Car Rental Agency that allows drop-off at Civitavecchia port?

[allen4skibums]

Good Morning Fellow Cruisers,

We are taking a cruise with 2 other couples all from The Villages Florida.  Before the cruise we will be in Tuscany for 6 days.  Does anyone know if a car rental agency that will allow us to pick the van up at the Rome airport and drop it off at the cruise port (Chivitavecchia)?  Sure would make our journey to the cruise port easier if this could be done.  I've been searching, but have had no luck.  Thanks for any suggestions.  

[CruiserBruce]

Rethink your searching. First, find out who has an office in Civi. (None are actually in the port, but there are some in the town.). Then rent from one of those operations at Rome Airport. Try Hertz, and Autoeurope.com.

 

Be very specific on hours when you will drop off...the office hours in Civi seem to be limited, particularly on weekends.

 

Don't plan on driving within Rome. Its very complicated. 

[Hlitner]

Hertz, Europcar and Budget all have local offices in Civitavecchia, but none are within the port.  In fact, security at the port has long prohibited rental cars from entering the port facility.   When you drop a rental car you can ask them to call you a taxi unless you want to walk to the shuttle bus stop (wherever that may be these days).

 

We agree with CruiserBruce that driving within Rome (or Milan) is not for the faint of heart.  And there are issues with ZTLs (Limited Driving Zones) which can result in some big fines.  When we drive to major cities (i.e. Rome, Florence, etc) we generally book hotels that include parking and leave our car parked for the duration in the city.

 

Hank

[mapleleaves]

I'm picking up a rental car in Florence for our Tuscany drive.  i researched on TripAdvisor to get info about rental cars. Everyone recommended AutoEurope as the company to book thru.  They represent several large companies in Italy, incl Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, Europcar.  

They list Civi as Port of Rome, with 3 companies at the Port,...... AVIS, Europcar, and Budget but the addresses all appear to be in town. However they indicate that a shuttle can be arranged at the europcar office if you're picking up, so perhaps it can also be arranged at drop off.

Read the info and give them a call for clarification.  Good luck.

Car Rental Civitavecchia Port of Rome | Best Rate Guaranteed! (autoeurope.com)

 

[CruisingIGo]

Both Avis & Europcar have offices across the street from the port shuttle bus station.  GoogleMaps is a very good resource for this.

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

I'm picking up a rental car in Florence for our Tuscany drive.  i researched on TripAdvisor to get info about rental cars. Everyone recommended AutoEurope as the company to book thru.  They represent several large companies in Italy, incl Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, Europcar.  

They list Civi as Port of Rome, with 3 companies at the Port,...... AVIS, Europcar, and Budget but the addresses all appear to be in town. However they indicate that a shuttle can be arranged at the europcar office if you're picking up, so perhaps it can also be arranged at drop off.

Read the info and give them a call for clarification.  Good luck.

Car Rental Civitavecchia Port of Rome | Best Rate Guaranteed! (autoeurope.com)

 

There is no mystery to this situation.  The various rental car offices are relatively small with minimal staff.   When we have dropped cars there have been a few rare times when somebody at the rental car office will run us over to the port (or to a hotel if we spending the night,  But other times they cannot spare the staff (or do not want to bother) but will simply call you a taxi (we are talking less than 10 Euros for a taxi).  I often drop a car the night before a cruise and we have already checked-in to a hotel.  The last time I dropped at Europar there was only one person working so I walked back to our hotel (about 2 miles) because I do enjoy strolls.  But a taxi would not have been a problem.

 

Another time we were picking up a rental car after a cruise and the port shuttle bus driver agreed to drop us at a "secret" side exit of the port that took us out a few blocks from the agency.  The fun (and challenge) of independent travel is dealing with the situation as it exists and finding solutions.

 

One caveat is to not take a cruise that embarks or disembarks on a Sunday if you are going to deal with a rental car.   It is rare to find any Italian rental car agency, expect at airports, that has open hours on a Sunday.  Since we are long time independent travelers this is the kind of thing that impacts the cruises, we book.  Otherwise, we need to plan on getting to FCO or perhaps spending a night in a local hotel.

 

Hank

 

[euro cruiser]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

One caveat is to not take a cruise that embarks or disembarks on a Sunday if you are going to deal with a rental car.   It is rare to find any Italian rental car agency, expect at airports, that has open hours on a Sunday.

 

This is an important point.

[JuliaMS]

We rented from Hertz at Florence airport. The return is at the train station in Civi and the shuttle direct to the port picks up about 100 ft away.

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Edited December 27, 2022 by JuliaMS

[rkr]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:38 AM, allen4skibums said:

Good Morning Fellow Cruisers,

We are taking a cruise with 2 other couples all from The Villages Florida.  Before the cruise we will be in Tuscany for 6 days.  Does anyone know if a car rental agency that will allow us to pick the van up at the Rome airport and drop it off at the cruise port (Chivitavecchia)?  Sure would make our journey to the cruise port easier if this could be done.  I've been searching, but have had no luck.  Thanks for any suggestions.  

Hertz, Budget and Avis are right there on the main drag.

[Maria63]

My DH & I did this some years ago. We rented a car with Europacar at the airport, toured Tuscany etc for a week and dropped it off in Civi the day of our cruise. The Europacar offices are located within reasonable walking distance from where the shuttle buses to the ships stop. It all worked fine and driving in the outskirts of Rome was no problem. I would not want to drive in the city center though, and our local friends told us they avoid it too if they can help it. If you plan to drive a van , it´s worth noting that the streets in the small historical towns are very narrow indeed and driving & parking a large vehicle might be stressful.

[euro cruiser]

10 minutes ago, Maria63 said:

I would not want to drive in the city center though, and our local friends told us they avoid it too if they can help it. If you plan to drive a van , it´s worth noting that the streets in the small historical towns are very narrow indeed and driving & parking a large vehicle might be stressful.

It's important to note that you cannot drive in the center of almost any city in Italy, as well as in many smaller towns and villages.  Read up on ZTLs before driving anywhere in Italy and know what the signs look like to avoid large fines.