Sicily by Car

STAY AWAY!
We made a rental through
the night before and were told that Sicily by Car was the agency where our rental was booked. When we showed up the next morning they said they did not have the reservation but had a larger, more expensive car. It was just two of us so the larger car was not necessary, but we had reservations in Tuscany that evening and needed to leave. After a ton of terrible customer service (pushy, aggressive, not willing to explain things in detail) we finally booked and headed to the garage that they specified on the paper. We got there and waited for 20 minutes where the garage attendant had no information on our car. We then were greeted by two men from Sicily by Car who had to drive us to another location to get our car. All in all, it took about 45 minutes from leaving the agency to get the car.
We had no issues with the car and when we returned the man looked over the car to ensure there were no damages and closed out the rental. When I got back, I checked my credit card statement and saw that I was charged nearly $ 150 USD more that what I was expecting per the agreement and this was after the deposit was removed. I tried to call the company from the USA (probably get charged for that too since you have to call Italy) and was either hung up on or directed to send an email.
We sent through a lengthy email today to the company and hope to hear back soon. We’ll also file a dispute with my credit card company.
It is just sad that you have to get ripped off when visiting such a beautiful place. They should be happy for the business that they get from tourists. I should have done more research because the other review are terrifying and I would have never booked but the price on
seemed fair. No wonder the lines at other well known agencies on the same street were out the door and there was no one at this place.
Never again!

Beware!
I rented a 8 seater Mercedes van through
(listed as Thrifty in my reservation) in Florence, the rental charges were pre paid in full. When we got there the paperwork said Sicily by Car. I got the keys and drove the van to the office to pick up our party. The van had major damage to it, one door was bashed in and looked terrible and had scratches all over, so I went back inside to let them know and make sure we would not get blamed for this. The guy behind the counter did not get out of his seat but said not to worry and that all the damage was marked on the waiver and showed me some marks and numbers he marked on the form where the damage was. It was late at night and we just wanted to get to our place so I did not worry about it. The waiver also said that it had a full tank of gas. Driving I noticed that the tank was only ¾ full, oh well. On return our flight left before the office opened so we had to leave the car on the lot. I called when we returned home and was told everything was ok. Then 2 months later, they charged me over 600 Euro for the pre-​existing damage that they claimed I caused. I then also noticed other unexplained charges on my credit card totaling another $ 200. Beware, these guys are crooks, avoid like the plague. I disputed the charges and sent the rental form with the damages marked, this is the response I received from them:
Dear Mr. S,
many thanks for contacting us relating the above mentioned rental agreement.
We would like to inform you that, as established by our general conditions and as per your authorization left at the beginning of the rental, we charged on your credit card the amount of € 621,75 for the damages caused to the rented vehicle: rear right door, rear right mudguard, rear right moulding’s door and rear right mouding’s mudguard.
Please note that, after double checking directly with our with our Location, we have received further confirmation that these damages were not pre-​existing at the beginning of the rental as per your signed check-​out form.
In your particular case, unfortunately, at the beginning of the rental you did not subscribe the optional coverage «Car Protection Plus» to eliminate your responsability for the CDW/​TLW penalties established by our general conditions.
In view of the above, we are really sorry to inform you that we cannot honour your request of refund.
For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me again.
Yours Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
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Mail Attachment. gif
Sicily by Car S.p.A. — Autoeuropa
Tel. +39 916 390 111
Fax +39 916 390 334
Mail:
Web: