One way car rental in Europe - recommendations

[2nd Time]

Hi,

Looking to rent a car in Italy. Drive around the coast, south of France and return the car in Spain at Barcelona airport.

Auto Europe quoting me approx $600 when i show America as my country of origin but €1880 if I show country of origin as Ireland.

$600 is a steal but €1880 is unaffordable. Somewhere in the middle is reasonable I'd say.

Anyone have any experience / recommendations?

Thanks,

 

[argentina]

I would say the two quotes are not directly comparable. Most US residents have their own insurance so when they hire a car (in Europe or wherever) it excludes insurance. Happened to me before - booked a rental car through my work pc (US IP address) and was quoted a very low amount in USD ; when I was at the airport going through the paperwork with the car hire agent she informed me that there was no insurance included - had to pay an extra $30 per day - completely negated the saving. Wasn't the first time car hire agent had seen this.
I would check this out.

 

[Jim2007]

$600 is a steal but €1880 is unaffordable. Somewhere in the middle is reasonable I'd say.

You are not even close to comparing like with like! You could say the difference in may ways represents the difference in consumer law and hidden charges!

Through work, I've had a few US colleagues rent a cheap car over here, only to discover lots of hidden extras:
- US insurance did not exactly match or US insurer not informed add $30 - $50 per day
- Motorway and city vignettes, add a couple of hundred dollars (these are in fact fixed to car and are good for a year in many cases)
- Additional documentation needed to cross various EU borders, yep a couple of hundred more (One agent I challenged on this one was very vague about what was involved ;-))
- And my all time favourite, rental of equipment necessary to comply with national laws - first aid box, red triangle etc.. stuff that is mandated in some countries and not others.