Can I rent a car in Florence and drop off in Rome? Any car rental that offers this?
 

Hi Guys! Need you help again! We are traveling to Rome and taking a train (during the night) to Florence. We would like to rent a car in Florence and return it in Rome. We could rent from Rome and return in Rome but we consider it a waste of $$ since we won't need the car for those days. Why rent a car anyhow? Let's just say we enjoy driving, viewing the countryside and stopping wherever want. One of our quirks! Thank you!!!!!

Ingrid

This is exactly what we did. We booked through AutoEurope but I'd imagine any rental co. will do this. We loved having a car but dropped it off immediately upon arriving in Rome which worked out great!

We did the same with AutoEurope. We picked up in Rome at the end of our stay and eventually dropped off in Venice.

I'm unclear. Are you talking about driving for several days with the car? Or just picking it up for one day's drive to Rome? If so that is a bit of a problem as Auto Europe usually has a three day minimum. Hertz or Avis may do a one or two day if that is the case.

Patrick we just wanted to pick up the car in Florence and drop it off in Rome the next day.

Ah, that's what I suspected. I think AutoEurope is out, but you might double check. We did a one day rental once from Hertz though. And also did a one day from Avis (but that was in France).

We used Auto Europe last year in France, but I'm having trouble with an Italy rental in March.

I'm trying to pick up in Orvieto on a Monday and return in Florence on Saturday. The site is telling me "we are not able to show any airport locations for your request" (in Orvieto). But I'm not asking for airport location.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I tried what you're doing and got a "no cars available" also. Perhaps there isn't a location for pickup in Orvieto? Just pick up the phone and call them 1-800-223-5555. I don't mean to laugh, but you sound like me. Have we forgotten about the telephone in this age of computers?

No..ha, ha. Not forgotten, I just thought I remembered it being a toll call to Scotland, Ireland, somewhere. I don't think they had an 800-number last year. Thanks for pointing that out.

Hi Jevers,

what not save yourself the trouble of dropping off a car in the crazy Rome traffic and just pick it up in Florence, toodle around Orvieto, etc, drop it back in Florence and take the train to Rome?

Regards,

Melodie

Hi thanks....we really wanted to drive during the day from Florence to Rome. Like I said one of our things, we enjoy driving around. Guys I also called Thrifty because on their site your could select the pick up location in Florence and the drop of location in Rome but when I tried to book it it could not be done. I called Thrifty and the clerk did all the same stuff I had already done and could not book it either, she didn't understand why she couldn't do it and could not give me and answer either. :-S

I'm renting for 5 days in Feb., but had the same problem at the Thrifty site. I'm trying to pick up Rome, drop off Florence.

Best price I've found is at Alamo....they beat the pants off Nova. And I don't know what's gotten into AutoEurope. They're not even in the ballpark.

I'm not disputing you JeanneB, but are you comparing apples to apples? AutoEurope's rates only come up with full insurance (which is required in Italy) and full taxes. I got a bit excited when I brought up a great rate from Avis even, but when they added the taxes and the fees and insurance it was WAY over AutoEurope's total rate.

You had me curious, JeanneB, so I've been playing on the Alamo site. To be honest, it does look like a pretty good deal, but I've compared two possible rentals I've already gotten bids on from AutoEurope in Italy and both companies are virtually the same. The only difference is that AutoEurope seems at first glance to be about 15% higher than Alamo, but their quotes are in US dollars as opposed to Alamo which are in Euro -- so again, they are about the same.

There is also a disclaimer on the Alamo quote that says "only taxes, fees, and surcharges are subject to change". I'm not sure exactly what that means, as AutoEurope guarantees the final rate as exact.

Well, of course, you're right! I didn't notice it was in euros. :(

Alamo's just $10 less now that I've done the conversion. AutoEurope also says there may be a "one way" charge that won't show up until finalizing the reservation.

I'm not ready to finalize, but there's probably not much difference in the two, regardless. Thanks for setting me straight.

I've also noticed that while the AutoEurope quote goes to zero deductible, the Alamo rate shows an additional 15 or so euros a day to reduce the insurance to that level. And, while the AutoEurope site says a one way fee may be applied, a simple call will take care of that. It is true that on site a change of country fee will not show up, but will be added. Although within Italy, I doubt that will happen, at least it hasn't with my quotes.

That difference of dollars to euro is a tricky one. Quite a reverse of a few years ago when the conversion rate was quite the opposite.

Incidentally, I got very intriqued by your post and ended up calling Alamo about one of my rentals to confirm final pricing to see if it could save me much. But after being on hold for over 20 minutes for their international division (no, I'm not exaggerating), I gave up. My experiences with AutoEurope have always been too good to abandon them now for a possible (but doubtful) few dollar savings.

Patrick:

I agree about Autoeurope. We've had good experience with them, too. I'll probably stick with them this time.

I'm going to wait until early January to reserve, since we won't be needing a car until Feb 25th. Maybe the rates will go down some more in the off season.