We will be renting a car at the Milano Malpensa Airport . What is a reputable, budget friendly rental company?
Have a look at the AutoEurope website. They are often recommended on this forum as a consolidator, which will give you the rental oprions for the location you select. You can also filter by type and size of car.
I also use AutoEurope when I go to Italy. Generally I end up selecting the best deal for the dates with the major companies they do business with (Hertz, Avis-Budget, Europcar, Sixt etc.). They have multiple websites, and I check all because the prices may vary one from another, although you are dealing with the same company.
www.autoeurope.com
www.kemwel.com
www.autoeurope.eu
I also select their NO DEDUCTIBLE (also called REFUNDABLE EXCESS) under the Insurance Coverage option. It costs about $5+ extra a day, but I do so for peace of mind, as deductibles are at least 1000€ and my insurance won’t cover me abroad. For some reason those car rental companies always find some stupid scratch that they try to blame on you, and even a scratch will set you back a few hundreds $$. Your credit card might cover you in that case, if you don’t want to purchase the No Deductible option, but check first with your credit card.
Thank you all for this very helpful information!