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My advice would be to sort out your insurance cover (with a company that does extended EU cover) and take a liesurely drive.......Long term hire and buying have a lot of problems attached......i.e cost and not being able to buy if non- resident......

Hi DanI've been hiring cars on arrival in Italy most months for the last 5 years but my rates have got more and more pricey in Sterling. I looked at buying and insuring down there but the cars cost about double here and the insurance is hair raising (1000Euros + at local broker). I'm just in the process of buying a car here to take down in a couple of weeks. I found Italsure the cheapest. For about £375 they covered the car (I'm 30) TPO. This means anyone can drive it when it's down there but it has be brought back once a year for a MOT/Tax renewal. Do some searches no this forum.You will find that officially after 6 months the car has to be registered in Italy (500Euros + from what I can gather) but then of course I won't be leaving it there for more than 6 months

The rules are 6 months in any year BUT the European rules are in their infancy and hardly explored or prosecuted. It is not easily possile to know where any vehicle is and how long it has been there and few countries have incorporated these rules into national law.Allow 6/7 hours from Fishguard to Dover. Going through France to Milan is most scenic but through Germany/ Switzerland faster. Accommodation is cheaper in France, Italy is quite pricey. I did similar trips with 3 under 8s and a baby and we had great fun, kids are resilient. 

Thanks so much for the info. - I'm thinking of doing the same (almost).  We live in the U.S. but are Irish citizens and have a family home there...thinking it may be easier (?) to either buy a car in Ireland and drive it down, or even pay the hefty import taxes and take one over from America to Ireland and then drive down...we are looking to have something to drive while we stay at our holiday home, so we are not �������� residents and, therefore (I think), can't buy a car in Italy anyway since we're not over for more than the three months at one time. (and I can't really think of another way for us to avoid the hefty rental car fees) p.s.hmmm...now that I'm thinking more about it though, that may be more trouble than t's worth as well...we both are driving on US Drivers Licenses and, I assume (?)  we would have to go back and take our Irish Driver's tests to be able to buy and insure a car in Ireland :-(  guess I will be stuck with renting forever!

Unlike Italy Ireland does not place restrictions on who can buy a car.Once you have your Irish car (reg. at your Irish residence) you can insure it and you are legally enabled to drive throughout the EU.The driving licence is a red herring as you do not have to produce it for insurance But it is valid for you as a visitor in all parts of Europe.Think common sense and legal liability, don't think bureaucracy.

been so obsessed trying to figure everything out for Italy I almost forgot that Italy is Italy and most other countries do not have the same hoops to jump through to do the basics :-)  (that said, I am still deciding if we will become residents or not - we know we do not want to become tax residents as we work more than 6 months/year in the US and and pay US taxes but we could stay longer than the three months in Italy if we need/wanted to...seems we could possiblly become �������� "residents" but still not be liable for income taxes in Italy since we will still have our house, etc. and all work will be done in the US...still reading though all the  old posts! would surely solve the car thing though as we could just buy a second-hand one in Italy)

DanI'm a New Zealander living up in Dublin for about 9 years now - myself and the fiance were wondering how you got on with the car in Sicily.  We have an old shack in the country over there and have been throwing around the options relating to buying a car over there and insuring etc etc. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.RegardsLiam O'Sullivan

Of course an Irish car would have the steering wheel on the "wrong" side. Unless you import a left hand drive model and pay the VRT on it.I had understood that the restriction on buying a car really only applied to new cars. Is that not the case? I'm sure this issue has been covered many many times before. It might be worthwhile doing a search on the site here or even on the previous ItalyMag forum. 

My understanding is the opposite - that any EU citizen can buy a new car in Italy (if you can find someone to sell you one), but not a second-hand one.I wanted a left hand drive car but on UK plates. UK dealers were not interested, quoting 6 months delivery, so I got one from Belgium & had it imported to UK. That worked really well.

 Five or six hours driving per day is plenty. Try venere.com for hotels en route and check reviews. Not all insurance companies will cover you for 6months abroad, Saga will under the right conditions. Right hand drive is not a big problem provided you USE your wing mirrors. Be prepared for the rest of the queue to giggle as you nip out of your car as you take your autostrada ticket out of the machine. ALWAYS leave plenty of room in front of you even if the ��������s take this as an invitation by one of feeble mind to provide them with a space to fill. The driver in front of you may do ANYTHING!