Italy Car Hire - quoted high taxes is this normal?

[Jzee]

I am looking into hiring a car for a week in Italy. One well known company has quoted almost £200 in extra taxes which brings the rental of an automatic car for one week to £500!! This is more than the cost of our flights and accomodation and something I wasn't expecting! Does anyone know if this is standard procedure?

doesn't sound right, to be honest. We hired a car in Italy for a fortnight last year and I think it cost around £300-£350 in total, tax included. It was more expensive than in Spain or France though. Have you tried Holiday Autos , they are usually good value and they broker for lots of the big agencies. Have used them a few times and never had a problem.

Mrsflowerpot: thanks and I shall have a look at their website.

Yes that's normal. It's enormously expensive to hire a car in Italy. However. we always use autoeurope who do discounted rentals with the major companies. You have to pay in full in advance, but it's well worth it because there are no extra surprises when you get to the counter and it's totally refundable if you change your mind.