Patty

Planning a trip to Tuscany and have been reading posts on this board about expensive car rentals in Italy. I just accessed some sites and $300 a week for an automatic that accomodates 4 people is not that terrible. Have never done this before. I must be missing something. Please help me, what charges am I missing?<BR><BR>thanks for your help

Rex

I hope this is a serious question - - if you really have found a quote of $300/week in Italy, you have found a VERY good deal - - be sure it includes the taxes and mandatory insurance requirement(s).<BR><BR>I can't find anything nearly that good on www.kemwel.com ($480 is the lowest automatic) - - nor on www.autoeurope.com ($593 to a phenomenal $2997). I have also cited www.its-cars-hotels.com as a good source - - but they show no automatics in Italy on their website right now.<BR><BR>Might it be that you have stumbled upon some of the phenomenally low rates from www.thrifty.com right now (as low as 82 euros for a 2 person manual)? As far as I can see, they do NOT offer automatics at any of these very low rates (which range up to $387).<BR><BR>Some more info would be of substantial interest to many people on this forum.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Bob

MUCH cheaper to rent the car in Germany or other northern European Country and drive it to Italy.

Patty

Thanks Rex. This is a serious question. I was accessing auto rental prices through AOL travel and they were not including the taxes or insurance which is considerable. I went to the autoeurope site and the lowest automatic I found was $600 including most of the tax and insurance, but not all. I'll consider brushing up on my rusty manual shift skills. Also will consider Bob's advice to rent outside of Italy. Thanks again

Walter

Patty: I'm certain that the AutoEurope prices for Italy include all taxes and full-coverage insurance. The only other charge is paid at pick-up and that is an Italian road usage tax $2.45US per day.<BR>If you can drive a manual transmission the mid-size Alfa 156 for a week would cost $340 plus $17.15 tax. I've rented twice from AE and the price on the website was for everything except road tax in Italy and a Athens city tax ~$5. Also I would call AE a few times before I rented and see if they are having any specials. Last March I rented a mid-size (Alfa 156) but got a free upgrade, meaning they charged me for a Compact rental. Regards, Walter

Mike Miller

Auto Europe will probably always be your best deal because they are a wholesaler. Last time we rented from them, we picked up the car from Avis but Auto Europe had much cheaper prices than Avis. It does include full coverage. I got a great deal on an Audi Wagon for 11 days for $340. I had to pay for it in advance. Make sure you call them and ask if they have any specials. Also, if you can drive a stick, it will save you because most cars in Europe are manual transmission.

Sherry

Patty. I have been looking for a rental for late April in Italy and am coming up with $500 for a compact automatic per week when checking with Auto Europe and Hertz. Auto Europe tells me that most of their automatics in Italy are rented with Europecar and it is too early for them to have received price quotes for the Spring. Hertz tells me that I should wait until January and things will start to come around. For a long time, neither sight would even tell me that automatics were available. Remember there is a premium to rent at an airport.

Wayne

Patty--<BR>I certainly agree with the other people on this site that you should not, if you can help it, rent a car in Italy. I always rent in Nice, Zurich, or Munich when traveling into Italy, depending on my Italy destination. Prices are lower by as much as half. Usually, Munich is the lowest cost, and it's only a half-day drive from there into northern Italy. Of course, the trick is to arrange your itinerary to allow you to circle around and return the car where you rented it. Otherwise, you do have to pay a drop-off charge; but for rentals of ten days or more, you will still generally come out better financially if you rent outside of Italy.

Patty

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions. I will explore all the alternatives and need to set my priorities. I'm in my fifties (very active) and on a budget, but do I want to drive a half day from Zurich into Italy and then back to save $200? I have to think about it. We're planning a two week trip, half driving, half train (at least at this point). <BR><BR>thank you also for the tip about not renting a car in the airport - one site said it was an extra 12% charge. Wow!<BR><BR>This board is the best. Thank you everyone!

JOdy

Also find the very lowest price you can, then call Autoeurope back, they will usually met the price!<BR>I had a great price from Avis, Autoeurope wanted $200.00 more, then I called them back gave them my Avis price and reservation number and they came within $50.00 of the price. I stuck with Avis but it is useful to know if their price is higher you can get it changed to a lower quoted and reserved price.<BR><BR>twice I have had to leave my car in a place different than I had planned, once because of floods in England, and once because we were held up by an road accident in France and just dropped it off at the nearest place so we could make our train, and Avis gave me no grief whatsoever.<BR><BR>Like you, I feel sometimes a few more dollars is worth the extra time you would have to expend driving in from further away.

Costanza

How about $770 for three weeks from Auto Europe for a stick-shift VW Golf, all taxes and insurance included?

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Get your " Italy" rental car in Lugano if you start in CH--easy and cheaper.

MH

Something to think about is if you rent in another country you may find that there is no easily accessible roads from germany to Italy. The St. Gotthard tunnel fire has closed the only tunnel from switzerland into Italy. Supposedly they are going to reopen the MOnt Blanc tunnel sometime at the end of this year. Your 1/2 day drive could well cost you several days of your vacation not to mention additional costs of gas, food on the road, etc. At this point the law of diminishing returns is at work

Alec

MH, There is Brenner Autobahn which remains open and is usually the quickest way from Munich to Italy, though it's not much good if you are coming from the south-western area near the Black Forest. From Switzerland there's Simplon rail-shuttle service and St Gotthard is expected to open in a matter of months, not years like Mont Blanc.

MH

I just drove from Kaiserslautern, Germany to the amalfi coast and we did go thru the Brenner pass, it is very time consuming and cost us a day of addtitional driving. I have yet to see any news of the ST. Gotthard tunnel reopening since 30 feet of the tunnel roof collapsed.

DANGER DANGER

DO NOT, DO NOT, rent from Thrifty in Italy as their insurance (which you MUST buy) does not cover you if you have an accident that does NOT include another vehicle. In other words, if you blew a tire out and crashed into a tree and ruined a fender etc you ARE NOT covered for one cent by their insurance-ONLY IF ANOTHER CAR IS INVOLVED. This is bad bad bad so DO NOT RENT FROM THRIFTY IN ITALY...never never never never.

ron

I used Hertz while in Tuscany last week. I needed aN AUTOMATIC AND HAD IT FOR 4 DAYS. The cost was roughly 300 with all insurances etc. I paid airport pickup fees also since i got it at Florence airport. Drove all through Tuscany and especially Chianto region. Really beautiful at this time of the year with the fall colors out. Gas is as you know quite exp. cost is rougly 4 a liter. Driving in Italy is a expierience in itself if you haven"t done it. Watch out for the the blinf turns. More than likely a car will be in your lane by 4 feet even thogh there"s a white line.

Keith

We just returned from Italy and rented a car through Sixt Rent A Car for $36US a day, unlimited miles, four seater Fiat Pronto (?), was a stick but very easy to use. Great little car. We rented it for 6 days and added complete insurance coverage for $75 for the week.<BR>Try www..car-rental-italy.com.<BR>Enjoy! You're in for a real treat! The region is beautiful!