There is so much experience on this board, I'm sure someone has an idea!
We want to rent a car and drive from Barcelona to Venice but the drop fee is awful! The drop fee from France to Italy isn't much better.
Is there any way to avoid picking up and dropping off THREE cars (and not taking advantage of a longer rental period) and taking trains/taxis over the border with luggage- especially considering I'm one of the baggage impaired!?
We're driving over a period of about 10 days.
TIA!

I recommend you contact AutoEurope and talk to them about leasing a car. The minimum period for leasing is 17 days--you can turn it in earlier. YOu'll get a brand new car, and ALL insurance is included. You will be met in the arrivals lounge of the airport and you will drop it off at a designated location at your departing airport. By the time you add up all the drop fees, or rental fees and hassle of 3 cars, it may be wiser and more convenient to just lease a car. Ask about short-term leases

Thanks, McGuire.
I'd actually thought of this, but the 17 day minimum rental and drop only in Milan AND a cost of almost 2000K it was prohibitive.
Other thoughts?
Or is this a lost cause?

Train as far as Genoa to get the car.

We recently travelled from Barcelona to southwestern France, so encountered the same drop fee issue for those countries.

Our solution, which worked very well for us, was to take the Talgo train from Barcelona to the first station across the border in France that had rental cars, Perpignan. The Talgo train runs twice a day, and was pleasant and relatively fast and efficient. Of course, you could ride the train further into France, but if you intended to drive in France, you could do what we did. The Perpignan station is large enough to have several rental agencies, but small enough that it was a very short walk from the train to the rental office (which is in the station).

On another trip, we traveled from Italy to France and encountered the drop charge issue there, as well. I couldn't come up with a train schedule that got us from where we would be, to where we were going, without a huge amount of hassle, so we sucked it up and paid that drop charge.

We hired a taxi to take us across the border from Portugal to Spain from our
Portugese rental car drop to Spanish rental car pick up. It saved us approximately $900.

Two thoughts. 1)I have requested that they "try" to get me a car with plates from the destination country so I can take it home for them and avoid the drop fee. That worked one time on Germany to Switzerland. 2) Contact Bob Bestor at Gemutlichkeit Travel Gemut.com and see if he has any better ideas for you. He has gotten us the best deal on rentals several times. If you go to his website it looks like you have to subscribe to his newsletter to deal with them but you don't.

Hi W,

Good advice from AS.

It is very difficult to avoid the drop fee.

What is your itinerary?

As I mentioned in the OP, we'd like to pick up the car in Barcelona, drive the Costa Brava and Cote D'Azur, on to Bellagio with a night or two in the Veneto before Venice.
Not something easily done by train!

Hi W,

I'm afraid that the best that I can come up with is 3 3-day rentals.

Have you checked with www.gemut.com?

welch, would you mind telling us just how 'awful' the drop fee is?

(Maybe, just maybe, pro-rated over 10 days, it might not be that bad - that is compared to the other alternatives.)

I agree about Gemut; you can reach Andy Bestor (Bob's son) @ 800-521-6722.

You mentioned that you hoped to drive the Costa Brava. On our trip, to avoid the drop charge (as I recall, it was about $400 extra, but don't quote me on that!), we actually, as I said, took the Talgo train from Barcelona to Perpignan, which is about 1/2 hour's drive from the border of Spain. We picked up the car in Perpignan at noon, then drove BACK into Spain and spent the afternoon/early evening visiting Girona (adorable little city) and Figueres (loved the Dali museum). We spent the night in Figueres, then drove the French rental car back into France for the rest of our trip.

It sounds convoluted, but it worked out just fine.

I am in a similar quandry--it sounds like the drop fee can be avoided if returned in the country where the car was rented, even if it isn't the same city? Is that correct?

sorry--quandary.

I was quoted a drop fee of over 1000.00USD to pick up the car in Spain and drop in Italy. Pick up in France and drop in Italy was over 400.00USD.
The train into France is a great idea, although we plan to stay in Palamos, which is 125 kilometers back into Spain and the train tickets appear to be about 200.00USD for the two of us - as well as taking gas and tolls into account.
There just is no perfect situation (except having more $$ at my disposal!).
Generally there is no drop fee within the same country and it used to be the drop fees weren't this prohibitive.
I will get in touch with Bob Bestor to see if he has an idea.
Thanks so much for all the suggestions so far!

Wow! That IS awful.

But logical, when you stop and think about it. The car has to be retrieved and returned to its place of origin and registry...

The country of origin plate thing never occurred to me, but makes sense.

I received quotes on Avis and Budget for $200 for drop fees--it is cheaper than your quote, you might want to check them if you have not.

My thought is the same as yours--the train is $200 for 2 people each way (I am looking at Brussels/Paris) The drop fees for both are the same--it is just so painful to pay on a $65/day car.

I just checked with Hertz and was quoted a 755E drop fee! Haven't checked Avis yet but assume it will be the same.
Cherrybomb- where were you picking up and dropping off the car you were quoted the 200USD drop fee?

Pickup Brussels/drop Paris. Try Orbitz or Continental--I got the same prices and searched several sites to see if I could avoid a fee. This is for December, if that makes a difference. Not high season?

Same drop fee on Orbitz!