[Anonymous]

[travelwell]

hi, looking to book 2 weeks car hire from pisa in Italy for next summer. had no idea of the costs and for the smallest rubbish little car its going to cost £400+, is that really the cost for 2 weeks ? or worth waiting for offers nearer the time ? thanks

[AMcWhirter]

Car rental is not priced like airline tickets. No point is booking so far ahead.

It’s some time since I wrote about Italian rental but hiring a car in that country has always been on the high side compared to some other European countries.

The cost of hiring a car in any country is influenced by factors like: the cost of the vehicles and their resale value, insurance costs, local law, driving conditions, taxation and so on.

[AnthonyDunn]

Having driven sundry car hires in Italy over the years, I have to say that (touch wood) the most hassle-free has been booking a Fly-Drive – usually with BA/Avis but EZY also do respectable deals.

The most aggro came from booking through Holiday Autos where the car hire agency in Verona tried to submit multiple billings against our credit card. We spotted this and took it up with both our card issuer and Holiday Autos because this was a clear and deliberate scam.

Otherwise, car hire pricing is entirely dependent upon demand so it’s entirely straightforward to expect to pay most during the school Summer holidays. We looked at hire costs during this August and compared them with early September and decided to go later because the price had dropped substantially.

My experience is that there is keener pricing at the larger airports, possibly owing to greater throughput, and that if you take back to where you picked up, this again reduces the cost. The car hire firms used to benefit from the manufacturers “dumping” their product onto the market in order to boost their sales volume and market share. In so doing, they effectively subsidised the likes of Avis, Hertz, Europcar etc. With European car manufacturers now bleeding cash, they can no longer afford to play that game with the result that hire costs have risen in real terms in recent years.

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

@travelwell

I hired a Twingo (or something similar) on impulse when I arrived in Sardinia. Fabulous! I zipped up and down the west coast without serious incident.

Would I do the same thing in Naples…probably yes. All my best holidays have involved hiring a car. And – thank you for the idea – I fancy doing same in Sicily next year.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ alexpo1 – 14/08/2013 11:04 GMT

We clearly enjoy the same kind of places! Sicily is massively to be recommended. You should take in Syracuse in the SE corner – the most amazing street market/theatre we’ve ever seen anywhere in the world – and the hidden jewel (hidden largely behind UNESCO funded scaffolding that is) of Noto. It’s just to the south-west of there.

Napoli: I still wear my Napoli supporters cap and have become an afugata drinker for life. And the ultimate in pizza cuisine. There was something about the look of horror that came across the faces of some middle-class Neapolitans we met when we told them that we were staying right in the heart of SpaccaNapoli.

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