Leasing a car

These are French leases, which is why you are finding so many options in France and more limited choices outside of France. There will be an additional charge to both pick up and drop off outside of France and as you have discovered, your only location choices are Milan and Rome. You might find the lease price significantly higher than a regular rental with the extra fees, not to mention inconvenient locations.

Those long term leases, unless done in France, are not so great in Italy for a 3 week rental. An Italian friend of mine who lives in the US has done it a few times, but he used to spend at least a couple of months every summer. I inquired into it, but it never made much sense for me since I’ve never stayed longer than 4 weeks at the time.

Thanks for the replies. I've come to the same conclusion: it doesn't make sense. Just thought I'd look into it as an option.

As a side note, do either of you (or anyone else) have feedback on the following rental car agencies in regards to rentals in Italy: Sixt, Locauto, Maggiore, Ecovia, Drivalia, Sicily by Car, or Noleggiare? The only one of these I've heard of is Sixt. Previous car rentals in Europe were through Europcar, Auto Europe, or Budget.

Locauto was an Italian brand, known for their above average service. Recently (actually almost 10 years ago now) it has has been acquired by the American giant Enterprise Rent a Car Group. If you go to their offices, now you will see the logo of Enterprise, Alamo, National, besides Locauto. They are all part of the same Enterprise corporate group.

Sixt is a German multinational present also in the U.S. (mostly at airport locations). It is the oldest rental car company in the world. Most of their cars are German (including in the US, in case sometimes you’d like to rent a BMW).

Maggiore was Italy’s biggest brand. It has been acquired also by the other US based giant, Avis-Budget group, a few years ago, so it is now one of Avis’ brands in Italy.

Sicily-by-Car is an Italian based, and still independent, rental car company. It is decent. I rented from them a couple of times with no issues.

All other you mentioned are pretty recent Italian companies. They tend to be cheaper, since they are new to the market and trying to make a name for themselves. I have no experience with them. But I prefer to go with the big names.

Awesome information, @Robert. Thans so much for taking the time to reply.

With the caveat that my experience is from several years ago, here’s what I discovered when I looked into leasing. Three weeks is considered the point at which leasing becomes economically better than renting. However, the fee for picking up and/or dropping off outside of France erases that advantage unless you are doing a much longer period of time. As I recall, when I checked, it was an additional $400 at each end for outside of France. If you look on AutoEurope or Kemwel, you can see all the particulars.

We've used the short-term lease program about 10 times, and it works great for our usage. We stay for at least 5 weeks and pick-up and drop-off at Nice airport where there is no extra delivery fee. Nice is about a 4 hour autostrada drive to La Spezia, 5 1/2 to Florence. The advantages are considerable as you get a spanking new car of your choice with full no deductible insurance with no add-ons for an added related driver. The cost becomes comparable or less than a same sized car rental with full insurance if over 30 days, especially if you want a larger vehicle or a guaranteed automatic.

If you are a US resident try booking a car rental through Travelocity. We are renting a car in Tuscany only and they were by far way cheaper than going through any of the European car rental companies. We did this for our Australia trip last November as well.

christman.diane No matter which broker you use, such as Travelocity, your contract is with the car rental company - so you should check their reputation - they have your credit card after all. Low priced companies have a way of making their profit one way or the other, and have been known to use shady or even dishonest practices.