Car Rental Expenses
Here's a very rough estimate for one week of car rental with unlimited mileage plus collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance. This is the average, ballpark weekly figure for the three-week, 2,000-mile trip listed on our Car Rental vs. Train article.
To really compare car costs with train costs, figure your weekly unlimited-mileage rental rate, then add the following:
- Tax, clear and consistent within each country, is generally 18–25 percent (less in Spain, Ireland, and Luxembourg, and only 8 percent in Switzerland — but Swiss rental rates are that much higher). Tax can be higher for airport pick-ups.
- CDW insurance supplement (figure 20–40 percent extra, or about $15–35 a day)
- Gas ($130 a week, giving you about 700 miles; most rental agencies now rent "green" cars with still higher fuel efficiency — ask)
- Tolls for expressways in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Croatia ($4–9 per hour), $13 to drive in downtown London; $40 for the toll sticker as you enter Switzerland, $10 each for toll stickers in Austria and the Czech Republic, $7 each for Slovakia and Hungary, and $20 for Slovenia.
- Parking ($25–40 a day in big cities, free otherwise)
- Theft protection (required in Italy, about $20/day)
Updated for 2011. For lots more tips, check out our best-selling Europe Through the Back Door travel skills guidebook.