anyone rent a car in europe? this coming

summer my family and I will be in Italy and I'm starting to do the booking for Hotel and car rentals. Just want to make sure I understand about hidden taxs and such. Can anyone help???

Be very careful on the walk through. They may try to screw you on damages. It happens quite often.

yes, so I've heard. I'm trying to get a heads up on things coming forward from this family trip. I'm really thing about going to AMA.

I rent cars regularly here in Europe. I've actually got one now, a little VW Polo. Amazing little car, thrifty, fully loaded, great ergonomics, amazing use of space, but underpowered and slushy gear box, but hey, just what's needed for a city car. Why doesn't VW bring the Polo to Canada? Great runabout.

But I digress. Here is a quick list of places I've rented from previously without any problems, no hassles and good prices (however, your mileage may vary):

- holidayautos.co.uk
- europcar.com
- budget.com
- alamo.com

Things to look out for:

- as M3Canada said, inspection; note down everything before you drive away
- take the time to understand the controls of your car
- it will often be cheaper to prepay your rental as opposed to paying the full amount when you return the car
- they will reserve a huge deposit on your credit card when you collect the car; it could be upwards of EUR400
- what we know as "deductible" is known as "excess" in Europe
- irrespective of insurance options you purchase, you may still be responsible for: wheels, glass, underside of car, interior damages due to vandalism, towing costs
- under 25 year old drivers will need to pay additional costs
- don't lose car registration papers (upwards of EUR150 to replace)
- you may be limited to certain countries if you take your car outside of the country you rent from
- cross border rentals may incur an additional "security tax"
- refueling and additional driver charges are standard, as in Canada
- basic charges on top of the basic vehicle rental rates (varies by rental agency and country):
- local tax
- Collision Damage Waiver
- Theft Protection
- Vehicle Registration Fee
- Contract tax
- Airport/city tax or surcharge
- VAT
- check that you're getting unlimited mileage (each place is different)
- read all the terms and conditions very closely; for example, it may mention surcharges such as "winter tire surcharge", "out of hours pickup/dropoff" charges that will not be shown or calculated on your invoice, but will be ultimately added

You probably know lots of this stuff already, but I'm just trying to be complete.

Good luck and have fun. If you'd like more info, e-mail me.

<table cellspacing=5 nowrap align="left"><tr>
<td><img src="http://www.geocities.com/mosaicscape/TrackDaySIG.jpg" width="372" height="250">
</td>
<td><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,helv">c e l l m a n<br><br><br><br>
<li type="disc">2004 M3
<li type="disc">Mystic Blue
<li type="disc">Black Nappa
<li type="disc">Non smoker pkg
<li type="disc">DVD Navigation
<li type="disc">Warning triangle
<li type="disc">Harman/Kardon
<li type="disc">Euro storage
<li type="disc">First Aid kit
<li type="disc">Bluetooth
<li type="disc">Sunroof
<li type="disc">UGDO
<li type="disc">19"</font></td>
</tr>
</table>

How's it going? Did you get some new skis?

It was so good, my head's still hurting this morning!

I'm in Austria right now. We're about to get our first snowfall out here. Beautiful place.

Unfortunately, I've been so busy, I didn't manage to get skiis yet. As soon as I have some spare time I'll start some shopping. Nevertheless, I hope to do some skiing in the Alps out here. There are some great resorts nearby.

Haven't forgotten about the beers! We all gotta get together one day! You gotta stop working weekends, Hurtin's gotta finish his exams and get some spare time from his new business ventures and I gotta get back home!! LOL

<table cellspacing=5 nowrap align="left"><tr>
<td><img src="http://www.geocities.com/mosaicscape/TrackDaySIG.jpg" width="372" height="250">
</td>
<td><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,helv">c e l l m a n<br><br><br><br>
<li type="disc">2004 M3
<li type="disc">Mystic Blue
<li type="disc">Black Nappa
<li type="disc">Non smoker pkg
<li type="disc">DVD Navigation
<li type="disc">Warning triangle
<li type="disc">Harman/Kardon
<li type="disc">Euro storage
<li type="disc">First Aid kit
<li type="disc">Bluetooth
<li type="disc">Sunroof
<li type="disc">UGDO
<li type="disc">19"</font></td>
</tr>
</table>

Sounds great! Let us know when you get back in town. I am hoping to be around a bit more but it's not looking good, it's too damn busy. Not that I complain when the cheques come in!

I'll be in Australia for three weeks over Christmas, but before or after would be great for a beer.

Did you put the M away already?

I'll contact you once I'm back. Australia should be fantastic. Nice and warm! None of that snowy stuff there.

<table cellspacing=5 nowrap align="left"><tr>
<td><img src="http://www.geocities.com/mosaicscape/TrackDaySIG.jpg" width="372" height="250">
</td>
<td><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,helv">c e l l m a n<br><br><br><br>
<li type="disc">2004 M3
<li type="disc">Mystic Blue
<li type="disc">Black Nappa
<li type="disc">Non smoker pkg
<li type="disc">DVD Navigation
<li type="disc">Warning triangle
<li type="disc">Harman/Kardon
<li type="disc">Euro storage
<li type="disc">First Aid kit
<li type="disc">Bluetooth
<li type="disc">Sunroof
<li type="disc">UGDO
<li type="disc">19"</font></td>
</tr>
</table>

Great site for info on Italy

We rented a car through this site and foud the service to be excellent. It was much less expensive to pick up the car in Munich than it would have been in Italy or Austria. Problem is most rental agencies will not let you bring a decent car in to Italy without proof of good insurance. I sent them a copy of my contract with my AMEX card and that was plenty good enough to get any car I wanted. I ended up getting a Chrysler 300 Touring instead of the BMW I had requested. However the bonus was it came with a navigation system. I would NEVER get a car in Italy w/o a navigation system. It made driving a hoot!
Good luck!

time or if you go to europe frequently consider buying a car in germany.

Nice e30s car be had for $2-4K euro and you will own it. We bought an m5 a few years back.

It is 10 hours from frankfurt to Ancona Italy. About 8 hours to Milan.