Sicily By Car
reviews and complaints

This contact is made, due to the charge of an alleged malfunction caused by me during the rental period of the car model Panda 1.0 GSE Hybrid, license plate: GE391XE between 11/13/2022 to 11/16/2022.

You allege that the only damage caused to the car was to the windshield, which coincidentally was not insured, but the only images sent before are not recent (10/08/2022 and 10/22/2022) and are distant, as can be seen in the email sent by you, there is no way for the company to confirm that the alleged damage was no longer in the car.

There is a note in the inspection report where it is alleged that I did not wait for the check to be carried out, however, at no time did any employee make this request, and it is not possible to prove in any of the parts that the damage was caused by me, as I reiterate, there is no photos of the immediate prior to the rental of the car, proving that there was no damage to the windshield.

Upon returning to the agency, in addition to being extremely poorly attended, they were unable to show me previous photos of the car to prove that it did not have the damage they were claiming I had done.

When personally analyzing the car, I verified that other damages had not been marked, this demonstrates that either the car already had previous damages and they were not listed in the check list or the person responsible for the check does not pay attention to all the existing details, which would attribute to Blame other possible future consumers, like me, at this point.

I personally took pictures showing the damage that existed and had not been marked, finding other similar damages in other cars already ready to be rented in the same yard.

Below I have attached images and videos of the car rented by me and another car that had the same damage and was ready for use.

I definitely do not agree with the amount charged, since the company cannot prove to me that the damage was caused by me, seeing it as an abusive charge for something that cannot be proven, therefore, I earnestly request the refund of the amount charged or will I be forced to sue the company in court.

I booked a car through Holiday Autos and the car rental company was Sicily by Car. I arrived in Ancona and I had forgotten my credit car. The rude agent said "no credit card, no car". My companion had a credit card but he said he could not change the named driver. I rang Sicily by Car in Palermo and they asked the agent to manually change the named driver and he refused to do so. I asked to cancel the booking but that was also not possible.

I ended up having to rent an AVIS car and guess what they don't require a credit card but rather a debit card. Polite, nice, decent company.

I was not the only one - another couple had exactly the same issue as me.

I accept I should have had my credit card. What I can not accept is that either they cancelled the booking or they accepted my debit card, passport and driving licence and let me rent the car.

Seldom have I felt such injustice.

Sicily by Car charged 3 months after the car has been returned in perfect condition with no damages on June 22nd 2022 (car rented for 5 days June 17th-22nd 2022), Parked at the airport garage. They charged my AMEX on Sept 29th $2143.55 for serious front damages on the vehicle., based on the appraisal of the damages the car should not be drivable. Hopefully AMEX is disputing the charges and I will file at the local police the company for Fraud, the Car has been parked in the airport garage with cameras and hopefully we can clear the Fraud and who was driving the car almost 3 months later and damage the vehicle. There was no physical person to check us out as I had an early flight before 6am. Please avoid the company not reputable and scamming Overseas clients as we don't have much resources to dispute.

I recently recently received an email on Wed Oct 19, 2022 about an apparent traffic violation on July 14, 2022 in the Commune of Lecce.

Hard to understand as email is all in Italian. I arrived in Lecce late morning and parked for a short time in an authorized spot. I paid for parking at the meter and placed the ticket stub on the dash. There was no ticket on the car when I returned. If this was indeed a parking violation, how can I let the parking authorities know there must have been an error? Luckily, I located the parking ticket stub showing date and time and paid in my bag of receipts and can provide copy.

I was also told in the email that I am being charged an additional 50 Euro by Sicily by Car for their trouble, i don't believe this is fair because cannot respond to the email. It is a no respondent email. There is extreme confusion on how to proceed.

Thank you for your help in fixing this situation.

Annie

I booked a car through the website and when I arrived at the store it was offered a car 10 euros cheaper.

They told me this amount would be refunded to my credit card and to this day I have not received it.

I have sent several emails and contacts and have not received a response.

To top it off, my card was blocked more than 15 days after I returned the car without any damage. (security deposit)

Dear Management,

I would like to file a compliant against your service provided on 3d of October at the Airport of Treviso, Italy.

I was due to pick up a rental car from Sicily by Car on the 3d of October at 12:30.

