the true cost of car rental
 

In terms of budgeting for transportation, I'm wondering what people's car rental cost experiences have been in Europe. I realize that will vary alot depending on how much people drive, but on average, when rental costs, taxes, parking costs, insurance etc has been paid, what kind of costs are realistic, for say, an economy, but not totally bare bones car, with moderate driving involved? I'm wondering if people have found a rough rule of thumb to figure out daily costs, such as multiply the daily base rate by a certain number to find out final overall car costs.

Depends in part on whether you drive on fairly expensive toll roads like many autoroutes are - esp in Italy and France. Parking costs are about $30/day in tourist meccas but free in smaller towns - so there are variables on what kind of roads you take and what kind of towns you go to.

way too many variables -- are you traveling in areas w/ tolls? or vignettes? Diesel or petrol? Stick or automatic? Multi-country or not/drop off fees? Full coverage, or using your credit card for insurance (and is that even an option in the countries you are visiting)? Total mileage (since fuel costs are very high)?

and most importantly the type of car - small, intermediate, large?

>>and most importantly the type of car - small, intermediate, large?<<

the one criteria the OP mentioned was the type/size of car . . .

What country do you plan to drive?
You can Google the cost of gasoline in a particular country.

If you have an itinerary then you can kind of guess the number of miles you will drive.

I don't know how you will tell how many miles your car will go per liter of petrol.

I find that cars in Europe seem to be easy on gas. Maybe that is just my perception. I also always rent an automatic which is not as easy as a stick, I believe. I am also able to sometimes snag a diesel and that will save you.

Too many variables.

I dont' think this is very easy to asnwer, but you could do it yourself fairly well by starting with the cost of the car rental itself, that's the bulk of it. And include insurance with it, if you want it.

I pay about 50 euro a day probably (car, insurance and gas), but I rent a small automatic and I am not talking about parking or toll roads because I only rent a car when I'm in more rural areas. I do pay a little parking once in a while at a lot in a city I'm visiting, not enough to add up. I don't drive huge distances so the gas doesn't amount to that much, either. I haven't gotten diesel. Even the automatics I've rented have gotten very good mileage (so does my automatic at home, a Civic). That's in France.

To tell you the truth, where you are renting makes a huge difference, the country, exact location, and furthermore exact dates. It can vary all over the place for any of those reasons.

We find renting a car in Italy more expensive than, for example, France. It varies.

It doesn;t work that way.

Rates vary tremendously not just by level of car but also

Which country you rent in - rates AND taxes are different

Distances you travel - and rates for gas also vary

Where you pickup and drop off - drop off charges can range from zero to $500

If you are staying in the countryside, where yuo will usually get free parking or in larger towns, when you can figure $30-$40 per night garage (and cars make no sense in large cities)

The only way to find out is to contact agencies for rates and figure out your approximate mileage in advance. All of the info is available online - but it will be a spreadsheet project - unless you just decide you want to rive and don;t care about costs (this is how we do road trips, but always using Hertz from whom we get a very special corporate rate)

The UK is very cheap - a small car can be as little as £10 a day, and even the Audi I had last month was only £19 a day. However, you might be charged extra for baby seats, sat nav etc.

Rental firm insurance is optional - a waiver could be around £18-£20 a day. But you could source your own insurance instead to save money. Or you could take a chance and not buy insurance and be prepared to stump up the excess/costs should an accident occur. (I am assuming here you have comprehensive cover on your own car that allows you to drive any other vehicle with 3rd party cover)

Everywhere will take a security deposit of some sort even if it's just for fuel (minimum around £60-70) and possibly a couple of hundred if you don't have CDW, depending on the company in question. This is released if/when you return the car and the fuel tank is full and/or there is no damage.

Most european rentals will be diesel and have decent fuel economy.

and lots of folks driving in Italy report getting tickets for driving crimes they did not even realized that they committed - like driving in the no-drive zones in many city centers - know the local laws and signs for these zones because if you enter a camera will snap your plates and months later you may get a hefty fine notice in the mail.

Rental fees also just about double over time like airfares. Make a reservation 10 months in advance it might be $220 a week, but can be double that at the last minute.

You can avoid paying for extra insurance if you have a credit card that covers this, and can avoid pretty much all parking fees with planning. If you are in CA then your home USA car insurance will cover nothing in Europe.

To answer your question: A fancy minivan in France (Picasso) with a lot of distance driven ($80 in tolls) plus one speed camera fine ($100) was $80/day. A full sized car in the UK with automatic transmission and a lot a distance driven was $50/day. These were both without extra insurance and very minimal parking fees, and reserved at least 8 months in advance.

>>You can avoid paying for extra insurance if you have a credit card that covers this,<<

Not necessarily -- depends on the country.

>>Make a reservation 10 months in advance it might be $220 a week, but can be double that at the last minute.<<

Or - sometimes last minute bookings are discounted . . .

And RM67's post is valid for UK based people renting in the UK. I have rented scores of cars in the UK and only once ever was charged a deposit (and that was because it was a last minute/walk up booking) Normally when one pre-books from overseas there are no deposits - though they do take an imprint of the CC 'in case'.

We have been to Europe four times in the past two years, renting on every occasion. Average total cost has been between Canadian $40 to $60 per day. Spain was the cheapest, Belgium/Normandy the most expensive due to tolls.
Average total distances driven were about 1,600 kms.

I always try to book zero-deductible rates with pick up and return full gas tank, and stick to the major rental companies.


Out of the four rentals three were diesel, and two had a build in, and functioning GPS.

Mark

Some of the following is repetitious.

There has been a rash of electronic tickets across western Europe.

Many US credit cards cover the CWD in most of western Europe but few cover Ireland.

Learn how to drive a stick, you will save hundreds.

I was surprised how expensive gas was in Turkey. Check prices.

Cars are a burden in most European cities, but can helpful when visiting smaller towns.

Learn which countries have good to excellent bus and rail systems.

I am to the point where I am only going to rent when I absolutely have to. Between the fines and hidden costs (even when asked are there hidden costs)I am getting tired of it all.

>>Many US credit cards cover the CWD in most of western Europe but few cover Ireland.<< . . . or Italy.

It is impossible to generalise and the issue also depends on your country of residence.

As a UK residence I can rent a small car for a week in Spain for £100 in high season, the cost in Norway can be 4 times that amount. Costs vary depending on your country of residence.

Insurance is also a large issue.

In Italy, hire costs are increased due to the high insurance costs as generally Italians haven't a clue how to drive safely.

The word was "generally".