My first trip to the Boot is almost complete. My conundrum is leaving Vernazza in October on a Saturday morning, and getting a car rental for a week in Poggibonsi. I must return the car in a week and make my way to Rome FCO for my flight home. Do I rent a car in Pisa or Florence. Do I take it back there, which I assume is always cheaper? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Campbell River, Canada
361 posts
Hi Sheldon, Greetings from up-island. Most car rental offices close on Saturdays @ 1:00pm so I would make sure that you can get there on time. I would rent in La Spezia and drive to Poggibonsi. Orvieto is a great hilltown to explore and would be a good place to drop off your car and take the train to Roma. There is Hertz office near the train station and Avis is also there but not sure of location. We used Gemut.com out of Oregon as they quoted better prices than the car rental companies. You're dealing with someone on Pacific Daylight time, (by phone or email)in English and their website has a lot of useful information about renting and driving in Italy. We used our own GPS and it was a Godsend. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Enjoy Italia, we did.
Posted by
Gaston, Oregon, USA
931 posts
Sheldon, to establish base line pricing, go to the broker Auroeurope website and plug in/ play with your possible pick-up and drop off locations, and dates. You will see that picking up at a rail station or airport adds a lot of $$$ to the bill, but it usually makes no difference where you drop it off. You don't have to take it back where you picked it up. Gemut is another awesome broker with great prices. Read their primer on renting cars in the EU: http://www.gemut.com/images/stories/report/carrentalspecialreport.pdf Do not drive into any town with ZTL's unless you know what they are and where they are. Bring your own GPS and a Michelin map of the area.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
907 posts
I rent cars at airports. Much easier to pick up and drop off. You can drop your car at FCO. It is simple and convenient. You can drive down the coast from Tuscany easily.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16235 posts
Rent in La Spezia (near Cinque Terre) and drop off at FCO. The easiest solution. I would drop off in Orvieto only if you plan to spend a few days in Rome, where having a car might be a hassle if you stay in the city center. But if you go to Rome only to catch a plane, I would drop in Rome.
Posted by
Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)
1658 posts
Follow Roberto's advice. Per his advice, we took the 8:30 train from Monterosso, took a cab to the Hertz office, and one turn and 3 blocks later were on the highway. Easy to get to with many trains on a Saturday morning from CT to LaSpezia. We returned the car in Orvieto, and the entire rental for 4 days including super CDW was only $200.00.
Posted by
OP
Duncan, B.C., Canada
2 posts
Thank you for the reality check. I got so caught up in budget, that I forgot how much convenience is worth. Thank you again. S