The car was booked via Autoeurope, VOUCHER: EU19500623

Driver Name: Lachezar Lakov

Your Email: LUCHEZAR.[protected]@REDBULL.COM

Flight Number: Raven Air 4R 6427

And fully pre-paid by me via Revolut (visa) – the amount of 689.89 euro. According to the requirements of this booking and of this agent, on the pick up date I was supposed to bring the card that I paid with, and have a 300 euro deposit.

Right after my arrival, I went on the Sicily by Car desk to pick up the car.

A female employee asked my driving license, ID card and the credit card I used to pay with.

Providing all the a/m documents, I was told that the card that I paid with is not going to be accepted as it is Revolut. I was surprised as I used the same card to pay for the rental car and told them this. Then, she mentioned (few times) that this is brokers deal and Sicily by Car doesn’t care about this policy of this company.

Second, she mentioned that I need to put a deposit of 500 euro. I asked why, and showed that in the agreement I was due 300 euro only. Then the service agent said – ah, ok. ?!

Asking me to provide a different credit card, I said that yes I have, yet I may have not known the pin number, in case when used for payment. The card was not event taken. The conversation with the lady was impolite, she was shouting, and acted very arrogantly. She didn’t have any professional attitude towards her client.

The manager (not willing to provide his name), stepped in, and showed the same body language and high voice. Me, and my colleague, asked him to calm down and not to shout. Then he said I am cancelling your booking and that’s it.

I was left w/o car, and w/o any written paper why this is happening. No papers given to sign.

As a next step, we (my colleague) called the broker company, from which I rented the car and spent 30 minutes on the phone with US! A lady put us on hold and called the counter desk of Sicily by car at the Treviso airport to discuss with the Manager on duty the situation and he told her that he refused to give me the car as I didn’t have a credit card, which was absolutely not true.

For reference, on the 6th of October, we booked a new car at Treviso airport by a competitor’s company with the same credit card that I was providing Sicily by car staff.

When I found out that this cancellation was treated as my fault, and I was not granted the refund of the cancelled booking I was shocked.

Net, I was due to travel for business. I had to take 3 busses and not to mention how much I spent additionally.

My request is a full refund.

I remain at your disposal to provide any further information.

Thank you very much.

Lachezar Lakov

email: luchezar.[protected]@redbull.com

I hired a Fiat Panda for my next trip to Italy (from 13 until 17 October).

I clearly specified that the pick-up/drop-off of the car is Ciampino but the booking keeps indicating Fiumicino.

The booking is linked to a Ryanair Flight which is operated only to and from Ciampino (FR3072). I tried three times to amend the booking but with no success. What should I do?

RYANAIR

Your reservation has been updated.

5 Ott alle ore 20:49

You can review your reservation, print out your voucher (which you'll need to pick-up your car) or make any changes by visiting "My Booking"

Car Group: Fiat Panda or similar Supplier: Sicily By Car

Pick-up details:

Country: Italy

City: Rome

Location: Rome Fiumicino Airport

Date: 13 Oct 2022 11:00

Drop-off details:

Location: Rome Fiumicino Airport

Date: 17 Oct 2022 10:00

Total Cost: 103.02€

Flight number: FR3072

Requested extras: Full Protection Insurance - PrePaid xl Special Requests: N/A

At the counter, Sicily By Car will hold a deposit on the main driver's credit card. You must have sufficient funds available to cover the deposit.

You may decide to buy additional cover from Sicily By Car at the counter — to reduce or remove your deposit amount.

Please Note: If you do buy a policy from Sicily By Car at the counter, that contract will be between you and Sicily By Car.

For full contact details visit:

Kind regards,

Ryanair

We rented a car from the company Sicily by car d on September 10, 2019 for less than 1 day. On September 12, this company returned the deposit in full. On October 09, 2019, Sicily by car debited an amount of about 1,500 euros from the card. We tried to stop the payment, but the bank carried out this operation. Contacting directly to the company Sicily by car, we received an answer that we were notified by mail that we were guilty of breaking the car - they burned the clutch. The letter was found in the SPAM folder, since the subject of the letter was framed as a set of unrelated characters and keyboard letters, so we did not see this letter. Why we are, it is not entirely clear. The car was given for repair according to their documents a few days after our return and many more people could ride it.

we sued the bank, which allowed us to write off the funds, but we lost the court. More than 3,000 euros were spent on the trial.

