Has anyone rented a car from discovercars.com or Noleggiare? Price is extremely low compared to the big name brands. Should I be worried? We need an automatic, so the prices are higher. Also, has anyone rented an electric car or hybrid in northern Italy? How hard is it to charge the battery? Are charging stations common? Thanks!
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
8002 posts
We rented in 2021 through Discover Cars, a third-party consolidator company that’s based in Latvia. They had the best price, and the actual rental company was Noleggiare, a company I’d never heard of before, based in Verona but with service around Italy.
So we paid the Discover Cars initial price (what I’m guessing is their commission), then paid Noleggiare for the remainder after we were in Italy. I wasn’t positive they were legitimate until we got to their office. The office staff at pickup had all our info in their computer, but were not particularly welcoming, not helpful in getting us started on the road, and then we had to find someone when we turned the car back in.
The car had body damage when we picked it up, which they acknowledged, but then we went over the rest of the car carefully to ensure there wasn’t more, so we wouldn’t be charged. It ran well, and was clean. So the car was OK, price was low, and the Noleggiare office functioned, but customer service was below average. You get what you pay for.
I still get promotional e-mails from Noleggiare; they’re having a 30% off promotion if you book directly thru them by March 31.
Posted by
OP
45 posts
Thanks for your help, Cyn. We have rented through Hertz, etc before in Italy, but prices have really gone through the roof this year. I'm sure we would get the full coverage if we do this because I worry about all the 'damage' scams. I appreciate the feedback!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16135 posts
Check with Auto Europe:
www.AutoEurope.eu
www.AutoEurope.com
Check both websites.
I always rent manual transmission cars in Europe, but prices have all skyrocketed since Covid. Even in the US I pay much more than in the past, actually the US is even worse for one way rental because the drop off fees are an outrageous.
Don’t rent electric cars in Italy. Charging stations are not ubiquitous, especially outside of cities, certainly not like here in California. In many rural areas are virtually non existent. For now EVs in Italy are mostly just for locals who can recharge at home.
Posted by
OP
45 posts
Thanks for the tip. I have only ever used the autoeurope US site. They are completely different! Actually, Noleggiare comes up as a choice on the eu site. More money than direct through them though. I trust autoeurope more than those other 3rd party sites. Thanks again!