laurie_ann

Hope to have a two week trip one week southern France and one week northern Italy. Any suggestions how to best split the rental car between the two to avoid a large drop off fee for another country? Likely will arrive in Marseille and depart Venice. A good suggestion where to drop off first car in France, cross border to Italy and then pick up another car in Italy? Or any other creative suggestions how to arrange.

HappyTrvlr

Look at a map and then at AutoEurope’s website. . Choose towns near the border and check on AutoEurope to see if there are rental car drop offs/ pickups. We did this going from Porto, PT to Galicia in Spain. We hired a driver for 150€, less than the 1000€ drop fee we were quoted, to drive us to a town with car rental pickup.
It was easy to figure out with a map and AutoEurope’s website.

StuDudley

This is old info - mainly because Covid has changed the field of play

- You are required to purchase CDW insurance in Italy if you pick up the car there. It is a requirement "by law". Not so in France (I let my CC company provide it). Some CC companies cover the car while in Italy if you pick it up in France - others won't. So if YOU pick up the car in France and your CC company will cover it while you are in Italy - the cost for insurance you would have had to purchase if you picked up the car in Italy, might be more than any drop off.

- We did this in reverse once. Pick up the car in France, drive it to San Remo Italy, pick up an Italian car there & pay insurance, drive both cars back to France (maybe Menton - we swapped in Monaco), return the French car there, then head to Italy with the Italian car. No drop off fee - but you had to buy insurance in Italy.

Stu Dudley

Traveler_Nick

Simplest is to drop the car in Nice. Take the train into Italy. Pick up at your next stop.

Put if you're going to Venice do you really need the car in Italy?

Have you decided where in Italy and for how long?

laurie_ann

We haven't decided specifics but idea was to spend some days between Marseille and Venice with a car, still deciding where. One idea that might make just as much sense given the drop off charge is spend a few days Marseille, pick up the car for a few days in Provence, drop it back at Marseille, fly to Venice, a few days in Venice, and then a few days nearby with a car again.

mjs

Car rental rates were very high in Italy when I checked in August for September. $1875 for a compact in Italy vs $825 in France for similar car.
Most credit cards also do not cover rental car insurance in Italy. Drop off fees may be less than the increased costs of renting in Italy.

StuDudley

""Venice, and then a few days nearby with a car again""

We've never been impressed with the Italian countryside close to Venice. If this was my trip, I would take the train from Venice to Verona and stay a couple of nights there. Get your countryside "fix" in Provence. See attached

Stu Dudley

Michael

Italian rentals were always higher. But since the pandemic, French rentals have gone up considerably, to the point that it may be worthwhile for the OP to lease a French car which can then be taken to Italy as the lease includes a comprehensive insurance, and pay the drop off fee, which used to be $150 to $175 for a car dropped off in a foreign country. My impression that leases are no more expensive than rentals, but they usually require a three week rental period.

NeoPatrick

Look at AutoFrance, where you can pick up a brand new Peugeot in Marseille and drop off in Venice with no drop off fee. This is a lease program only good if you are from the US (and maybe Canada?)-- but just like renting a car. Normally they are better for longer leases, but they do two weeks and it may be cheaper than the two separate rentals plus all the arrangements of that.
https://www.autofrance.net

KTtravel

Once you have figured out your plans, I would call AutoEurope and price the various options: keeping one car the whole time or doing two separate rentals.

HappyTrvlr

We enjoyed exploring the Veneto, the area outside of Venice, , Vicenza, Padua, Bassano del Grappa.
Many examples of Palladian architecture.
It is so easy to drop car off in Nice at airport, go into city proper and get train to Italy to pick up another car.

laurie_ann

Thanks for the suggestion Patrick. Venice does not actually appear on their available cities but Milan does, so maybe that will make sense and train to Venice from there. Any plusses or minuses you think getting the lease through AutoFrance over AutoEurope (they both offer a lease with Peugeot and AutoEurope also offers Renault and Citroen).

Sassafrass

When is your trip? I would plan the exact itinerary I wanted, then figure out how much a car is necessary.
Are you planning some really out of the way places?
You mention Marseille for few days. Do you have a special interest in Marseille or family or just landing at the airport, so thought of staying for logistics? That airport serves Avignon, Aix and Marseille.

I do not recommend driving on arrival, but since you want to tour Provence, perhaps pick up the car and stay in or near Aix the first night. if you have to pick the car up in Aix, then do that the next morning. After a good nights sleep, do a loop drive of sightseeing, drop the car back in Aix or near the airport (I do not know what is possible here). Fly to wherever is convenient in Italy, where you may or may not even need a car. With so much to see easily in both Provence and Italy, I would not do the drive between countries. If you lived in Europe and already had a car, sure, but to rent one to make that drive, no.

You can land in several places and make it work for Northern Italy: from Pisa to Bologna to Venice to Milan, perhaps more. Decide first what you want to see, then look at flights, followed by trains, then car rentals. Where is your departure airport? You need your last night near there.

NeoPatrick

OOOps. I checked to make sure that Marseille was on the list, but didn't check for Venice (because I know it used to be). As to the comparison I'm not sure -- I've only done the lease through AutoFrance, not AutoEurope. -- probably 7 or 8 times, but generally for at least a month up to four months. They used to have a 17 day minimum but I believe it is now just a two week minimum. There is a tool on the AutoFrance site that you can actually pick your dates, locations, and car you want and get a price. The last time we did one with them they also offered a free GPS (in English) that they actually sent to our home in the US a couple weeks ahead so we could pre-program addresses and routes. Another bonus is total insurance included.