starrs

"...can I be sure to get the IDP on the spot????"

* Yes. It will take less than an hour, depending on how fast your folks move and how much they chat. We chat a lot 'round here.

"To be clear, I want a car with built-in GPS and although I agree that most new cars save the smallest, cheapest models, the AE website will not guarantee them until you reach certain categories."

* You are asking for a "guarantee" for something that is built into the car.

"If you have tons of extra time, you can punch in my dates and see if you come up witih anything else (I do not expect you to do that, as this is my issue and I need to do it)."

* No. Hard pass. I think your "glitch" is the misunderstanding of GPS.

I am as shocked as you are, believe me.

* I'm only shocked that you can't find a rental car for less than $4K. Your GPS requirement has to be the reason. I think you are misunderstanding the GPS part of it.

"As I mentioned, any rental car automatic transmission with GPS inside is fine.....the ones you and others have mentioned do not guarantee a GPS inside the car. Yes, I know that all new cars.Suburu, etc etc, have them, but who knows, maybe the rental agencies buy the least expensive models without GPS."

*That paragraph makes zero sense

Book an automatic for your dates. Just that. An automatic.

Take your smartphone with you. Use the GPS mapping system you are familiar with.

When you get there, PLUG in your phone. Viola! Your automatic rental car has GPS navigation and you don't have to touch your phone.

Advanced step = Connect your Bluetooth and you don't have to plug in your phone.

Not convinced? Book a rental car near you right now - just for the day. Book something other than the super cheap model car. Follow the above steps. Test it yourself.

Cars COME with GPS navigation. You want a "guarantee" and IMO that's what's causing the $3K gap. Why guarantee something in a rental car that is standard in 2 year old or newer vehicles?

If you were looking for a rental car with a cigarette lighter, THAT would be a challenge. They don't build them anymore.

New cars come with GPS navigation. Perhaps the super cheap ones do not. I don't know but every rental car I've rented (and I rent a lot of rental cars) have GPS in them. Use the factory installed GPS system in you like the one they use. If you don't, plug in your phone and use yours instead.

starrs

Read this link again -
https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/10/aut...ion/index.html

(assuming you read it earlier)

"Many cars now have systems like Android Auto or Apple CarPlay that "mirror" the phone's applications in the car's computer display screen. That allows the phone's easy-to-use navigation system to essentially act as the car's navigation system with the map displayed right in the dashboard screen. That should provide an easy solution to these problems, said Stephens, but many car owners with these sorts of systems aren't even aware they have them."

IF by chance you rent a super cheap rental car that doesn't have a dashboard screen, just prop your phone on the dash and listen to your phone's turn by turn commands. Your SO can look at the screen if he wants.

You don't need a "guarantee". Your rental car WILL have GPS.
You are paying $3K more because YOU are demanding a "guarantee".

If you still don't trust the system and you show up with a super cheap rental car with no screen and no GPS, you're still fine. Plug in your phone. You still have GPS navigation.


My phone propped up because I didn't want to set up the destination using the car's navigation system. For reasons outlined in the article. I did later in the trip when I had more patience. 99% of the time I just use my phone and don't connect in rental cars. Easier. Faster. I'm often in town for less than 24 hours.

Or spend that extra $3K for your "guarantee" and be done with the search.

ekscrunchy

I cannot thank you enough for taking all this time....I don't even know how or where to plug a phone into a car! (I do iti in my own car but that is an Audi)...do ALL cars have the ability to do this?

Sorry but I am really far behind on the tech highway, as a friend once told me..I thought that I had caught up somewhat but this is kind of beyond me...but I do have time to ask around with my neighbors here,, and to try to practice your advice. Are you saying that ALL rentals cars have a screen?????? Please forgive the ignorance......I thought I was an experienced traveler but obviously, NOT!


Ask me where to eat in the wilds of Basilicata, or in Mpumalanga, but when it comes to this technical stuff, I might as well turn in my credentials and hit the road on foot!

starrs

I haven't been in a rental car in the last few years that did not.

ALL have the USB port.
The new cars also have the C port.
Almost all have the old fashioned "cigarette lighter" round port.
Bring your phone and a variety of cords. Make sure you have the ones that plug into one or two of those ports. Then your phone is plugged in. You don't have to hold your phone. The image on your phone's screen will be mirrored to the screen on the car's dash.

After I posted that photo I realized why I was using my phone's map instead of the car's dash. I was listening to an Audible book and I like to quickly go back 30 seconds if I want to.
99% of the time I don't connect to the dash all. I just use my phone. Just like I do in my car.

That's why I said to rent a car nearby for a day. Or go to.a friend's house. Go to several friends' houses. Practice. If it's a 2* year old car that isn't a super duper cheap car, it's going to have the functionality you want.
*Older cars too. My point is that rental car fleets are 2 year old cars. 4 and 5 year old cars will have ports, but definitely rental cars.

You are asking for a "guarantee" and I have NO idea how the car rental companies are doing that. Maybe it's an item on each model's listing and they only see that for certain models.

But your $4K quest for a "guarantee" sounds like a quest for a unicorn.

I can't imagine a rental car in a current fleet NOT having built in GPS navigation.

But if by a one in a million chance it doesn't, you can STILL use your phone as your GPS.

ekscrunchy

Starrs, while I thank you very much for all the time you have taken on this thread, I do take umbrage about your comments that I may be "humbly bragging" (your post of August 12) about wanting a nice car that we are familiar with driving. While we have been in communication for years on this forum, I think that your comments was not only mean, but it shows that you do not "know" me very well. Do you really think I am "bragging" about being able to rent an upscale (NOT luxury) car? (The cars in question are in the "mid-size" category on AutoEurope.

And "humbly bragging" at that? Have you read any of my trip reports here? If so, please show me where I "brag" about anything.

You should know that having a car delivered to a hotel or B&B is not free and is not a favor offered to someone renting some kind of Ferrari or the like; it comes with an upcharge, obviously, and if you read my itinerary plans and the inability to rent the car in Salerno you would understand, perhaps, why AE suggested this option to us. I've never had a car delivered but it is not such an unusual thing. I am trying to make the trip easier for my partner who just had major surgery. Neither of us are as technologically adept as you are, nor are we as familiar as you are with driving foreign roads. Your suggestion to rent a car in my hometown is a good one, if only renting a car in my hometown did not cost a few hundred dollars per day. And I am not in the habit of asking friends to "borrow" their car to practice, as good as your idea sounds in theory.

So forgive my ignorance and thank you again for your time. I will handle things from here and sure all will be well. As I said, this is a big trip for us and probably among the last we can take where we drive ourselves, so if we have to spend more on a car it will not do us all that much harm. Saying that, I am sorry I brought up this thread in the first place.

starrs

I'll ask for my posts to be deleted

Keep in mind we only know what you write. This is the first time you've referenced a mid sized car. You said an Audi was not acceptable. We only know that only a $4K rental is suitable for you and it will have to be delivered. No mention was made of you paying for that service.

So much for the time spent in trying to be helpful.

"Borrow" as in sit in the front seat of their car for 5 minutes to practice plugging in your phone. You could keep the door open if that makes you feel better. Plugging your phone in a different car seems to be a hurdle for you and it was a suggestion to help you practice before your trip. Plugging in your phone in other cars really is a simple task.

ekscrunchy

Audi is the car I wanted from the start...please show me where I wrote than an Audi was not acceptable.....if I did write that, it was in error. It is the car we drive at home and the car we always ask for. I cannot imagine asking for any car more "upscale" than an Audi.

As I mentioned, I do not want a phone screen....they are too small to see easily. In speaking multiple times with AutoEurope I was told that unless I asked for, and paid for, a car with GPS included, there would be no screen in the car in Italy, as it was a theft issue in that country. Can you imagine that I would not have rented a car with GPS included if it were a given thing?

Remember, we are not renting in Florence, where I think you rented once, but in the Mezzogiorno; perhaps theft is more of an issue, or the agencies are more concerned with theft in that part of Italy. You did a lot of looking around about auto prices but did you look at prices in the Mezzogiorno, for almost one month, with automatic, GPS, and no deductible?

That is what several AE agents that I spoke to over the course of the past few days have told me. EAch one of these persons mentioned that the issue of theft was the reason that an installed gps was more costly in those regions.

I've rented in southern Italy multiple times and have never had been offered an auto with a GPS screen unless I asked, and paid for this feature. The option usually offered is to rent a GPS from AE, receive it in the mail, and return it when finished with the rental.

