car rental

Try EconomyCarRentals, Auto Europe, and Kemwel for a good price. They're brokers - they'll hook you up with various companies, some of them local Croatian companies. My last visit in 2015, I booked a car through EconomyCarRentals and got on with a company called Oryx - picked up in Rijeka, dropped in Zagreb two weeks later. Before that, I rented with Sixt directly. Check around.

The key thing is to make sure you know what the collision/comprehensive insurance will cost.

Also, if you plan to cross a border out of Croatia, that may incur an extra fee. FYI, if you drive from Split to Dubrovnik, you must drive through a tiny section of Bosnia called the Neum Corridor. You cross the border twice in a short time, so technically you are leaving Croatia and must have the proper insurance card (which may cost extra - varies by the car company). Some companies have special provisions just for Neum and may not charge you extra for that. You could avoid it by taking a ferry down the coast instead of driving, but I doubt that's worth the hassle for most people.

You could certainly drop the car in Split if your next stop is an island or Dubrovnik anyway. You can also take a bus from Split to Dubrovnik if the ferry schedule doesn't work out; there are lots of buses every day, takes about four hours I think. Some of the ferries are in fact catamarans that may not have great views or smooth rides, FYI.

thanks a lot....hvala lijepa....appreciate the advice