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Renting a car from Genoa

Posted by on

Hello,

My husband and I are planning to fly in/out of Genoa this fall to see family, but would like to rent a car to spend some of our trip in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland as well as the Provence region of France. In mapping out the distance between the points of interest we have in mind, the travel time looks doable, but I wanted to check here to scope out any potential logistical issues we may face (once we book the tickets, there is no going back....if the car travel turned out not to be possible, we would probably focus our trip on Switzerland and fly in/out of there).

We have rented a car in Europe once before, in Greece. The driving style there was certainly crazy, but we survived, and did not run into any significant issues with finding parking, navigating, etc. We paid occasional tolls, got our IDP, and read up on the rules of the road beforehand. If we do this road trip, we will certainly read up on the nuances of driving in each of these countries.

For a Italy --> Switzerland --> France --> Italy road trip, are there any potential pitfalls we should know about? Specifically:

1) Have you found that there are car rental agencies out there that will allow a rented car to be taken out of the country? If so, specific recommendations would be welcomed. Should we anticipate the rental fee to be much higher if we are taking the car out of the country? Are there extra considerations with the type of car rental insurance that needs to be secured?

2) I understand that borders can be easily crossed in this region, correct?

3) Milan and Lake Como are along our driving route...should we expect parking to be crazy in these areas? Expensive? Looks like we'll need to be on the lookout for limited traffic zones.

4) We've had family friends who were stopped in their car and robbed while driving in Sicily. Any concerns of this sort in northern Italy?

5) We had no issues just using cell phone GPS and reading road signs while in Greece. Can we expect to do the same in Italy?

6) Will there be any crazy surprises when it comes to the cost of gas, tolls, car rental, etc, or is Italy pretty on par with what it would cost in the US? Does anyone have direct experience with finding the cost of car vs. train to be a better deal?

7) Any other glaring nuances about renting a car/driving in Italy that we should know about (we will do our own research on this as well)?

Thanks!

Posted by
12037 posts

gas is around $6/gal diesel will be a bit less

parking in Milan is likely to be expensive as in any large city-- for Lake Como you will need to see what your hotel has--- it likely will vary depending on location of the hotel

If returning the car to the origin and not going anywhere prohibited, there is no reason for the rental company to care where the miles got run up.... just make sure the insurance follows you to all your locations... and get their approval for all the countries you plan to take the car.--- be sure to research toll roads and toll passes that may be required

Posted by
1274 posts

A lot of questions! :)

Genoa has limited flights; you might consider other places to fly in/out such as Zurich, Milan or Geneva. You don't say how long your trip is. Driving style in places you mention is similar to the US.
For a Italy --> Switzerland --> France --> Italy road trip, are there any potential pitfalls we should know about? Specifically:
1) Have you found that there are car rental agencies out there that will allow a rented car to be taken out of the country?
Yes, no problem. We have used Hertz, Avis, Sixt. All have been fine.
Should we anticipate the rental fee to be much higher if we are taking the car out of the country?
No - you can take the car among these three countries for no extra fee. However, there will be a large extra fee if you drop your car in a different country from where you picked up.
Are there extra considerations with the type of car rental insurance that needs to be secured? Requirements are slightly different if car is rented in Italy.
2) I understand that borders can be easily crossed in this region, correct?
Correct.
3) Milan and Lake Como are along our driving route...should we expect parking to be crazy in these areas? Expensive?
Depends on where you want to park; similar to US.
4) We've had family friends who were stopped in their car and robbed while driving in Sicily. Any concerns of this sort in northern Italy?
No.
5) We had no issues just using cell phone GPS and reading road signs while in Greece. Can we expect to do the same in Italy?
Yes.
6) Will there be any crazy surprises when it comes to the cost of gas, car rental, etc, or is Italy pretty on par with what it would cost in the US? Does anyone have direct experience with finding the cost of car vs. train to be a better deal?
Plan on $7 a gallon for gas. Car rentals are reasonable. France and Italy freeways have tolls. In Switzerland, a $40 sticker is needed.
7) Any other glaring nuances about renting a car/driving in Italy that we should know about (we will do our own research on this as well)?
No.
Thanks!

Posted by
195 posts

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and share your knowledge. The trip is 16 days (13 after air travel), but we will only be hitting key points in each region (family in Genoa, Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, and Provence in France)...we know from previous trips to Europe that this will only scratch the surface, but it may be the last trip abroad that we can take for awhile, so we'd rather at least see the Alps and Provence to a small degree than miss out on seeing one of those places altogether. The reason for flying in and out of Genoa is to see my family there, but we'll have to see which kinds of flights we can find.

Yowza, $6-7 a gallon sounds painful...good to know as we are weighing our decision!

Posted by
1814 posts

In lieu of tolls in Switzerland, you must buy and display a Swiss Toll Vignette (sticker) to drive on highways. It's 40 CHF equal to about 41 USD. They are sold at major border crossings. Tolls in Italy run about 16 USD per hour of driving. If you can get a diesel car, it's significantly cheaper to operate and easier on hills. You can't specify diesel in a rental reservation, but ask at the rental counter.

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