Sicily by Car

We rented a 9 person van at Milan airport to go to the Alps. Price was good and they provided winter tires so we went for it. First surprise was at pick-​up when a huge deposit was requested, unless you upgraded to a quite expensive insurance. Surpriiiise! second one was when we picked up the car since it did not have any dedicated space for our ski gear, or a way to remove a couple of back seats to do so. The answer from the assistant at the garage was something like shove them in as you can. Third surprise was 2 months after the vacations when I received I received a notification from my bank that Sicily by Car had taken an extra 61 euros from my credit card. Only 3 days later I received on the email a letter from them saying that they had received a traffic fine (won’t get into the freaking airport cops fining 85 euros for staying 12 minutes on a 10 minute parking and fining with no previous warning) and that their administrative charges just for letting me know was 61 euros. They also provided the cops with all my data.
Sicily by Car, u suck, and have no idea what customer service is. It was totally noticeable that they staff was overworked and underpaid and that, and those hidden ways to rip you off, says a lot about the top management /​owners. First time and last time. Hope you get out of business!

Its strange that it has a lot of negative reviews. I was worried when making the booking, especially during Milan Furniture Week 2014. I managed to book a smart car with them for 4 days, through
. We picked the Smart from downtown Milan, drove though Como, Genoa, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Porto Santo Stefano, and returned at Rome Termini.
At pick up at Milan downtown, the agent said they haven’t got an automatic Smart, even I called 3 days earlier to double check. Right away, they brought one from Linate Airport in 1 hour. This is just typical Italian way of working, so I am not too bothered by it.
The Smart was very new from ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₃. They have everything in the car, tools, manual etc. and the more Italy specific «parking time indicator dial». Aux-​in audio system, or USB stick reader, too bad it doesn’t charge phones…(external batteries pack for phones are essential for navigation)
Returning in Rome is a bit confusing (as do driving in any new cities). Long queues at the pick up desk (may be a nightmare picking up from Rome, its only because everyone gets off the same train) So the car return is at the car park tower down the street, we drove in, up 6 levels, and that’s it. All done! We double checked with the lady at the return desk, all that we need to pay is the fee for the extra driver and extra full insurance, all for about 56 euros.
Smart cars are the best in Italy, good on highways going at 140kmh, refuelled only 2.5 times, very efficient. It’s super cute, agile and manoeuvrable, all the way from Milan to Rome not a scratch! Perfect for a romantic road trip for 2. Automatic is also essential, cause city traffic will drive you nuts on the stick.
The total of the rental is very reasonable, 190euros prepaid online + 56euros at the return desk. I would recommend the car hire service from Sicily by Car. We are poor, design students from London, but this road trip in a Smart was amazing!
P. S. I have just got back from the trip 4 days ago, so fingers crossed that I didn’t have any traffic violations during the trip, cause Sicily by Car impose a 50euro handling fee for traffic tickets… lets see. And I can see that all the negative reviews for Sicily by Car are about them charging extra after the rental period, which I suppose would be the traffic tickets. I would suggest those who want to drive in Italy to do some homework, understand the road signs, especially the ZTL (traffic control zone, 60euro fine if you enter, but they are mostly only active during office hours and they are different in every town) and GET THE FULL INSURANCE with them when you pick up (not through your online booking agent, I have seen reviews saying that SbC may not recognise the insurance bought through booking agent).
Have fun and safe trip guys!

This is where I get my rental car if I’m in Sicily. On previous trips, I tried unsuccessfully to get around using public transportation. The pros are that it’s cheap and eliminates the stress of driving. The cons are that service to out of the way areas and points of interest is infrequent, doesn’t adhere to the schedule, and chews up the beginning and end of your day as a tourist.
Renting a car in Italy through the websites put through to the U.S. is mind boggling, as are the rates. In Portugal, for example, I learned that it is better to use the websites that have «.pt» as the suffix and then hit the icon for English. Well, in searching and searching, I found that Thrifty had good rates (that’s relative) in Sicily and, most of all, their econobox could be had with an automatic. For the other car rental agencies, the automatics can be had with their premium cars. I don’t need one of those. I can drive a manual, and was tasked with driving a Toyota with a stick in San Francisco as a 17 year old. Pull out the parking brake on a steep hill and ride the clutch. Rinse. Repeat. No thanks. Not only that, when you’re in a traffic circle full of crazies in Sicily, do you really want a car with a manual transmission? No. Enter Thrifty, operating under Auto Europa or Sicily By Car in Sicily, and across from the Catania Airport terminal in the car rental area.
The first experience with them was slightly unnerving. Since the credit card protection for the damage waiver did/​does not work in 6 countries, of which Italy is one, a person has to buy the base CDW as well as the Super CDW to bring their liability down to zero. The reason is because, unlike the U.S. or Canada, where there is a cursory inspection of the car and normal wear and tear on a rental car is assumed, the otherwise libertine Europeans decide to put your testicles in a vice grip upon return, and you might have to haggle over what a scratch costs when you’re trying to board a flight. Since you couldn’t toss this over to the credit card company for a rental in Italy, it’s best to buy the Super CDW insurance and sleep easy. The young lady at the counter was very poised and pleasant and then indicated I needed to buy the Super to eliminate the deductible. I pulled out my e-​mailed receipt and showed that I was quoted for both the basic and Super CDW. She wasn’t getting it. What was I to buy? Super-​Super? I asked where her bosses were. She said Palermo. I told her to call Palermo, and that I’d wait. A line was forming. At a certain point, she pushed all the right buttons and the amount conformed to the amount on my e-​mail receipt. She remained very calm throughout the whole transaction. I was proud of myself for standing my ground. The guy who worked the rental car lot and gave me the keys was really helpful. Ah, relief: I was driving around Sicily with an automatic transmission for the first time.
The second experience was easy, real easy. Everything conformed to the amounts on the e-​mailed receipt. Other people were taking longer to get through. In my case, the printer spit out my contract and I initialed and signed, and was on my way. The guy at the counter saw my license from the U.S., we b.s.ed a little, and he handed me back my documents saying «I had a feeling you were a local.» That was nice of him. This time I was familiar with the Smart Car and its little quirks. The only thing that was weird was when I returned it. In about a week, I had put on about 1,000 km (600 mi) on the car, and the guy had this kind of «where did you go?» look on his face. Americans are not Europeans. We don’t go to the same beach every day and sit under an umbrella. We take out a map and decide that we want to go to different beaches and to different historic towns.
For these minor wrinkles, I’m deducting a star. But, damn, it was so nice to have a Smart Car in which to putt around Sicily. They’re more roadworthy than they look, too. Don’t be thrown by the names Auto Europa or Sicily By Car. I just think those are the Italian operators who have the Thrifty and Dollar franchises. I’d rent from them again, now that I know the drill.