Car Rentals Again

Nightmarish! Although we have never had an infraction or problem like this, we have stopped renting cars abroad. It is just too stressful. I’d rather pay for a private transfer or tour from time to time.

This one extract stands out "...Also, be sure to read up on local regulations before you travel ..."

Do that and you'll find yourself highly unlikely to be fined but if you do just pay the fine and fee applied by the rental agency (it's in the contract that you agreed to). It's not a scam, people need to understand that some things happen differently in other countries. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

It may not be a scam, but it is, at a minimum, an appalling demonstration of bureaucratic incompetence. On our honeymoon five years ago, I received a parking ticket in Alberobello, Italy that was paid in Lecce the next day (unfortunately it was issued on a Sunday and could not be paid the same day). EuropCar local office management came after me for nonpayment despite the fact that I provided them a credit card receipt, a stamped as paid ticket receipt, and an actual letter from the chief of the police station in Alberobello stating that it had been paid (procured for me by my Italian teacher at the time; I never could have extracted such a document on my own) along with documentation of the payment in multiple exchanges in Italian and English with EuropCar employees. EuropeCar harassed me for a year before they finally backed off. Of course I never rented from them again, but you’re going to have a really hard time convincing me that no one, either working on behalf of the company or themselves, got it.

US residents believe that they have a "natural right" to drive cars. It's the birthright of the US person.

For most travelers, it makes no sense. If you are 2 persons, traveling by train is far simpler, cheaper, and easier.

We just returned from Italy. We used train and bus. Our travel costs were E522.24. We arrived at train stations in the heart of Italian cities, with short walks or tram rides to our hotel. We got no tickets. On a per-day basis, we spent $26.13/day. The cheapest car is 51.5/day.

I have also received an administrative fee for 35€, from Budget in France, for an infraction fine that never came. The time and place were correct so I didn’t challenge it. I think for France this is common, forgiveness of camera fines for overseas visitors.

Most of the article actually seems wrong. Aren’t you renting from a French franchise with no support from the American company? Is there really greater tolerance of dings from franchisees of American companies? Does a rental car company anywhere pay fines on the customer’s behalf?

My experience from 2014 is identical to the person’s in the article so the recent law mentioned changed nothing,

I have driven several thousand miles in Europe this year, about half in my own car and half in hire cars. I haven’t had any traffic or parking tickets. We did get a speeding fine a couple of years ago in France when driving our own car, thanks to my husband.

We took our car to Belgium for a week recently. Including recharging it to full when we returned home, it cost £12.36 to cover 512 miles. It would cost me more than that to buy a second class day return from my local station into London.

Train fares vary significantly between European countries so to say it’s cheaper doesn’t necessarily follow. Many of the places I have visited this year are nowhere near a train station, so the train isn’t an option.

We hire a car for about 10 weeks a year and have never been scammed.

Despite having a bus stop at the end of my road where I can catch a bus to a multitude of nearby train stations I never use it. There's nothing wrong with the bus, it's comfortable, clean and has free wi-fi but it's not cheap. It's the same with the trains, clean, comfortable, free wi-fi but very expensive (and a pain with all the strikes). If I want to go anywhere then I'll drive. It also means that I don't have to endure other people who feel that it's acceptable to play music or watch things on their phone without using earphones, or talk loudly, have poor hygiene and any of the other irritants that comes with travelling with strangers.

There have been a handful of occasions when I've taken the train direct to Gatwick Airport but those journeys were spent being subjected to inconsiderate behaviour from some fellow passengers. I don't have the tolerance or patience any more to put up with such behaviour so I'll stick to driving.

We had a bad experience with EuRopcar in the UK in 2017 and I will never rent from them again.

@Paul - There’s no way I could have gotten to the three stops along Hadrian’s Wall in England today using public transportation. I’d pretty much agree with your statement if one is only going to larger cities, but to get out to some real rural places (e.g., Glenfinnan Viaduct) a rental car is a must.

Horror stories can be part of the rental car experience in Europe. Renting that car is certainly not an option for me; I use public transport to get around in Germany if I am not going out to the villages, especially in Brandenburg. In France without a car going out to certain small towns is much more difficult, which I found out to be the case in northern France.

I’d pretty much agree with your statement if one is only going to
larger cities, but to get out to some real rural places (e.g.,
Glenfinnan Viaduct) a rental car is a must.

I was about to write something similar. Theoretically we could have used public transportation on our trip to South England in September, but the inconvenience would have meant more travel time than site-seeing time. Also, the cost even for two people who have been significantly higher than our daily cost for the car of £23.75 which we found using an independent dealer.

to get out to some real rural places (e.g., Glenfinnan Viaduct) a rental car is a must.

Ummmm. No. The Glenfinnan Viaduct carries what ? TRAINS ! Trains that stop at . . . Glenfinnan station. I've been there twice by rail (and have taken additional rail trips in and out of Glenfinnan while staying there).

If there was ever a place that doesn't need a rental car (except during strikes), it's on one of the most famous rail lines in Britain, and one of the very most beautiful rail journeys in Europe !

(For the record, I was supposed to have arrived in Glenfinnan again today by train for my first visit after Covid started — but I had to cancel due to a medical emergency with one of my cats this past weekend.)

@kim - and once deposited at the Glenfinnan station, and assuming you only wanted to stay for an hour, how long is it to catch the next train to a station nowhere near where you’re going. The train only runs every few hours. I value my time more than the time it would take needed getting to and from that station. As an aside, on that day we started in Nairn and ended in Kinlochleven stopping at Urquhart castle, Fort Augustus, and the viaduct. Not sure you could do all that in the same day using public transportation. As stated, there are times when a rental car makes the most sense.