 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone thinking of flying into Venice and hiring a car for a trip to the Dolomites should be aware that finding a hire car at Marco Polo fitted with WINTER TYRES is nigh on impossible. 
I know, I couldn't believe it either. But there it is.
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brian
brian
Guest
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Yoda, same at Malpensa (well for Europcar anyway). I got to be the Italian tourist clunking about with chains while drawing odd looks from Swiss locals a couple of Decembers ago. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Much more importantly, much more of the time is that the cars aren't filled with winter diesel...
No worries about not having snow tyres when your engine won't start in the first place...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Winter diesel - good point. You can buy a wee bottle of additive in Halfrauds - and keep it in your handbag in case.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Winter diesel - good point. You can buy a wee bottle of additive in Halfrauds - and keep it in your handbag in case. |
Ah the joys of hiring and driving from Venice. Done it many times with limited success. Winter tyres are, as you say unheard of, although there are always plenty of good quality and mostly new chains. The real problem is the fuel. Tried to reserve petrol cars every time I have booked to no avail. The diesels are so efficient that by the time you get into the mountains you have hardly used any fuel so topping off with mountain diesel is of little benefit. Having been caught out 4 out of the last five times with "frozen" diesel I have become paranoid and taken to topping off with mountain diesel and adding the fuel additive but guess what, this still didn't work. Have ended up having to pay the hotel for use of their garages.  Staying somewhere where I can walk to the lifts this year so if it is that bad all I need to do is use the hotel garage on the last night (hopefully).
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I've wondered about differences in diesel over the years. Would diesel bought, say, within 100 miles of Calais be "winter" quality diesel? I ask because I typically fill up in northern france (heading to the Alps) and, having a large tank and a car that exceeds 50 mpg don't fill up again until the return journey i.e. car parked at 1600m all week. But I've never had starting issues. I just wonder how different diesel is between UK, northern France and Alpine regions.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Yoda, we've just returned from Canazei - but flew into Innsbruck specifically because I knew that the car was going to have to go over a couple of mountain passes and sit in the hotel's outside car park.
As usual, Austrian efficiency was worth the slight price difference IMHO.
(BTW, like Hurtle, I thought this would be about one of my favourite cities  )
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| pam w wrote: |
| Winter diesel - good point. You can buy a wee bottle of additive in Halfrauds - and keep it in your handbag in case. |
Not if you are flying!!
I am with Hurtle, had a look as I love Venice, and lo and behold more tyres!!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Italians also don't ski off-piste so don't bank on hiring off-piste skis (or even all-mountain skis) in most Italian resorts.
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snowball, does that mean it won't all be tracked out in the first 30 minutes after a dump? Maybe there is a positive side to this after all... 
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FAQ
It's a "how can an airport serving a mountain region possibly think that not having hire cars suitably and safely equipped for that region" is acceptable topic.
