any experience with Autoeurope?

Click here to get some information on rental car companies:
http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/booking-a-car

Just know they are a consolidator (I.e. An intermediary). The actual car will be rented from a rental company such as Hertz, Europcar, Avis, etc. with which they contract.
Check prices also with their sister company www.kemwel.com
They are two of the same after a merger years ago, but prices differ. Last year I saved by using Kemwel. This year, for the period I'm interested in AutoEurope is a few dollars cheaper. I used AutoEurope last two years ago. No problems with them, but I had issues with the rental car company, because they didn't have the higher class car I had rented until three days later, so for three days I had a compact in spite of having paid for a midsize. AutoEurope wasn't able to get back a partial refund from the rental company for me.

Read that Kent. bottom line is to lease a car for that time. No problem with a middleman Roberto as long as they deliver. Plan is to pickup and deliver back to Milan. I know there is a $250 charge for that , but the cheap flight to MXP cancels that out.

Why is there a charge to pick up and drop off in the same place?

I've used AutoEurope many times. One time I leased and the other times I rented. Yes, they are a consolidator. I have ended up with cars from Europcar, Avis, Hertz and Budget. I've rented in Ireland, England, Italy, France and Germany. I've never had a problem with them. Once I find what I want online I call them. Some companies charge extra for train station and airport pick up. Some don't. Some charge to return somewhere other than your pick up location. Some don't. That is all good information to have when making the final decision. One thing to be avoided is to pick up in one country and return in another. That is sure to cost a hefty drop off charge.

AutoEurope charges extra for delivery in Italy, and there only two places to pickup the car. Milan or Rome.

I have used them multiple times, and it has always been a good experience. Last year, I actually had to call the toll free help line when a man at the pick up counter was giving me the run around about needing to purchase his insurance. The first thing the person who answered the phone said was: "We can help you". Then she transferred me to someone who talked to the guy and helped me through it. (and I did not pay a dime more)

One thing you should do is as you are making the purchase, there is a link titled "what your rental includes". It also tells you what your rental does not include. Several times there have been daily road charges that are put on your credit card after you turn the car in. No one talks about it at the time of rental, so be aware. (the first time it happened to me, I thought I had received one of those dreaded camera speeding tickets. I was actually relieved to find out it was a daily road tax and no ticket would be forthcoming...we still have not had to go through that experience...thankfully). Anyway, some people are not aware of these charges and complain that Autoeurope does not fully disclose or adds extra fees, etc. This isn't true. Why you do have to look for it, it is fully disclosed.

Sorry Jim, I thought you were talking about a rental. Yes, for leasing you pay extra to pick up/drop off outside of France. We had to pay a fee for picking up in Frankfurt. We were departing from London, so we decided to go to Paris in order to not pay the extra fee for dropping off outside of France. That was my first trip to Europe. I fell in love with Paris on that trip and have returned 3 times. I can't wait for the opportunity to go back.

Is there any way you could drop the car in Nice?

Edit - The lease covers all charges, including full coverage insurance. For rentals we have had to pay additional road taxes, but not for the lease. There should be no hidden charges.

Also check prices for leasing directly with the leasing companies. I know that www.renaultusa.com lease out of Milan. Not sure about Peugeot and Citroen. They may not be cheaper but worth investigating.

Leasing is great as you avoid all of the practices that rental companies use to screw you. There is one price with no add ons and the cars have zero deductible so you just walk away in the event of damage.

Leasing is absolutely the way to go for 2 months. If you are renting, you'll need a renewed contract anyway as the rentals are a max of 31 days.
We fly in and out of Nice and lease a new Peugeot 208 diesel. Nice to Firenze for example is less than 5 hours, so it's no big deal on a 2 month trip.
The information is very complete where it says 'long term rental' at the top of the site; www.aecar.rentals. You do need to allow a couple of weeks for the paperwork, and once you fully commit, it would be expensive to cancel.
One 'unfortunate' aspect of leasing is that Italy & France have no mechanism to pass Italian AutoVelox tickets on to you as owner of the car, and the leasing company doesn't care since they didn't own the car at that time.

I thought of picking up the lease in Nice but the plane tickets to Milan were so cheap that it canceled out that advantage.