Going on a self-drive holiday

A PANORAMIC roof comes in handy when viewing the city’s many monuments.

ONCE you start to get older, you become a creature of comfort. You have very low patience and/or chill factor. Things must either work your way or it’s the highway.

Returning to Europe after three years, I definitely realized how I had changed. Gone were the days that I would carry a backpack and find the most economical way around, usually by bus and train.

Before, we would just rent the smallest car and drive to other destinations outside of the city.

As we get older, though, comfort and space has become the first concern.

We like to travel with much freedom, that is why driving yourself is one of the best options. When we were in Paris, we were lucky to be able to borrow a Peugeot. And when we were in Rome, Hertz offered us to test their service.

We were staying for a total of four days in Rome. Upon landing, we went straight to the Hertz office and picked up our car.

Word of advice: Reserve one online. This would ensure that you get a car that is within your price range and all other charges are known beforehand. Although the car of your choice might not be the same thing you get, the price bracket will be the same.

We had instances where we’ve reserved a regular compact but ended up with prestige cars such as a Mercedes-Benz or Volvo.

At the Hertz office, we gave our names, and within 10 minutes, we were on our way to our car.

Another thing to consider is how much luggage you have. We were initially booked for an SUV, so when we were in Madrid, we bought two extra luggage—bringing the total to three big ones and two small ones.

Doing a little puzzle-solving

Our car was upgraded to a prestige car, which was an Audi A5 four-door sedan. We had to do a little puzzle-solving, but in the end, everything went in.

Getting into the city, we had to look for parking. Good thing there was a parking building near our hotel.

You can program your GPS (you always need to include this in your rental, and don’t forget to mention that it should be an English-language GPS) to find the nearest and most convenient parking for you. Parking fees range from 12-18 euros per 12 hours.

Parking can be pricey, so plan your visit well.

If you know that you will be staying in the city for the whole day, pick up your car the night before you will need it. Hertz had one near our hotel, which is where we planned to drop our car off after we used it. It had an additional 10-euro charge, but that is negligible compared to the parking rates.

Finding parking space

Day one in Rome was reserved for shopping; but before that, we had to hear Mass first in the Vatican. So we programmed our GPS and off we went. We arrived at the walled city in 30 minutes. We scouted for a parking space (blue marks means you can park), paid the meter, and went to Mass.

By lunchtime, we were driving up north to the designer outlets in Arezzo and Montevarchi.

Now if you rode the bus to these places, your time and comfort would be greatly affected. We liked the fact that we were able to stop whenever we needed and didn’t have a time limit, which would have made us feel like  those participants in those “grab everything you can in one minute” shopping contests. So we were able to take our sweet time.

We initially planned to drop off our car in the city, but we changed our minds since the taxi ride would cost more than  the overnight parking. Thus we decided to keep the car.

We did try to call the Hertz office to inform them, but we had trouble getting through their airport trunkline.

The following day, we were supposed to do a bike tour around Rome. But because I got sick, we had to stay in the city. I was only given an hour to shop at the famous Via Condotti near the Spanish Steps, which was a five-minute walk from our hotel.

So when it was time to go the next day, we once again packed our bags in our A5 and drove to the airport.

Return tips

One tip is that when you are doing a self-drive, come 30-45 minutes earlier than normal to the airport so you’ll have enough time to return your car. When you get to the parking building, you have to park your car and return it SOP. It was convenient that they had set up a kiosk for express returns, but sometimes there would be a queue.

I was glad there were no other charges for not returning the car on time, aside from  the additional day and some administrative fees.

Usually, we return the car with a full tank of gas, but since we were a bit short of time, we just paid the surcharge, which was about 10 euros more than if we had filled the tank ourselves.

Find the “rent-a-car” personnel in the parking area to whom you would return the keys; in turn, they would do an inspection of the car. I went straight to the office, only to be pointed out to find the inspector again. It would have  been helpful if they’ve had a process board, especially for newbies.

Overall, self-drive is still one of the most convenient ways to travel. The roads in Europe and the United States can give you so much driving pleasure. You can even rent the car of your dreams even  just for a few days at a fraction of the price of owning it.

In the Hertz parking lot, we saw a Maserati and a Jaguar. Maybe next time, we will rent those.

Some tips from Hertz to get the best price out of a car rental:

1. Check out their website for the latest promotions

2. Check out your Frequent Flier membership if it offers a discount and promo for car rental

3. Enroll in their rewards card for free to avail of exclusive promos

For comments and suggestions. please e-mail me at jnt@chicdriven.com, like my page on Facebook/Chicdriven, or follow me on @chicdriven on Twitter and Instagram.