The desired result: to return the funds in the amount of 1500 euros, to return the court costs in the amount of 3,000 euros. I can provide the documents

REF - IT634806760

DATE - 25/08/2022

To whom it may concern

I hired a rental car with your company for collection from Pisa Airport on 25/08/2022 for 15 days. I arrived at the Sicily by Car desk at approx. 11am to collect the car and was asked to pay a deposit which would be returned, but I forgot my Pin number for my credit card. Unfortunately, the website of Lloyds bank had crashed and I was not able to access my account to retrieve my Pin. I waited, hoping the website would be working but the website was still down.

The customer service assistant informed me I could have the car if I paid with my Direct Debit card but would not be refunded the whole amount when the car was returned. I declined this offer and decided to wait until Lloyds bank website was working. After waiting several hours, I asked the Customer Service Assistant if I could come and collect the car the next day as I would have the pin number then. I was told if I did not collect the car that day, I would not be able to have the car the next day and the car rental would be void.

After approx. 6 hours, Lloyds Bank website was still down so my only solution was to pay with my Direct Debit card otherwise I would have lost the rental car payment

On 25/08/2022 I paid £669.91 to collect the car and after returning the car I received from Sicily by Car £259.47. The difference £410.44 was not paid back

I feel very disappointed that a respectable company like yourselves would use this policy, especially when a customer is in this situation through no fault of their own. I feel there was no positive outcome but for me to pay with my Direct Debit card otherwise I would have lost the rental car and money for the car rental

As you can imagine we were extremely tired spending so many hours in the airport not to mention the hours prior to boarding and flying to our destination.

I would appreciate if you could look into this matter

Look forward to hearing from you

email - [protected]@gmail.com

Tel - [protected]

Clyde Minott

We booked our car online prior to our holiday and paid the deposit required. EasyJet changed our flight so we were arriving later in the day. We emailed Sicily by Car to inform them of the new flight number and arrival time. They acknowledged the email. On arrival at the desk we queued for over an hour to be told that we had been marked down as no shows and had to make a new booking losing our deposit. They could not reactivate our booking because the main office was closed but they made us believe that once the office was open again we would get our deposit back it was simply a change required on the system to state that we were not no shows. On return from holiday we emailed requesting the refund but were told our deposit could not be refunded because we were later arriving at the desk than agreed, we were ‘late’ because we were in the queue at the car hire desk! Plus we had given our flight arrival time not arrival at the car hire desk time in any case. We are owed £158.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Sarah Tarren

Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 12:54 PM

Subject: Ref: DYI-[protected] F.A.O Rosanna

To:

Cc: Marco Savini



Dear Rosanna,

I am writing to request a refund please.

Please see our email chain below. You replied and acknowledged our email of 28 July whereby we informed you Easyjet had changed our flight (and provided the flight number and new arrival time) and we would consequently be picking up our hire car later than booked but on the same day (31 July). However on the pick up day you mistakenly marked us on your system as “no shows” so when we arrived to collect the car our booking had effectively been cancelled, we lost our deposit and had to pay for a new booking despite Chris (manning the airport desk) acknowledging and contacting you about the error. Not an ideal way to start a holiday. We would be grateful therefore if you could arrange a refund of our original deposit of £158.60.

We look forward to your confirmation of when we can expect the money owed to arrive back on the credit card used for the original booking.

Many thanks

Sarah and Marco Savini

Dear Costumer,

I'm very sorry for what happened, although you communicated us that the arrival time was at 16:00, you arrived at the desk at 18:30, even later and we can't hold the reservations for too long. it's no ME deciding, it's the policy of the company. I consulted my chief and he confirmed the no show.

Sorry again.

Regards,

Rosanna.

Stazione di Bologna

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi

Booking Ref: DYI-[protected]

From: Sarah Tarren

Date: Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 2:14 PM

Ref: DYI-[protected]

To:

Cc:

Dear Rosanna,

The flight is scheduled to land in Bologna at 4.30pm. EasyJet Flight Number EZY8989.

We will collect the car as soon as we arrive. Fingers crossed we are not delayed.

Thank you so much for your help!

Best wishes

Marco Savini

On 28 Jul 2022, at 12:22, [protected]@sbc.it wrote:



Dear Costumer,

as you can see there is no flight number registred.

At what time is it scheduled?

Regards,

Rosanna.

