Renting and Driving a Car in Europe

[lhbrown]

Licenses and Permits
Your American driver's license is all you need in most Western European countries, though if you're driving in Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, and much of Eastern Europe, you risk being fined for driving without an international permit. Even if a country doesn't require it, consider getting one ($15 from AAA).
Insurance
You already know to check the coverage from your auto insurance and credit card companies before taking optional insurance from a rental agency. But read the fine print in your credit card agreement: Visa's policy excludes Ireland, Israel, and Jamaica; MasterCard and American Express also don't cover those countries, adding Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.
Border Crossings
Driving a rental car across country borders carries some restrictions. (Even in the United States, you may be charged if you travel out of an agency's allowed region; it's tracked by the vehicle's GPS system.) Most car-rental companies will limit your coverage when traveling from Western to Eastern Europe, allow you to take only cheaper cars, and may require supplemental insurance. If you're driving from Britain to the Continent, you'll likely pay high surcharges and drop-off fees. Be sure to get written permission on-site from the rental location to drive the car out of the U.K.
Country-Specific Driving Laws

Each nation has itgs own rules. French police, for instance, can confiscate your car if you are driving 18 mph or more over the speed limit. Last year, National Car Rental launched a web site, Nationaldrivesafe.com, that outlines the rules of the road in 43 countries worldwide.

[two2go]

Hi L
I seem to remember that it has been at least a couple of years that the insurance is obligatory when renting a car in Italy. I don't know if this this applies to the other european countries you have mentioned.
two2go

[kyshel]

American Express has "pay as you rent" coverage for many countries (same ones excluded as LBrown mentions) $20-25 per rental. Ours covered all necessary premiums in South Africa through Dollar plus we got 10% discount on entire rental w/AMex card, so it was a wash with protection.

[lhbrown]

Hi two2go,
You are correct on Italy. It has been at least two years that Italy requires you to take out the extra insurance. However, as far as I know, the other
European countries have not followed suite.




Message Edited by lhbrown on 11-11-2007 06:01 PM

[fleckner]

My daughter and I were taken to the cleaners renting a car in Italyat theVenice Airport. I booked it here in the US, and saw that they required "theft coverage" at an additional 180EU, even thought I had an Amex travel insurance coverage and booked it with my Amex Card through Hertz, where I am a Gold member. We had the car for a week, didn't use it at all, and basically just stayed in our hotel about 30 minutes from Venice and walked around or took the bus and used local transportation, and only once drove to Venice when we were leaving Italy to board our cruise ship back to the States. When my daugher tried to drop the car off at the Herz location in Venice, the guy at the desk tried to screw her out of 20EU's to park the rental car in the parking lot! It is a big,very long story, but I got a bill from Hertz for extra gascharges (although we had filled the car up prior to dropping it off (or trying to drop it off as the case was), extra parking feesetc., which I hotly contested and Hertz rescinded the charges. Then four months after returning from our tripI received anotherbill from Hertz for a supposed"traffic violation" in Italy, but they didn't indicate what the violation was for. Naturally, I went completely postal with Hertz and told them to shove it, cancelled my Hertz Gold Card and said I would never rent from them again. Hertz immediately rescinded the "traffic violation" charge. I would never rent a car in Europe....too many problems, too many rules and regs that American's can fall prey to. For what it's worth I was born in Scotland, educated in Paris, and I'm savvier than most people about how the Europeans rip off the tourists. Basically, I paid more than $500 for a car that sat in the hotel's garage for 6 days. Also I took out an International Driving License from AAA here in the US. A lot of good it did me, since nobody asked for it. At the Hertz desk in Venice I showed the desk clerk my IDL, he said "I don't need that".



Eileen Findlay

[travel2fun]

Eileen...I do business in Venice at least once a year. I can't figure our what possessed you to rent a car at all, if you were going to there. When I leave Venice and drive up to Milan, I often rent from Hertz at the airport and use my AMEX. I have never had your experience!

[fleckner]

I should have elaborated a bit. Our hotel was in Padua, Abbano Terme, about 40 minutes from Venice airport. The hotel said they would pick us up at a cost of 80EU per person, but since we were going to be there for 6 days, prior to picking up our cruise in Venice, I thought having our own transportation, would be a great way to show my daughter a little bit of Italy, which I love, and have visited 5 times. Unfortunately, I came down with a really bad case of flu and didn't feel like going anyway, sowe never used the car.We used it once to drive to Venice on the Saturday, prior to our departure on the Sunday for our cruise (16 days from Venice back to Galveston, Texas)so that my daughter would have a chance to see Venice. I myself have visited Venice many times, so it wasn't knew to me. However, it gave us a chance to locate the Hertz office near the cruise ships, about a 10 minute walk away, and ask them about dropping off the car. They told us just to leave the car in the street on the Sunday, and drop off the paperwork through the mailbox.My daughter dropped the car off while someone was still in the Hertz office, although the door was locked. She got the guy to open the door, but he told her she'd have to give him 20EU (cash) to park the car in the parking lot, she couldn't leave it where we were told to leave it. It got a little ugly at that point as he wasrude to her andkept demanding she give him 20EU cash--- I was at the cruise ship where she'd dropped me off waiting for her. It took her an hour of arguing with him, and then figuring out she could just park the car in the parking garage herself, which she did, and then dropped the keys and paperwork through the Hertz mailbox. She arrived at the ship, 30 minutes before departure!!! When Hertz sent me the bill, they had an additionalcharge on it for dropping off the car -- after hours!! When we were enroute to Dobrovnic, I immediately got onto the computer and emailed Hertz about the fiasco with the rental, the cost, the service, etc., and astonishly got a response back within a day saying they had rescinded some of the charges. When I came home, I wrote a very long, detailed letter to Hertz regarding the entire episode and my dissatisfaction with the rental. I should also mention that I had reserved an automatic, large car since we had a lot of luggage (being gone 22 days in total). At the Hertz Venice airport desk, the guy said they didn't have my car, but they were giving us an upgrade! What a joke, it was damaged (but that fact wasn't on the paperwork), was a stick shift and we had to put most of our luggage in the back seat because we couldn't get anything in the trunk. When I reserved the car through the Hertz website here in the US, it said that theft coverage in Italy was compulsory. Is that true? Even though I used my Amex card, with coverage for rentals, etc., and I had taken out other Amex insurance prior to leaving.



Eileen

[matthewlawrence26]

this is good to know. it will be very helpful for my upcoming visit to Europe. I am planning on going on a tour in Europe but I was not sure of what type of transportation I would have to use.Now at least, if I wanted to rent a car i should get my international license.