Car rental in Italy

I would definitely use AutoEurope or its sister company Kemwel. Most credit card insurance will not cover you in Italy. It depends on the particular card you use. The only way to determine that type of coverage is to call the number on back of your card and find out. If they tell you you are covered, have them give you a website address so you can read and print out the terms of your card.

Both AutoEurope and Kemwel generally offer cars with no collision coverage or “super coverage” with $0 deductible. I have had 7 rentals in the last 5 years in Italy and always chose the $0 deductible because the rental becomes stressless. The additional charge compared to my total trip cost is minimal Note that if you rent from Europcar and have a claim, they will assess an administrative fee of about €75. If you rent from Hertz and have the misfortune of damage, as I did, they charge no such fee.

If you’ve never driven in Italy, make sure each driver has an International Driver Permit which you can get at AAA. Also familiarize yourself with the ZTL’s - limited or no access for non residents, heavy fines.

We always rent from AutoEurope.com, especially for cars in Italy with included insurance. It will cost you more of you don’t rent from AutoEurope for cars in Italy.

Also try www.gemut.com based in Oregon. For people who must have rental vehicles I would advise booking through a reputable rental company so as to insulate yourselves as much as possible from Big Name unscrupulous car rental agencies in Europe.

I concur with Tim. I have used gemut to book cars and they work great. To the best of my knowledge all rentals in Italy come with insurance.

Enjoy your trip.

We rented from knowleggi car rental in Florence last summer and they were fantastic! Great communication before and during the rental. Great advice for how to avoid ZTL zones. It’s a small, local company that I think only has an office in Florence, so that works great for your itinerary.

I have several positive comments about our experience renting a car from Sixt at the airport in Florence in September 2019.

Pick up experience. The shuttle bus to the collective car rental building was packed and I was dreading the lines inside the building. However, ALL the folks on the bus got in line at Hertz. We were assisted promptly by Beatrice in the Sixt office. She was helpful and friendly. The line at Hertz was still very long when we left the building.

Car. I signed up for the "Roulette" option because we only needed seats for two and a back seat for luggage. We received an Audi Q2 (a mini-SUV), manual, diesel. It had navigation, which we didn't request. It had a hill-holding clutch, a bonus. We drove 546 Km, didn't buy any fuel and probably broke even with the prepaid fuel option.

Drop off and final bill. Getting back to the car rental lot was a challenge, but that is Florence. Sixt does take photos of the corners and sides of returning cars, so they are probably serious about charging for minor damage. We had none. Processing was efficient. The final charge was exactly as promised on the day that I reserved it.

I know that others will have real and horrific experiences and will be motivated to submit negative reviews. Sixt provided us with a pleasant renting experience.

Sixt has become our favorite car rental agency over the last four years, although we didn’t rent a car on the last trip to Italy. At half a dozen franchises we have had excellent service. Their website is also easy to navigate. We’re actually going to try using them in the US on an upcoming trip, even though they are a European (German, I think) company.