I am traveling to Tuscany with five friends and we want to rent two cars for getting to & from the airport and for sightseeing day trips from our Villa. I was going to go through AutoEurope as I've heard their rates are best but I was informed by them that their suppliers in Italy charge on average $8 (Canadian) per secondary driver per day of the rental. If we all wanted to be able to drive at some point during the week that would add up to an additional $32 per day, which makes it very expensive.

Any suggestions for companies that don't charge/don't charge as much for additional/secondary drivers?

The other thing we are trying to decide is do we need two cars or should we just get a mini-van/bus that we can all travel in together. This does not offer as much flexibility but it means we can all ride together, which we will want to do sometimes so we can have a designated driver. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks very much!! K

We asked them specifically in Munich and were told there is no charge for extra drivers with Sixt.

My husband is a frequent "driver" with National for his job. When we rent for vacations, they add me as an extra driver for free, even in Europe. So maybe somebody in your group has some such connection.

As for the van vs. 2 cars, I think you're better off with 2 cars, even if that means you will need 2 designated drivers on occasion. Cars are easier to manipulate around narrow hilltown streets. And with 2 vehicles, you could split up and go to 2 different destinations on a given day. Otherwise everybody has to agree on a destination or stay home.

We rented through Nova and had a second driver for no charge.

Hi K,

I booked through
http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/
for France.

The second driver is free.

I suggest all drivers get an International Driving Permit from the AAA.

see http://www.aaasouth.com/travel_drivers.asp#idp

We are renting in Italy through AutoEurope (car is actually from Europcar), and they said that the additional driver charge was US$6.20 per day, but that it was capped at US$75 per rental. You might want to check to see if there's a similar cap on your rental.