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Original poster

Italy car hire - any recommmendations please?

18 replies

WendyWeber · 09/06/2008 23:04

My DDs (quite grown-up - 26 & 23) are going in July and are planning to hire a car for a few days.

Best all-in deal we've found looks like economycarhire.com - it's dearer than some, but no excesses at all (which is nice - we had a car hire deal earlier this year which did cover accident damage but it had to be paid upfront (DH collided with a deer ) and it took weeks to be repaid).

Have you used them, or anybody else you'd recommend?

TIA

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jasperc163 · 10/06/2008 07:52

www.auto-europe.co.uk

Just about to book ourselves for Italy. We used these people before an no problems - they do do no excess options on certain cars. A bit cheaper i think than economyhire.com

alice

Original poster

WendyWeber · 10/06/2008 09:42

Thanks, alice - auto-europe do sound good, and for the dates and car the DDs are going for they are about £50 cheaper (£155 v £202) but I need to speak to them to clarify their CDW/excess refund policy - on the home page it says

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jasperc163 · 11/06/2008 09:41

Avis actually work out well too. However this insurance issue is a nightmare - excess on avis is 850-1700 Euros!!!
Is this normal??

Original poster

WendyWeber · 11/06/2008 09:51

Our claim was with europcar in France and theirs was about 550 euros. We booked it through carhire3000 and the documentation mentioned excesses up to 1200 euros, so 850-1700 is v v high

I did ring auto-europe yesterday and spoke to an almost incomprehensible American which made communication a bit tough He said you get refunded as long as all your paperwork is OK but he didn't know how long it would take - he guessed a couple of days

Avis is part of the company I work for so I get a discount, I will look at them too, thanks! (But if they have an excess repayment policy too then we are def going with economycarhire - £50 well worth it for the peace of mind!)

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Original poster

WendyWeber · 11/06/2008 10:00

Avis's quote for the same car was £227 - it says you can pay extra on collection to reduce the excess, but it doesn't say how much, and I think the staff discount is only 10% so def not worth it!

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AtheneNoctua · 11/06/2008 10:01

My top tip is get a Tom Tom with the rental. I recently rented a car in Italy and I would have never managed to get to my destination had it not been for my friend Tom Tom.

jasperc163 · 11/06/2008 14:27

Thats strange as Avis actually a good deal where we are going (Sardinia). But agree their excess is nuts.

We are thinking about doing this
www.carhireexcess.com

It works out at £16 for the week (cheaper than adding it on with the hire place) and it includes windows (many don't), theft etc. Basically you get your excess paid back up to £2000.

jasperc163 · 11/06/2008 14:30

ps just looked on economycarhire and they don't cover windows etc either! Surely this is about the most likely to get broken with a theft?

Carhireexcess looks like quite a good deal? Am i missing something?

gio71 · 11/06/2008 22:08

wendyweber what did you decide on? I am also looking at booking car hire in Italy in Aug, economy car hire does look good.

Original poster

WendyWeber · 12/06/2008 15:09

Where did you find the inf about windows on economycarhire, alice? I can't even see where to begin looking for it!

The carhireexcess deal does sound good - we paid a similar amount to carhire3000 for ours and it cost them £470 - or at least they had to pay us £470, maybe they split it with the rental company. Most people would end up not claiming though so it must make money in general (most insurance is like that )

gio, we are def going to go with economycarhire - the extra £50 seems well worth it. DD1 only has a £700 limit on her credit card, if most of that was spoken for as a holding deposit (or whatever it's called) she'd have nothing for emergencies. (And they are English, not American!)

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jasperc163 · 13/06/2008 14:47

www.economycarhire.com/terms.php

Wendy its here. They don't cover glass parts of vehicle (amongst many others!). To me the carehireexcess deal sounds much better as it does include it all. And much cheaper. Auto Europe
www.auto-europe.co.uk
plus the car hire excess works out cheaper i think and you are getting better cover?

MintPattie · 13/06/2008 16:59

We've used AutoEurope quite a few times now and opt for the No Excess option....we've consistently found them to have the most competitive prices.

We haven't needed to make an insurance claim but as I understand it you are responsible for paying the excess to the car company and AutoEurope will reimburse you if the claim is legit.

If you need to hire child seats it's worth factoring in those costs into your comparison as prices differ between companies and it's an area some companies tend to price gouge on.....at times it can far exceed the cost of hiring the actual car . I always ring the local company for that info.

What part of Italy are they planning to drive through? We were once "upgraded" in Naples for a tour through the Amalfi coast and the bigger car was a nightmare on the narrow windy roads you share with far too many hot blooded latino drivers

MintPattie · 13/06/2008 17:02

forget about child seats....

Original poster

WendyWeber · 13/06/2008 20:35

Ah - thanks, alice - I obviously didn't look in the right place!

Anyway we have gone with economy - they don't charge any extra for a one-way rental, which is a plus (pick-up Florence, drop-off Pisa) and we got cover for glass, wheels etc from them for £9 on top of the rental (although that is on an excess basis).

MP, Auto Europe are def a lot cheaper than economy carhire, but not having to cough up for an excess - in the not unlikely event of an Italian bump - is worth the extra £50 with the DDs' current perilous finances.

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Original poster

WendyWeber · 13/06/2008 20:38

Oh, and they plan to drive south from Florence - Rome, Naples, Amalfi coast & then back up, finishing on the coast near Pisa on their last day. They're getting a Panda (I hope, they need to hide 2 big rucksacks in the boot) and camping, with a tiny 2-man tent - it's a weird kind of trip

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babyOcho · 13/06/2008 21:59

we've use this [http://www.carhire3000.com/ place] in the past, mainly in the USA but we used it when we were in spain last year.

it acts like a car hire broker, and the hire itself is usually from one of the main companies.

when we have used it in the USA (which is quite a lot) its been a lot cheaper as it also includes stuff like insurance, fuel. but check it out as we have never used for italy

[http://www.carhire3000.com/]

fruitstick · 13/06/2008 22:04

I don't want to worry you unnecessarily but are your DDs aggressive confident drivers? The driving in Italy is astonishingly bad and you need a lot of nerve. Would they consider going by train instead? The trains are great and might be a little less stressful.

But then I am not the bravest person behind the wheel!

Original poster

WendyWeber · 13/06/2008 23:32

babyO, we used carhire3000 ourselves earlier this year and were v pleased with their service but they have that excess refund scheme; we had a tiny no-fault accident (young deer ran out from side of road & collided with car) and that was £470 straight off our credit card and not refunded for 5-6 weeks. DD1 can't afford that.

fruitstick, DD1 is pretty confident and has driven LHD (in the US) before. I've warned her about Italy...but she is 26, I drove my own car to Greece and back when I was 25 and I know there was less traffic 30 years ago but still, I have faith

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