In planning our trip to Italy in mid July renting a car seems to have fallen through the cracks. The problem is finding an automatic drive rental. No one seems to have them. We are picking up two cars in Venice (airport) and dropping them off in Genova a week later. Actually we would love to drop them off in La Spezia but that seems even more difficult!! Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

try hertz - you can rent from their website here and the types of cars available at each location will be displayed; regardless of the agency, you'll pay about double for an automatic. plan at least $100/day

US-based auto rental brokers that deal with multiple local agencies (and obviously get lots of request for automatics):

autoeurope.com
europebycar.com

Both get great feedback here.

Check other threads and be careful. Many have complained that although promised an automatic, when they got there there was just only manuals available. See if they will "guarantee" and automatic. I know on our lease rate the price would have been 30% higher for an automatic.

My solution would be to plan a trip using trains and buses instead of driving.

But if you are determined to drive and, like me, can drive only an automatic, I think the best thing would be to try to take some lessons in driving stick shift before you go. Italy is my favorite country to visit, but, for reasons way beyone our control, things in Italy very often do not go as planned. Therefore it's best to have alternative plans or simply to be prepared to enjoy whatever surprises you may experience. Reserve an automatic, but don't be shocked if the car you reserved is not available--not returned, broke down, not written in the book, never existed, isn't really automatic, etc. If you've taken a crash course in stick shift before vacation, then, if you MUST have a car, but no automatic is available, at least you'll know how to drive the stick shift.

Hi! We just returned from Italy this week. I was looking for an automatic as well as I can't drive a manual and wanted to help my new husband with driving. We opted for a manual as automatics were expensive. I did find automatics at autoeurope.com. Good service and offices everywhere....just pay attention to what times the offices close. They will close the office whether you are there to get your car or not - regardless of the fact that they have your money. (they do ask you to prepay - which may be your guarantee for an automatic). Good luck! They have offices here in the U.S.

You can also try Nova Rentacar at http://rentacar-europe.com/ We used them last year in Germany and were completly satisfied. There were no surprise charges when we picked the car up or dropped it off. A nice, new automatic transmission, A/C Opel station wagon through Alamo.

Pisa is not far from la Spezia - drop off at Hertz at the Pisa Airport is very easy, and their website gives full details on what cars are available - including automatics.

Hi roboron

We are using autoeurope and picking up our (manual) car in La Spezia and dropping it off at FCO in Rome 9 days later. Why can't you drop off in La Spezia??