A group of us (four adults) is planning to rent a car to get around Tuscany for four days in May 2022. (Our home base is an agriturismo in Siena.)
We are renting the car in Orvieto and returning it in La Spezia. The rate with Hertz is about $200 per day (including taxes).
Does this seem reasonable? Has anyone had a recent car rental experience for comparison?
Recent rates are high, but this is VERY high.
Where are you coming from before Orvieto? If Rome (but NOT straight upon landing from overseas) or Florence, it might be cheaper thanks to increased competition. It does imply driving a bit more on the Autostrada, and parking in Orvieto, but I think that there is potential to come closer to €100/day, which is already very high but "acceptable" these days...
Rates are exceptionally high this year but that is too high
We have a car reserved in May (Avis thru AutoEurope) for about $110/day including full insurance and that is a mid-size automatic
You might want to see what you can get thru AutoEurope.com but your problem is that Hertz is your only option in Orvieto and AutoEurope doesn’t work with them anymore
Other pick up places could be Chiusi, Florence,Siena
It used to be possible to get a good deal on a rental in Orvietto...not so much now.
A place that is overlooked is Vernazza/ La Spezia. You should have good options there.
It's a quick run up the Autostrada to get to Sienna but it's also close to Tarquinia....From there make your way North.
Lynette, we are renting in March for two days through Europcar for $222. Picking up in Sienna and dropping in Chiusi. We had the same issue/concern that you did and I found it was my trying to drop it off in Orvieto that caused my rate to skyrocket which is why we are dropping in Chiusi. Chiusi has a train station so we are going to take the 20 minute ride from their to Orvieto, day trip Orvieto, and then proceed on the train to Rome that evening. You may try looking at alternative pick up/drop off locations if it works for your itinerary, but I suspect that will have a dramatic impact on your price even in May.
Thanks, everyone, for your help. We discovered part of the problem: they were charging us for 4 days instead of three. But even when we got that fixed, it’s still about $150 per day. Picking it up in Orvieto and dropping it off in La Spezia is also raising the price. We are coming from Rome to Orvieto. The plan was to spend a few hours there, and then pick up the car to drive to Siena, where we are staying in an agriturismo. If we rent the car in Rome, we will need to pay for an extra day…but I will check out your suggestions.
There are recent relevant comments on this thread, including that Avis is a more convenient drop-off in La Spezia.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/help-with-rental-car-plans
Is there a one way drop fee ?
