Sorrento Europcar return

No personal experience, but avoid street closures for Passeggiata in Sorrento. I'd assume that parking is their problem, not yours, unless you come during a lunch-hour (?) closure. In Granada, Spain once, we were told to pull the car up on the sidewalk in front of the Avis/Hertz (I forget) office. And I'll bet they do that in Athens and Naples as well!

Seriously, I'd make really sure that the office is open at the hour you are going there. Every night (I'm sure the office is closed that late) we saw a long line of cars, stationary, in line for the underground lot way out of the center, near the Ambasciatori Grand, where we were staying.

Thanks Tim for your information. I hadn’t thought about the lunch closures at all as we might be arriving about then. You’re right in that they should be providing a parking place to return the car but it looks like a sea of vespas surround there when I look on street view on Google maps. I think returning the car will be part of our Italian adventure 😀

Driving on the wrong side of the road???

Hi Pat, that’s a joke from Australia as we drive on the left hand side of the road. 😀 So that makes driving in Italy even more interesting!!

oh, I missed that detail, thx for explaining!

Definitely check the office hours. However when you pick up the car you can find out if the office in Sorrento has drop off box. We returned a car in Rome when the office was closed with advance notice. I did rent a car in the same office which you are returning in Sorrento. What I remember most about picking up our car at that office was that the staff was very rude. Please check the fine print when you pick up the car and have your documents in print as well as on your phone or tablet. I encountered a problem in Venice when I was picking up a car they demanded a printed copy of my insurance from the USA. They would not except anything on my phone. I was forced to purchase the rental car insurance. I

Ciao
Have a wonderful time
Lorie-ann

I think driving on the wrong (left) side of the road is perfectly acceptable in the Naples area, especially when the traffic is too congested on the right side of the road. I discovered that many years ago riding in a taxi. At first I thought the taxi driver was Australian, but then I discovered he was fully Neapolitan, just trying to avoid the traffic snarls. Running through red lights or on light rail tracks is ok too.

Europecar, Sorrento hours 9AM-1PM; 4PM-730PM Mon-Sat, Closed Sun

( https://www.europcar.com/en/stations/italy/sorrento?utm_source=local&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=RROC02 )

I suppose the non driver gets out of the car and goes into the office to find out where to put the car? Driver circles the block?

Thanks so much Lorie-ann, great advice re checking the hours open and printing everything out. We will ask lots of questions and check all the fine print when we collect the car in Bari. 😀
He hee Roberto, what a taxi ride that must’ve been. 😳 I’m also worried about directing my husband through the one way streets there- I’ll just tell them we are from Australia 🤣
Thanks Joe for the link and also why didn’t I think of hopping out to run into the Office- wonderful idea.
Thanks so much everyone- I’ll post and tell you how we go, ciao Virginia

A cute story.... On one of our trips, we rented a car in Sorrento and drove to our B and B in Cisternino. Our hosts were great and informative.. I mentioned to them that several times on our journey people/cars did not comply with the posted signage. I was told, " the traffic signs are just a suggestion" :) This driving experience was mostly in the smaller towns and villages. However, pay close attention to the posted signs for parking and speed limits. After one trip I did receive a speeding ticket about 5 weeks after our return to the States from Sicily.

Have a great trip

Thanks Lorie- it sounds like the line out of Pirates of the Caribbean -they’re only guidelines 🤣
I’ll do my best to warn my hubby of any speeding signs- I become annoying at this after a while 😀
Thanks again, cheers Virginia

In Italy 130 clicks means 130; if the sign shows a decrease, to say, 50, they mean 50 by the sign, not taking your foot off the pedal and coasting down.

Cameras are often shortly after signs, ZLT cameras are at entrances, bus lanes are covered by cameras, and there is TUTOR on the highways to average speed.

Thanks Nigel. We have the same rules in Australia. The speed is expected at the sign. We have many speed cameras here too but not average speed surveillance. Can you tell me more about TUTOR as I’ve never heard of it, cheers Virginia

Hi Virginia.... TUTOR measures the speed passing one gantry and then talks to the other gantries to measure both instant and average speed. If you're not flagged up by either measure you are fine. The individual measuring spots are not identified. If you exceed the limits on either measure you won't be fine, you'll be fined.

Italian tickets through the post are notoriously slow to arrive.

Oh my goodness!! 😳😫 Thanks Nigel for explaining that. In the city I live in we have mobile speeding radar that measures your speed instantly and fines you. They’re making a lot of money at the moment as you only have to be approximately 6 kms or so over to be pinged plus they seem to hide between parked cars. The signage is after your speed has been measured. It’s causing a lot of anxiety for one of my friends as he’s always got his eyes glued on the speedometer instead of on the road.