Renting a car in Italy
 

I am spending a couple of days in the countryside in tuscany after being in Florence for a couple of days. I would like to rent a car on the outskirts of florence somewhere and then return it somewhere a little north of Rome. <BR> <BR>As you can see, I'm trying to avoid having to drive in the cities. <BR> <BR>Any help would be much appreciated. <BR> <BR>-Gary

Have you tried contacting rental agencies to get rates? We don't know what you have/have not tried yet. I used AutoEurope and rec'd great rates. They use an Avis on the outskirts of Florence that's easy to drive out of. You may want to do a search on this forum for other agencies that were used by other posters.

Gary, we used Avis and had no problem driving around Tuscany. You need the freedom of a car in Tuscany to experience it. Drove a small Opel and it was fine. Make sure, though, you get as much coverage for car and contents. You never know when you'll find yourself in the narrow streets of a walled city and have to reverse out of the place (like we did in Cetona). We found driving in Florence a bit more nerve wracking than Rome. Maybe you should start and end your rentals from the airports? Take the autostradas when you need to zoom to a new place; the tolls are reasonable and the time you save from the superstratas can be significant. ciao.

I have rented cars in Italy, Germany, Englad amoung others and have always used Kemwel. They broker cars and guarantee the lowest rates. I am going to Spain in June and am getting a car for 12 days for $193 including tax. They are greatto deal with and you should give them a try. The last two times I rented from them I git my car at either natioanl or eurocar. Good Luck. Their number is 800-678-0678.

It's very easy to pick up a rental car in Florence and drive it out of the city--we have done this; you don't need to go out to the airport to pick it up. Suggest you contact AutoEurope for a Florence pick-up and Orvieto drop-off. Oriveto is on a main train route into Rome. You may want to plan to stay a night in Orvieto. In fact, this is exactly what we're going to do on a trip in October.

How much would it cost (generally) to rent a car for 2 days in Tuscany (Florence)? I would need automatic transmission and am trying to get an idea of the prices.

Go to www.autoeurope.com (I'd guess that's the url) and get a quote from them. They'll give you a quote that's good for like, 3 months before you have to reserve. Or try using expedia or one of the other travel provider sites to get competitive quotes.

Typical is $150 for manual. $450 for automatic (slightly bigger car). Good reason to learn manual. <BR>

Sent in a request to Auto Europe a few days ago. Quoted a price of $205.77 for a 3 day rental (pick-up/drop off in La Spezia). <BR> <BR>This is for a mid-size Alfa Romeo 4 dr, manual transmission and price includes unlimited miles, CDW, theft & 20% VAT tax. Didn't ask about cost for automatics, however it appears to be at least twice as much.

Gary: I assume you're going into Rome after the drop-off? If so, drop it at the FCO Airport and take the train in. Good signage to the airport and to the rental car drop-offs and no added charge for an airport drop. 20 min after I pulled into the above ground parking lot across from the airport I was on the train to Rome (lucky timing:). The drop-off locations (in the B & C parking lot, I recall) and the train station are attached by a (moving) walkway. HTH Regards, Walter <BR>

We just returned from Tuscany. We picked up a great Opel Astra 5-speed at Avis in Florence and drove to Siena, Montalcino, Cortona, Perugia, Assisi and back to Florence. It's very easy to get out of Florence, but HELL to get back in. Try to leave your car in Siena and train to Rome - even paying a TAXi from Siena would have been better than tryin to drive into Florence!! The Tusacn countryside was GORGEOUS, and the twisty, fast driving is fun for the driver, but not alwasy for the passenger. Trying to follow the signs can be nerve-wracking - do your homework very well first about the signs and where you want to go. Nearly everything takes a little longer than you'd think. You can have a left arrow and a right arrow on opposite sides of the street pointing to the same city - after going the wrong way several times, we realized two opposite arrows sometimes meant GO STRAIGHT! We rented from AutoEurope online and had no problems at all. Book ahead - they're aren't very many automatics availbel and they do cost more, but I wouldn't recommend that new-to-stickshift driver be the driver in Italy. Have fun!

Sorry for the typos!

Try Maiellano Travel (1-800-223-1616). I haven't used them yet, but I've found their rates to be very good. They use Hertz, I believe.