Luxury Car Rental in Amalfi
 

We are going to Amalfi this September (after a few days in Capri) and are considering renting a fun, luxury convertible to tour the area in. We would ideally pick up and return the car in Amalfi at our hotel (Il San Pietro). Does anyone have any recommendations on companies to use? I found a few places online but would appreciate any tips.

Thanks,
Alex

There are few car companies in Italy that have cars. For example, someone asked about the car service Blacklane. I pointed out that they are a company that started in New York City, as I recall, moved to the Maldives, and now are in Berlin. If you need a car in Copenhagen, Tokyo, or Rio di Janeiro, they say they can do it.

It's basically a website, and they have a few people with the equivalent of a "rolodex" on their computer, and they contract drivers they've signed up in cities around the world who agree to take their calls. You call Berlin, they call someone who owns a private car in Verona.

After I posted that on this Forum I received two phone calls from their "corporate headquarters," meaning apartment, asking if they could be of service, because they saw my post on FT. I asked to be connected to their branch in Rome. They said they didn't have one. I asked to speak to the Florence office. They said they had none. I asked to speak to any office in Italy. They said they had none.

For the most part, car services in Italy don't have any cars. They are people who open an internet business, and they sign up drivers in various cities who are willing to take assignments if they call. In other words, they are brokers. If the driver is late, or there is a problem and you complain to the driver, they will say, "I have nothing to do with it. Call the broker." in many cases, they don't even know who the broker is who sent them out on that particular job.

The big Italian car services are not only located in Berlin, there's a big one run by a guy from his house in the Canary Islands, and another one in Atlantic City, New Jersey, who also sets up limos for local NJ proms, as well as tours of Rome.

You are staying in one of the premier hotels on the whole Amalfi Coast. It will cost a little more, but do it through your hotel. It's the only way to go. One of the, "car services" in Rome is actually a guy working in a junk yard in the outskirts of the city who answers your email inquiry by calling up people who have a car, and have agreed to take his rides. There is no car company, as in a fleet of cars waiting at your service. Whether or not you get picked up, and what service you get, largely depends on which driver they contact, not the name of the service.

The only way to do this without flaw is to put the burden on the hotel, and pay the extra price. In a hotel such as this they will not permit a service flaw. They have clout. If they tell a driver to be there to drop off and pick up a convertible, that driver will not risk blowing off such a hotel and the business and prestige they offer. And if there is a problem, you don't have to speak to a guy in Tenerife, you just go to the front desk and tell them it's on them to make it right. If it costs you some extra euros to put it on the concierge, it will be worth it

Remember that a lot depends on when you are going. Some great older movies show stars driving along the Amalfi Coast in a convertible, fashionable scarf blowing in the breeze, as they drive along. During the high season, without proper planning, it is more likely that you will be behind a smog spewing bus in a miles long traffic jam.

You can do this, If you head out early in the morning, or do it at certain times of the year, and it will be a wonderful thing to do.

Thank you for the information Perche. I had contacted a few "services" already and had the impression that they operated along the lines of what you described. It's very helpful to get confirmation that those companies are best avoided.

The hotel offered a Fiat 500 cabrio and, at this point, we are leaning towards just going with that. We are going the end of September and hope that traffic will not be too bad.
But, either way, the Fiat should be interesting enough if traffic permits the movie-like scene of Amalfi touring and more than adequate for what we will likely encounter.

Thanks,
Alex

This will not be a luxury car but, rather, a fun car. :)