car rental in Tuscany

[Teddie2]

So trying to decide best place to rent from. Hoping to stay in Siena but seems like might have to rent out of Florence? Has anyone rented in SIena? SWe would prefer not to deal with traffic in Florence and all the ZTL restrictions.
Siena seems like a good central place to stay and tour from. Will only have 6 days and want to see... a lot Florence, Lucca, Pisa (just the tower ) Siena, san gimigiorno and Montepulciano and maybe Chianti if there is time... not sure
Any suggestions about rental cars?

 

[Carolinian]

Lately, I have been finding the best car rental prices in Europe at www.economycarrentals.com , which is a consolidator. Other consolidators I have used for good prices on European car rentals are www.autoeurope.com and www.europebycar.com

 

[sml2181]

We've used Maggiore and always had brand new cars for the lowest rates I could find. They are Alamo/National in Italy. But, we always look for larger cars for at least 6 persons with luggague so you may be able to find better deals with others like mentioned above.

I haven't rented out of Siena, only out of Rome and Florence airports. I don't know where you are staying, but if you rent from the airport locations, you do not have to drive through the cities at all.

Driving isn't too bad, if you think you are uncomfortable at first, I would recommend to start driving when Italians are having their siesta. The roads will be pretty empty then for a few hours.

 

[Laurie]

I'm sure you can rent from Florence airport, and avoid dealing with city traffic, if you can't pick one up in Siena. Check w/consolidators' websites to see their locations.

edited to add: Oh, I was posting at the same time as sml2181.

 

[Carolinian]

Consolidators have special bulk rates with the major car rental firms and thus charge customers less, sometimes much less, than those major car rental firms would charge directly. Then you get a reservation or voucher (depending on the specific consolidator) where you pick up your car from the car rental company. The consolidators I have used sent me to Budget, National, Avis, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt, and a large Austrian car rental company whose name I have forgotten, to actually pick up the car. With some, like economycarrentals, they give you a choice of addresses to pick up your car within each city.

 

[Teddie2]

We've used Maggiore and always had brand new cars for the lowest rates I could find. They are Alamo/National in Italy. But, we always look for larger cars for at least 6 persons with luggague so you may be able to find better deals with others like mentioned above.

Maggiore has CDW included in thier rates but it does not seem to be similar to US companies who have CDW.. are you familiar with this when you rented with them.. we always get the extra coverage don't want to deal with our insurance or insurance with the CC as if anything happens the rental company still goes after you and then you need to deal with the cc company or whatever. just less hassle.. never had to use it but it provides a certain level of comfort..

 

[Carolinian]

One thing to remember is that a consolidator is going to almost always be cheaper, often a lot cheaper, than dealing directly with a major car rental company, and the reservation you will get will have one of those major companies as the actual rental provider.

As to credit card auto insurance in Europe, I have dealt with it twice, both with Amex, once in France and once in Greece, and had no problem at all. In France, I had a thief break out a side window in the night to steal something out of the rental car. In Greece, I had a local who had been drinking plough into the back of my rental car without trying to stop and doing considerable damage. In both cases, the rental companies said that with Amex they would not require any pre-payment by me and Amex subsequently covered the damage. Dealing with Amex and the rental car companies was fairly painless. The only aggravation was extracting the necessary police reports from the police. In France, they had to call someone in, and I had to wait three hours for her to arrive. When she did she acted like I was wasting her time since they would never be able to catch the perpetrator anyway. She did not seem to grasp that the report was necessary for my insurance coverage.

 

[sml2181]

As far as I know, CDW is CDW where ever you go. (I used to call Amex before commiting to rentals and they assured me that it is equal no matter where.) Having said that - I am really not an expert on this, so you may want to get some advice from others.

I rely heavily on my Amex because their coverage is very extensive and the one time I actually hit a pole, I never noticed anything; Alamo and Amex dealt with it. This was in Denver, but Amex assured me that had it happened in China, the procedure would have been the same.
But - this is a Dutch platinum Amex desk and I wouldn't have a clue on how other cc companies do this. Well, actually I do know that my Master card does cover pretty much although not as much as Amex, but their service desk isn't as all-round.

About consolidators - I always check websites as mentioned before, and websites like Expedia, Kayak and such. But I always do check the rental companies too and I have found cheaper rates using consolidators twice - excluding rentals in Spain where I have always used one and the same consolidator.
Maybe it's just a matter of timing, or maybe it is because of the car size we always rent for a family of 6, but to me it really has been worth it to check both.

 

[Teddie2]

I am coming into Florence via train so right in the middle of the city! Just wondered if anyone has rented outside of the city

 

[Carolinian]

I am coming into Florence via train so right in the middle of the city! Just wondered if anyone has rented outside of the city

Most car rental companies in Europe have rental sites near, or sometimes even in, the railway station. If you don't want to drive in the city, then go from the railway station to the airport outside the city. Find transport to the airport at www.toandfromtheairport.com

 

[Carolinian]

Agree about Amex. I have had issues of car damage in France and Greece, and my US plat Amex took care of it. I did not have to post any deposits or anything.

As far as I know, CDW is CDW where ever you go. (I used to call Amex before commiting to rentals and they assured me that it is equal no matter where.) Having said that - I am really not an expert on this, so you may want to get some advice from others.

