Picking up rental car in Rome
 

We'll be staying in the Piazza Navona area, and will be taking a taxi to wherever we pick up our rental car, and then heading to Umbria. Would Termini or the Villa Borghese location be better and/or less hassle? Or is there another place that would be better?

(We'll be dropping it off at FCO before our flight, so I don't need a place that's easy to get back to, just easy to get out of.) Thanks!

Dreamer,

I've only picked up at the Villa Borghese location, but it was easy to depart Rome from that location. And if I am remembering correctly, the prices were cheaper there as well, compared to Termini.

Thanks. Prices so far are equal. Any other opinions?

Have you ever driven in Rome? We dropped a car off at Termini (against many recommendations from fellow Fodorites) and it was a nightmare. We will never again drive in Rome!

I'm not sure about the Villa Borghese location, but I don't recommend Termini. Who knows though, maybe navigating your way out of the city is easier than finding a location in the city.

Good luck!

Here's what I do every time.

Take the train to Orvieto (one hour trip) take the funicular up to Orvieto Alta, lunch at I Sette Consoli (my favorite in Italy) take the funicular back down to the train station, cross the street to the Hertz office and proceed.

No hassle.

We picked a car up on Via Cipro. I think it was a Europcar office....we rented through Auto Europe and selected the location based on their advice.
It was a very easy drive out of Rome to the Autostrada.

We rented a couple of times at Termini. Had no problems getting out of town and on the Autostrade. Much easier driving out of Rome than driving into Rome and trying to find a specific location.

We dropped off one time at Villa Borghese - hubby wanted to try his hand at driving in Rome. Really wasn't that bad except that we had trouble finding the rental car drop off - it is actually underground but the signnage telling you that wasn't very good. I'm sure your taxi driver will know that so shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't that difficult to get from the outskirts to the Villa Borghese.

We dropped off a car at termini and had no problems at all. It was in the later afternoon, but before rush hour. Driving in Rome, especially near the historic center is horrible, but we found access to t=Termin frmo the autostara was pretty straight forward.

We picked up our rental car at the Borghese location.

We did get slightly turned around leaving the car park (we took a right instead of a left)
because we didn't listen closely enough to the rental guy who gave us directions.

Once you leave the car park, which I think is two left turns, you turn onto Via Salaria and stay on it. It leads right to the A1. We would rent from this location again in a heartbeat.

Plus, you can say you drove in Rome, which my Hubby brags about whenever he can. :)

We also dropped the car at FCO, again without any problems.

Good luck!