All the blogs and such say that Italy is among the least expensive places in Europe to rent a car, but my search for a rental car from Venice Mestre in June is coming up with at least €100/day for a Fiat Panda, really more like €125, and of course yet more for the slightly larger compact car, like a Fiat 500L, that my family will need. I've searched on places like europecar, discovercars, kayak, autoslash, etc ... prices vary, but they're all really high. Is this just the going rate for a rental car? Did I wait too long to reserve my car? Are there some useful booking sites/rental companies that I might not know about?
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8953 posts
I picked a random 7 day period in June on Kayak and came up with prices quite a bit lower than you are quoting. Can you tell us your dates specifically? I wonder if those prices are due to some high demand dates?
I did note that prices for picking up a car at the airport vs. the train station seemed to be quite a bit lower.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
It's June 18-22. Just went back to Kayak and I'm seeing some better prices than I recall, maybe I didn't spend enough time at Kayak. And I wasn't accounting for the extra cost of dropping off in another city. Some of the best rates that I'm seeing are at VCE though, not at Mestre. I'll have to check out how big of a PITA it would be to get to an airport car rental location.
I currently have a great rental rate on a seven day rental, but we're changing plans and need to ditch the car after only four days. I think there might be some special prices for full-week rentals that aren't available when renting for less than a week.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16168 posts
Have you tried www.autoeurope.com?
Posted by
Staunton, VA
17 posts
I have had great luck with Kemwel.com. They may now be owned by Autoeurope.
Usually inclusive insurance as well.
Have you considered buses and or trains?!
Enjoy your trip.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7278 posts
Car rental rates are just extremely high worldwide this year
The rate you found seems about average and I’ve been watching rates for several months
Try AutoEurope
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8953 posts
The airport is a short bus ride away from Venice. Not painful.