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Post by bryan on Mar 21, 2024 18:58:28 GMT
Hi all, I know some of you rent cars frequently abroad. My Father in law is looking for a decent sized hire car (4 adults and luggage ) to do a European road trip from Venice/Austria/Slovakia/chech republic
Full request below but any tips on hiring a car,companies to use or avoid and is going between countries and issues in Europe?
Details are: pick up Sept 24th 2024 ~10am from Venice Santa Lucia Train Station or Venice Marco Polo Airport; drop off Oct 4th ~5pm at Marco Polo Airport; that is 11 days hire. We would be 4 adults with luggage (our overall trip is 18 days). We would want an automatic. Questions are: 1. What size/style of car should we look at? 2. We plan to drive in Italy, Slovenia, Austria and Czech Republic - what motorway permits and stickers do we need, how do we get them and how much do they cost
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Post by Roadrunner on Mar 21, 2024 20:06:41 GMT
I can't help with the motorway passes etc for those countries, but the car looks like it needs to be a Skoda of sort. Octavia or Superb, depending on how much lounge room they want.
They are not the cheapest, but Sixt have always impressed me with the quality of their cars and their service. Absolutely avoid any of the cheapo firms.
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 21, 2024 21:14:10 GMT
Cross border: use Sixt or Europcar or Avis as they will have reliable support in each country. There will be a cross border charge to cover insurances and any support. Yes: Skoda. Even the Scala is big and comfy enough and the rental one I last had was a Monte Carlo spec and had everything FG. Passes: - Italy is pay as you go, like France. Select the correct lane as we once went in the cash only one and luckily had enough! - I think there is a mobile app for Slovenia vignette, if not here's the website: evinjeta.dars.si/en. I used it last summer. - There is a website and app for Austrian vignette but it's utter bollocks. Due to purchasing laws you have to have a cooling off period of 10 days so if you don't know the reg of your car 10 days before travel you can't use the ASFINAG app because you could buy a 10 day vignette then cancel it 9 days later. It's an utterly shit thing. That said any petrol station will sell you a vignette and the border lay-bys have self-service machines. I think AT is the last country to have stick on vignettes! The rest are all camera controlled based on license plate. - SK has electronic vignette. App is called eZnamka and it's brilliant, simple etc. - CZ one is here: edalnice.cz/en/index.html#/validation. They might have an app too - I'm always already in SK or AT so don't need the app. - If you venture into Hungary the app is called Mobilfizetés. Again, easy to use etc. apart from selecting the right class of car, which I always seem to have an issue with. Remember if you set your nav to avoid tolls and/or motorways and want to see some decent scenery you don't need any of these but your journey time will be about two-three times longer. Most vignette passes are minimum 10 days, to avoid passers through paying the minimum each direction of a 14 day break!; then one month; then a year. Nice journey. All those countries are fabulous. |
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 21, 2024 21:22:31 GMT
Oh yeah: price.
Italy can be ferociously expensive. You pay nothing for hundreds of kms then sudden go through a toll and it’s €50+
The others are all around €10-15 for a ten day vignette.
Also are you collecting and dropping the car at the same location? If not there will be a charge.
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Post by bryan on Mar 21, 2024 22:29:57 GMT
Oh yeah: price. Italy can be ferociously expensive. You pay nothing for hundreds of kms then sudden go through a toll and it’s €50+ The others are all around €10-15 for a ten day vignette. Also are you collecting and dropping the car at the same location? If not there will be a charge. Thank you all great advice, which company provided decent excess coverage? The cdw charges seem ridiculous at £50/day! Drop off/pick up Venice is the plan |
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 21, 2024 23:15:25 GMT
I use this one I think. Whichever one I use it’s the one Martin uses as he suggested it. Feel free to correct me, Martin. www.insurance4carhire.com/ |
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Post by Martin on Mar 22, 2024 6:42:09 GMT
I use this one I think. Whichever one I use it’s the one Martin uses as he suggested it. Feel free to correct me, Martin. www.insurance4carhire.com/That’s the one. I’ve only had to claim against it once, but it was very straightforward and paid out quickly. Go via TopCashback, savings depend on which cover you get, I saved £15 on a £60 worldwide annual policy. An annual Europe policy is £47 and you’ll get £14 back. A bargain compared to the hire companies daily charge. It’s cheaper for an annual multi-trip once you go over a week. |
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Post by Tim on Mar 22, 2024 9:10:47 GMT
I didn't know there were tolls in Czech.
I didn't pay any when we were over at Christmas although we weren't on a motorway there.
