Rental car advise?

Do you really need a car for ten days? If you are visiting Roma or Venezia at the beginning or end of your trip, you might be able to do a 7-day rental.

Unfortunately rental car prices jump on July 1 (by a lot). I go to Italy in July every year, but I make it a point to pick up the rental by Jun 30. I generally use Autoeurope or their sister company Kemwel

1. It depends on what you mean by smaller. See 2 below.

2. The rental car categories are:
   Mini (like a Smart For Two, or small Fiat 500) - Not suitable for more than 2 people. The Smart is a two seater and the 500 can fit 2 kids in the back, but luggage trunk is very limited.
   Economy (like a Toyota Yaris hatchback or a Ford Fiesta) - Not suitable for more than 3 people with luggage. You can easily fit 4 adults in these models, but the problem is the luggage as the trunk is small for 4 people. Also rarely comes with auto transmission.
   Compact (like a VW Golf, Fiat 500 L, Ford Focus) - These can be suitable for you. Go to a VW dealer near you, pretend to be a buyer and check the trunk on a VW Golf. Or go to a Fiat dealer near you and check their 500 L (L stands for Long). Your compact option is likely one of those models. If you think the trunk is suitable for your luggage, go for compact.
   Intermediate (like Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Audi 4). This category will certainly be suitable for you. You can fit 4 adults with luggage here.
   Standard (these are equivalent to large size in America). You don't need to go this high (in size and price). Very difficult to navigate with these large models in narrow ancient cities too.
   If you need automatic, you might need to go with Compact or Intermediate. Rental companies rarely keep Economy models with automatic transmission because they are hard to resell in Europe.

3. Rental car companies will provide a baby seat or booster, if requested, but there will be a charge. If all you need is a booster, it's cheaper to buy one there.

4. No extra drop off charges if returned at another location, as long as in the same country (Italy)

5. Renting at an airport generally costs about $30-50 more a week, due to airport surcharges. If you pick up from the city, it's cheaper. However if renting at the airport saves you a taxi ride, then it's a wash. The way to save money on rental car is not to rent one, or to rent for the shortest time possible only for when it's needed. You don't say where you are going, so I can't help you there. Generally renting a car makes sense to visit the country side and small villages (for example of Tuscany and Umbria). Renting a car to visit a big city (like Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan) is totally useless and an expensive nightmare. All those cities have traffic and parking restrictions that will make you miserable to have a car while in those cities. A car is also not needed at the Cinque Terre (if you plan to go there).
   Post your exact itinerary, and I will tell you exactly where and when you should rent a car. You can use the wonderful Italian high speed trains and city transportation for the rest.

Thank you! Original plan was to to from MXP to Stressa to Camogli or one of those Ligurian coast towns to Tuscany (probably near Siena) and then return the car somewhere and head back to Milan.

My thinking was it would be easier and faster to get from MXP to Stressa and to the Ligurian coast in a car if I can find parking and many of the Stressa hotels and apartments seem to come with parking. But I'm learning that parking will be impossible on the coast so we would be forced to take a train back to Milan and the train to the coast. So may cut coast out entirely.

In that case probably doesn't make sense to rent a car until getting to Florence and obviously don't want to rent in the city so I guess we could take the train to the closest city outside of Florence - Arezzo or Siena or what not - and return at the same place?

The Fiat 500L might be perfect for you. Great car, roomy for 4, should have enough space for your bags and possibly available in an automatic. Do think about GPS. Either bring your own with current Italian maps or rent. I'm good with maps but would have gotten lost more than a few times without GPS.

Frequent trains make the run from Milan-Malpensa to Stresa in 1-1/4 to 2-1/4 hours, with one or two connections. ViaMichelin estimates a driving time of about 1 hour.

Trains from Stresa to Camogli-San Fruttuoso take 4-1/4 to 5-1/2 hours. Here driving is clearly faster (if you don't count time hanging around car-rental offices and looking for parking). ViaMichelin estimates 2:40, but it is thought to be a bit optimistic.

I'm not sure what it's like traveling with two young children (other than "challenging"), but there are many places around Florence that can be reached easily by train or bus. Are you sure you need a car to get to the Tuscan places you want to see? You don't have a lot of time for wandering around the countryside.

I could probably do a 7 day rental year. Could take a taxi or bus from MXP to Stressa since we don't need a car on Lake Maggiore.
Could rent in Stressa and drop off somewhere in Tuscany depending on where we are staying.

A few other important things to remember when using rental cars in Italy....

It's important to note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot!