I rely heavily on my Amex because their coverage is very extensive and the one time I actually hit a pole, I never noticed anything; Alamo and Amex dealt with it. This was in Denver, but Amex assured me that had it happened in China, the procedure would have been the same.
But - this is a Dutch platinum Amex desk and I wouldn't have a clue on how other cc companies do this. Well, actually I do know that my Master card does cover pretty much although not as much as Amex, but their service desk isn't as all-round.

About consolidators - I always check websites as mentioned before, and websites like Expedia, Kayak and such. But I always do check the rental companies too and I have found cheaper rates using consolidators twice - excluding rentals in Spain where I have always used one and the same consolidator.
Maybe it's just a matter of timing, or maybe it is because of the car size we always rent for a family of 6, but to me it really has been worth it to check both.

 

[WinniWoman]

I just used CarRentals.com for an upcoming trip to Scotland, but this is my first time going overseas and renting a car, so I am not aware of the price differences. I used CarRentals.com for a recent trip out West and they had the best prices and easiest to use and no cancellations fees, etc.

 

[Laurie]

I am coming into Florence via train so right in the middle of the city! Just wondered if anyone has rented outside of the city

We have returned a car to Florence airport, that we'd picked up when leaving Venice.

On a previous trip, we drove into center city - not fun. I really don't recommend that - I'd stick with renting at the airport, which has easy transportation to and from the train station.

 

[levatino]

Florence has several locations: airport, downtown, train station. I rented from a downtown location and it was not in the thick of Florence and quite easy to get out of the city. If I remember correctly, it was within walking distance of the city, as well.

Siena is not a particularly large city, so you would do well if you picked up here and left town also. CDW is mandatory in Italy, and most all rates include it. Attempting to avoid CDW is near impossible, and you would have to present an insurance policy in Italian to get it waived.

I think what you are asking is what city to use as a hub to explore Tuscany from. If I am correct in my assumption, I would pick up a car after seeing Florence, two nights in siena, then the remaining rental in a smaller town. Siena is not a sleepy little town, parking is difficult and expensive. I would not use it as a hub, navigating in about and around is almost as difficult here as in Florence.

Lastly, I am concerned your itinerary is too advantageous for six days. Are you incuding Florence in this? If so you are crazed AND too advantageous.

with six days, 'only' Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano, Montepulciano and Luca will have you spending the majority of your 6 days in a car. Your itinerary and expectations leave no time to wander and find your own magical piece of Italy so you are going to come back with all the snapshots of a travel italy dvd, with none of the magical la dulce vita. Not a way to enjoy Italy.

Answering you is difficult, however as your trip start place and ending are not clear, and the total number of nights is vague. If you were to say we arrive in florence and depart 10 days later from X, we might be more help.

 

[Teddie2]

We are not sure of exactly what we plan to do yet..still working on that and what is realistic but I want to find the easiest place to rent from. We are planning to stay not in Siena but just outside of siena which as I understand is a good place to tour from. We will arrive in Florence and have a day and a half there and then 5 more days to see Tuscany.. so again back to the car--I really don;t want to deal with the city issues...so my preference would be to rent in Florence but no where near the areas that are off limits --if anyone has rented on the outskirts of Florence or right by the train station... not sure if that is an area outside the limits... that would be helpful.. someone did mention they did.. if you know the name of the rental company that would help. I have gone on websites for the US ones but there is no way for me to know where the offices are in relation to the heart of the city by the address...

 

[Laurie]

I'll say this again: we have returned a car to Florence airport. It's very easy to take a shuttle bus, from right outside the train station right to the airport, or vice versa.

Personally I wouldn't drive to or from the train station, which is very much in the center of the city - but the airport, on the outskirts by the autostrada, is much easier.

We used AutoEurope, a consolidator, and you can see and choose exactly which office to pick up from and drop off at (they can be 2 different locations in the same country, for no extra charge).

Some didn't have a problem driving in Florence, but we thought it was an absolute nightmare. Otherwise we didn't think driving in Italy was a problem. (In fact we're leaving in a few days, picking up a car in Milan, dropping in Venice. Our 5th trip I think.)

 

[Margariet]

For all Americans, especially males, who are still scared to drive in Europe, especially Italy, try Palermo. If you can handle that, you can drive everywhere. Relax and go with the flow. I'm sure you will learn to like it. So did Ed, Francis Mayes' husband. Imagine: so many Americans of Sicilian ancestry would have no problem at all with driving the Italian way when their forefathers hadn't migrated to the USA.

 

[Carolinian]

You will also need to be careful in that part of Italy as some cities have central city zones where there is an extra charge to drive through. If you take a short cut through one of them and do not have the proper sticker to drive there, then a camera gets your license plate, a request goes to your rental car company for your info, they charge your credit card a service fee to provide it, and then the local government bills you for the fine. This idea originated in London, but has now migrated to other places.

 

[abridemak]

Many of the larger towns not have Zones of Limited Traffic for their city centers. Rome, Florence, Arezzo, Bologna are a few with ZTL's. Mostly they are active during business hours and there are stiff fines for driving into an active ZTL without a permit. An exception is going to your hotel inside the ZTL, BUT YOU MUST have your hotel register you license plate number for you.

Quite a few towns and cities have pedestrian only areas. Firenze, San Gimignano, Siena, Perugia, Pienza, etc. have parts or all of the old part of the city closed to almost all traffic. You can find nearby parking.

 

[Margariet]

Remarkable but we never have received a fine at our home address in Europe, not even with our own car. And we are Europeans! During the past decades I must admit we received a few parking and speeding tickets In Italy, France, Spain in our own car and in the USA in rental cars but we never heard anything.