Rental cars

Anyone can have a bad experience--which is not to diminish the other poster's experience, which I'm sure was horrible, but as with almost everything it's best to collect up a number of different reviews from different sources and then make an informed decision.

I don't rent cars in Italy so I can't provide a recommendation, other than to ask where you plan to use a car for? Depending on the area you will be in, you may find it unnecessary to rent a car at all, which could save you time and money!

Liz,

We plan to rent an apartment, probably in Tuscany, and do day trips. We prefer to do some of our traveling that way, at our own pace.

Hi Gail,

We rented a car from Hertz to tour Tuscany and Umbria. Our one-week rental was less than $400. We picked up in Bologna and dropped off in Perugia.

Gail, we used Autoeurope in '05, '07 and '09 and were very pleased with the entire experience.

I use Europcar all the time. I have no problems with them. I have also rented through Sixt (German). Sixt locations will have longer hours of operation and will be open on Sundays when others may not be. They can be a bit more pricey though. If you pay ahead of time with Europcar you get a discounted price.

I rent a car every year in Italy and I usually use AutoEurope. Generally, AutoEurope has assigned me to other venders at the best price. This past summer I scraped the rear door on a narrow alley and had to pay the deductible. AutoEurope placed me with a car from Europecar. AutoEurope quoted me a deductible of 150 euro and Europecar's deductible was 400 euro. I paid the 400 euro and AutoEurope refunded the difference. I will use AutoEurope again next year.

Buon viaggio,

RB

AutoEurope

We just returned on 10/9/09 for four weeks travel in Croatia and Italy. We flew in/out of Venice and rented a car from Budget at the Venice airport. Yep, it was a Fiat Punto, but it was a great price and the car did get up and go.

We had no troubles crossing country borders with the appropriate sticker on the windshield (purchase at gas stations).

My husband made all the arrangements online before we left.

AutoEurope. We've used them on our last 10 or so European trips. They are easy to work with, very easy to contact even from Europe, and knowledgeable. They are actually a consolidator, so for some matters (such as the flat tire I got in Slovakia last year), you have to contact the actual car rental company. But for everything else, you call AutoEurope. On a trip to Italy, I called them twice, to change a pickup time and a dropoff day AND location, and I had no problems at all.

The last trip I booked, a trip to Italy in September, I got the rate they were charging on their Canadian site - it was cheaper than the rate on their U.S. siste. You can use the rate on any of their sites, but you will need to book over the phone.

We rented a car in Sept through AutoEurope. I had reserved the car back in March. We arrived in Orvieto late in the day to pick up the car at Hertz and Hertz said that they didn't have my reservation yet AutoEurope did! Not sure who made the error but we couldn't get a car through either Hertz or Avis in Orvieto. We were stranded. Got on the phone with AutoEurope & they tried unsuccessfully to locate a car for me in any of the nearby cities. They couldn't get me a car until late the next afternoon in Siena, so we had to rearrange our itinerary.

I know mistakes happen & things sometimes fall through the cracks but the lesson learned here is that since AutoEurope is a third party, I would make sure to contact the actual car rental company before leaving the U.S. to confirm the reservation. I think AutoEurope is probably a fine company but next time I would confirm directly with the rental company office. Enjoy your trip. Drive safely!!

We just returned from Italy from a two week trip. We rented through Kemwel which is a third party provider. We picked up our car at Hertz in Milan. We chose it because of price ($565 for two weeks) and the ZERO deductible on the insurance. We arrived at Hertz, got our car and were gone for two weeks. Brought it back, no problems at all. They can be found at kemwel.com.
We ended up with a Ford Fiesta but should have opted for the Fiat Punta (it was offered). The Fiat was a diesel and the Ford was gas. Sometimes I really had to whip those squirrels to keep the Fiesta at autostrad speeds.

My husband and I booked our rental car in Tuscany through AutoEurope before we left on our trip. We called a representative with a question, and she gave us all kinds of advice such as how much money to budget for gas.
I prepared myself for some problems (lost contract, extra costs, etc.), but everything went very smoothly when we checked the car out and turned it in. We'll definitely use AutoEurope again in the future.
P.S. Do yourself a favor and take a GPS.

We have had good experiences with Autoeurope. Check into their GPS plan as well when renting a car.