Croatia car rental - favourite/least favourite?

Trudie,
I am renting a compact car in Dubrovnik on 14 Sep and will drive in Croatia and Slovenia, dropping in Zagreb on 20 Sep. I am renting from rentacarlastminute based in Croatia. reasonable price (240e) with unlimited mileage. I will let you know on 28 Sep how it went. Always cheaper to pick and drop in the same country. Huge expense to leave in another country.

I have not experienced car rental prices changing much when using Auto Europe. However, you will have to talk to someone to get an accurate quote for a car that's allowed to go into all those countries. When you get most of the way through an Auto Europe booking, you'll see the box to indicate what other countries you'll drive in. You can hold that reservation, without adding a credit card, and then talk through the details.

Trudie,

I share your confusion. I too am trying to plan a trip with a rental car driving in Mostar, Croatia, and Slovenia. I have had difficulty finding what the extra charges would be (I am trying to balance extra fees for dropping off in a different country vs time and cost of dropping in Croatia and taking train to Slovenia and then renting another car there). Will you please let me know you experience when you get back? I don't leave til next spring. Sorry I don't have good info for you.

Kaye

We just got back from our EE trip. The car rental from Last Minute went just fine. I picked it up in Dubrovnik, drove up the coast into Slovenia and then dropped it in Zagreb where we caught the train to Budapest. 230E for 6 days. we were lucky and got a free upgrade because they were out of the economy cars. The pick up and drop off were easy. Car ran fine. No hidden fees, the price included ins with $1000 deductible. You can check them on the web (they only have offices in Croatia). Buy driving to Zagreb to caught the train we avoided the exorbitant outside country drop fees. You could drop in Zagreb and train to Ljubljana if you are headed to points north. Almost anything is cheaper then paying those drop fees. Good luck.

Thanks so much Casey. Good to know that worked well. I think we are going to pick up in Dubrovnik and drop off in Rovinj, then take bus from Rovinj to Ljubliana to avoid those fees. Did you go into Bosnia? Hope it was a great trip!!

Kaye

We just returned from Croatia and Slovenia. Used Economy Car Rentals (had used them in U.S. and in Ireland in the past with good results), but actually picked up car from Fleet Rentals (guess they contract with them) at Zagreb airport. Returned the car after 12 days and paid only $180! This was HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than other rental agencies. Maybe that's why Fleet's line was longer than all the other car rental agencies at the Zagreb airport. Car was a Skoda -- about the size of a VW Golf. It was very comfortable and got good gas mileage. No problems with Fleet and would definitely use Economy Car Rentals again. We drove it half the time in Slovenia and half the time in Croatia and returned it to Zagreb airport. Paid $31 in advance when we reserved it a month in advance. That money is refundable if you have to cancel -- then paid balance when we returned the car.

We had a similar experience with economycarrentals.com. They are a wholesaler so you don't know the actual rental company until you get your confirmation. We have used them in the past in different countries with no problems. We just returned from a 4 week trip to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and used them for a 3 day rental in Slovenia and a 14 day rental in Croatia. We had different rental companies for each car. With the rental for Croatia, we specified we would be driving out of the country. They provided the necessary documentation and delivered the car to us in Rovinj. We drove through Croatia, BiH, and Montenegro before returning the car in Dubrovnik. There were no hidden fees as everything is spelled out in the on line rental information and voucher. As stated, you do pay a deposit but it is refunded if you cancel. We had no problem with either car rental for this trip.

You are correct that prices may change and there may be different reasons for that. If you're looking in dollars the exchange rate may have something to do with it. Also it may just be supply and demand as each individual rental company may adjust their rates based on the cars they expect to have available. We usually start checking prices months out and if we see a price drop we book. If prices remain stable for a while we also book as they may as easily go up as down and with economy car rentals, if the price drops we can always cancel and rebook.