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 plus:
- Tax, clear and consistent within each country, is generally 18–25 percent (less in Spain, Germany, 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 25 percent extra, or about $15–25 a day)
- Gas ($90 a week, giving you about 700 miles)
- Tolls for superfreeways in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and Slovenia (about $4–7 per hour), $16 to drive in downtown London, $32 for the toll sticker as you enter Switzerland, $10 for Austria, $8 for the Czech Republic, $12 for Hungary, and $6 for Slovakia
- Parking ($20 a day in big cities, free otherwise)
- Theft protection (required in Italy, about $12–15/day)
Updated for 2008. For lots more tips, check out our best-selling Europe Through the Back Door travel skills guidebook.