autovia.it - Cagliari Aeroporto Reviews 

We booked the car using a fully valid Visa credit card. To be absolutely clear, this was not a debit card and not a virtual card.

Upon arrival, we were suddenly told that the same credit card was not acceptable. We were then required to pay an additional charge, otherwise we would have lost the rental and more than €500 already paid.

What makes this particularly difficult to understand is that the additional charge was successfully processed using the very same Visa card that had just been declared “invalid” for the rental.

This condition was not made sufficiently clear during the booking process and, from our perspective, appeared arbitrary and designed to leave the customer with no realistic choice at the rental desk. Faced with losing more than €500 and being left without a car, we felt pressured into paying.

We are frequent international travellers and have used this exact credit card for rental cars around the world without any previous issue.

In our view, this was a deeply misleading, unfair and unacceptable customer experience. We strongly advise potential customers to read every condition extremely carefully, request written confirmation of all card requirements in advance, and be prepared for unexpected charges at collection.

Based on our experience, we cannot recommend this company.

Owners of Ecovia. Avoid at all cost!!!
They cancelled my booking after one hour although their TCs allows a grace period of 2 hour without mention that you need to provide flight details. Nevertheless, I checked in on their website directly a week before with all my information and yet no one even attempted to contact me. We had no other option but to make a new booking for triple the price of the first one. When questioned the lady made up several contradictory excuses with no valid reason for doing this. This happened at Cagliari airport. Terrible, unprofessional, irresponsible, inconsiderate and total scammers. In resume, my booking was cancelled without a valid reason only for me to pay for the exact same vehicle for triple the price I pre booked for. To me, this is a scam. Check EcoVia reviews and you’ll see I’m not the first.

Very helpful and friendly employee at the airport.

Very nice car

Like the previous reviewer, I also was charged excess fees by Autovia when collecting a car at Cagliari Airport in late May because the credit card issued by my bank shows only the initial of my first name (in addition to my full surname.) I booked and paid up front for the car (including full insurance) with the credit card in Australia via the wholesale rental borker AutoEurope. I have never previously had any problem using this credit card to pay for hire cars anywhere in the world. But when I arrived at the Autovia desk in Cagliari to collect the car, they told me they would not accept my credit card to pay for the standard 500 euro refundable insurance deposit on the car because the card did not spell out my full name as shown in my passport. Autovia would not accept any of my three debit cards, which did spell out my full name, or allow the friend travelling with me to use their credit card to pay for the refundable insurance. Autovia refused to give me the car unless I paid 216 euros (completely non refundable) for their own insurance. And they then accepted my debit card to pay for their insurance! Autovia said that if I used my friend's credit card to pay for the refundable insurance they would have to write a new contract that would cost more than three times the price I paid when I booked the car months earlier in Australia. I have submitted a formal complaint with AutoEurope and I will never use Autovia again. It was also a disappointing introduction to Cagliari, the other people I met in Sardinia were lovely.

Arranged a car rental to pick-up from Cagliari Airport. At check-in Agent advised my Amex would not be acceptable as it did not show my full name. Provided an alternative credit card with my full details. Agent advised it was not a credit card as system shows as “debit card”. Result an insurance fee has to be paid of EUR250. Showed agent that the card is in fact a credit card with limit of EUR20,000 but still refused acceptance “system says no”. This is nothing more that a rort to extract additional fees from tired tourist. BE CAREFUL!!

Excellent service! We came in the last minute and they were able to provide us with a vehicle that suited our needs for a decent price putting our mind at ease. The staff was exceptionally friendly and understanding. We loved the service and will use them again.

