Not my fault..... Renting a car from Munich to Rome

why drive? They aren't going to have much time to see anything. Why not cancel the car and fly or take a train. They could probably break up the train trip and have an afternoon and night in someplace they wanted to see then continue the train trip the next day.

Cancel the car rental and take the train.
I don't understand. Educate us: The drop fee increased because they did not rent the car sooner? I thought the high costs of renting in one country returning in another was the norm.

There are non-stop flights for less than $200, and taking an hour and a half, so why drive at all?

They were planning on breaking the drive up and seeing a few things along the way. He LOVES to drive.

I don't think the fee increased however by waiting till the last minute I feel it really makes things harder to change.

I also forget how easy it is to fly in Europe.

Thanks

Is he planning to stop somewhere specific in between or is it a simple Munich - Rome drive, no specific goals on the way? If he wants to go somewhere between, where? Maybe there’s a train/bus/driver that would be MUCH cheaper.
If he just wants to go between the two, he can fly.

In most cases dropping the car in the same country is cheaper. So if he wants a road trip he could fly or train to Milan or Venice then drive to Rome via some nice Tuscan areas.

I'm sorry......

I was informed that they were not driving straight to Rome. They would be driving to Udnie to see some friends. THEN the next day continue to Rome.

Munich to Udnie 4:30 min

Udnie to Rome 6:33 min.

A 2.5 day drive from Munich to Rome = not seeing anything except roads and hotels. I know Americans like the open road but this will be neither open road nor sane. Cancel car and fly or take train for scenery.

Yeah, just cancel the rental. The fee is that high cause the have to take the car back after their trip, this is only explanation. Take a train or flight, your father-in-law will save a lot.

Has nothing to do with when he booked. It has to do with transporting the car back to Germany. You can't rent a car in Rome with German license plates.
Why don't they take the train?
They could take a direct train from Munich to Verona, spend a lovely evening (assuming it won't be raining). Next day, a direct train to Rome. Or spend another night in Verona.

Does FIL have an International Drivers Permit, required in Italy?
Does FIL know about robocam speed traps on the Autostrada?
Does FIL know about ZTL's?

I have a feeling this is going to get even more expensive.

Ugh, I told them not to wait to book...

Drop off fees are expensive irrespective of when you booked in relation to the rental period. If he wants to drive how about starting in Italy? Perhaps take the train from Munich to Venice and drive to Rome from there, drop off fees tend to be less expensive if the drop off is in the same country.

Thank you, Sam.

These are things that I would research if it was me going......

Ugh he drives me nuts.

Has he priced all rental options or gone with just a favourite?
Perhaps fly to Venice, pick up a car there to drive to Udine (I am assuming this is the correct spelling), and then drive to Rome if he must. At least that is driving just in one country.
Personally, I would just rent the car Venice-Udine return and train to Rome, but I don't have the 'road trip' mentality.
But, given that this is just 2 weeks away, you need to price out your options. Looks like Air Dolomiti has cheapest fares and is an hour flight - 179Euro each. Then car rental for 2 days, or one day and the train for 2.
Give him the prices of each and then let him decide.

His best bet is to fly from Munich to Venice non-stop on Lufthansa and take the train to Udine. Then take the train to Rome. Or rent a car in Venice and go from there.

I think you may have misspelled "Udnie" because there isn't one.

If you mean Udine, there certainly is. Easy to get to on the frequent train. Northeast of Venice near the Slovenian border.

5 hours to drive from Munich via Salzburg and Villach plus rest stops and stopping to buy the required Austrian Vignette which has to be stuck appropriately on the inside of the windscreen. He also needs an IDP, required to drive in Italy and Austria.

Train, as fast as 6:21 with a change at Verona and another at Venezia Mestre on the mainland near Venice; or a couple of more hours with only one change at Venezia Mestre.

Or take the EC train from Munich Ost through the Austrian Alps to Villach and change to the train to Udine. Takes less than 6 hours and they can enjoy the scenery along the way. 168.60 EUR for 2

Udine to Rome in 5 hours and 10 minutes with a single change in Venice Mestre. 107.80 EUR for 2.

Of course there are massive drop-off fees: Germany & Italy are two entirely separate countries.

I had to pay a drop-off fee when I drove across the US and that’s the same country. You pay drop-off fees when you hire in one city & drop off in another, so $900 does not seem at all over-the-top for a whole separate country.

Cancel the car hire. Fly.

Air Dolomiti has a non stop flight Munich to Venice. We’ve taken it several times and have always had good experiences.

All told, flying Munich to Venice then renting a car to Udine and just taking the train is about the same amount of time when you consider time to get to Munich airport, arriving at least 1 1/2 hour before the flight, then deplaning and waiting for luggage, time to rent the car, then 1 1/2 hour drive to Udine. Train is quite a bit more relaxing as well. No security lines, nice scenery out the window, even a bar/snack car for a nosh along the way.