Info about refueling your rental car in Tuscany/Toscana and the rest of Italy

(LAST EDITED/UPDATED: 11 August 2009)

Here are some links for refueling your rental car in Tuscany/Toscana and the rest of Italy:

REFUELING RENTAL CARS

• Be sure to use and select the right fuel for your specific rental vehicle. If you have any doubts or questions (even, if you are at the right type of fuel pump for your rental car), please ask the service station attendant. In Italy, the attendant may be male or female.
  
• The words at the service station for diesel are gasoil or diesel. There is a super and pricier diesel but your rental car does not usually require it unless specifically stated.
• The words for lead free gasoline are “senza piombo benzina”.
• Along the Autostrata, the service stations usually have an attendant that will operate the appropriate fuel pump. However, it is your responsibility to insure the attendant is pumping the right fuel type into your rental vehicle.
  
• If you see the words, “Fai Da Te”, it means self service and you operate the fuel pump yourself. There is a "cassa" (cashier) located inside the service station and they can answer most questions. However, these individual may only speak Italian.
  

AFTER HOURS AND SUNDAY OPERATION AT SERVICE STATIONS

• Depending on where you are in Tuscany or in Italy, please be aware when refueling the rental/lease car on Sunday and after 7:00 PM (19:00) or there abouts at night, your American credit may not work. If you are on the Autostrada (Italy), there should be no problems. The fuel pumps in the small to medium size town service stations switch over from a international credit card validation to a local one. This has happened to us when we have traveled in France and Italy on Sunday and after closing hours (no attendant on duty).
  
• You may see a service station with its lights on and a sign that has the words "APERTO" (open) or "APERTO SELF-SERVICE" or "24 ORE (hours)" on it but there is no service station attendant or "cassa" (cashier) on duty. However, these pumps usually have a central payment machine/device that will accept Euro (€) bills and Italian credit cards or European "smart" credit cards only.
• Please be aware that many European credit cards have an embedded "smart" chip on the credit card in additional to the magnetic strip on the backside of the credit card. This "smart" chip technology allows European credit cards from outside of Italy to be used at service stations after hours and on Sunday. At this time, neither my wife nor myself have the newer credit cards now being issued in the USA that have the embedded "smart" chip technology.
  
• If you have Euro (€) bills, the central payment machine/device will accept them. PLEASE NOTE: It has been my personal experience that most of these central payment machines/devices will NOT refund any overpayment for refueling. This means that if you only have a €50 (Euro) bill and only use, let say €35, out of the €50 to refuel you car, you will NOT get any change back!

MISCELLANEOUS

• SEE ALSO:
• Info on some of my blog entries (URLs) for Tuscany/Toscana, Italy *, dated Wednesday, July 22, 2009
  

* = Blog entry has been updated.

If anyone has any suggestions for other sites and links for reference, please feel free to post your comment and I'll update this blog entry. For your specific interest, please search the web for further information using

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That's it for Wednesday, 5 August 2009: mercoledì, 5 agosto 2009

Ciao, Ben

Moving2Italy2 – #1 source of links About, For or On Italy for those individuals moving, traveling or already living in Italy.

Today’s quote is an Italian proverb, author unknown.

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(LAST EDITED/UPDATED: 11 August 2009)