We want to rent a car as we're leaving Florence for our week in Tuscany. Looking for suggestions of reliable rental car companies. We would like an automatic and a car that is reasonably comfortable. I hope to book the rental next week. We will be in Tuscany mid-June.
Thanks in advance for your guidance!
We always book our car with AutoEurope.com-a US based consolidator with excellent customer service
If you search here for their company you’ll find many here use them as well
You can use their website to see what’s available and book online as well
Make sure you do your homework about driving in Italy -ZTLs, parking, speed cameras etc
All drivers must have an IDP —International Driving Permit which you can get at your local AAA
There are many threads here addressing how to drive out of Florence safely and legally
A search will bring them up
Here are some threads past 2 years
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Renting+car+in+Florence+&utf8=✓
www.autoeurope.com
www.autoeurope.eu
www.kemwel.com
Same consolidator but 3 different websites.
Check prices in all three websites!
Offers and prices differ among the three, in spite of being the exact same shop running them.
We use Autoeurope, get zero-deductible collision. Have your car arranged at Via Palagio degli Spini, the complex near the airport, best reached by taxi. Read this about driving in Italy [and about ZTLs, limited traffic zones]; avoid leaving anything of value in a vehicle when parked [and have an IDP]:
Curious to know if you consider Noleggiare to be a reliable agency (through autoeurope.eu). It's the least expensive for an automatic car by a longshot.
Noleggiare is a fairly new Italian rental car company (founded in 2006). They have over 40 locations in Italy. I don’t know if they have ventured outside of Italy yet, They probably have lower price because they are trying to establish themselves in the market.
I looked at the reviews and they are mixed bag. 60% of them great, a bit less than 30% horrible, however I noticed that nearly all bad reviews are about charging people huge amounts for minor scratches after the rental return. Given these facts I would definitely rent through AutoEurope but with the zero deductible insurance clause (aka refundable excess), assuming it is offered if you select the Noleggiare.it deal. Many other bad reviews relate to the company charging people an admin fee for communicating the driver info to the police after receiving a fine. That is actually stsmdard practice with all rental companies in Italy and in Europe in general. If you incur into a violation, the police sends the ticket to the rental company owning the vehicle first and the company communicates the driver’s name to the police which then sends the ticket to the renter’s home. Rental companies charge 30€ to 60€ admin fee for that communication to the authorities.
Rental car company reviews here.
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/noleggiare.it
Thanks for all the great info! You folks are so generous with your time!! My next question is-- where to pick up the car? Should we pick up the car at the airport or on Borgo Ognissanti? We're staying very close to the city rental location. I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 phone. Any thoughts on how my phone GPS will work in the City? My next post was going to be how well an Android Phone GPS works in Florence for walking and in Tuscany for driving. Thoughts/comments on both of these questions???
Pick up the car at Borgo Ognisanti
Search this forum for excellent driving directions out of Florence posted by Roberto
Last trip we just added the GPS to our rental so we didn’t have to worry about cell service etc
We don’t use GPS for walking around so no help with that
But realize that the streets are narrow lined with thick stone walls so your service can be very spotty
Hi Christine,
Thanks! Just booked the car at that pick up location. The airport location was several hundred dollars more!
I've seen posts that the car GPS can be a bit complicated, so it's a challenge to use right away driving out of the city. We're not 30, so technology isn't quite as easy for us.
I will look for the post you mentioned for driving instructions out of the City.
Thanks again!
Sheila
I am way way past 30 and had no trouble figuring out the car GPS
and I don’t really ever use at home or for domestic travel
We did pick up at airport last trip -was during the high priced pandemic days for car rentals so it was the best deal we could find
Anyway -I would use Roberto’s directions ( he is from Florence) to get out of the city
Then put your destination into the GPS once out of city
Thanks! This forum is amazing! Just looked for Roberto's driving directions and saw his post about not renting at the Borgo Ognissanti location due to the LONG WAITS, so I called back and I'm picking the car up at another city location on Via Forlanni.
Thank you Roberto!!
We were in Italy 20 years ago, so I forgot about needing an international drivers license. Thank goodness someone mentioned that in their post about the rental car.
It takes a village!
With gratitude,
Sheila
