz or similar.

The problem is Europcar is not available in every town. Going through Kemwell's site I got nothing putting in San Remo, but when I changed to Genoa I got an all inclusive rate of $247 for a 4 person car. So for $500 saving you could drop the car in Genoa and take the train to Nice.

Do be aware that all the companies charge extra for a second driver, the past few years it's been about €10 per DAY so does add quite a bit.
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Old Sep 27th, 2015, 07:27 PM
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Thank you! That's interesting. I tried too and the cheapest I could get was $536 on Kemwel dropping off in Genoa (given that we will have 4 people and 4 suitcases and need a big enough car). There were cheaper cars, but they were too small.

Also, I will need to look at the train options from Genoa because with two kids and who will each have to deal with their own luggage, I don't want to have to change trains a lot. But, thanks so much; I will look into it.
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