when to rent a car in croatia...
 

Hello clever travelers...

I need advise! I am planning a trip to Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro for October.
We will fly into Split, spend 5 days there and then leave for Brac and Hvar. After the islands
we plan to drive to Sarajevo, Bosnia. My question is when to rent a car. I don't feel we will need it in Split, or on the islands, BUT should we rent before leaving Hvar? Or is there a convenient place to
rent once we return to the mainland on our way to Sarajevo? (We will not go back to Split, instead we hope to take a more direct route to Bosnia) We will want to use the car for the remainder of the vacation and drop off at Dubrovnik airport on the day of our departure.
One other question, I have heard that some rental agencies charge heavy fees if you are taking the
car over boarders, if anyone has information about this and how to avoid these fees it would be
extremely helpful.

Hi! In 2006 we did a trip to Croatia ...mainland and islands but we had a sailing trip tacked on
We got a car from sixt ....was fine to take Montenegro but they didn't honour some expenses we incurred at the border despite reassuring us that it was included

Just be warned that u need cash..at least that was the case back then when crossing borders ..they wouldn't take credi or any other currency so do check well before you drive up to the borders

Parking is hard to find
We were lucky... Some locals would use their pass to let us take their spot in the old towns...sometimes we'd find a disused lot but there are quite a lot if restrictions and signs not always prominent
Our car got clamped in markaska riviera as we stopped for ice cream..the locals just watched bemused as we got out and failed to see signs
We had to call a number and a ranger came out ..we paid 28 aud to be released lol
I think it was difficult taking a car from Slovenia but again you need to check

Also we were advised not to take fancy cars as these were targets
We were advised to place a local newspaper or magazine on the dashboard and keep maps out of sight once we left the car
Again...this was in 2006


Roads are fine...in some parts there will be signs in Cyrillic alphabet but you'll be fine in Croatia
Kotor and its fjord is lovely...really nice drive right by the water

Have a good trip! The sights are gorgeous

We got the car from Zagreb airport and drove to plitivice, zadar then to trogir and then onto to Dubrovnik

Since Croatia joined the EU, the fee to cross the border into/out of Montenegro (also in the EU) has been removed. There was still some fee to cross from Montenegro to Bosnia last year when I drove through from Montenegro, though.

Last year, I rented a car in Rijeka, drove down to Kotor (after a few stops in Croatia), then drove back into Bosnia (stops in Tribenje, Sarajevo, and Jajce) before returning the car in Zagreb. I used EconomyCarRentals to get a car via a Croatian company called Oryx which has locations in major Croatian cities. The car I got was cheap and worked out OK except that I had some minor damage to the car, and my Amex card's "Premium Rental Car Insurance" that was supposed to cover it did not - they blamed Oryx for not providing them with the proper documentation afterward. Anyway, I suspect Amex Assurance (the insurance company) wasn't used to dealing with smaller companies and did the minimum amount to try to collect and I never got my claim paid. I also suspect had I rented with a Hertz or Budget that they would have paid the claim routinely, but the cost to rent the car would probably have been 2X or 3X what I paid (only about $12 USD per day with Oryx).

(Click on my name to read my trip report from last year.)

Otherwise, driving in Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro was easy. I'd recommend a car when driving in Montenegro so you can stop along the Bay of Kotor at viewpoints - the views are amazing. I basically parked the car for three days in Sarajevo and walked to get around.

I'd rent the car as soon as you get off of Hvar - maybe even go back to Split and rent it there, even though that is backtracking, unless it is faster to take the ferry down to Dubrovnik somehow and rent it there. I suspect it may be easier just to back to Split but not sure. You might be able to rent in a town on the mainland at some other town between Split and Dubrovnik, but for practical reasons it may be easiest to rent in a major city.

If you book with a broker like EconomyCarRentals or Kemwel, you find out the name of the car company after you book; then you can figure out what the fees are. Oryx charged me something like 40 Euros to drive the car out of the EU (into Bosnia) - they told me that after I emailed them. Other companies may show the fees on their website. If the fees sound like too much, you can cancel the rental within 72 hours of pick-up, I believe - I canceled a few times with EconomyCarRentals before committing to one.

I trust you realize that you can use public transportation to get to Mostar and Sarajevo? You can get a preliminary sense of your options on rome2rio.com (but be careful -- it isn't always complete or accurate).

Thank you very much Andrew! Your input was very helpful!
Have you heard of Makarska? It looks like it may be a place the ferry from Hvar may dock perhaps?
There is a rental agency there. I am also not sure why there is such big differences in prices, some agencies are in Euro and are MUCH more expensive. I looked at Vista and Auto Europe...huge differences.

Yes, I stayed one night in the town of Baska Voda, in the Makarska Riviera, a few years ago. Didn't use the ferries - but if you can confirm an off-season ferry schedule in October and also a car rental reservation there, maybe that would work for you. Again, I would still compare the times and prices to picking it up in Split, even if that means backtracking. I don't think the catamaran back to Split takes that long. Check Google Maps to see the driving distance from Split to Sarajevo. (The drive from Mostar to Sarajevo is really beautiful along the river, though - it would be nice to take that route at least in one direction if you can.)

Even though the Kuna is the official currency of Croatia, many agencies will quote prices in Euros just because they know foreign tourists can relate to that price; they might not know the exchange rate with the Kuna. Some hotels quote prices in Euros, too, even though they expect to be paid in Kuna. It doesn't really mean the actual cost is going to be higher or lower.

Split, as a bigger city, is probably going to have more car agencies, more competition, and lower prices, I'd guess, than in Makarska, which is a resort area.

For some reason, AutoEurope was reluctant to rent us a car to take from Croatia to Bosnia and back but Kemwel was fine with it. You might give them a call, explain your situation, and see what pick up locations they offer.

Should be no reason to call anyone. This is a standard type of rental car reservation in Croatia. People do it all the time. I certainly didn't have to call anyone to rent a car via EconomyCarRentals last year and drive it into Bosnia. Just book it online. If one website can't do it, try another.