SunnoroCar hire
The first question isn't which car. It's whether you need one at all — and for a lot of city trips the honest answer is no, which saves you the rental, the fuel, the parking and the stress of driving somewhere you don't know.
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Do you actually need one?
Roughly: no for Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Prague, Seville, Florence — city centres where parking is expensive, restricted or both, and where you'd walk or take a metro anyway. Italy's ZTL zones are camera-enforced and the fines arrive at your home address months later, one per entry.
Roughly yes for most islands, Iceland, rural Ireland, the Peloponnese, Puglia, the Algarve, Mallorca away from Palma — anywhere the good beaches and villages are 30 minutes apart and the bus runs twice a day.
The in-between case is the common one: a week where you want a car for three days and not the other four. Hiring for only those days is usually cheaper than a week of parking in a city, and Sunnoro will tell you which days actually need the car and what it'll cost per day.
Why DiscoverCars
It compares the local agencies alongside Hertz and Avis. On islands and in southern Europe the local ones are routinely half the price, and they're invisible on the comparison sites that only list the international brands. It also shows the full price including the mandatory extras, which is less common than it should be.
What the quoted price leaves out
- The excess. The headline price almost always comes with a €1,000–2,000 excess, blocked on your credit card. The counter will offer to remove it for €15–25 a day, which over a week costs more than the car.
- Third-party excess cover bought in advance costs a fraction of that. The catch is real but manageable: you pay the damage yourself and claim it back, so you still need the credit card headroom.
- A second driver — often €5–8 a day, sometimes free, worth checking before you assume you'll share the driving.
- Fuel policy. Full-to-full is the only sane one. "Full to empty" means buying a tank at their price and giving back whatever you don't use.
- Young or senior driver surcharges, under 25 and over 70 in most of Europe.
- Cross-border and ferry restrictions, which matter more than people expect in the Balkans and the Baltics.
Child seats
Legally required across the EU for under-12s or under-135cm, and rental companies charge €7–12 a day for one, capped on longer rentals. Two seats for two weeks can cost more than the car.
Bringing your own is usually cheaper and always safer, because you know its history and you know how to fit it. Airlines carry car seats free on nearly every European route, and they don't count towards your baggage. The downside is lugging it through the airport, which with two small children and a pushchair is a genuine cost.
If you do rent one, take a photo of it fitted before you drive off. Seats come dirty, expired and occasionally with a missing part.
At the counter
Photograph every panel, both bumpers, the wheels and the windscreen before you leave, with the date visible. Do the same on return. It takes two minutes and it's the difference between a dispute you win and one you don't.
Decline the upgrade. The car you booked fits the luggage you told them about; the one they're offering costs more and burns more fuel.
Automatics sell out first in Europe and cost noticeably more. If you can't drive a manual, book early — this is the single biggest reason to not leave car hire until the last fortnight.
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