We wanted a last Minute car and they helped us very fast an very good

I strongly do not recommend this company.
During the vehicle pick-up at Cagliari airport, I was misled by a staff member. I explicitly asked twice whether the charged amount was only a refundable deposit, and each time I was clearly assured that it was. In reality, part of this amount (€240) was later classified as an “All Inclusive Protection” fee, which I never knowingly agreed to.
Additionally, the contract signing process raises serious concerns. The signature was made on a tablet without a proper opportunity to review the full document in a clear and accessible way. In practice, this makes it impossible to consciously accept all terms, especially those related to additional charges.
The complaint handling process was equally disappointing. I first contacted the company regarding this issue in November 2025. After receiving no response, I sent a follow-up in March 2026. I only received a reply on April 2nd — a brief refusal that completely ignored the fact that I had been misled.
Lack of transparency, misleading communication, and ignoring a customer complaint for months are unacceptable standards.
I strongly advise against using this company.

I rented a car through Autovia at Cagliari airport and had an excellent experience. The pick up was straight forward and when I returned the car Marco checked the car and there was no extra charges. I have used other rental companies at Cagliari airport and have been charged huge fees for scratches that I didn’t do so it was a great relief to find an honest company and I’ll definitely use Autovia in the future.

There were No Problems with the car, we got an Upgrade for free. The Delivery was easy and the staff was friendly and helpful.

Roberto was excellent in helping me through the check-in process. He patiently waited on me to go through the International Driving Permitting process (you need it for Sardinia). He helpfully provided return info and support on what to expect on Sardinian roads.

It was a pleasure renting a car through Autovia. The service was excellent. Upon pick-up, additional insurance was offered as an option, but not forced. This gave me complete freedom to make my own decisions. I can only say, Autovia, keep up the good work.
Thank you very much.

The car was brand new and the pick up process very easy. The same with the drop off. The guy at the parking helped us to change the language of the car system from Polish (the previous customer had set it into Polish obviously) into English.

I had a very bad experience with Avtovia at Cagliari Airport.
• Prepaid online, but at the counter I was told I couldn’t take the car without a credit card – a requirement never clearly stated during booking. The only alternative was to pay an additional €300 “premium package” plus €250 deposit, otherwise I would lose my prepaid amount (full refund only possible 48h before pickup).
• My two small children were waiting, so I had no choice but to pay.
• When I finally got to the car, the child seats I had booked were not there – I had to go back, collect them myself, and install them.
• Both seats were dirty and one was broken (the harness didn’t work), making it unsafe for my child. No replacement was available.

This is unacceptable service. Hidden mandatory costs, dirty and unsafe equipment, and zero customer care.
I will never rent with Avtovia again and strongly advise others to avoid them.

stay away from this scammers they will charge anything they can to make more money after delivering your car back

My recent car rental experience with them was nothing short of a nightmare, leaving me stranded and significantly out of pocket.
I pre-booked and paid in full for a car rental. Upon arrival to pick up the vehicle, I was shockingly informed that the car would not be released to me. The reason? My credit card displayed an initial for my first name, instead of my full first name. This is an absolutely absurd policy, especially considering my full first name and last name combined total 30 letters – making it impossible to fit on a standard credit card. My full surname was present, with only my first name abbreviated to an initial.
I presented a complete set of valid documents, including my EU driver's license and the very credit card used for the pre-payment. There was no question about my identity or the validity of the card itself.
Adding insult to injury, the company representative then suggested that I could still pick up the car if I paid an additional, exorbitant insurance fee of almost 300 euros. This immediately felt like a predatory tactic, designed to extort more money under duduress after I had already paid. I refused this outrageous demand.
To make matters worse, the company flat-out refused to refund my prepaid money. This left me in an incredibly difficult situation, with no car and no refund for a service they denied me due on a technicality that was not clearly communicated upfront as a critical requirement.
As a direct result of their unconscionable actions, I was forced to seek a rental from a neighboring company. Thankfully, this other company had no issue with the initials on my card. However, due to the last-minute nature of the rental, I had to pay twice the price of initial booking.
This entire ordeal was a terrible experience marked by inflexibility, a lack of common sense, and what felt like a deliberate attempt to extract more money from a customer already in a vulnerable position. Their refusal to refund money for a service they themselves denied is completely unacceptable.
I strongly recommend that anyone considering Ecovia which belongs to Autovia for their car rental needs looks elsewhere. Avoid them like the plague to save yourself from potential stress, financial loss, and a ruined travel experience.