Stazione di Bologna

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi

______________________________________________________________

Sicily by Car S.p.A. - Autoeuropa

Tel. +39 [protected]

Fax +39 [protected]

Mail: [protected]@sbc.it

Web: http://www.autoeuropa.it

-----"Sarah Tarren" ha scritto: -----

A: [protected]@sbc.it

Da: "Sarah Tarren"

Data: 28/07/2022 01.11PM

Cc: "marco.[protected]@comoholdings.com"

Oggetto: Re: Rif: Re: Rif: Car Hire via do you Italy - please see attached rental voucher - Ref: DYI-[protected]

Dear Rosanna,

The flight number is on our booking so this is a courtesy email to let you know we will be picking up the car later on the same date 31 July when our flight EZY8989 lands. We will pay the same amount even though we are picking up the car later because of our delayed flight.

I’m sure this is happening a lot at the moment with flight delays.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday afternoon.

Best wishes

Marco Savini

I have rented car by Sicily by Car at Malta.

I have returned car, after 20 days I had no refound of 650 EUR on my debit card.

I made email complain.

I received information, by mistake they take DEPOSIT as SALE, they asked for bank account details.

I provided bank details at 13.07

Today it's 15.09 - still no bank transfer.

It is impossible to contact by phone or email.

I am having a lot of problems with Sicily by Car. First the deposit amount of 650 euros was debit from my account and it did not return. After 1 month I solved the problem directly with my credit car company.

The second problem is that now they charge me with 278 euros with no explanation, more than 1 month after the rental.

It is impossible to contact them by phone or email, I have been trying constantly the pass month.

Dear Administrator,

I had reservation for last week and when I was in rome I’ve lost my credit card that I’ve made the deposit payment.

Therefore I’ve called the bank and closed the card to protect myself from the theft.

What is the process to take back my deposit payment with my another credit card ?

I’ll be glad if you help me about this situation.

Hello,

I wish to lodge a complaint against the company Sicily by car (PRINCESS HOLDINGS LIMITED

Sharay, Triq il-Fraxxnu, St.Julians, Malta VAT No.: MT23306337) for theft, fraud, extortion, breach of trust and false invoice.

I had an accident with a car on July 28, 2022 at 7 p.m.: I hit a curb and the left front tire punctured. I called the assistance of the rental company who, at 9 p.m., charged me €1460.80 ! (view attachments).

For one thing, that amount doesn't match anything on their "damage table." Even the ferry fee which is displayed at €150 was charged to me €250. In addition, the €65 application fee is also excessive since it does not correspond to anything !

On the other hand, this amount is a pure estimate, made at night, and does not correspond to any work. The lessor refuses to give me the invoice corresponding to the repair costs in a garage, therefore the actual costs incurred. I deduce that the car was not repaired or that the costs were clearly overestimated.

The company Sicily by car voluntarily obstructs my application on the pretext that I have not taken out insurance with them! However, I was already insured with another company

Made in Brest (France) on August 18, 2022,

I've rented a car from 6th until 11th of July (Bergamo) 2022 booking no:DC-3452553

The airport branch freezed an amount of 200€ at the beginning (as an insurance for the dept card) from my card and told me it will be released automatically after the drop off but I still didn't get the money so far.

I've sent few emails to the costumer service but have not got any reply yet.

From start to finish, my experience with Sicily by Car (SBC) was poor and disappointing. I collected a hire car on 30/07/2022 and booked it for 14 days.

Several days into the hire, I noticed that the car's front windscreen wipers were defective when I tried to use them for the first time to clear the dust that had built up. I reported the issue by phone to the SBC Malta office immediately in the hope they would offer a solution. The woman I spoke to said I could exchange the car, but I'd have to return to the office at Malta airport. I was staying on Gozo at the time, an island just off Malta accessible only by ferry, and the trip back to the airport to change the car would have wasted at least ½ a day and cost me a significant amount. I wasn't willing to sacrifice a day of my family holiday, so I asked what else they could do to help.

The SBC staff member then advised me to call their 24-hour recovery line and see if they could come and repair the fault - which I did. Unfortunately, the person I spoke to on the recovery line was not particularly helpful either. They said they would look into the issue and call me back. Days passed, and nobody called back. My calls started going through to an answer phone - which was very frustrating! Thinking that SBC recovery was ignoring the problem, I called the office again to ensure the fault was recorded and confirm that I would not be held responsible for it. I also didn't want the issue to slip through the net when I returned the car and for another hirer to find themselves in the same situation. The SBC staff member acknowledged my report, took my hire car registration and said I would not be held responsible for the broken windscreen wiper. At no point was there an apology for the frustration I had experienced.

