Hi, I need to hire a car from Venice airport to drive to the Dolomites. I am having difficulty trying to find out which companies have their own hire desks at the airport. I seem to keep ending up booking through 3rd party companies, who eventually hire from Locauto. They have frighteningly bad reviews & I do not want to hire from them. However, if I go direct to companies like Hertz, the price is several thousand pounds, which seems ridiculous. Any help, or advice through previous experience, would be gratefully received . Thank you
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17580 posts
That is odd. When I look on hertz.com from here (USA), I can see an 8-day rental in June starting at 171 euros for a Fiat Panda. Larger cars are a bit more, and a Ford Grand C was 393. Theses prices were including all fees and mandatory insurance.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Use autoeurope.com or gemut.com and let those reputable places take care of the rental process for you.
Posted by
11679 posts
If you are pricing automatic transmissions the prices will be much higher. Will you be leaving Venice prior to this rental? If so, you can rent a car there at Piazzelle Roma.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8361 posts
I agree with Suki. Cars picked up in airports always come with additional service fees and tolls not usually experienced at a city center rental location.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34247 posts
Pounds? The local currency is Euro.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I realise the local curency is Euros. However, I find it easier to understand what I am paying in my own currency.
I agree about the premium cost for airport collection & i'm happy to pay this for the convenience. What i cannot get my head around is the huge difference in cost. A direct comparison on exactly the same manual car on an 18 day hire (same dates, same times), varies by nearly £1800. The cost through Rental Cars (from Locauto, via Enterprise is just £421.00, however, going direct to Enterprise is over £2000. When you read the reviews for Locauto, it becomes obvious how they make up for this low rental, by ripping people off for non-existent damage. This is according to the vast majority of reviews from previous customers. What i need to know is who has rental desks at Venice airport. This way, i know i will collect the car from the same company i am booking with, & not via a third party outfit, who may decide to charge for damage several months after the vehicle is returned, (as some reviews have stated).
Thanks again for your feedback.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3303 posts
I have rented cars in Italy and various other countries in Europe on at least 15 separate occasions. With one exception, all my rentals were through AutoEurope. Yes, you might consider them a third-party agency. If you read the opinions of posters on this site, you’ll see that they get consistently favorable reviews. Since you are from the U.K., try their U.K. website AutoEurope.co.uk rather than the US site. They also have a toll free number and I have found their support staff to be knowledgeable and helpful.
Quite often there is no surcharge for picking up the car at an airport or RR station, sometimes there is. When selecting a pickup location, choose the “all locations” option to determine prices. When I hired a car in Càgliari, it was more expensive to get the car from the city office than at the airport. I hope you can find a reasonably priced vehicle.
Posted by
Long Beach, California, USA
3398 posts
I rented a car from the airport in Venice in September. Actually arranged it all via Costco! It was incredibly easy - ended up with a car through Enterprise. Ended up paying somewhere around $400 for 8 days driving through the Dolomites and Slovenia.