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Pick up/drop off rental car Italy - drive in Slovenia - Albania - Montenegro

Posted by on

I'm planning a bit over a month long trip and hoping to visit mostly Slovenia, Montenegro, Albania. The flights are cheap going into Rome, so we were going to spend some days there, rent a car, drive to Slovenia, visit, then spend a few days in Bosnia (of course would have to drive through Croatia for that) and then explore Montenegro, Albania, and finally take a ferry from Albania back to Italy.

I have heard this is very difficult with a rental car. I just looked into Hertz as an example (they had fairly cheap car rentals) and they do not allow their rentals to go into Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, or Albania.

I understand I'd have to pay a tax to cross the boarder with the rental car, but that isn't an issue. I am wondering what rental companies may allow me to drive in these countries?

Unfortunately, Montenegro and Albania don't have the best public transportation (nor is there a very direct way to go from Slovenia to those countries). Also, I'm afraid it won't be easy to get to the small towns we're interested in exploring without a car.

Any ideas for companies that would allow us to pick up a car in Italy, return it to the same station, but allow us to drive in these countries?

Posted by
11130 posts

Ask rental car companies directly. They differ.
You will pay a huge drop off fee for returning the car to another country. We were quoted 1000€ drop fee for a Lisbon to Barcelona drop off. We solved the problem by dropping car off in Portugal and having a driver take us across the border to a city with a car rental agency in Spain that we preferred. Our hotel arranged for the driver. You have two identical threads; delete one of them.

Posted by
9549 posts

I think you are not going to find many rental companies that will allow you to take a rental car from Italy into those countries — most, if not all, are specifically going to exclude those countries.

Posted by
2 posts

I'm planning a trip from Dubrovnik to Tirana, Albania. I have not yet successfully booked a rental car. Hertz has locations in both Dubrovnik and Tirana but will not allow cross border. I've thought about hiring a private car/driver. Can anyone point me to a reputable place? Thanks in advance! And Linda, did you find anything yet?

Posted by
4 posts

Last summer I did a similar trip and used Auto Europe to get a car through Alamo. I don't think any car rental company will let you take a rental car from Italy and cross the border to Slovenia and then on to Croatia and beyond so I flew into Ljubljana and picked up the car and drove through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and dropped it off in Sofia Bulgaria. For 3 weeks the base rate was around $600 but with the border crossing fees and one-way fee it ended up being around $1800. It was definitely worth it to us to have the freedom to drive wherever we wanted to go. Send your request to Auto Europe and they will find someone to rent you a car or tell you if it can't be done.

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