Car rental - Romania

AutoEurope is a US-based consolidator. I've never rented in Europe but have been reading recommendations for AutoEurope for decades. It sounds as if its rates often beat the direct rates offered by the major companies it deals with, and it seems good about running interference with the rental company if something goes wrong. That's all second-hand information, though.

Other consolidators mentioned positively (but not as often) include Kemwel and Gemut.

I was really pleased with a two-tour of Maramures I took back in 2015. It wasn't a private tour; there were three of us plus the driver, who was a high-school history teacher. The tour was arranged through the Retro Hostel in Cluj Napoca.

https://www.retro.ro/retro-tours

It is not necessary to be staying at the hostel to take one of its tours. The difficulty for those of us who travel solo is that the tours run on demand, so they depend on finding one or two other travelers interested in seeing the same things at the same time. I doubt if they are often scheduled very far in advance. I stopped in when I arrived in town, told them what I was interested in, and was lucky that a couple of others had a similar interest two days later. I'm sure they'd be glad to arrange a private tour as well; the price might be comparatively reasonable. My tour was about $100 plus the cost of the B&B for one night (which was about $20 including three meals of home-grown/raised food--unbelievable). My B&B room was very comfortable but didn't have an en-suite bath. There were two baths shared by the three rooms, as I recall.

If I had it to do again I'd seriously consider the 5-day Maramures/Bucovina tour. I did take a one-day tour of Bucovina sold by a travel agency in Suceava. It was perfectly OK but not nearly as good as the Retro Hostel tour; the guide didn't seem as well-informed.

I took a lot of buses while I was in Romania and didn't notice anything to suggest driving would be particularly difficult; it just may not be very fast. There were lots of two-lane rural highways, but traffic didn't seem very heavy. As suggested above, the cost of living in Romania is low enough that small-group tours or even a car and driver might be surprisingly affordable.

I rented from Sixt but in Spain not Romania. They are an international company not local. I actually bought insurance online not from Sixt. Didn't have any incidents so don't know how well it would have worked but was cheaper than buying theirs.

We rented from directly through Sixt several years ago and were very pleased. We travel with a wheelchair so picked up the car at a hotel location in Bucharest. We took the most direct route out of time. No real issues driving in Romania, though it was slow going at times.

Sorry, I am not answering your car hire question, but please be aware that if it’s a hot, dry summer, then the Danube water levels maybe very low in September and the birding poor. Late September or particularly October would be better for migrating birds.

Thanks for the car, touring and birding advice.
AutoEurope does seem well reviewed and priced. If Sixt is okay, that's good to know. I used them in San Antonio, but that may be totally irrelevant for this trip
I am open to late September/early October for the Delta, but hadn't quite checked those weather details. Thanks Jennifer for letting me know. I was in Spain one drought year, and even in November, Donana delta was dried up. East side of the river offered rice fields, so went there instead. Thankfully the local guide had figured all that out. I'd look for a multi-day (3-4) bird trip in Danube Delta, I think. They seem affordable.
Thanks acraven for the tour details. I like the hostel tours, though only took one - free in Quito, Ecuador. It was well done. I'll check out the area.
The car will most likely only be if I decide to do more in the region of Danube Delta than a tour. It is an extensive park, so no buses and I'll want my independence. I am happy with public transport otherwise. Slow is fine. sometimes it is slow enough for me to birdwatch from the vehicle. I am easy to entertain :-)

Have you seen the PBS Danube Delta episode of Europe’s New Wild? Very well done, as always on PBS. We’ve had very good luck with Autoeurope in several countries, but never in Romania and our one rental with Sixt in Germany was perfect. Safe travels.

@Denny, I'll see if I can get the PBS show elsewhere. I don't have cable and haven't turned on my TV in 9 years. But I suspect I can find it somewhere. Thanks for the car experiences.
@Ufkak, it does seem a lot of the delta is not road accessible, and the last 'towns' are some way away from the actual final output, but even inland there are places to drive and see birds, often at a slower pace than an organized tour. I would also include a local multi day boat-based bird trip. One goes all the way to the Black Sea which would be something for me.

Our Romania trip was cancelled etc. etc. etc. :(

But we still have a pending plan to travel with Mihai of https://www.itravelinromania.com

He's been fabulous through all of this chaos and we've been emailing now for nearly two years - since the inception of this Romania trip that we keep rescheduling. He has lots of Danube ideas on his website. He seems to be a great resource if you want to email him.

Here's his reviews on TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294458-d10121227-Reviews-I_Travel_in_Romania-Bucharest.html

Thanks Valerie. I'll keep his details handy. He does have excellent reviews. I'll check out his website further.