Car hire - ITALY

[guzzler]

Hi All,

Flying into Bergamo from Knock in July and want to hire a car for a week.

I have used autoeurope before with no issue.

Is this the best option for ITaly, anything I should watch out for compared to say UK, France or Spain.

Thanks

 

[suzie]

shop around I guess, is it return on empty or full? excess? get your own excess cover?

S.

 

[EvilDoctorK]

anything I should watch out for compared to say UK, France or Spain.

The other Italian drivers ! - Though northern Italy isn't really that bad, but down South the standard of driving and quality of the roads is really really poor compared to UK, France or Spain in my experience.

Car Hire wise - usual advice applies regarding fuel policies and excesses apart from that all the same companies are in Italy ... One exception is the largest Italian-only company is called Maggiore - it's sometimes worth checking their prices too [broken link removed]

 

[RPC757]

Hi,

I've been travelling abroad for years on business an currently I am finding the cheapest car hire rates are thru the Easyjet web site which is europcar. With regard to excess I have my own policy from insurance4carhire.com . The cost of this premium in stg£49 per year which covers all europe. Compare this to the car hire compnies who charge around €10-12 per day. It means if you are away fro more than 6 days of the year you are better off with this policy.

Hope this helps.

 

[docy]

Hi
I am flying to Pisa in August and want to hire a Fiat 500 Cabriolet but am finding it very hard to get a company which offers them or the ones that do for them to guarantee.

Any previous experience?

Thanks

 

[fuliz]

Be careful about car choice, the cars are very small. If you have a couple of bags go up a grade as they will give you the smallest cars,smallest boot in mankind.I find car hire can be hit and miss between companies and prices.

 

[guzzler]

Right I have been and back yesterday. Used autoeurope.com who ended up renting from a crowd who had a prefab right outside the front door of Bergamo airport called Advantage. The autoeurope were way cheaper than Advantage own website.

Booked a Fiesta got a Fiat Punto (jaysus they are really a s*!t car). No problem with rental so far. Other car hire companies at the airport are about a mile down the road but there is a shuttle to them.

Took the advice here to buy the excess insurance from the website above. Saved 20euros alone on it from this one trip so Cheltenham, and other trips will be bigger savings throughout the year. Diesel and petrol a lot dearer than here (diesel 1.70-1.79).

Went into Milan and had to pay a toll of 1.80 for it, I hope that is the congestion charge. I like the Autostrate payment system, you pay when you get off it and it is relative to the miles/kms you used of it.