Renting a car in Venice for one day

I believe that most if not all the rental companies are going to prohibit you from driving in eastern Europe which would include Slovenia.

One day rentals are sometimes exhorbitantly overpriced. Check for longer rental durations 3, 4, 5 days...you can always turn it in early.

I don't think you can bring a car rented in Italy to another country-there are restrictions-be sure to check or you could be liable. Get an international driver's permit at AAA-it is mandatory for car rental.

Thanks for the suggestions. Already have the international license. I believe others have talked about driving from Italy to Slovenia so this is something that I really need to check out.

I checked Auto Europe and the price isn't too bad for one day---around $130-$150. However, the city desk isn't open at the hours you want; they open at 8:30 am and close at 6:30 pm, except Wednesdays when they stay open until 8 pm. The airport office, however, is open from 7:30 am to midnight, at least on weekdays.

The biggest problem you have is Slovenia. The Auto Europe page explicitly says you may not drive the car into "Eastern Europe". Slovenia is generally considered to be "Eastern Europe" but maybe not.

Most rental car companies have this prohibition. You can rent a car once you are in that country (my kids did that in Croatia), but you cann't drive from Italy into Eastern Europe.

I suggest you contact Auto Europe and ask them for guidance.

We have rented from them (at the Venice airport) and they were very reliable and helpful. You can realh a live person on the phone in the US at 1-888-223-5555.

In 2005 we went to Croatia and Slovenia and ended our trip in Venice. We ended in Venice because at this time (don't know if it has changed or not) you could not take a rental car from Italy into Slovenia and Croatia--lots of restrictions. We started in Dubrovnik and picked up our rental car upon leaving Split, dropping the car in Venice. No problem bringing a car from former Yug. countries into Italy.

Hi Lois,

For the times you're looking at, the airport would probably be your best. Most of the ones in Venice don't open until later than your time, and close at 6PM and do not allow drop offs (while most of the airport ones do).

Re driving in Slovenia. We used Auto Europ to go through Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Germany with no problems - they even had the Slovenia highway "tariff" sticker already on the car, which saved us $35 ish, and did not charge the "Eastern Europe" driving fee for Slovenia. We rented out of Austria, and dropped in Italy though - don't think that makes a difference. Not sure.

Hertz, SixT, National, Budget all rent out of the airport, with better 1-day rates than Auto Europ. Many of them charge a $30-60 fee for driving in "Eastern Europe", but it's worth a call to each to check is that's charged for Slovenia.

Hope that helps!

PS - Did some more research on the AutoErop site. There's a link they have right on the main page below the spot to enter dates that some people might have missed:

"For international one-way rentals or travel to Eastern Europe, please:"
http://www.autoeurope.com/car.cfm

Personally, I still find it easier to call on questions like this.

It's not that AutoEurope prevents you from driving into Eastern Europe. However, you are given a narrower selection of vehicles, special insurance and border-crossing papers. You just have to let them know up front that you're planning on driving into Eastern Europe.

As per previous posts, it seems like an awful lot of planning and red tape for a 1 day rental. Can you not do this by train?

Scott - the tracks were never rebuilt after WWII, so going up through via train is a longer trip than you'd expect (involving train-bus-train, or going well out of the way), and buses don't run that often. Car is the best option.