Car Rental Civitavecchia

We are looking to rent a car in Civitavecchia to drive up to Lucca, spend a few days, then on to the airport in Pisa. Any suggestions on rental agenicies and or web site with best rates? Would greatly appreciate some guidance on this.

Unless you are fluent in Italian I personally wouldn't want to drive in Italy.

From friends have been to Italy lately , drivers (especially trucks & buses)

are very aggressive and don't handle tourists well on the road.

Hertz has an office in Civitivecchia

We are looking to rent a car in Civitavecchia to drive up to Lucca, spend a few days, then on to the airport in Pisa. Any suggestions on rental agenicies and or web site with best rates? Would greatly appreciate some guidance on this.

You can grab the train from Civitavecchia to Lucca (change at Pisa) for €27.50 (less if you take the slightly slower regional train). Takes about 3hr total

We rented a car a few years ago at Hertz and drove from Civitaveccia to spend a few days in Tuscany and then left the car at the Venice airport. The drivers are really fast but we had no problem. They told us in the rental office to follow the speed limit signs and not the other drivers. It was quite funny. I would not want to drive in a big city, but we were fine with what we did and it was fun to be able to explore at will.

Drove there for a month and loved it, no issues at all!

We often drive in Italy, and have done so twice in the past eight months (though never in Rome). And we do not speak Italian. If you are staying in Lucca keep in mind that it is a walled city with controlled access. We found a pension inside the walls that gave us a parking permit. Many of the hill towns in Tuscany have zones where you cannot drive..or if you do you may get a nasty ticket tacked onto your credit card bill after a month or so.

You will have no issue driving but you may want the assistance of a GPS.

We usually rent from AutoEurope of Kemwell...they seem to be the best for one way rentals. Keep in mind that if you want an automatic transmission you will pay dearly for it.

Not sure why folks say you should not drive in Italy, but I guess we have been hearing that kind of thing for the past 25 years as we have driven more then 10,000 miles within Italy! One suggestion is to get a GPS with your rental (or buy your own with European maps) since it is very helpful for getting around the country and within cities. As to the port of Civitavecchia, all the major rental companies (Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Budget, etc) have offices in the city. Hertz is the most convenient since its located about 2 1/2 blocks from the main port entrance (about half way to the train station). Some of the other companies such as Europcar are quite a hike from the port entrance (although you can get much closer if the port shuttle bus is willing to drop you at a near secret side exit from the port. I should add that we speak no Italian and this has not been an issue driving in the country. It does help to know some of the basics such as how to buy gas (or diesel), the parking rules, about the disco orario, and ZLTs or limited driving zones that are in some major cities such as Rome, Florence and Pisa. You can find out about the parking rules at http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/parking.htm and you might want to Google "Italy ZLT" to learn about those zones.

There is another issue which is the "International Driving Permit" (IDP) which is a passport looking document issued in the US at any AAA Office. These permits cost about $15 plus you need a passport photo (they will do all this at any AAA office while you wait). Although the rental car companies do not normally ask for this document (they just want your valid US drivers license) technically that IDP document is required for driving in Italy. We personally have driven many times without the document, but if you got stopped by the police (in Italy) for a violation they may request to see the permit. Not having one could cause some issues and perhaps a fine.

Regarding the previous post we are also very big fans of both AutoEurope and Kemwel. They are actually sister companies and have a joint office located in Maine (with a toll free number and decent web sites). They sometimes have different rates and deductables so it pays to check out both companies. They are what is called a "consolidator" or discounter and can sometimes save you real money on rentals of 3 days or longer (they do not handle rentals of less then 3 days). Normally they work with both Hertz and Europcar and are often less expensive them booking directly with those companies. If you have any questions you should call their toll free number and they can explain their policies and tell you with which companies they currently have a contract. One nice thing about these companies is that they have toll free numbers from anywhere in western Europe..so if you have a problem you can always give them a call.

Hank

Hertz has an office in Civitivecchia

I will take Hertz as well on my May-cruise, because their office is the nearest to port entrance, where the shuttle-coaches will drop you off.

As an alternative take the train to Lucca, so you might have no parking problem there ...

We are looking to rent a car in Civitavecchia to drive up to Lucca, spend a few days, then on to the airport in Pisa. Any suggestions on rental agenicies and or web site with best rates? Would greatly appreciate some guidance on this.

We found the best rate in Civitavecchia from Sixt Car Rental. We used them before and they are very reliable. I don't know about one way rental in Italy, but we rented from them in Seville Spain and dropped off in Madrid with very good rates.:)