auto rental companies -- gas prices

According to the British AA, the Automobile Society, based on data from the European Road Information Centre (Geneve), the November average is Unleaded €1.59, diesel €1.50. The January prices may vary from that. EDIT: I assumed everybody would understand that the prices were per litre (liter). In US terms, that's approximately $7.77930512 per US gallon for Unleaded, $7.3389671 for diesel. What are you paying in Broken Arrow?

@Nigel, Just for comparison, the fuel cost in Italy seems considerably higher than what we're paying. I filled the tank the other day with Regular Petrol (87), and the cost was Cdn$1.175 / liter which I estimate to be about €0.886 / liter. According to Gas Buddy, fuel in Broken Arrow is about $2.99 / US gallon at the moment ($2.89 at Valero). I'd have to work out the equivalent in Euros / Liters. Cheers!

check for rental through AutoEurope

I just got an email form a friend in Montepulciano, and unless my conversion is off, he said their prices were the equivalent of 9.02/gallon. I have really good luck with autoEurope.
JCM

Another rec for Autoeurope. They are a consolidator and so you will end up with a car froma company like hertz or Europe Car. You pay for your rental ahead of time (though you are able to change or cancel) so you know exactly what it will cost. There are sometimes fees that are only payable at pick up or drop off but that is detailed as well. I have had two instances where the rental company told me that there were other charges that were not noted. Both times Autoeurope took care of it and I was not charged further. They are very easy to deal with and I highly recommend them.

An update to my previous comment. I just saw a report on TG2 (one of the Italian news channels), that fuel is now at a record high of €1.722 / liter (Diesel wasn't much cheaper). If my calculations are correct, that's about US$9.10 / gallon.

The difference in price is because mid-December a new surcharge on fuel tax (€ 0,12/liter) was levied because of the financial crisis, and so was VAT increased. It is supposed to be temporary, as there is an enormous political uproar because of it.

All the European car companies are not created equal. I've had good luck with Auto Europe, who can also sometimes come up with great flight prices as a consolidator. Chances are you'll be picking the car up at Hertz. (Some of the other American car rental companies have terrible reputations in Europe.) I'm renting a car through Hertz in Florence for 5 days April 2nd, and my international company receives a big discount with them. The price is pretty good. When it comes to gas, distances are not that great, the cars are smaller and you just suck it up and pay the prices. I think the gas prices are about $8 per gallon right now.