I continued to call SBC recovery. Eventually, somebody picked up my call. The same person I had spoken to previously told me that because I was staying on Gozo, it was not worth their time to come and fix the problem unless another customer on the island had a more severe issue. In which case, they would come and repair the windscreen wiper at the same time. Furthermore, he assured me the weather forecast for the duration of the hire looked fine and not to worry about the broken windscreen wiper. Unfortunately, he was wrong about the weather, and towards the end of our holiday, I could not use the car for several days due to heavy rain.

When I dropped the car off at the end of the hire, I showed the windscreen wiper fault to the SBC staff member and explained that I had already reported it to the office and that if he had any doubts, he should speak to them. I also told him that I had taken a video of the car on the day of collection before I left the SBC car park, which clearly shows that the windscreen wiper was already defective - a plastic cover for the wiper was missing exposing a bolt. The SBC staff member inspected the rest of the car, drawing my attention to a deep scrape mark on the lower passenger side door. I noticed this scrape myself during the hire. However, I knew I didn't cause the damage, so anticipating such an accusation, I had already gone frame by frame through my inspection video and took a screenshot to prove that the damage was already there. The staff member asked to see the video. I showed it to him, and he was satisfied that the scratch was already present when I collected the car.

I hoped that would be that, and I would be able to be on my way. But no, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The SBC staff member then started to pursue the faulty windscreen wiper, implying that because (in his mind) the issue occurred during the hire, I was responsible. I made my case as clearly as I could explaining that I had reported the issue to the SBC office, who assured me that I would not be held responsible, that I had video evidence that proves the windscreen wiper was already defective on collection, and that I could not use the hire car for several days during the heavy rain. But my explanation fell on deaf ears, and we hit an impasse. I felt utterly exasperated by the whole situation and demanded to speak to his manager, who he had been texting throughout our exchange, as he was not on-site. Unfortunately, I did not get to talk to the manager. But the SBC staff member accepted after speaking to his manager that the damage was not my responsibility and asked me to sign a document to confirm this.

Dropping off the hire car should have taken 15 minutes, but I was at the SBC office arguing my case, trying to avoid being unfairly charged for over an hour. All the while, my family were outside waiting in a roasting car (my parents live in Malta). Everybody was feeling stressed and frustrated by the situation, which completely ruined the last day of our holiday!

Rental # [protected] at Fiumicino on 9/5/22

I received notice that I will be charged 61 Euros handling fee regarding a traffic fine I got in Matera on 13/5.

I am OK with this charge, but by error I was charged TWICE [2*61 Euros).

I am asking you to correct your mistake and credit me through the same credit card # (ending 0580).

Giora Bitan

giora.[protected]@gmail.com

Tel [protected]

We rented a car at the end of June. Although the staff were very helpful at first, they forgot what they said afterwards. They said that if the vehicle malfunctioned, the towing fee would be 200 euros. we had a breakdown in the vehicle and we had to use the tow truck. they said they took 800 euro as a deposit from us. At first, they took 200 euros. When we ask when the malfunction of the vehicle will be fixed, when the transactions will be completed and our money will be returned to us, they do not inform us. They took our money.

RE: I: RA [protected] RDS [protected]

I am the Director of Rushdown Travel Melissa Rush and I

booked the car personally.

I wish to advise to you that upon collection of my rental no additional insurance was offered tome. It is not legally correct for you to rent a car without insurance.

You had inadequate staff at your depot. Furthermore

on return of the vehicle there was no one from Sicily by Car to assist me with this small damage identified.

I have requested with Sicily by Car that I visit your office to

sort out these charges you have requested.

I am still waiting for a response from your head office.

I suggest you cc them on this email and ask them to contact me directly. Furthermore I have testimonials from other passengers being a lawyer.

Yours faithfully

Melissa Rush

I have been doing my job for 30 years and their is a duty of care negligence of Sicily by Car to confirm to clients that they are not covered by insurance unless they purchase car protection with you. The company in Australia always covers collision damage waiver. You should not consegnare una macchina sena l'assicurazione . The next bookings I am doing I now will make sure prepagamento.

Why did you charge me 272 Euro while the costs were supposed to be 220 Euro? Can you send me a detailed invoice?

Ron Shatz