Milan MXP Car hire with snow tyres in March

A snowHead

Any tips on guaranteeing the car we can get will have snow tyres from Milan MXP? Lots of hire companies seems to say snow tyres OR snow chains will be provided (even as small print when looking at paying extra for snow tyres). 2 people with skis so something small is fine as long as the skis can (just) fit inside. Have heard that if you ring and speak Italian you can get some but neither of us know any Italian... rolling eyes

Hiring for 9 days early march (Sat-Sun inc) and on a budget so can't really go over £150-170 at the absolute maximum but staying out of resort and driving to various places in a Aosta valley throughout the week so if the snow is as hoped snow tyres will make everything far less painful! Both of us having worked seasons know the pain of the constant chain on-off battle that this week could become if on summer tyres. Embarassed

EDIT:if in the wrong location feel free to move to a better place!

A snowHead

Following as I've been trying to sort this as well for Jan.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@oliverracing, I would want a. contractual (as in, I have added these as an option and paid for them) obligation and b. check on pick up. A couple of years ago friends rented from one of the IT airports and not only was there a 3 hour queue, they had a two hour argument (luckily they are half-italian & fluent) to get the snow tyres they had added and paid for.

How you orchestrate a. I have no idea. Find a good brokered deal then go direct? Hertz at least have a price match guarantee (i.e. if e.g. hoidayautos offers you a Hertz car at a good price, they'll match that).

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Another vote for Hertz.

Just booked a 'guaranteed model', 4x4 Mercedes estate with winter tyres for £130, Sat - Sat from Venice but MXP prices similar. Cheap as chips car via broker was £60. Prepared to pay extra for tyres and better car.

This week, make sure you pick up the Black Friday link on their intro web page.

Paul H.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@oliverracing, @paulh, @lordf, Make sure you have (if a diesel car) winter additive. It's not normally in Milanese fuel and missing your flight as Uncle Giovanni plays a space heater over your car's undersides is tedious.

Don't wait till you get to the mountains either. First garage you see, buy it there.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Would anyone have a link to Hertz black friday deals, please (or similar) will be hiring in Jan from Bgy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Sixt used to have special winter package with winter tyres guaranteed. I booked it a few tears back but had to shout a bit in order to get it - lady at the reception wanted to “upgrade” me to a bigger car with “free” snow chains - 15 min of shouting and she founds keys to a car with winter tyres on. When picking up the car I look around and there were 4 other cars from Sixt with winter tyres on.

After all it is free

We rented from Sixt last weekend and booked, and received, snow tyres.

I didn't do the research, but my friend said it was a bit of a struggle to find companies where it was easy to confirm you were getting snow tyres. There were cheaper options, but it looked like you got chains rather than snow tyres.

@dublin2, Off the main page of Hertz.co.uk is a link to Black Friday. All this does is insert the code 884070 into the discount, CPD box then check prices as normal. With / without the code does seem to drop prices by the 30% claimed.

Paul H.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I have always gotten cars with chains rather than snow or winter tires at MXP, using Hertz/Avis/Europcar etc.

I think you'd need to call to see if you'd actually get the tires. Agree with the diesel additive, although it's also in the diesel sold at the pump from Nov-April at least that's what we've been told. Have never had a problem with startup in the Dolomites.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

slightly thread hijack but still roughly on topic...this is our first time self driving in Italy and pricing seems all over the place. I've been surprised to find that 2 week hire can be 3 times the cost of 1 week hire for the same car from the same company and disappointed (not surprised) at the difficulty in guaranteeing snow tyres.

Looked on Weds eve and using the Hertz black Friday deal, first 2 weeks in Feb from Venice is £435 for a guaranteed model with winter tyres although that does get you a very nice 4x4 . Looked again today and the option for guaranteed winter tyres has disappeared ! grrr...

Wife and I are going for two weeks and flying in/out of Venice, first week in MdC and then driving to Corvara for second week, renting equipment in each resort. Would ideally like the option to take skis for the odd day away (plan to re-visit Passo Tonale as I went there as a beginner and maybe Cortina as we had a few hours there last year). Our flight arrives mid day Saturday so we have plenty of time to travel to MdC and returning Venice from Corvara we have a late afternoon flight so again no need to rush anywhere if conditions are bad and would leave day before if it was forecasted very bad.

I can get an extra driver "free" with Avis via BA so would be ca £200 for a smallish car (group B) with snow chains plus the option of a ski rack for Eur 40 extra, for 2 drivers it's a fairly competitive price.

So questions for those with experience.

Do we just go with snow chains ? has anyone regretted that decision ?
if we request a ski rack would we actually get one or would they fob us off when we arrive ?
do you normally book closer the time when you know the conditions are or do you get a better deal if booking in advance ?

thanks in advance

snow reports

I can recommend Hertz, just booked yesterday for 8 days in Feb, got an guaranteed model Audi A4 Quattro with winter tyres for sub £160, £240 would have got me a RR Velar or XC90, will have my own excess policy to cover any issues of course. Only downside was we need to take the hustle bus from T2 to T1 as they didn’t have any 4x4 with winters from T2, I’ll keep checking on line and see if anything comes up for T2 before we go as we can cancel FOC up to 48hrs before departure.
@richb67, I’d always go for winter tyres and 4wd to avoid the ball ache of trying to fit chains, I don’t want to spend time trying to fit chains when I could be skiing, if it’s really bad in resort I’d get the local ski bus or walk to lifts. Hertz do a Fiat Panda 4x4 with winter tyres from Milan, Venice should have the same as it’s a gateway for ski resorts, if you can’t find anything on line try old school and make a phone call.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

a quick update which may be useful for other first timers. I followed the advice of @geoffknight and after waiting a few weeks checked Hertz again this morning, the prices had reduced and options of guaranteed winter tyres reappeared. So we've booked a guaranteed Jag E pace 4x4 with winter tyres for 15 days which is costing £280 from Venice Marco Polo. This includes spouse as an additional driver which is included as an incentive to get you to sign-up for their membership programme. The jag will be big enough to put skis in the back with seats down so although there are better deals this gives us everything we want at not a bad premium.

FYI on black friday deal the same model without winter tyres was ca £600 which reduced to £454 once you entered the black friday code, so some 'deal'. I thought that £280 was fair and not worth risking waiting for a better deal.

A snowHead

That's interesting, I can't even get close to the deal I got now at MXP T2 so I guess it's airport specific!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Another endorsement for Hertz - went out last week for the opening of the 4 Vallées season and once the dust had settled, the Hertz AWD auto mini-SUV I booked from GVA Cointrin (Swiss side) with winter tyres and chains worked out at £29.67 a day, including free additional driver from the (free to join) Gold Club membership. We also by-passed the small queue at the standard Hertz desk and got dealt with immediately at the Gold desk. Hertz rates do seem to vary a lot over time, so as mentioned, always worth checking. I'm also convinced that the more you book with Hertz as a Gold member, the more they seem to present you with competitive rates. Or perhaps this is true for all the rental companies i.e. if you sign up for their membership scheme and book a few rentals with them, then they offer you better rates - perhaps this is their response to competition from the comparison website intermediaries ...

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@LaForet, I'm with the Avis scheme (also no fee to join) and it simplifies rental significantly. For example I have a car booked at LHR T5 in February and I have already been told which parking bay by the terminal it will be in and the code for accessing the keys - no queue at all. Also good value IMHO. If I was to use Hertz I shall certainly follow your advice and join their scheme in advance.

Help!!

Milan MXP Car hire with snow tyres in March

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