Which rental car company to use for trip to Tuscany?
 

We will be renting a car at Rome airport to drive through Tuscany in July. Which is the best rental car company to use?

I rented a car last year for ten days from Hertz to drive from Milan to Como to Tuscany. They had better rates than Budget. I was given a good-sized Toyota SUV, which made me feel more secure on the autostrada with cars passing me at 120 mph.

Comparison price with AutoEurope (www.autoeurope.com). They are a broker based in Maine and booked us the best rate with Avis, picking up at the Rome Termini and returning in Florence at the Borgo Ognisanti office of Avis. Their price included full insurance, which is mandatory in Italy. We prepaid it in dollars, but was fully refundable if we had canceled, and the Avis people were all very nice and helpful. No surprise costs, even though we had a small encounter with some walls and dented up the car.

We always get prices first then let the rental companies compete with each other. We've never paid more than $290 for up to 2 weeks rental in England, Spain, France, or Italy. We've also made reservations under my name and my husband's name for 2 different car classes. If they give us a free upgrade for the lesser class, great! If not, we still have another car reserved. Sneaky? I guess so, but effective.

We rented a compact car for the first week in June through AutoEurope. The hooked us up with Europcar (?), and the price, prepaid, including all taxes and insurance, is $282. We’re picking it up in Rome, driving to Siena for a week, then returning it in Rome, where we will stay for another week, sans car.<BR>

We also used AutoEurope. It was reasonable & easy and their service was great.