Car rental in Italy
 

Hello everyone! I'm reading your postings and see people renting cars very often. I need some advice.
I"m looking for the best way to rent a car for our month long trip to Italy (March-April). Last year we paid $450 (automatic) at Europcar for 1 week, and I made a reservation for it from US. Now we would like to have a car for 3 or 4 weeks, and I'm looking for some better deal than that. Isn't it cheaper to rent a car right there, at the local renting companies? And if it is can somedy recommend one?
Plus, I heard many times that renting car in Italy is the most expencive in Europe. How about renting car in some neigborhood contry - Switzerland, Austria or France. We don't have a non-stop flight to Italy, and we have to make a stop at some other country anyhow. Please share with me if you have some experience or info.
Thank you and advance.

With the amount of time you need your rental you would be better off leasing. We have landed in Nice for an Italian trip and leased in France. We went through www.autofrance.net.
You can lease a Peugeot . You get a brand new car with all insurances and taxes and airport fees includes. Its a great deal and we were very satisfied with the service.
Renault also runs a similar program.

For anything more than 17 days, you want to lease a car. You can do it directly through various companies, or through AutoEurope. You do NOT want to rent or lease from within Europe/Italy -it will cost you a small fortune. Arrange it in advance from the USA.

You also do not want to rent in a country other than Italy, as you will probably pay a hefty (many hundreds of dollars) drop-off fee if you leave the car in a different country from the one you pick it up in. Also, some companies may charge an extra fee for taking a car into Italy (where theft insurance is mandatory, whereas it isn't in some other European countries).

If you must have an automatic, your rental fees in Europe are always going to be high. That said, $450 for a week is about twice as much as we've paid for rentals of a mid-sized car in Italy. You should be able to do better than that with a lease.

What size car are you interested in /did you rent? Many european cars are much smaller that what you generally see inthe US. Leasing is the way to go - but to save money consider a standard and don't rent a car larger than you really need.

I really like AutoFrance lease plans. And yes, you can pick up and drop off in Nice at no charge. But now you can also pick up or drop off in Milan for $60, not a bad extra charge, particularly if it saves driving to Nice and having to get other transportation back to a major Italian city. Rome and other Italian drops offs are a whole lot more. Geneva is also an option for pick up and drop off with no charge.

Lena, AutoFrance features a brand new Peugeot 206 automatic for $879 for the first 17 days. That rate includes all insurance with a zero deductible. That may sound high, but for the next 13 days it is only $17 a day. So a total of 30 days is $ 1050 (or about $250 a week all inclusive.

I was slightly off on my pick up and drop off charges for MIlan. It is now $70. But again, there is no charge for pick-up or drop off in Geneva or in Nice.

We lease directly from Peugeot. Lease in France (Nice, perhaps?) and drive into Italy. We return to France and leave the car there, but my husband asked and they said there was no dropoff charge in most major European airports where Peugeot has an office. That would be most major European airports!

We use the 206 automatic and absolutely love it. We've used larger cars and they are more like American cars, but they are a little more difficult to park and to maneuver through the very narrow village streets you will find in Europe. I recommend the smallest car you can stand both for maneuverability and fuel cost.

As mentioned above, it's cheaper to arrange the lease before you leave the U.S. Do ask about dropoff charges as different firms may handle this in a different manner.

Enjoy your trip.

Thank you all for answering my question. I'm very new here and at first I posted my reply in a wrong way. Your info is really a big help. I would love to drive Peogeot 206 from Nice along the coast to Italy.
We are planing just to go by the wind for a month, and spend some time on South and about 10 days in a farmhouse in Toscana. I had no idea where to start looking for one. Reading your posts really cleared my picture very well. Thanks to all Fodorites for that!