Car Rental Return in Rome
Jan 30th, 2006, 02:07 PM
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Car Rental Return in Rome
We are renting a car for our 2 week honeymoon in Rome and while we are landing in Rome and picking up the car there, it is actually our last stop in our trip. My travel agent said that it's very hard to drive in Rome and that it will take hours to return the car there as opposed to going back to the airport and dropping it off there. Is this true? It would mean that we would have to take the car back to the airport, get back into the city of Rome, and then head back out to the airport a few days later when we leave the country. Any other suggestions? Any other hints for returning the car? Thanks!!
Jan 30th, 2006, 02:22 PM
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We too listened to all the horrendous reports about driving in Rome and decided to drop the car off at the airport. However, we didn't know where to drop off so spent an hour driving aimlessly around hoping the drop off zone would jump out at us. We finally found it in the multi storey car park, you actually have to enter into the carpark under the boom gate etc. If we had know that in the beginning it would have been a fairly painless excercise. We then took the train, thinking we were saving money and then a cab from the train station to the hotel, who ripped us off royally. All in all it would have been cheaper to have taken a limo which could have been hired on the spot at the train station. You live and learn!
We had friends who drove in Rome and in three days had clocked up 150E worth of tickets from driving down no entry streets out of sheer desperation to find their hotel!! Remember the drop off zone is in the multi storey car park!! Confirm with your car rental when you pick it up where to drop it off.
We had friends who drove in Rome and in three days had clocked up 150E worth of tickets from driving down no entry streets out of sheer desperation to find their hotel!! Remember the drop off zone is in the multi storey car park!! Confirm with your car rental when you pick it up where to drop it off.
Jan 30th, 2006, 02:30 PM
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Here's a suggestion that many people on Fodor's have found to be helpful. Drop your car off in Orvieto, spend a night or two there (very worth it), and take the train into Rome, about an hour away. Type Orvieto into the search box at the top of your page and many messages from the archives will appear in the left-hand column.
Feb 2nd, 2006, 08:26 AM
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schnauzer: I've read other posts like yours of people having a hard time returning a rental car at the FCO Airport, so you're not alone 
.
IIRC: It is a very easy mistake to make just by missing a single sign.
Well before you get to the airport there is a sign that lists what letters (A, B, C, D, and maybe E) you must follow to get to the different airport locations.
So if you don't know that you have to follow say the letter 'D' there are no other signs to direct once you get within the airport complex except the A, B, C, D, E signs.
Regards, Walter
.IIRC: It is a very easy mistake to make just by missing a single sign.
Well before you get to the airport there is a sign that lists what letters (A, B, C, D, and maybe E) you must follow to get to the different airport locations.
So if you don't know that you have to follow say the letter 'D' there are no other signs to direct once you get within the airport complex except the A, B, C, D, E signs.
Regards, Walter
Feb 3rd, 2006, 07:00 PM
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We picked up our rental car at Stazione Termini and returned it there after ten days in Tuscany. Our experience was different from others I've read here about problems locating/ entering the parking garage. The car was double parked outside the station when we picked it up and the Europcar rep told me to double park it in the same location when I brought it back.
As it developed, it was evening rush hour when I returned it and the street outside the station was jammed with cars. I couldn't imagine just leaving the car parked in the street blocking traffic so I parked it in the only open space-- the handicapped area adjacent to the sidewalk curb cut for wheelchair use-- and left my wife in the car to protect our suitcases and hopefully prevent towing while I settled up with the rental company.
The same clerk was on duty and I told him I'd left the car in the handicapped area. "That's OK", he said. After he checked me in, I got my wife and bags from the car; then thinking perhaps that he hadn't understood me, I went back and told him, you understand that the car in blocking the handicapped access to the station? He casually waved his hand and said, "OK, don't worry about it, it's not a problem".
My wife said that while she was waiting for me, a security guard and a policeman had each come out to smoke a cigarette standing by the car and neither had shown the slightest interest that we'd blocked the only handicapped access to that side of the station although she feared getting arrested at any moment. Apparently, handicapped violations are not high on the list of enforcement priorities in Italy.
The only problem we had returning the car is that our detailed map of central Rome did not show anything east of the station and the map from the car rental company did not show the station so there was a gap of several critical blocks not covered by my maps. After about ten minutes in heavy traffic, I was able to find our location on the central city map and had no other problem.
Coming from Florence, we took the GRA around the east side of Rome and took Via Tiburtina to the train station. It is a route with a minimum number of turns. I would not particularly like driving across the city from one side to the other.
As it developed, it was evening rush hour when I returned it and the street outside the station was jammed with cars. I couldn't imagine just leaving the car parked in the street blocking traffic so I parked it in the only open space-- the handicapped area adjacent to the sidewalk curb cut for wheelchair use-- and left my wife in the car to protect our suitcases and hopefully prevent towing while I settled up with the rental company.
The same clerk was on duty and I told him I'd left the car in the handicapped area. "That's OK", he said. After he checked me in, I got my wife and bags from the car; then thinking perhaps that he hadn't understood me, I went back and told him, you understand that the car in blocking the handicapped access to the station? He casually waved his hand and said, "OK, don't worry about it, it's not a problem".
My wife said that while she was waiting for me, a security guard and a policeman had each come out to smoke a cigarette standing by the car and neither had shown the slightest interest that we'd blocked the only handicapped access to that side of the station although she feared getting arrested at any moment. Apparently, handicapped violations are not high on the list of enforcement priorities in Italy.
The only problem we had returning the car is that our detailed map of central Rome did not show anything east of the station and the map from the car rental company did not show the station so there was a gap of several critical blocks not covered by my maps. After about ten minutes in heavy traffic, I was able to find our location on the central city map and had no other problem.
Coming from Florence, we took the GRA around the east side of Rome and took Via Tiburtina to the train station. It is a route with a minimum number of turns. I would not particularly like driving across the city from one side to the other.
