Car rentals can be stressful and time consuming, requiring sitting around their office while they fill out all the paperwork, pondering what type of insurance you should buy. But a new option has come to Rome called Car 2 Go which allows you to rent a car anytime of day, for as long as you want, without paperwork and dealing with office hours. All you need is a valid driver’s license and a credit card!
How it works: Fill out a form online (see link below) and then pop into one of their many participating offices with your driver’s license and credit card. They give you a member card which opens the cars and that’s it…you’re set! Cars that are available can be tracked down on their website or via a phone app which pulls up a map of nearby cars. You unlock the car with your member card, enter your PIN for the car keys, and drive! Your rental finishes when you park the car and tell it your done. For this reason there are rates by the minute, hour, or day.
Pluses:
- you don’t have to battle with office hours and paperwork every time you want a car
- you are automatically insured
- exemption from metered parking spots
- you can drive through ZTL (traffic limited) zones
- rates are always the same, whether it’s a weekend, holiday, etc
- finding an available car super easy, either on the Car 2 Go website or using their free phone app
- up to 50 kilometers of driving are covered in the rate
- there is no membership fees or costs after the initial 19 Euros fee for signing up
- Car 2 Go members can use cars in other participating cities like Berlin, Milan, Flroence & Amsterdam
Minuses:
- only Smartcars are available, meaning max 2 people can fit inside. This also limits how much you can fit in the car (sorry folks, no IKEA trips unless you are only getting candles and dishes)
- if you drive more than 50 kilometers, and extra charge is added per kilometer. It’s not too expensive but it does make Car 2 Go more cost effective for nearby destinations.
Take a look at the Car 2 Go website to find out all the details.