Once again, I thank you for all the time you have taken with this (relatively minor) issue. There appears to have been some serious miscommunication between us in this thread. My original request was for a SMALL Audi automatic, with GPS installed.

Obviously, delivery from a rental agency to a hotel or other lodging incurs a cost, the amount of which I am still waiting to learn from AE. I am not sure why you imagined that delivery from an agency to another address would be complimentary.

starrs

"My original request was for a SMALL Audi automatic, with GPS installed."

Thanks for sharing that. I had asked a few times without a response.

"It is the car we drive at home and the car we always ask for."

That was what I was thinking had to be the case. What the "guarantee" was all about. You wanted a specific model and wanted to be "guaranteed" you would get that model.

As I said earlier - Aug 11th, 2023 at 06:30 AM. -
post #31
"Not to be morbid, but this may be your last independent driving trip to Italy. If it were me, I'd do exactly what I wanted to do and not worry about the "extortionate" price of the car I wanted and would spend the $4K."

I hope you have a wonderful holiday in Italy.

ekscrunchy

Thank you.

Christina

I guess it's just your decision as to whether some specific brand of car delivered to your hotel is worth about $3000 cost. It sure wouldn't be for me, I would never in a million years pay that ever. If I couldn't drive in another model of car of similar type car, I'd just rearrange my itinerary so I could do trains and maybe private driver somewhere if I had to (I never do that but I"ve read on Fodors some people do hire private drivers for a day or so).

As for GPS, talk about dinosaurs, I am one also even though I use computers for work a lot. My issue is modern smartphone stuff I don't like iot and only use a smartphone for occasional texts, updates and keep one in my car for emergencies. I have never used GPS in my life, believe it or not and have never owned a car with that or I would have tried to learn it, at least. I buy modest cars and keep them forever, my last one is a 2014 model (Honda Civic). Anyway, my point was that I driver everywhere in the US and have in France several times and have never used GPS and yet never get lost. I use maps, believe it or not, those paper things? Or I can vie a Google maps thing on my computer/phone , sure, for detailed routes if I have to. I have never gotten lost and get I know several people who got lost using GPS. I don't think I'd contemplate driving in any unfamiliar area if I couldn't read a map, to be honest, but especially a foreign country.

I also prefer automatic, but that isn't really the issue here as you can reserve that.

Good luck, I"d pass these ideas by your partner to see if they are on board to spending $3K for a certain model of car.

PS my uncle was traveling the world at age 88-90. He was quite a character. Now he didn't go alone at that age, but he still went on some trips abroad with his middle-aged son.

ekscrunchy

Christina, I am very familiar with using paper maps. I love maps of all kinds and am very familiar with using paper maps on my foreign travels. I was that rare breed of student who actually majored in geography in a pretty good college (summa cum laude, I might add); our classes included cartography and not only am I an adept reader of maps but I know how to draw them as well.. Hard to believe that such a major even exists today!

But using paper maps is not always easy to find particular exits, roads that may not have existed when the map was printed, etc etc. And yes I know and own, for Italy, both Michelin maps and the maps of the Italian Touring Club. It's a lot easier to follow spoken directions, even fi in Italian, from an installed GPS system, and thankfully, this price will not break us. How do you drive alone and manage to open one of those very large paper maps while keeping your eyes on the road? You must have skills that I do not possess.

If you read this thread carefully, you will see that for this trip, for my own personal reasons I prefer to rent ANY automatic car with an installed GPS and NO deductible. It does NOT have to be a certain model of car. I am pretty certain we will now just take the car upon arrival in Naples and drive it about one hour to Vietri upon arrival, rather than deal with delivery of the car.

Have you rented a car in the Italian Mezzogiorno?

The car I drive daily is a Volvo handed down from my Dad, who was an exceptional traveler; it dates from 1997. And yes, my partner, who will do most of the driving, prefers a SMALL Audi or ANY automatic car with an installed GPS and no deductible on the insurance. After much research on the matter, and some help from others, I now understand that $3,000 for almost one month in fairly remote areas of southern Italy is that terrible a price to pay for a car that the driver would prefer. That's a bit over $100 USD per day. My friend was in NYC last week for a funeral; he paid $400 PER DAY for a modest compact automatic car.

