Do you recommend a specific car rental agency in Central Florence? We are staying at Hotel David , how far would it be to there?

I don't know the exact location of any of the rental agencies, or of your hotel. AutoEurope is a consolidator that arranges cheap rentals with the major companies. You can get the agency addresses from www.auto-europe.co.uk and use Google Maps to see how far they are from the hotel.

Many of the international rental car companies (including the ones used by Autoeurope) have locations in central Florence at Via Borgognissanti which is quite close to Arno River. You can easily walk there from most hotels in Central Florence. Since ZTL is indeed an issue, I suggest you take your bags with you to the rental counter (by walk or taxi) instead of circling around to pick them up in your rental car after check-out.

Going with Autoeurope should be a good choice overall.

Hi Nancy525,

Hotel David (very friendly place!) is well outside the ZTL, just off Piazza Ferrucci at the very beginning of Viale Michelangelo, in Oltrarno. Your closest and most convenient car rental is Maggiore-National, which is on Viale Amendola just over the bridge (Ponte San Niccolò), less than 1km away. You can very easily walk there, pick up your car and drive back to your hotel for your luggage without ever going near the ZTL. It's also a really easy drop-off location.

Borgo Ognissanti is far and complicated from Hotel David to get to. Why bother?

By the way, Magiore-National is just down the street from our favorite place for truffles, "da 'i Coco Filippo", good to know while you're staying at the David!

Quite a few threads complaining about bad experiences with Maggiore on this forum though. If you do choose to book through autoeurope (which I would recommend) choose one of the big suppliers such as hertz, avis or europcar - people seem to have a better experience with them.

Listen to Peggypatch.

Here is just one thread with lots and lots of complaints on it about Magiore/National. there are many, many more.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187895-i68-k15609…

No other car rental companies get anything like the same number of complaints.

I always shop for car rentals. Sometimes, as Nick suggests, it makes sense to go through AutoEurope - at least for longer rentals. Sometimes it makes sense to go directly to one or another. Sometimes you can get a very good deal from whatever company your airline has connections with. It an really pay to shop around.

If you choose to return the car to Florence airport, don't even try to find the return lot on your own. Very confusing and teeny tiny signage. Drive directly to the airport and look for a rental car bus. Follow him to the return lot! It should just say that on the agreement and it would save a lot of hassle!

I am not entirely sure I would follow the advice above.

I know quite a few cases where people have been unable to find the airport - it also has a very small sign.

Indeed, Autoeurope is a good choice, but always search on the car rental company websites. Your credit card might offer discounts as well that could beat Autoeurope prices.

As mentioned, Maggiore has received a lot of negative feedback. You can easily find several discussion threads by doing a quick search.