[Closed] Hiring a car in Italy.

Nothing you wouldn't expect, driving in Italian cities is nuts.

Over the years we've tended to use Europcar and Holiday Autos

We used Auto Europe to hire our car in Florence, they're a broker. I'd use them again but be careful of the cheapie companies on their lists, the reviews of then isn't great. The car we got was brand new and only about €10 more per day than the cheapest I.e the company to avoid.

Take your car back promptly! We got stung an extra days hire for being an hour late back and even though we'd spoken to car hire place that morning explaining it and it being OK with the maanager, we got billed after the event.

I've just (this weekend) hired from Avis in Turin. Booked ex UK and without a forensic troll of the Interweb, they were the cheapest and totally painless (I'm gonna get a €1000 surprise now aren't I?). Take or hire a proper sat nav though, it saves endless grief.

Same here, I just shopped around on the internet around the usual big brands and chose the cheapest, think I went with Europecar in the end. If you have any way at all any road rage tendencies then leave them behind in the UK. The driving is.....interesting.

There's a bit of paperwork from the DVLA that you need to print out before you travel if you're hiring a car in Europe now that replaces the paper part of your licence, as was.

[url= https://www.gov.uk/government/news/driving-licence-check-code-extended-from-72-hours-to-21-days ]Linky[/url]

If you don't have this, you will spending a long time fannying about at the car hire check-in desk, like everyone who was in front of me in the two-hour queue at Innsbruck Airport's car hire desk last summer. So make sure you do have it.

I hired a car in Spain 3 days ago and only needed the photocard version of my d/l

If you don't have this, you will spending a long time fannying about at the car hire check-in desk, like everyone who was in front of me in the two-hour queue at Innsbruck Airport's car hire desk last summer. So make sure you do have it.

Of course, being Italy rather than Austria they almost certainly won't bother asking. I didn't get asked on four trips last year. Then again, I had the code just in case.

Get 3rd party excess insurance, rather than paying the hire company for theirs. Take lots of pics on pick-up and drop-off. Use a reputable company. Drive like an Italian, don't get stressed by people tailgating, not indicating, horn use. Listen to Italian radio.

Just back from a weeks kayaking in Northern Italy. We rented 2x Fiat pandas, fully zero excess with extra drivers for £110 each. We used autoeurope.com and got the cars through "Sicily by car" despite flying into Milan. Cars had kayaks on the roof all week and had quite a few new scratches and were damp inside, but they didn't bat an aye. Highly recommended. They didn't ask for the dvla code.

There's a bit of paperwork from the DVLA that you need to print out before you travel if you're hiring a car in Europe now that replaces the paper part of your licence, as was.

Weird. I've never in my life needed the green paper or replacement thing. Maybe I've been lucky 🙂

Rented a car from Avis at Venice airport and had the devil of a job getting them to accept the terms I had booked it on via their own website and minus all the excess charges they wanted to stick me with 🙁

I've just come back from Sicily and used auto Europe . Be careful they advertise a price and then put £x% to be paid locally. Luckily we didn't get charged the local amount so worked out very cheap! Even at full price it worked out cheaper than going direct.

Don't go with the cheap places, you will get stung.

Italian driving is brilliant, people get out of the way on motorways (they have no option) and roundabouts have no rules other than you have to stop cars getting in front of you.

Regular car hirer in Northern Italy. I always go with Sixt - always courteous and efficient in my experience. I also get the full insurance package with bells from the car hirer, but then I'm on business. Driving outside the old towns and cities is pretty straightforward... just take the first hour easy as you adapt. I agree with posters about having a good satnav.