Car hire vrs AutoEurope

good to know thanks was unsure of their prices three days in italy in a slightly bigger car (by european standards) will cost 266 inclusive of the mandatory insurance and taxes 88 dollars a day is a bit steep but perhaps that is not unusual for italy.. need to try and compare costs

I have rented through AutoEurope (they are a consolidator) three times and leased through them once. I have always had a good experience and gotten good prices. The fact that you are renting in Italy and renting a larger car probably accounts for the higher price. Also, the longer you rent, the lower the daily amount tends to be. I would get the smallest car you can get away with. If you can't drive a stick you will pay a lot more and will probably get stuck with a larger car.

Price out AutoEurope and then price out Hertz.com online. In Florence, chances are that AutoEurope's going to have you pickup the car at Hertz anyway. See which is least expensive. You have to be careful when renting cars in Europe. Even some of the big U.S. named rental car outfits have European partners that cause big problems. See Rick's Graffiti Wall for some details. That's why I stick with AutoEurope or Hertz.

I've always used economycarrentals.com and have no complaints. It, like autoeurope, is a broker and finds you the best deal available. So far, they have been the cheapest whenever I've done a comparison, and I will be renting through them again in May for our next holiday.

I read on Trip Advisor that it's a good idea to compare prices on Auto-Europe.com (the US site) as well as its UK site -- www.Auto-Europe.co.UK I tried it, and found the identical car for about $100 cheaper on the UK site ($285 vs. $188) -- and the UK site had lower deductibles. If you have questions and need to talk to someone, you can call the US number and tell them you're paying in British pounds, and they will transfer you to the UK desk (avoiding an expensive phone call). Evidently they're next to each other, both actually in the US. I haven't finalized my rental yet but thought I'd pass this along.

Always holidayautos.com for me when travelling to Italy! I find autoeurope are slightly cheaper to France though

I normally try a half-dozen options, then go with the best overall deal. I haven't used or shopped carhire, so I can't give an opinion on them. You're supposed to have an International Driving Permit in Italy. It's essentially a translation of your driver's license. You can get them for $15 at AAA (bring a couple of passport photos or pay extra to have them take some). I've never been asked for mine, but I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around.

also try www.autoeurope.eu

Last year, when we drove in Spain I rented from AutoEurope.eu. We usually use AE.com here in the States for all of our EU rentals. They are awesome. Yep, I got the car for a lot less money...........but when you sat down and did the math, there was not that much in savings. What really looked good was the price for the car with "complete" insurance. The only problem was that they did not insure the glass and the tires. But we had no problems with damage, so it was no big deal. The real problem came with the policy regarding filling up the tank. The contract said that they would charge to fill the tank(it did not say how much), and then I should "bring it back empty". Have you ever tried to bring a car back empty? I still had at least 1/4 tank when I brought it back; so I lost out there. And the price they charged me to fill the car was 40% to 50% higher than what it cost me to fill it when I almost ran it out of gas. And they gave me a gas wagon rather than a diesel that I had requested. Next time I'll go back to AE.com Barbara, one more trick to keep the cost of your rental down. Go to the AE.com web site and fiddle with the "pick-up" locations. Sometimes taking a short cab ride to pick up your car can reap huge savings. Train stations and airports add huge fees to rental costs; here and in the EU.

Bets, good point. The "pay up front for a full tank of fuel and bring the tank back empty" was something that the rental agency (Gold Car) stipulated in their contract. Not something that AutoEurope.EU was pushing. And it was ispelled out in the contract; but the excessive charge was not. I'll stick with Autoeurope.com here in the States. I've NEVER had any problem renting a car in the EU when I used their services. I guess it just boils down to one thing: READ THE CONTRACT! CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Barbara, Are you aware of the usual "issues" regarding driving in Italy? If not post another note for further information. Be especially careful to avoid the ZTL areas in Florence! You might be better to rent outside the city. Happy travels!

thanks for all the advice.. we want to rent away from the train and airport in Florence but do not know where to request as we don't know the city... if anyone knows of where we can rent outside of downtown that would be helpful