ecovia.it Reviews 

We had prepaid for a car, via a Brooker-company (Holiday Autos), which we should pick up in Pisa Airport. We turned up at Autovia/Ecovia's front desk, and here we waited for about one hour before being serviced. There were 3 customers in line ahead of us, and it wasn't them who caused the extra long waiting time. When finally attending the desk we were refused to pick up the prepaid car with reference to the contract, where it is stated that the car rental company "can" refuse delivery of a prepaid car if the customer doesn't have a Credit Card. A Debit Card (e.g. Visa Debit Card) is not accepted, since some Car Rental Companies think there is not sufficient financial coverage. Ok, we then offered to use my wife's Mastercard instead, which should be ok, since we have the same Bank and bank account. But this could not be accepted because the name on the Credit Card differed from the name on the Car Rental Contract. We then asked if we could add her name to the contract to solve the dilemma, even if we paid a fee for that - but of course this wasn't possible either. And they didn't offered us to rent another car - in short, they got the prepaid money, but clearly didn't felt obligated to come up with any solutions. So we went to Budget Cars located next to Ecovia and rented another car in only 5 minutes, and paid everything (inclusive the deposit) with my Visacard. Conclusion - Ecovia is inflexible, inefficient and offer bad service - we will definitively avoid them the next time we need to rent a car.

Scammers. Will do everything to add fake damage! Never use!

Tried to trick us into buying an extra insurance.

Their move was not to accept VISA and Mastercard debit, even though the cards easily would cover the deposit of 500 euros.

In order to avoid this problem we were offered to buy the insurance (which would double the rental fee).

So, avoid Ecovia and Autovia (the same company), unless you have af creditcard (not debit) or enjoy being tricked.

(The booking was made through rentalcars.com for the Ecovia in Bologna Airport).

We mentioned to arrive at 10.00 but it took 2 hours to help. Such a long row and only 1 person at the desk.

Terrible service and scammers. Booked car thru Expedia for a car at Reggio Calabria airport. Location of car rental place was way off (not 50 meters from airport more like 400m). Refuse to rent the car because did not have international driver’s license (which was not clearly specified when booking). Avoid at all costs!!

AVOID! Was due to pickup from Catania Airport desk. Our flight was delayed so rang Ecovia to say that we would be a day late (a day before original pickup). Was immediately told that the car would no longer be available and must upgrade to an SUV and the cost would be E120. Where had my car gone? We were not yet due to pick the car up but somehow it had magically disappeared! If this happens to you then you should complain first to Ecovia and then using Directive 93/13/EEC (unfair contract including bad faith). Contact Your Local ECC.

If you’ve been ripped off by this company and they won’t refund (almost a certainty), contact your bank, explain what happened and ask for a chargeback. They can reclaim your money for you.

I booked a 12 day car hire through AutoEurope largely because the price was very competitive. I didn’t check the reviews for Ecovia before I booked and when I did I was more than a little concerned about what would happen when I picked up the car. Well I needn’t have worried, I collect the car at Bari airport a little later than I’d indicated. The lady on the counter was charming and efficient, didn’t try to push the additional insurance once I’d declined it and gave us an almost new car which was in immaculate condition. Car returned at the end of the holiday without any issues, I would use again without hesitation.

We ordered a car through Europcar, who was our broker. First of all, the website said that the car rental was in the airport terminal in Milan Malpanza, that was a lie, you need a shuttle. We arrived at the car rental after hitching a ride from the shuttle a bit later than we predicted due to Ryanair who left/arrived late AND because we waited about 20 min for the shuttle to then be bluntly and very rudely told that our 'broker' had cancelled our booking. I called our broker Europcar and he said that this was not true. Turns out that ECOVIA cancelled our booking, NOT our broker, so second lie. The guy at the reception immediately went into a very defensive, borderline aggressive tone when we expressed surprise. After a long back and forward of arguments, we had no choice, (and they are banking on that), to book a car that was twice as expensive as the original booking... Apparently we had to call when we knew that the airplane would be late. In all the years I have travelled, I have never come across such a measure. I'm sure it is somewhere buried in 6 pages of Terms and Conditions but hey... customer service NONE... They were cheaper than the other car rentals, should have listened to my own advice that sometimes when something is too good to be true, it really is...

Very Strange and bizarre behaviour in a bad way! As a customer you are free to choose between products, right? You make a purchase in this case a car rental for a week, we are in sicily- so we added extra insurance just be sure of no problems. We Pay with my Debit card. After you Pay it requires a valid Credit card in the same name. Ok, no problem. I turn up with the required passport, drivers license and the Credit card in my name. There was a queue and we could see nearly every second customer was not very happy. On our turn I show the agent our booking and the three documents. He looks and very irritated underlines Credit card in the reference. Yes, I have a valid Credit card in my name, the same name, right here. He just refused to Even look and waived us away! He refused to communicate any further. He had no name or id showing, on request he refused to write or show any id. What sort of a company is this? I had to spend €450 on another car with the same Credit card with easy car hire sicily. I'm sure they were very happy! We were not the only people who experienced this we could see. This company should not be allowed to do 'business' in this way. Customers are scamed and have to fight for compensation whilst Ryanair continue to allow and actively promotes this company through their website portal. Shame on you all. You give guests the worst possible impression of Sicily. I hope your proud of your smart tricks.

