Car Hire in Italy - Advice

[Dunks]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at hiring a car in Italy for just over a week, 17th May pickup at Pisa airport and 25th May drop off at Venice Marco Polo

Looking at something that can sit 4 people comfortably for half the trip, then only two for the rest. So nothing massive, maybe Golf/Focus sized.

Any recommendations on where to look? Are comparison websites the place to go?

I've heard excess insurance being mentioned here before, any recommendations on who I should go with?

The majority of my driving has been in and around London, will this set me in good stead for Italian driving or is it that crazy?

 

[Dunks]

Thanks guys, that ZTL info is useful! I don't think it should be too much of an issue, but good to be aware of it

Looks like we're looking at around £215 for 8 days, for a mid size automatic (Volvo V40 or similar) which doesn't seem too bad.

Did any of you guys go for excess insurance?

 

[Dunks]

never accept the excess insurance on offer from car rental firms. it almost always is stupidly expensive. have google round and pick a cheapo alternative - though it does mean you need sufficient funds available/on your card to cover the excess initially.

Yeah I meant with third party Found a couple that seem reasonably priced, far less than the ones offered by the car hire companies!

 

[Dunks]

Cheers guys, car booked!

Now to have a look for the best scenic route to take to Venice (well, Treviso) from Pisa!

 

[Dunks]

If you're picking up at Pisa straight off the flight, there is a shuttle mini-bus to the car hire - you can walk round the corner quicker if there's a queue for the bus though. Turn right as you leave the airport building, go past the bus stops and you should come to roundabout. Turn right and the hire car building is just down that lane.

Yeah we are. Cheers for that, I did read that they've moved and now you need a shuttle.

 

[Dunks]

Hi guys, what's the deal with IDPs and car hire in Italy?

My understanding is an EU license is all you require, but then my car hire agreement states:

The driver license must be written in Latin alphabet.
In addition to the regular driver license, an International Driving Permit is also mandatory if the driver license is written in a language other than that
of the renting country and/or in characters that cannot be read in the renting country.


It's a little bit confusing with the "and/or"! For the sake of £5.50 I think I'll just get one.

 

[Dunks]

Also, I'm taking out excess insurance. Stupid question, but it I drop the car off and they charge £400 for a small scratch or whatever, I'm assuming I'll just pay up and then claim off of my excess insurance?

 

[Dunks]

English is written in the Latin alphabet so you're fine without an IDP given what you wrote from the agreement. Certainly I never got one when driving in Italy. And the excess insurance works the way you described in most cases but read the policy. One thing I found when I paid up for my wheel ding was that the hire company seemed a bit reluctant to let me keep copies of stuff I signed with pictures of the damage etc. My excess insurance company wanted copies of everything so glad I insisted at the time of returning the car otherwise my claim for reimbursement probably would have failed due to a technicality of me not having a piece of paperwork.

Yeah I'm reading some proper horror stories about people paying hundreds for very all scratches, and difficulty in getting the car hire company to make notes of existing damage at the start of the hire period.

I'm going to take photos/videos of the car at the start before signing off on it, ensure any damage no matter how slight is recorded and insist on keeping copies of any proof of damage come of the end of the rental period.

Seems most people complaining about hire companies didn't have excess insurance and got stung badly!

 

[Dunks]

Make sure you get damage insurance; The Italians are a mad, mad bunch; and the majority drive around in cars which are either dented, or have a scratch on every panel.

Yeah, my car hire policy covers it, but the excess is massive so I have excess reimbursement insurance just incase!

Looking into the rules of the road over there and some sections of motorways (or autostrada!) have minimum speeds depending on the lane, didn't know that!

 

[Dunks]

It's generally caring over there. Very few can actually drive, few can park; It's weird as for me it's the spiritual home of cars - it's like the whole of Detroit not being able to drive, or the whole of Detroit not being being able to sing / play soul music.

What a place though, great roads, great driving, just be careful in the cities.

Majority of the trip will be around Tuscany, avoiding major cities and taking local roads, so I'm hoping it should be stress free and scenic!

I need to navigate out of Pisa airport and over to Montecatini Terme first though, it's about an hour of autostrada so shouldn't be too bad.

All my driving is in and around London though, and people drive pretty bad here, so hopefully it's not too much of a shock.