We will be renting a car in Rome in June and traveling around Italy for three weeks. We were planning to rent a station wagon for our family of five, but are concerned about the safety of our luggage being in plain sight in the back. Would it be smarter to rent a car with a trunk? Any other car safety tips would be appreciated also.
Posted by
OH, OH, USA
1158 posts
Hard to say. I heard all kinds of horror stories. in 2002 I rented a car and drove it all over Western Europe and left 3 pieces of luggage on the back seat and nothing happened.
Posted by
Edmonton, AB, Canada
668 posts
Not sure what you mean by a "station wagon" Many cars in Europe are "hatchbacks" which have a shelf or pull cover (like a horizontal blind) which would cover the luggage and be like a trunk. For 5, though, the height of tje luggage may be higher than this would comfortably cover, but it is worth checking out.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
If you will use a car for more 17 days, you should consider leasing. It's a fraction of the cost of a rental, and the price includes full CDW insurance. I know you can pick up and drop off in Rome. We picked up in Amsterdam and dropped off in Rome. Even with the extra cost for picking up/dropping off outside of France, it was significantly better than renting. Plus you pick your car and it's delivered new.
We leased a seven passenger Peugeot Grand Scenic II. It's like a small station wagon. It was perfect for myself, spouse, 16 and 12 year old boys and 8 year old girl with one carry on each. Anything smaller and we wouldn't have fit. Be careful about convincing yourself you can get by with a smaller car. European cars are smaller than American cars, so err on the larger side when choosing.
Also be sure to pack a GPS. It's worth it's weight in gold, especially in Italy. I have a TomTom 920 (purchased after driving in Italy with only a map) but most people also like the Garmins that have European maps.
As far as safety goes. We managed to make it without a scratch and with no broken windows or stolen stuff. Generally we tried to leave the car completely empty when parked. At times that wasn't possible so I took care to find the safest possible parking. I didn't use any lot that had broken glass on the ground, graffiti or questionable people loitering in the area.
An example is La Spezia. The parking around the train station didn't look at all secure. I asked and was able to find free parking accross the street from the Navy base. It was a little hike back to the train station but worth it to come back to a car in one piece. Pisa also has some parking concerns. We parked for free on the side of a major street (arriving early is a plus) and had no problems. Again it was a little walk to the tower but not much more than the tourist parking would have been.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
cont.
Definitely park on the mainland in Venice and train accross. I learned the hard way that secure parking in Venice is expensive and time consuming to get in and out of.
The other expensive parking was Florence. If possible find lodging outside of town where you can take public transport into the town center for site seeing.