Car Rental for 6

Thank you so much for your reply! So I need to request this specific car? I believe a driver we had a couple of years ago in Tuscany drove us around in this type of vehicle. I will be looking for that!

Not the specific model - - just a nine-pax something.

You can easily find 5 passenger mini vans, but that 6th passenger will make you have to go larger.
Most larger rental companies can easily accommodate your needs, however the larger vans do get expensive.
But you're smart getting the apartment with so many people as you are taking the avenue of least resistance.

Seeing a region by rental car is so much more efficient than trying to hit the high points via train.

Wow, the prices are quite higher than we are used to! Now I am considering perhaps renting 2 smaller cars instead of one, which would allow us to split up should we want to go to different areas on any given day.

Still trying to decide what to do!
Happy to have this problem, though. Looking at pictures of the different possible locations is getting us all ready for this summer!

Thank you for your suggestions.

I have done both the 9 passenger van as well as 2 small cars... we had 8 people. Problem with large vehicle... cost, parking... benefits, everyone is together. When we had two separate cars the problem was keeping together and following one another and parking together. By the time you put gas, pay tolls, parking, insurance, etc. are you sure two cars are cheaper? Who did you find your vehicle with? Try Priceline and compare lots of rental companies if you did not already do this.
Edit... don't know when you are traveling but there are vans available at the airport in Florence for around $400 per week. Mid May
Just put a hold on the cheapest one and keep checking back weekly. If they go down make a new reservation and cancel the old one. They change rates frequently.

Before you rent anything go to Gemut.com (http://www.gemut.com/), read the downloadable brochure on renting a car in Europe and CALL Andy for advice. There are lots of "issues" with car rentals in Italy and you need to research that thoroughly, but talking to a person has been the best for getting a deal for us. If anyone can do it for your large group, Andy can, but as others have said, it will be pricey.

They advertise themselves as specialists on Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but they know about all of Europe. We have rented through them for the Benelux countries, France and an Alps driving trip through Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.

Please be advised that at the moment their website is not playing nice, so have patience. This part about larger cars and Priceline in particular, should be required reading for you: http://www.gemut.com/bestors-blog.html.

Also be aware that in addition to the extra costs (like the mandatory CDW insurance) if you rent 2 cars, there will have to be 2 different drivers and the rental will have be charged to the credit cards of the 2 drivers or else you will be dinged with an extra fee for a 2nd driver. We found that out when we rented the car for France, charged the car to my CC, but my husband drove it. The fee was not charged until we turned the car in.

Update: I emailed Gemut yesterday about their website problems and promptly got this response -- We just upgraded our content management system and our webmaster is tying up loose ends. Sound familiar? It seems to happen with every upgrade or new website launch. However, the quick response to my email is indicative of the quality of the Bestors' service. And things seem to be much better today (3/13).

Thank you so much for all your advice! I am still researching. We are in Italy from June 1 to the 19 and prices seems to increase right when we arrive!

So far I have gotten quotes from autoeurope, hertz and kayak.

Still trying to figure out what to do.... It's turning out to be more complicated and costly than I anticipated. I am also trying to figure out where to stay in the Cinque Terre region that again, is big enough for all 6 of us to be together.

I so enjoyed driving around Spain and saw so much more of it than had we done it by train, and I am crossing my fingers we can do the same for Italy!

Again, thank you for all your excellent advice!