Overall, the experience was quite good. The rental company's staff handled things very efficiently. However, there seemed to be a technical issue with the card swipe. Eventually, they manually entered the card details, so there was no problem with paying the deposit.
Initially, we had a pleasant chat with the lady at the counter, but when she checked the computer, she said there were no cars available and offered us a downgrade to a Polo for the four of us. We explained that we couldn't fit four people and two 28-inch suitcases, and she suggested making two trips to shuttle people and luggage. Finally, a teammate went to the parking lot, found the reserved car that hadn't been cleaned, waited for the cleaning, and then took the car. Felt that car rentals in Europe are very unreliable; reservations don't seem to help.
Despite informing the rental company that we had already purchased full insurance through Zuzuche, the counter staff insisted on recommending their own full insurance.
Extremely poor experience. First, I had already purchased full insurance, but the store's customer service still tried to charge me nearly 200 euros for additional insurance. After a very difficult conversation, they finally agreed not to charge me. Second, I had booked a Mercedes E-Class automatic for 4 days, but when the customer service provided me with an Audi, I thought, 'As long as it works, it's fine.' I moved my luggage into the car, only to find out it was a manual transmission, which I can't drive. So, I communicated with the customer service again, and they gave us a Mercedes C-Class. We had four people and four pieces of luggage, and the car couldn't fit all the luggage. It was impossible for us to sit comfortably. Third, when returning the car, I used half a tank of fuel, but the customer service charged me 80 euros, which is outrageous. Since I was in a hurry and had no time to refuel, I had no choice but to get ripped off by the Italians.
I don't understand English or Italian at all, but with the tour guide's help, I successfully rented a car. I prepaid the full amount on the QEEQ website, and at the store, I only needed to use a credit card to hold a deposit of over 90 Euros. The deposit was released after returning the car. Reminder: make sure to buy insurance on the QEEQ website! Otherwise, the car rental company in Italy will make you buy their full insurance, which costs 45 Euros! QEEQ only costs a few dozen yuan!
Before our trip, we carefully inquired with the customer service on the Zuzuche website. The customer service clearly indicated that Avis would accept Chinese driving licenses with translations and notarized copies. However, when we arrived exhausted at Catania Airport, Avis refused to rent to us and directed us to a small company next door called Green Motion. The staff at this small company barely spoke English, but fortunately, I spoke Italian well enough to communicate with them. After a three-hour wait and some hassle, we finally got the car. The only available automatic car was a Mercedes Benz. Since we were traveling with a child who was already tired and hungry, we had no choice but to negotiate. We ended up paying 600 euros for 8 days of rental and an 800-euro pre-authorization as a deposit, with no full insurance. Any issues would be deducted from the deposit. This forced us to drive extremely carefully. We originally planned to rent a small car with full insurance for 485 euros, but instead, it turned into an expensive, uninsured Mercedes. The experience was very frustrating.
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