Hiring a car in Italy?

[tissy]

Ok, have flights booked, need to hire a car.

Which company is most reliable in a will-have-the-car-ready-with-appropriate-car-seat kind of way?

Have been on travelsupermarket.com, and the variety of companies is depressing. Should I just stick to Hertz/ Avis- big names therefore bigger infrastructure? Obv. those are most expensive!

Should I just take up some of my luggage allowance taking a booster seat with us? (Have driven in US, and was at the seat they charged us a huge amount of money for. Is the seat I get likely to be brand new, but cheap to buy therefore probably not great quality?

I've always gone with Avis, who also happen to be the cheapest at the moment, but they charge £40 for a child seat. I'm taking a child seat this time as oversive luggage, even if the airline charge me for the extra luggage it will be cheaper than the £40.

From my experience the seats where a recognised expensive brand, but definately not brand new by any means, lots of wear

We used Avis, and took our own seat as didn't want to risk it!

hope it's not too long- arriving in Pisa at 2.30 pm, Easyjet permitting, and want to be the other side of Florence by dinner time!

Will be taking maps and Satnav, so hoping to avoid Florence altogether!

bump!

Hint for Pisa if you can. Leave 1 person in luggage hall getting luggage however crowded it looks and send other ( main driver) out with all car hire docs / licences etc . Trust me its worth it !!!
Thread on general Advice tips about car hire in Italy. WIth acouple of other suppliers I always use Europcar ...

Could you get by using public transport? I was gonna hire a car for our hols in Aug but when i realised how convenient pubic transport is, I've decided to save the moneya nd hassle and just egt the bus/train/taxi! Not planning on doing much!!!

Sure there will be some transport links between Florence and Pisa

You shouldn't have to use up any of your allowance by taking a booster/carseat.
We didn't when we just travelled with DS. Check with the airline.

Car Rental places as a rule do not guarantee they will have the booster/car seat there when you arrive, which is kind of pointless. If you do get one it will not be new. It will have been round the block a few time and you don't know it's history.

Car Rental in general, we've found, is a right mixed bag and we've hired not only directly in Italy, but all over the world. Italy actually was the best experience we've had and it was Avis - a Picasso through half of Europe.

Basic rule is check check check. Get everything in writing and confirm.

If you can find out about the car seat in advance, do so. We booked one in Portugal with Eurocar a couple of years ago, and it seemed to be made of polystirene with a cotton cover. It felt horrifying putting our new baby in it, having spent ages tracking down a really safe one in the UK - especially with all the nutters on the roads there!

thanks, all

Leslaki, we would, but a fair amount of luggage, and we are not staying in Florence, but on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

Last time we went there (pre-dd) we cycled! Once dd is old enough to carry her own bag, it'll be public transport. It's pretty reliable in Italy!