Car rental: Can you avoid one way drop off charges?

Bob, we ALWAYS rent "Open Jaw", and never have had a problem with fees. (EXCEPT, some rental agencys charge big $$$$ to pick up a car in one country, and drop it off in another.)

Check this out by going to an auto rental web site (autoeuorope.com has great rates) and plug in the different permutations.

We always book and pay for our rental on the web before we go. You can see all of the options, and then determine what works best for you.

You will also find that if you pick up a car at an airport you will incur a 20 to 40% higher fee than if you rented "in town". But, if you drop your car off at an airport there will be NO fee.

Again, just go to the auto rental web sites and do some "exploring."

generally within the country you are renting there is no drop off charge. But there will be hefty charges between countries. I use autoeurope or avis with no problems. but you must check specifically as there are so many diff car rental agreements out there. If you est. with the online estimators it will be clear.also return times and pick up times can be very strict, some are closed during lunch hours and Sundays. Think like the 1950's in USA when alot of businesses had strict hours/days.

How much of a hastle is it to drop the car off in Rome somewhere in the city rather than the airport?

How much of a hastle is it to drop the car off in Rome somewhere in the city rather than the airport?

Bob

Make sure that you have rent a GPS unit with your auto rental, and you can manuver anywhere that you would like.

Rome is not a fun place to drive, but we picked up our car at the rental places in the Bourghesee park, and it was easy getting from there out to the freeways. I have also heard that coming back to the rental agencies at the Termini is fairly easy.

But the bottom line is that you want to make sure that you rent the GPS unit. You will not be sorry!

I plan to rent from Hertz and they have a good GPS system. Thanks!

Not sure about Italy but picking up in one place and dropping off someplace else was NOT a problem in France. Picked up at the airport and droped off at train station in Bordeaux. Even changed to Bordeaux during the trip. Originally going to drop off in another town. Not an issue at all. Used Hertz. I agree to book and pay on line before you leave. Also you may want to think about using mileage points if you have any. I did and about 30,000 points paid for the car for an entire 10 days. It is a good use of points.

Good idea Bill. I check rates at Hertz and there's no extra charge for a one way rental.

Robert regarding your question about a hassle dropping off in Rome rather than at the airport...

We have driven all over Italy - even in Florence and in Rome. We will NEVER drive in Rome again (or Florence). The airport is not hard to drive to as it is on the outer circle highway. Drop your car there and then take the train back into the city if your intent is to visit Rome.

Wow, is it that bad in Rome? I drove in Paris once and that was a bit hairy but I was much younger and I survived.

Robert, rent your car from autoeurope.com. They are a broker/ consolidator that uses all of the majors; (Hertz/ Avis/ Europecar, etc.). Go to their website and check out the prices for your trip. You will be pleasantly surprised. The rate should be 15 to 40% less than Hertz (unless you picked up a good car rental discount code)

With a GPS you should have no problem driving wherever you want, just take it slow and easy.

We dropped off our car at the Rome airport last month. We were stressing out because we couldn't find a gas station to fill up before we returned the car. Finally we gave up and my husband dropped us off at the terminal and went to return the car. There was gas station on the way to the car rental return area so he was able to fill the tank before returning the car. The airport is away from the city of Rome so it is easy to navigate to. You don't have to drive in the city. We did have a GPS and it worked great. The only problem was traffic. There was an accident and we went nowhere fast for an hour and almost missed our flight. We will stay near the airport next time we fly out of Rome.