Car rental in Florence

I will check to see if there are any car rental agencies just outside downtown that is my first preferance yes we are locked into Florence.. already have my tickets.. thats ok..
We arrive into Florence from venice at 11 AM so by the time we trek out to the airport pick up the car and then drive to SG we have lost half the day.. so if I don't have to go out to the airport that would save us some time.

The airport is less than five miles from the city center. Bus stops are within a couple of hundred feet of all the major car rental places. Leaving from there, you'll be nowhere near a ztl. It's four-lane from right after you clear the airpot until the last eight or ten miles into San G. Even that last little bit is very nice two-lane.

I am coming from Venice to Florence by Train not the airport.. is the airport my only choice other than central Florence?
How do I get to the airport from DT Florence by public transit

I'm pretty sure it's from the Sita bus station across the road from the southwest corner of the train station. I'm only going by signs that it think I've seen. I've never taken the bus to the airport from anywhere, so somebody else will have to answer. There are car rental places near the SNM train station, but to get out of town you'd have to go not quite in the direction of San Gimigano while threading your way between ZTL's and dealing with the traffic - - both things you said you didn't want to do. The time lost would be about the same as riding the bus, probably. Two facts that may bear on the last option: a - - If you pick up the car in a ZTL, you get an X-minute/hour waiver to get out. Also, I think that the ZTL cameras are set up only for penetration, not exiting. b - - I don't know what happens if you get a car from a place not in a ZTL and subsequently blunder into one while trying to escape - - e. g., I don't know if there is a waiver mechanism, but I doubt it. If you have much luggage or want to keep it simple, a taxi might be the anwer, but I have no idea of the cost.

Yes we have seen and heard all kinds of things about driving in the cities and on the highways ... the confusing signs etc.. my H does all the driving and gets really stressed in those situations..so we are trying to find a rental place that is just outside the main area of the city so as not to have to deal with the ZTL issue.. If anyone knows of one that would be great.. most people have talked about the airport so not sure if that is our only option

My travel agent advised that I fly into Pisa to pick up our rental car to use in Tuscany instead of Florence. Not sure if you are tied to Florence, but something to consider. She said that Pisa is a smaller area and easier to get your car and go, vs. Florence is a bigger city and can be overwhelming to navigate out of the rental area. We are considering to get Hertz rental car.

Renting at the airport in Florence and then navigating to the freeway is really pretty easy. You are right by the highway ...just pay attention. (I thought there were some zones in Pisa as well) Its a really easy and nice drive to San. G. On the autostrada just stay in the right lane unless passing and you will do fine.

what is ZTL? we are planning to rent a car while we are staying in the Tuscany area..

Vikki, ZTLs are Zones of Limited Traffic, where unless you have prior permission to enter you get your photo snapped and your wallet gets dramatically lighter, slowly. They are a regular, nearly daily, topic of discussion here on the Helpline. If you put "dreaded ZTL" into the search box up in the upper right corner, you will get hundreds of threads and answers, if you just use the expression "ZTL" it will probably be thousands. They can keep you reading for quite a long time. There was a particularly good thread last year about them. Have a click on http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/61463/zona-traffico-limitato-what-is-this.html , and then look at the link from Ron in Rome at the top of the thread and the link provided by Kent in the next answer, and the discussion in between and the link at the bottom for GPS POIs, although staying far far away from ZTLs is the best prevention. It is good that you are learning about them now rather than when you get a ding on your credit card and a bill for hundreds of Euros.