Autovia Car Rental Reviews 241

Terrible experience. Was a lot of pressure put on paying for extra insurance at the point of collection.

Returned the cars out of hours due to an early flight (which was paid for) and get an email 2 days later saying there is a scratch on the roof??? - near £400 for a photo that looks like would buff out with hot breath and my sleeve.

Just feels completely cowboy 🤠 scratch on the roof?

Don't touch this company. We left a car at Pescara Airport as collected and we are being changed 450 euro for a couple of small scratches we did not cause. First and last time of use. I hire a lot in Italy and never had an issue

Deserve zero stars but there is no option.

Absolutely appalling experience with Autovia/Ecovia in Catania. We arrived with a young family after a flight delay, and we immediately informed the broker as soon as we knew, and Autovia knew of our delay within 30 minutes. The staff at Autovia were completely unhelpful and refused to release the car.

The gentleman at the desk was rude, dismissive, and made no effort whatsoever to assist us or offer any solution. We were left completely stranded late at night with young children, despite doing everything correctly to notify them.

They are scammers, and it’s clear they don’t care at all about customer service or basic decency. We believe they should not be trusted, and we strongly advise against using them.

Don’t rent from them they are a scam company
They force you to take insurance and I add insurance with my credit card .
And because I arrive 30 min later than my reservation time I was not able to cancel my rental
I came to europcar desk and they charge me half price for the same car

Terrible service. Not helpfull at all in case something happens during rental period

Appalling - avoid.
We arrived late (well within opening hours) at Olbia Airport to discover that they had apparently rented our car to someone else.

For this non-inconvenience to them, they charged us €400 on top of the €267 fee we had already paid.
There was no detail of charges. There was no invoice or receipt.
Why? Because they knew that due to a sub clause in their small print they could cancel our original contract and simply charge us whatever they wanted.
A disgrace.

If I could vote zero stars then it would be zero.

These guys are the WORST car rental company I have ever used.

I took out insurance through Booking.com (when booking) and then when Inreturned the car the guy was shouting at me that I have no insurance and that booking.com doesn’t cover anything. He then preceded to make up chips on windscreen as damage. They basically stole €500 - they don’t answer emails. Look at the reviews - they do it all the time. Disgraceful company.

I cant beleive what CHEATS Autovia have as Employees. The first representative, who did my paperwork, lied that the insurance I bought was fake and that I should buy insurance only from the company (Autovia) otherwise they would charge me Euro 700 for the smallest scratch. Luckily, I did not beleive his lies and didnt take the Autovia insurance. And then when I retutnred the car, the second representative created a ficticious scratch which me and my family denied and we went on to argue for 20 mins. Finaly my wife poured water over the ficticious scratch, to show there was no scratch and then the representative conceded and said 'OK, it looked like a scratch, but it looks fine now'. Totally mad and insane experience and I beleive they will never ever get a single repeat customer.

Worst car rental ever, they made us wait for 2 hours because they wouldn’t accept a valid lisence. They were terrible in their service.

We paid twice as much as our booking. Waited in line for 2 hours before speaking to staff. Threatened that we wouldn't be given a car because they did not like our tone while complaining about the extra charges. Forced to apologise and accept all their conditions or be stranded in the airport in the middle of the night. We should put these cowboys out of business asap.

Warning About Autovia Bergamo – Unethical Credit Card Practices
Autovia Bergamo has been exploiting initial credit card authorization transaction numbers to withdraw funds from customers’ accounts — even up to a year later. This practice is highly questionable and raises serious concerns about consumer rights.
Typically, we address such cases by contacting our credit card issuer and exercising our right to dispute the transaction. However, Autovia fails to respond within the legal timeframe. Instead, they reappear later through a debt collection department, using pressure tactics and even legal threats.
This behavior resembles a coordinated fraud scheme. I strongly advise others to avoid engaging with Autovia Bergamo.
It is equally concerning that the European Consumer Protection authorities have not taken visible action. Should we escalate this to the local police? At this point, it feels like there is no real protection from regulatory bodies, and we are forced to rely solely on the bank's procedures to defend ourselves.
If anyone can recommend a reliable lawyer experienced in consumer protection or cross-border disputes, I would be very interested in joining forces to take legal action against this company.

Hired a car in July 2023.naples airport . In Jan 24 they took £259 from c card. I challenged this with the credit card who dealt with it by sending all my photos of a perfect returned car ( I always take pics of all car boot and fuel tank and mileage reading ) the supplier agreed they were wrong and I got my money back thanks to the protection your credit card company give . It’s now May 25 and just had an email from car hire debt co chasing it again !! I have re sent my letter from c card to them but they insist I owe it !!! They are a conning company !!! Avoid the co !!!! . I’m ignoring the emails now !!

