GPS rental question

Lisa, would you be picking the gps up when you picked up the car? I currently have a rental with Autoeurope picking up the car in Florence in mid May. When I booked more than a month ago, I enquired about gps and I was told they would ship the gps to me here in the States (from a US location)and we would return it to them here in the States after our return from Italy. The problem was that we would have the gps for more than a month as we are in Italy for 4 weeks but only need a car for one week. This would of course add alot to the cost! Have you called them yet to discuss how the gps is delivered to you?

Lisa... We rented a car from Autoeurope last May. It is a consolidator so the car place was called Europcar in Venice.We got a midsized car , and the GPS came with the car. We did not even request one, It was great , though it was in Italian and we had to have some help to switch it into English.We went all over Tuscany, Umbria , and even went to the Sibillini Mountains.When we were in France in October, we rented from Hertz and they asked us if we wanted to rent a GPS for some exorbitant price and we said no. When we walked out to get the car, the guy told us that it was a good thing we did not opt to pay for the GPS because it came in the car for free. Sooo... I am really not sure about the GPS rental. I really think that it comes in some cars and not in some. I think we are going to take our own this year. Just bought the maps for it.

Lisa - a GPS will help you tremendously.

Some car rental agencies do have limitations. For example, in Hertz in Italy we were unable to rent a GPS vehicle because we were not returning the car to the same rental location. Know the restrictions (if any) before you sign on the dotted line.

The Streetpilot III - or ANY GPS - would be a great asset! Once you use one in Italy, you'll always use one!

Ciao,
Ron

I would say that in much of Europe, you absolutely need a GPS. However, I've never had to pay for one, both cars we rented last summer (midsize) had GPS installed. Just be aware that you may not be able to change the language on some GPS systems (our Citroen in France was in French but luckily we knew enough French to understand it) so familiarize yourself with some basic traffic terms (especially left, right, round-about, exit and basic distances).

The $84 will save you many hours of frustration.

Driving in Germany or Austria is easy (admittedly my German is much better than my limited Italian), follow signs to city centers and public parking.

In Italy street signs are a rumor and numbers on buildings are rare. Although your map will show street names, you won't find them without asking for directions or a GPS. I managed without a GPS but wouldn't try it again. I also wouldn't leave the rental agency until you know how to use it and it is speaking English.

I think $84 a week is quite steep- considering that you can BUY a decent GPS for a couple of hundred dollars! (I've seen decent ones going for $120! (The more expensive models only add bells and whistles- most of them now come with moving map and so on.)

Incidentally- if you DO buy one, you can also get (VERY finely detailed) European road maps for most of them and the maps install easily!

Oh, yes... they don't weigh very much and don't take up much room either.

As long as we're talking about purchasing.

I recently bought a TomTom 920. It's one of only a couple models that comes preloaded with North American and Europe maps (The other I know of is the Garmin Nuvi). I wanted something I can learn to use here and take on trips (preloaded with sites I want to visit). I like the fact that it has driving, bicycle and walking modes.

The TomTom 930 was due to be released late April so the price for the 920 should be dropping. I found mine online last month for $350 compared to $450 at Costco online (list at TomTom online was $650).

I saw some very affordable GPS systems at Costco but adding Europe Maps was either unavailable or $300. So make sure Europe maps are available (preloaded or affordable) for the model you buy.