Returning rental car to FCO - Rome airport

[conquesodor]

Feeling a bit anxious about our first attempt renting and driving a car in Italy. After our cruise, we plan to pick up a Budget rental car at Civitavecchia and use it for 4 days in Tuscany. We then plan to return the car to FCO - Rome airport on the morning that we fly home to the States. I’ve read lots of helpful advice about picking up a rental car in Civitavecchia, but I haven’t seen anything about returning a rental car to the FCO - Rome airport.

 

We reserved an automatic - anyone have issues with getting what you ordered?

 

How much time before the flight is it recommended to arrive at the airport?

 

Is navigating to the airport and rental car drop off spots easy or difficult?

 

How long does the drop off process take? Are there shuttles to get you to the terminal and how long do those take?

 

This will be our first time attempting anything like this, so any other helpful tips or advice are appreciated.

[euro cruiser]

How early you need to be at the airport depends on your flight, direct flights to the States on American, Delta or United have different security regulations than connecting flights or direct flights on other airlines (Al Italia, Norwegian, etc.) and they ask you to be there three hours prior. For flights not on American, Delta or United two hours prior is sufficient. This applies only to the company operating the flight, regardless of who you bought it through, so for a code share be sure you understand who is operating your flight.

 

The car rental returns are located inside the parking structure at the airport so you walk to the terminal after drop off. I've had returns done in 15 minutes or as long as a hour, it depends on how many folks are working, how many returns show up at the same time, etc. I would always plan for the worst case, an hour, and be pleasantly surprised if you get through quickly.

 

Also allow about 10 - 15 minutes to walk from the parking structure to the check in area for your flight.

[euro cruiser]

Google maps in street view can be helpful - make a map of Via Mario de Bernardi, Fiumicino, then go to street view and "drive" though the airport. The first set of overhead signs you'll see as you merge into Via Arturo Ferrarin will say "car rental" in English on the far left sign.

 

Stay in the left lanes as the road forks and you'll see a sign (there's one on each side of the road) that lists which parking garage each different rental company is located in.

 

The current google street view pictures were taken in July 2017 so they're fairly current. It lists Hertz, Thrifty, Dollar, Avis, Budget and Maggiore in the A garage, Europecar, Win Rent, Goldcar and Sixt in the B garage, and Locauto/Enterprise/National/Alamo, Rent4U, Sicily by Car/Autoeuropa in the C garage.

 

You can also see the list with garage and floor on the airport web site here: http://www.adr.it/pax-fco-noleggio-auto

[conquesodor]

This is fantastic information, euro cruiser, thank you!

 

I thought I'd have to bring the car to the nearby Budget Noleggio Auto Roma Fiumicino Aeroporto office that is at Via dell' Aeroporto di Fiumicino. I guess that's for people picking up cars, not dropping them off?

 

I used Google Street View, as you suggested and it looks much less intimidating than I imagined

 

We did decide to alter our plans and stay at the airport Hilton the evening before our flight, to make things less stressful.

[little britain]

We hired a car in Civitavecchia and used it for the day, driving up to Orvieto for lunch, and then drove back to airport. The car hire rental is clearly signposted but keep your eyes peeled! It is in a car park.

[euro cruiser]

We did decide to alter our plans and stay at the airport Hilton the evening before our flight, to make things less stressful.

This makes sense. Even the southernmost parts of Tuscany are more than two hours driving time from the airport, longer during the morning rush. I have done this once, we left our villa in Tuscany at 4:30 AM in order to get to the airport with enough time to fill the gas tank, return the car, and haul all of our stuff into the airport. It all worked out but it made for a rather tense ending to our vacation.