The issue is pretty much settled by now and I thank you for stepping in and offering your thoughts.

ekscrunchy

EDIT: Second to last paragraph should read that $3,000 is NOT so terrible a price to pay....

And, Christina, if you read through the entire, admittedly boring, thread, you would see that I did NOT request that a car be dlivered to my hotel. Since AutoEurope did not have the class of car we wanted in Salerno, one of their agents suggested to me that the Sorrento agency would have this type of car and that I could decide if I would prefer to book through Sorrento and have the car delivered to the hotel. I inquired about the price for this service and have not received a response.

For those of you that are unaware, there are many travelers who choose to go that route...to have the car delivered to their lodging. A close relative of mine does this all the time if she, for example, is staying in a small town and the agency is located in a large nearby city. I am not sure why some of you are surprised that car rental agencies offer this service. I've not done it, and will probably not do so on this trip, but I imagine the delivery price in our case would ahve been somewhere in the 100euro range. But I do not know for certain.

In any case, even though I do not like to get in a car and drive after disembarking from a trans-Atlantic, and then a connecting, flights, that looks like the best option for us at this time.

I did ask the Vietri hotel for the price of having their driver collect us at the airport in drive our rental car to the hotel, with us as passengers...we will see what they respond. (Surely I can hear the clucking about this last bit of information)......I hope this does not, yet again, constitute the "humble bragging" that I have been accused of, above.

Hey..big birthday for senior partner who just got through major surgery. We love Italy and will not have all that many more trips to take to that, or any other country, in future (yet, we do have next Sicily trip planned for next fall!!)

I am looking forward to this trip to a few fairly unknown areas of the country (have just been tasked with bringing back seeds of Senise peppers for a local farmer!!) Cannot wait.....

It will work out and if it costs a bit more than I had envisioned....all I can say is that I am much more fortunate than most in being able to take this trip in the first place. And as usual, will do my best to put together a report of our adventures!

Happy travels to all!

ekscrunchy

Adding this information in case any Fodor-ite may need in future:

Price to deliver car from Naples airport to hotel in Vietri Sul Mare (southern end of Amalfi coast): 120euro.
This may be of interest if there are people who choose NOT to get into a car and drive after coming off a trans-Atlantic, or other long, overnight flight.

Delivery is NOT relegated to a "fancy" car; any rental can be delivered by EuropCar or other supplier. Price depends on the distance driven by the agency person who is tasked with the delivery to a hotel or any other site.

ekscrunchy

WHAT I HOPE WILL BE THE FINAL UPDATE! (I imagine no one else is interested in this long,convaluted tale)

To Starrs: Apparently, yes, most cars in Italy come with GPS screens included. BUT, unless you pay for the GPS, the agency disables the GPS and you are left with a blank screen. Again, this has some connection to theft in southern Italy, according to the n'th person I've spoken to at AutoEurope.

SO...I was transferred to the "VIP Prestige desk," because, again according to AE, I have rented from them so many times. (Humble bragging, yet again!) Who knew that AE has a Prestige VIP desk!?!?!

Lovely agent in Maine, upon my asking about using an agency other than EuropCar, took about 1 minute to find me an automatic "1-class" (??) BMW with GPS included and guaranteed. There is a $2,000 deductible and this is not covered by any credit card, within Italy, due to, according to the AE agent, the preponderance of theft and accidents.

Price is approximately $1300 for 21 days, plus $160 for the use of the installed GPS. Awaiting the confirmation voucher...a lot better than the $4,000 or so first quoted!

We will pick up the car at the Naples airport and drive it about one hour to our hotel in Vietri.

So since we will do this immediately after alighting from our flights from the US, look out for radio bulletins for traffic jams due to clueless American female driver holding up traffic along the autostrada between Naples and the Vietri turnoff!!!!!

ekscrunchy

Update is that all worked put fine. Pickup from Sixt in NAP. Drive to Vietri. Audi with GPS. Diesel. Waze more accurate than car GPS in some very out of the way rural areas of Molise and the Gargano. Drop off luggage at hotel in Fiumicino town.

Drive to FCO. Tricky to find drop off point. Little signage. Drop off on 5th floor of multi story garage. Liked Sixt!!

From FCO taxi 20 euro to hotel. Driver asked 30 but I refused to pay that so we rode in taxi van with another couple bound for hotel near ours.