Car hire in Sicily

[C8TLNdad]

Any body with recent experience with car hire in Sicily?

Flying into Palermo next month for 10 days.
Just 2 of us and quite fancy a Fiat Panda (with a/c!), or similar, to do some exploring.
Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on.
Not after the cheapest down some dodgy back street, and happy to pay for quick, honest service.

Any recent experience/ advice ???

[Louis Balfour]

C8TLNdad said:

Any body with recent experience with car hire in Sicily?

Flying into Palermo next month for 10 days.
Just 2 of us and quite fancy a Fiat Panda (with a/c!), or similar, to do some exploring.
Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on.
Not after the cheapest down some dodgy back street, and happy to pay for quick, honest service.

Any recent experience/ advice ???

Try Zest car rental. They came recommended by an agent who had no axe to grind. They are a broker but I gather only deal with reputable firms. We had a good experience with them recently in Italy.

[Puggit]

Get your own car hire excess insurance (for example from confused.com - https://www.confused.com/car-hire-excess-insurance...

[C8TLNdad]

Thanks, already have excess insurance via icarinsurance.com

I'll have a look at Zest

[Siko]

We used Locauto at Palermo airport in April, they got decent reviews but i prepaid for hire car excess online. We got there late at night and their plot is pretty dark, so it wasn't easy to inspect the car but I gave it a quick walkaround, the rep was friendly and spoke good english. They offered their own insurance for the week, which was about £300 and the chance to return it empty but I politely turned them down. I had booked a Golf equivalent and we got a virtually brand new Lancia 5 door. We took good care of it despite the Sicilians doing their best to crash into it on several opportunities and the main central car park we left it in for a few days in Palermo required a drive down a "road" which was about an inch wider either side...

Nevertheless we got it back in the same condition, finding a garage for fuel close to the airport was a bit tricky but as long as you leave an hour or so you should be able to find somewhere. Returning it was easy and a quick once over and all fine, with an emailed confirmation minutes later. They were one of the better hire car companies I have used and to be fair when we picked the car up they said minor scratches were fine, but over I think 4" would require payment.

Even though it was a small ish car i would have preferred a battered Panda, we drove into a lot of the Sicilian towns and a lot of the roads in the old parts of the towns are absolutely tiny. Palermo is insane and genuinely I would never drive there again. Apart from that a lot of the motorways and A roads are excellent and very cheap on the tolls too.

[Griffith4ever]

C8TLNdad said:

Thanks, already have excess insurance via icarinsurance.com

I'll have a look at Zest

"Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on."

Then why are you bothered about upselling ? (its not scamming, that's the naive paying loads for daily insurance add ons because they didn't do their homework) - you are covered. You just say "no" to absolutely everything, take the keys, photo the car, return it as they request (full / full) etc.

[Louis Balfour]

Griffith4ever said:

C8TLNdad said:

Thanks, already have excess insurance via icarinsurance.com

I'll have a look at Zest

"Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on."

Then why are you bothered about upselling ? (its not scamming, that's the naive paying loads for daily insurance add ons because they didn't do their homework) - you are covered. You just say "no" to absolutely everything, take the keys, photo the car, return it as they request (full / full) etc.

It’s not as simple as that. Some scams are hard to avoid. Though to be fair Italy hasn’t been a scammy as some countries ime.

[James P]

If you’re staying in central Palermo, make sure your hotel has parking available. It’s likely to be off-site but street parking is very chaotic. Once we stayed very close to the Quattro Canti and had to get a police car to escort us through the pedestrian area of the ZTL

Have you thought about just hiring a car when you need it? There are several places along via Franceso Crispi by the port. From the airport it’s easy enough to get a bus or train into the centre, both take about 30 minutes.

If you use a comparison site to choose a car from the airport, I’d avoid picking the cheapest as regardless of value and insurance those companies will have very long queues at their airport desks..

As regards tolls, if you head to Western Sicily, it’s easy as we don’t have any

Edit to add - nearest fuel station to the airport is at Cinisi and very close to the A29. It is an absolute rip off though and I doubt that anyone who isn’t returning a hire car ever uses it.

Edited by James P on Tuesday 20th August 13:40

[C8TLNdad]

Many thanks for the advice/ suggestions.

We are not staying in Palermo, though will give it a glancing blow on the final day.
Plan is to drive round the island anti clockwise, staying at 4 airbnbs, already booked.

[Louis Balfour]

C8TLNdad said:

Many thanks for the advice/ suggestions.

We are not staying in Palermo, though will give it a glancing blow on the final day.
Plan is to drive round the island anti clockwise, staying at 4 airbnbs, already booked.

What is that costing you if you don't mind? I have Sicily down for December.

[James P]

C8TLNdad said:

Many thanks for the advice/ suggestions.

We are not staying in Palermo, though will give it a glancing blow on the final day.
Plan is to drive round the island anti clockwise, staying at 4 airbnbs, already booked.

If you’re passing Marsala in the evening, I’d recommend aperitvo at Villa Genna, spectacular sunsets over the Stagnone and Egadi islands at that time of year.

[Griffith4ever]

Louis Balfour said:

Griffith4ever said:

C8TLNdad said:

Thanks, already have excess insurance via icarinsurance.com

I'll have a look at Zest

"Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on."

Then why are you bothered about upselling ? (its not scamming, that's the naive paying loads for daily insurance add ons because they didn't do their homework) - you are covered. You just say "no" to absolutely everything, take the keys, photo the car, return it as they request (full / full) etc.

It’s not as simple as that. Some scams are hard to avoid. Though to be fair Italy hasn’t been a scammy as some countries ime.

Ok, I've found it as simple as that. Countless cheap car hires all over Europe Inc Italy and never been "scammed". I have my own insurance, I take thorough photos. What other "scams" are there? Other than damage excess charges (which isn't really a scam. They make all their money from the insurance they sell you on cheapo car hires).

[Louis Balfour]

Griffith4ever said:

Louis Balfour said:

Griffith4ever said:

C8TLNdad said:

Thanks, already have excess insurance via icarinsurance.com

I'll have a look at Zest

"Reading the reviews seems a lot of upselling/ scamming goes on."

Then why are you bothered about upselling ? (its not scamming, that's the naive paying loads for daily insurance add ons because they didn't do their homework) - you are covered. You just say "no" to absolutely everything, take the keys, photo the car, return it as they request (full / full) etc.

It’s not as simple as that. Some scams are hard to avoid. Though to be fair Italy hasn’t been a scammy as some countries ime.

Ok, I've found it as simple as that. Countless cheap car hires all over Europe Inc Italy and never been "scammed". I have my own insurance, I take thorough photos. What other "scams" are there? Other than damage excess charges (which isn't really a scam. They make all their money from the insurance they sell you on cheapo car hires).

I would not presume to educate you, what with you being a European expert.