Car Rentals in Pula and Dubrovnik

Hi smijan4.

No idea about Pula, but we rented through AutoEurope in Dubrovnik in September 2014. Pickup was at the Dubrovnik airport which is actually just outside Cavtat, south of Dubrovnik, which was okay, as we were staying in Cavtat. The car rental agencies (maybe 7 or 8 of them) at the Dubrovnik airport were all in one place along a sidewalk outside the terminal, so easy to find. It was pretty crowded though, with a lot of rental vehicles jammed into a small space. I rented and paid through the AutoEurop website in April 2014, and brought the rental voucher with me to the airport. No problem with the onsite process. Just a couple smartass Croatian kids at the AutoEurope rental desk, but that was okay. Returning the car was an experience though. The lot was completely jammed with many other people returning their vehicles, and the whole area rental parking was impassable. We just pulled up to a hole in the middle of the chaos, jumped out, grabbed our bags, returned the keys and headed to the terminal. Done.

Thank you, Peter. Your information is very helpful, and I appreciate your taking the time to reply.

Just to clarify, there is no AutoEurope rental desk, as they are a consolidator that works with several car hire companies. Other than Hertz, one of the most common is Europcar, with the bright green signs. I'm gonna guess that Peter is referring to them.

I wouldn't get a car until after your visit to Dubrovnik. A few day wandering the car-free center city (perhaps including some hikes to nearby shorelines for views from a distance) is a must, so you won't use a vehicle until you head for Istria. The little office of the car rental company we got through AutoEurope was just a few meters walk from the south gate in Dubrovnik.

Bill makes a good point. AutoEurope is just the broker.. The actual rental company in this case was "Fleet". As mentioned, their kiosk was outside the terminal, along with Europar, Hertz, Sixt and a bunch of others. If you book through AutoEurope, they will send you a confirmation, including the name of the car rental company, shown under the "Rental Company" field on your confirmation.

We booked through AutoEurope in Palermo later in the same vacation and ended up with Europar in that case.

Another question for the OP: will you be travelling into other countries with your Dubrovnik rental? I.e. Montenegro or Bosnia? If so, make sure to indicate this on your initial booking. If you indicate this, you will receive an email advising there is an additional fee, as I think those countries are perceived as higher risk from the perspective of the rental companies. The additional fee for us in Sept 2014 was €62.50 including VAT for us to take the car into both of those countries.

Thank you all for the the information, which is very helpful. A few weeks ago I had read about the additional fee to take a car from Croatia to other countries; consequently, I called a few car rental companies who had a list of non-approved countries and said I didn't need to let them know about crossing borders if I weren't going into those particular countries. I had better call and double check that since some travel surprises are better than others. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.