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities especially Florence, which is almost saturated with automated ZTL cameras. EACH PASS through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you won't know about until several months after you return home! This website provides more information - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

There's also the issue of parking tickets, high fuel costs, tolls and automated speed cameras including the devious Traffic Tutor system which measures not only instantaneous speed but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow.

Mercedes is not necessary, friends and I rent a Fiat 500L every year for two weeks, it's fine.

The OP is concerned about the cost of the rental car and is coming here for advice on how to save some money, and someone is suggesting to rent a Mercedes, which is, by the way, totally unnecessary.

WTF!

OP
This is what you shoul do.

Rent a car at MXP, then go to Stresa (45 min). I don't think you can find an rental office to rent a car in Stresa, Malpensa is probably the closest location,

Then drive from Stresa to Ligurian town of your choice. Whoever told you you can't find parking on the coast does not know what is talking about. Except for the Cinque Terre, where parking is limited (although Monterosso has two parking facilities), parking is available everywhere else. From there proceed to your Tuscan destination.

To go back to Milan airport you can drive, or return the car in Tuscany (Arezzo or Florence) and take a train. However 4 people will likely save with the car, since trains aren't free.

Thanks. A few people said parking on the coast in July would be impossible. Not true? Because the whole point of going to Stressa is to avoid having to go to Milan when we get in and if we take public transport to Stressa inevitable we would have to take a bus or train back to Milan to get wherever we are going next, be it the coast or Tuscany.
Are there any trains at MXP going to towns at Lake Como or Lake Maggiore that don't go to Milan first?

Train routes use hubs like airlines do. You will go from the airport to Milano Centrale, then change to trains that go to the lakes. It's not that difficult, and there's no reason to avoid Mano Centrale.

If you didn't intend to rent a car at all, I would give you a different type of advice. But you need one and also you have a party of four, therefore trains are not going to be as cheap because you need to buy 4 tickets each time.

I tested 10 day rental from 5 July to 15 July (I don't know your exact travel dates) and found on AutoEurope a compact for $561 and a midsize for $591. It's $744 and $781 respectively, for 2 week rental and I selected the most expensive insurance option possible (full coverage with zero deductible). You can't beat those prices in July. Taking the train to lake Como will cost you over 60 euro for 2 adults and 2 kids each way (more of one full day rental), so renting the car for the whole time is cheaper in your case because it's 4 people traveling together. There will be plenty of parking in July anywhere you want. I have never found problems finding parking in August, not even in Portofino or Monterosso. July will be a piece of cake.

Thank you for you reassurance on the parking. I thought trains were free or half-price for children (or at least the 3-year-old?) but you are right, if I'm buying 4 train tickets that does add up to a lot!

If you must have an automatic, you should probably rent at the airport where they have a large fleet. At a small town agency, they will only have a few cars on hand and if the automatic you reserved somehow isn't there (maybe someone decided to keep it an extra day or they gave to it a walk-in the day before), what will you do?

You can check the prices on Trenitalia.com for every segment you want.
Kids under 14 pay half the full base price (not half of a discounted ticket), kids under 4 are free but only if they sit on your lap. If they want their own seat, they pay the half price. If a kid under 4 occupies a seat and you haven't bought the ticket for them, you will be asked to pay ticket and a fine.
Since the cost of a compact rental car is on average about $50 a day, inclusive of full insurance, I don't think a family of 3 or more people spends more by driving. Gas is expensive but distances in Italy are short and cars fuel efficient. Now there are circumstances where a car doesn't make sense even for a family, and that is for staying in a city (like Rome, Florence, Venice for example). Cars are unusable in those cities so it makes little sense to bother renting them. However your case is different because your itinerary seems to include only out of big city locations. Also traveling on trains with luggage and small kids is more challenging, as you are responsible for loading and unloading your own luggage on trains.

Referring to your first four questions, you can call Autoeurope and ask a representative your questions. They are based in Portland Maine. I would write your questions down before you call just to make sure you get everything answered. I called a week ago and they were helpful, although a bit disappointed I didn't book on the spot. I needed to look at the options, as you might. The number is on the website.

Do follow Roberto's suggestion of checking Kemwel as well as AutoEurope. Even though they are now under the same umbrella, I know of three times (once mine, once a friend's, and once his friend's) when Kemwel had a much better price for Italy.

Do take the trunk sizes seriously. Even though it was just two of us, we had to get a Fiat 500 L just to hold our luggage out of sight; the smaller car that was available with an automatic transmission would not have held our stuff.