Crossing Italian Border with a Rental Car
 

My family is going to be visiting Switzerland and Italy in May and will be renting a car in Zurich. My question is "Will it be a problem to cross into Italy's border with a car rented in Switzerland? My husband is going to have his IDL with him, but wasn't sure if we would run into any issues." If someone could please let me know their experience, I would really appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Thanks.

When you rent the car you have to tell them all the countries you will be driving it in and they will make sure your paperwork/insurance is valid in all. No problem at a border crossing, but nice to have in case of an accident, ticket etc.

You need to check with the rental company about the fee for driving the car into Italy if they have one.

The borders are now open between Switzerland and its neighboring countries - Switzerland has become a signatory to the Schengen agreement. So you will not have to show ID.

There is a catch, however - Switzerland has not joined the EU, so they still do random checks for goods in cars that cross the border since only full membership of the EU would mean elimination of customs.

But it is not something to worry about as long as your rental contract allows for taking the car across the border and you don't fill up the trunk with, say, cigarettes or other contraband. Ordinary personal belongings and travelers' luggage and a day's supply of food etc. causes no problems.

Italian law sez that you have to have the International Driving Permit. You probably will not have to show it ever, but if you have a mishap and a law enforcement person asks for it and you don't have it, the grief could be worth more than the $15 or so it costs you to get it.

Buy it only from the AAA - there are scamsters who will sell you something like it, but only the AAAA is authorized - the long URL for the application form is

http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpapplc...t=%22_blank%22

- the short version is

http://tinyurl.com/8pnc9b