No problem solving attidute, absolutely zero helpful!!! Their only goal is to earn additional money from the customer. Terrible customer service leaving the office during the issue. Really this is exactly the tipe of companies we do not want on the market! Avoid at every cost!!!

Terrible SCAM company! Do not ever book with them. We came from Los Angeles and tried to rent a car and they wouldn’t let us ride because we only had a California license. They said we had to have an international license. We’ve rented cars everywhere in Europe and it’s never an issue but them.

We booked a car with Booking.com and thus Ecovia. The whole period of our stay was completely paid for, including full insurance. When arriving at the airport, we thought pick up the car and off we go, but this was not the case at Ecovia. Our reserved car was cancelled because we came too late to pick up the car (although it was completely paid for), so we had to book another car at another company for the duration of our stay. The best you can do is NEVER book a car at Ecovia, unless you like being ripped off. I had to give at least 1 star to write a review about this company, but if I could have, I would have given minus 10 stars. Hope you won’t fall in the same trap that I have.

Mickey Mouse car hire experience. Girl has been sitting in front of a screen for 20 mins and nothing’s happening. Only one person on desk and huge queue. Despite everything being pre-booked, you still have to fill-in a form which they then slowly and painstakingly type onto a computer. What a rubbish experience. If you haven’t paid, pick up your bags and go elsewhere

Horrible.
We went on a vacation in Italy and we had rented a car, we reserved it back home. When we arrived in Italy at the desk of ecovia there was a problem because we the creditcard we rented the car with was on my mothers name and I was there with my father. The lady behind the desk was everything but helpful and told us 'can't do anything about it bye'. We called the callservice of ecovia and asked if they could help us (we knew it was our fault, booking with the wrong creditcard). Eventually they didn't quite understand what I was trying to say and they booked another car but we also had to pay by a card we didn't had and we couldn't get our money back or at least get the insurance of the other order.

Eventually I see my phone bill and for an 18 minute call I had to pay 33,25 euros!

Horrible service, never again.

We arrived arrived 1,5 hr late - our flight got delayed- and had to pay €225 extra to collect the car, although during normal opening hours of the desk. Please also note the entire rental sum for 14 days car hire was paid upfront. Apparently it is mentioned in their general terms and conditions which I didn’t know as we booked the car via a broker (Auto Europe). I could have cancelled the booking and go to another rental company. Not really an option as I would have lost the complete prepaid rent for 14 days.
Avoid them by all means!

This review also appears on on the Autovia page.

Pretty sure Patrick Andersonn on the previous review was just behind us and our experience was the same as his.

Booked a holiday with Expedia (don’t bother) and we flew into Rome, Fiumicino airport on sat 12th August. Had booked with Ecovia (same company so that’s why the review is on here)

We waited 4 hours to be served. 4 hours! When we finally got to the desk we were told that debit cards are not accepted, ok, my wife had a credit card we can just swap the name and pay that way. Oh no, that would be too easy. Instead we were told to pay an extra insurance of £269 and I paid the deposit of £215 on…yes, my debit card! Explanations unavailable! Desperate to get out of the airport and knackered we had no choice.

Car was returned unscathed and fully fuelled a week later and after 8 working days I haven’t had it returned. If there was a problem with the car “you have full insurance so it will cover it and you will get your deposit back anyway” they said. This whole company feels like a scam and they have shown no interest in talking to us, whilst Expedia have washed their hands of us.

Word of advice to anyone wanting to rent a car, do not use autovia/Ecovia, use Hertz, SixT, use the dodgy looking fella hanging around the airport but don’t use this company. Something is rotten in Rome, I think I know what it is

I only had 3 debit cards (instead of a credit card), so I was not allowed to pick up the car.

Even though my wife had all the necessary documents (including a credit card), ECOVIA refused to transfer the rental car under her name.

Instead I had to pay an extra insurance coverage of EUR 200, which is over the rental price of EUR 150!

The staff of ECOVIA was not helpful and refused to give us the contact details of their superior(s), so that we could appeal their decision.

We had made a long journey and had a newborn of 8 months with us, and ended spending more than 2 hours by the rental desk arguing over this outrageous extra fee.

The CarTrawler service desk was helpful and tried to help us, even by discussing directly with ECOVIA, unfortunately to no avail.

Do NOT book with this company or any associated companies. Deceit and lies are what they trade on. Be very aware if it is too late for you.

Ilena at Catania is particularly deceitful.