Do not use this company. They will charge you extra for Insurance even though I had insurance already with Lastminute.com - they refused to acknowledge the cover and charged us an additional £165 for insurance. Not a nice start to your holiday. Avoid this company. There are many recognisable rental companies at Naples.

Its a worst car service in Italy. I booked from them and paid one week in advance. My time to recieve vehicle was 13:00 but due to heath issues i arrived late. at hour 18:00. when i arrived there the girl said we have cancelled your vehicle we cant give you vehicle because you arrived late to recieve ( but i already paid them for upcoming one week in advance)

then i asked them to return my money and they said we cant return money because you arrived late so we cant return you money and we cant give you car . BUNCH OF THEIFTS AND LIARS WITH THEIR SHITTY POLICIES. avoid them at any cost they are shameful and useless and thieves

Do not rent car from these they charge you more and rude do not purchase a car from this company

Was in southern Italy, Got flat and no spare but only fix a flat ( which only works on a very small leak) called Autovia which said will send tow truck. Driver said can't tow car to nearest town 8 minutes away but, Autovia told driver to bring car to nearest contracted repair station which was almost 2 hours away. running late had to book hotel. Next morning , repair station said they have no contract with Autovia and now, I was towed another 2 1/2 hours to Bari. Got almost $500 towing bill which I disputed. For months they would not respond. went through italian consumer agency which I won they case. They were supposed to send me the awarded amount but never did. Had to go through an attorney general and force them to pay. They were supposed to pay in euros and what they did was send me the equivalent in US dollars which with the exchange rate , I was losing approx. $50.00 short. Tried calling and emailing them and they never responded back I have been fighting them for almost 3 years now!!! The worst of the worst of car rentals in Italy!!!

I recently had a deeply disappointing experience with this car rental company, and I feel compelled to warn others to stay away from them due to their unethical practices and poor customer service.

I rented a vehicle during peak season, and while I understand the need for flexibility with vehicle availability, I do not believe that the replacement vehicle I received was in the same category as the one I had originally booked. Despite this, I accepted the substitute car without issue, recognizing the challenges of peak demand.

However, upon picking up the car, the staff did not bother to accompany me to the vehicle or provide any form of inspection or walkthrough. I was merely handed the keys and directed to where the car was parked. No one from the company pointed out any existing damage or demonstrated the features of the vehicle, which I found unprofessional and concerning.

When I returned the car, the staff did however have the time to conducted an inspection and began making outrageous claims of damage. They pointed out alleged damage to the underside of the car—an area I would have had no reason to inspect at the time of pick-up—and also highlighted minor scratches on the hubcaps that were barely noticeable. It became clear to me that the lack of an initial inspection was intentional, allowing them to make false damage claims upon return.

Weeks later, I was emailed an invoice for over 200 euros in alleged damages, which I refused to pay as the claims were entirely baseless. Despite my refusal, the company went ahead and charged my credit card (Amex) without notifying me, roughly six months after the rental period had ended.

This situation is currently being disputed through American Express, but I find it alarming that this company can get away with such dishonest practices.

Im not sure if this rental company may be encouraging staff to fabricate damage claims as a means to extract additional money from customers. Whether this is a result of individual staff members misconduct or a systemic issue within the company, it is highly unethical.

I would strongly advise anyone considering renting from this company to avoid them at all costs. Their practices are deceptive, and they show no respect for their customers. Once my refund is processed, I plan to take further action, including filing complaints with consumer protection agencies.

Please think twice before renting from this company – you may end up being scammed just like I was.

BIG scam! They stole €475 from my almost 70-year-old father-in-law. They claimed that his door key lock was damaged and demanded €475 before they would take him to the airport. However, you don’t even check the keyhole since you open the door with a remote control. Payment was only possible with cash or debit card — no credit cards accepted, so no way to claim your money back via your credit card company.

Don’t rent here!!

Booking number ECO-24257413 for full refund please!

This is the worst luring company I have ever come across and they single handedly spoilt my trip to a beautiful part of Italy
Took a full package out with them through the broker , at the desk the guy told me the package was bad and I should take the company one .
Not wanting to be caught out I did that .

Second day car broke down in the mountains , tow truck come and said we would have to make our own way back , the company said I had to pay for a taxi and I could claim back €120
The fee was a whopping €250 .
I declined the taxi and took the bus wife my wife a daughter .
Had we not of caught the bus this company would have left us there or severely out of pocket .
No replacement car offered unless we go back to the airport again more cost to us .
Please don’t have you holiday spoilt by this terrible service .
I would avoid if I was you

Operating model of this company is to cancel the original booking and to offer a new rental agreement 5 times more expensive. Absolute thieves.