Travel

katie, You might want to delete your duplicate post before it attracts any replies.

Unknown. It depends on where and for exactly how long. Picking up at an airport will probably have a premium, so will an automatic transmission. Use kayak.com. It checks all the rental outfits. What I do is uncheck the Expedia, etc, boxes and check the carrentals.com box for the best results. One other thing to know is that most credit cards won't cover the CDW waiver for Italy, so you have to cough up a bunch more money for insurance. This doesn't apply, however, if you rent elsewhre I drive into Italy for as long as you want. What I do is rent anywhere else, drive in, and take the car back to where I got it (France is a handy spot usually) - - the extra day or so this takes makes the whole deal much cheaper than actually renting in Italy. Others may caution against driving in Italy for any number I reasons. I find it a piece of cake and no more trouble than driving anywhere else. That said, forget driving around in the major cities - - you play heck finding a parking places and the public transportation is faster - - drive in and park it for the duration of your stay. The other mistake people make is renting a car for a little while one place, then later renting another one some other place. Two short-term rentals cost more than one long-term one.

If you need a car for that long, you should look into lease/buyback instead of rental. Lease/buyback comes with full no-deductible insurance coverage, plus you get a brand new car and 24/7 free roadside assistance. With all the included extras considered, lease/buyback can often be more cost effective than renting. You can get an idea of actual costs by going to www.renaultusa.com or www.peugeot-openeurope.com. Renault & Peugeot are the two major companies that offer lease/buyback, and each has pickup/dropoff locations in both Rome & Milan.

One drawback with autoeurope.com is that they only quote the Peugeot lease program. If you do look into lease/buyback, you have to go to Renault's own website to include them in your cost comparison.

katie, For driving in Italy, be sure each driver has the compulsory International Driver's Permit. These are easily obtained at any AAA office, and must be used in conjunction with your home D.L.