Don't recall having ever seen any sort of sensors though and our hosts have never said anything about tolls despite going to Prague each time we've been across.
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 22, 2024 11:36:10 GMT
I didn't know there were tolls in Czech. I didn't pay any when we were over at Christmas although we weren't on a motorway there. Don't recall having ever seen any sort of sensors though and our hosts have never said anything about tolls despite going to Prague each time we've been across. Here’s a clue 😉  Like SK there are different classes of “motorway”. Some are not toll roads so don’t need a stamp. If it hasn't got that white sign with the circle in it you don't need a stamp. |
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Post by Tim on Mar 22, 2024 16:04:45 GMT
Ok. We've always sneaked in on an A road from the north rather than on autobahn.
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Post by bryan on Mar 24, 2024 13:13:54 GMT
Thank you for the advice all, a Skoda Octavia estate has been reserved with Enterprise for the trip who don't charge for cross border travel and excess insurance also purchased
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Post by alf on Mar 25, 2024 16:45:00 GMT
The Austrian one is a pain but you can just stop in the first petrol station you come to then buy one.
Switzerland also has a physical sticker, they make you buy it at the border however!
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Post by rodge on Apr 10, 2024 7:30:25 GMT
The Austrian one is a pain but you can just stop in the first petrol station you come to then buy one. Switzerland also has a physical sticker, they make you buy it at the border however! Switzerland also has the advantage that if you rent a car there, you can drive into some of the EU countries and not get fines when you get caught on a flash cash speed camera. I’m not advocating this, but found out about it after I was caught in France on one of those 130-90-60 kmh stretches that seem to happen within about 500 metres. Nothing passed on to the rental company so I didn’t have to pay. |
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 11, 2024 19:07:03 GMT
The Austrian one is a pain but you can just stop in the first petrol station you come to then buy one. Switzerland also has a physical sticker, they make you buy it at the border however! Switzerland also has the advantage that if you rent a car there, you can drive into some of the EU countries and not get fines when you get caught on a flash cash speed camera. I’m not advocating this, but found out about it after I was caught in France on one of those 130-90-60 kmh stretches that seem to happen within about 500 metres. Nothing passed on to the rental company so I didn’t have to pay. ALERT!! Not any more - recent change in EU law means apparently the Swiss are going to have to be more law abiding from now on. So for now, Brit (and other non-EEA) plates are the only ones that confer this "immunity"...I say "for now" as there will doubtless by some killjoys here in the UK and in the EU beavering away to put together a new post-Brexit accord for swapping driver details. |
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Post by alf on Apr 12, 2024 8:25:16 GMT
Are you saying we don't get fines passed on from Europe currently??
For a long time - and in very typical UK fashion - we passed on other country's fines but did not send ours on to them!
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Post by Tim on Apr 12, 2024 11:37:53 GMT
Mrs Tim got a speeding fine from Germany in summer 2020. Has something changed since then?
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 12, 2024 12:43:39 GMT
Mrs Tim got a speeding fine from Germany in summer 2020. Has something changed since then? Rental car or own car? But remember that Brexit took effect at end of Jan 2021 when the transition period ended - that's when EU law ceased to have direct effect. |
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Post by rodge on Apr 12, 2024 12:51:11 GMT
Switzerland also has the advantage that if you rent a car there, you can drive into some of the EU countries and not get fines when you get caught on a flash cash speed camera. I’m not advocating this, but found out about it after I was caught in France on one of those 130-90-60 kmh stretches that seem to happen within about 500 metres. Nothing passed on to the rental company so I didn’t have to pay. ALERT!! Not any more - recent change in EU law means apparently the Swiss are going to have to be more law abiding from now on. So for now, Brit (and other non-EEA) plates are the only ones that confer this "immunity"...I say "for now" as there will doubtless by some killjoys here in the UK and in the EU beavering away to put together a new post-Brexit accord for swapping driver details. That’s a bummer, I’ll have to let the guys in work know as we would occasionally have to drive there for the job. |
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Post by Tim on Apr 12, 2024 12:55:02 GMT
Mrs Tim got a speeding fine from Germany in summer 2020. Has something changed since then? Rental car or own car? But remember that Brexit took effect at end of Jan 2021 when the transition period ended - that's when EU law ceased to have direct effect. Rental van! |
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 12, 2024 15:33:51 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 12, 2024 18:04:14 GMT
So I can attempt the Calais-Salernes record previously set before the advent of speed cameras this July?
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Post by Roadrunner on Apr 13, 2024 7:23:06 GMT
I need someone to go ahead and test this theory before I take the Benz to Sarlat-la-Caneda in August. Please report back and let me know...
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