We are planning on renting a car for part of our trip this spring. We had planned to pick it up in Rome, head to Tuscany, Lake Como and then down through the east coast before heading on to Sorrento. Does One need to return the rental to the same town? After reading posts about car rentals I am now thinking about renting in Tuscany but don't want to drive back to drop off the car. Thanks for help on this!
Kim
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
When you make a reservation specify where you want to drop the car and for a fee they usually let you.
Posted by
NYC area
3018 posts
Hi,
No, you do not have to return it to the same town. As long as you return it in the same country, there's usually no extra fees. Always ask though.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
8056 posts
We rented from Europcar, picked up the car at the airport in Palermo, Sicily, ferried it onto mainland Italy, and dropped it off at their convenient location in downtown Sorrento. No problem, no extra fees. We specified the pick up/drop off locations when we made our reservation online. Happy travels!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16242 posts
You can return at any location within Italy at no extra fee. You can even change your mind along the way and return it at a location different from what you had originally booked. All you have to do is call the office and tell them you are returning the car somewhere else.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
I'll just add that in my very limited experience with car rentals in Italy, I found that Kemwel had by far the best price. They are a consolidator - your actual rental is with Hertz, Europcar, or another company. AutoEurope is now their sister company, but the rates can be very different. So check both Kemwel and AutoEurope as well as the car rental companies themselves. And be sure you are comparing apples to apples. For instance, if you want a zero deductible (I did), don't forget to include that in the estimate.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1825 posts
You don't have to return the car to the same location. I suggest taking a train to Orvieto and spending a night or two before getting the car and heading North. The way you have the trip laid out means a lot of driving and some backtracking which I always try to avoid.
We loved driving through Tuscany and Chianti. Make sure to go to AAA and get your international driver's license. Taking a GPS with us made the driving easy.
Posted by
2 posts
Usually, you don't need to return the car to the same office you took it.
However, some companies simply doesn't have the offices all across the country.
You need to find the company that have the office near your destination point.
It's easier than you might think, you can use the data car rental comparative service, such as this one in order to choose the best offer by a company, available at both cities you are planning to visit.
Posted by
48 posts
We did two car rentals in August. Both were one way rentals.
Pick up in Salerno / Return in Rome (termini)
Pick up in Venice Mestre / Return in Milan Malpensa
Two words to the wise. 1 - Make sure you know exactly where the drop off location is. Rome Termini drop off was several block from Termini. 2 - be sure to return the car on time. We returned our second car under 2 hours late and were sprung w an additional €300 charge on our card when we got home (on a 5 day rental that cost under €300). I am still disputing the charge as I think about €100 is the proper late charge... But we shall see how the card company resolves it.