We’re off to Tuscany for 10 days of sun in a few weeks and I’m trying to sort out the car hire.
Collection & drop off will be Pisa airport. That’s easy.
The bit that’s got me is the fuel policy. The choices are a) collect full and drop off with any amount left in the tank. You pay extra on collection for the full tank, and they’ll refund the remaining fuel on drop off (less a hefty admin fee), or b) collect with a full tank and drop it back with a full tank. No extra charge for the fuel on collection, but a big fine if you miss the petrol station on the way back into the airport.
Again, the options seem simple.
But the bit that’s spinning me out is the price difference.
I can hire a Toyota Avensis on option a for £221. On option b the same car with the same company becomes £430. Eh? They even state in the small print that the initial tank will be no more than 150 euros.
A Ford Focus Estate jumps from £214.36 to £519.65!!!
What am I missing here???

Anyone?

Well I always do b but the price difference seems strange. You haven’t got an option like excess waiver ticked on one not the other or something have you?

Is it gold car by any chance? Along with various other scams they really want you to have the buy fuel from us deal. They,re a nightmare to deal with and so after 2 mallorca hols using them we went with eurocar this summer in Italy and it was a lovely experience by comparison.

Btw isn’t car hire in Italy expensive?! Irrespective of company. Glad to report that everything else on the holiday especially ice creams seemed very reasonably priced!

When you say “same company” is that a broker like holiday autos?

If so they quote maybe three different local supplies. Each will have a different fuel policy.

In Pisa all the car hire place are in a newly built block which is a mini bus ride from the terminal.

Personally I’d always go for full – full: anything else you know they’re making money from you.

There is a handy petrol station nearby, but its prepaid cash only at nighttime (a machine with no change): so bring some 10 notes.

CSW – when you say ‘prepaid cash’, do you get change if you’ve put too much cash in? Might seem like a silly question but having not done it before (at least not for fuel), I can’t imagine how that works.

Ape, no, same filters, but I think CSW nailed it with ‘Holiday Autos’
Ped, I already had a bad feeling about Goldcar. I always do when the same name appears too often when looking for cheapest. Not always the least expensive!!

Hi Stany – we used to hire cars in Pisa a lot – less so recently. Nearly always through Holiday Autos.

We generally used “full to full” conditions on a bigish car and it works out at 80% Sixt 20% Europcar. There are a few other companies in the building that I’ve never heard of.

The only downside of full-full IME was that one time very late on a Sunday night where the only open petrol station was this prepaid – automated one. Basically you put your notes in – they’ll give you fuel up to that amount. There is no change. Or anyone to argue with.

CSW – thanks. I think I get it. Not enough notes, car ain’t full. Too many notes, no cash back. Is that right?
I’ve just spent the last 2 hours (yes, really) staring at the Pisa Airport car hire page, and there does seem to be a small subsidy for being foreign, although the policy is mildly different.
T’missus and I have agreed, they all seem like shiesters, so we’re gonna go with gut feeling on this.
The other thing I discovered tonight is that no car hire company has a good review. Interesting, given I work in retail and rely on good customer feedback!!

stany- I understand your feelings, but realistically there aint any such thing as “Cheap car hire Italy”. That’s not just me saying that.

Anyway weve used HA more times than I care to remember at Pisa. We had one accident and one police fine over the years and in honestly – they were dealt with fairly (esp the accident – I parked a Passat in a ditch).

If someone in Italy is super cheap : well just be careful.

Pedlad – sorry, I just booked with Goldcar. It’s on a full to full policy, so hopefully I can control it all

Website economycarhire is good as they seem to have the measure of their suppliers and clearly state those who have a fair fuel policy. Check it out.