Car rental while in Palermo

General advice: avoid car companies (especially, the local ones) that offer the prices, much lower than the competitors - there's a risk to be fooled. My advice is more actual for low-income countries. Nevertheless, it is possible to find scammers anyywhere.

It's possible to pick up the budget car by a reliable company in Palermo for 10-15 Euros per day. You can check and compare the offers here

I went with a friend in 2014 and we found the best rate, by far, was through Kemwel. They are a consolidator; the actual rental was from Hertz. From the Hertz office to the highway (or in our case, the surface road to Monreale) was easy, and did not involve driving through the oldest section of town, which would have been very difficult.

I mention this because we thought we would have to go out to the airport (not close to the center) to avoid "difficulty city driving," and this was not the case at all. A few turns and we were on our way.

Actually, returning the car to Catania Airport, which hadn't concerned us, turned out to be harder. The Hertz/Europcar lot is poorly labeled, and we circled several times and had to ask directions at the "all other rental cars" lot, which was much better labeled, for directions.

In 2015, my friend returned with his husband. This time, although they also rented from Kemwel, the car was from Europcar, whose office was near the train station. However, he said that it was also not hard to get out of Palermo from there, and again he did not have to drive through the oldest sections. And, he also had difficulty returning the car at Catania Airport (he had forgotten the details from the year before, and it was no better labeled a year later).

Thanks for the replies. We are flying into Plaermo. I had hoped to get a car at the airport

Paul, in 2014 I rented a car for a few days, when I flew into Palermo airport. I did considerable research, and I got a good price, good service and a brand new car from Sixt car rentals, through their web site. Just one anecdotal case. Two tips: (1) I found the nearest gas station to the airport was several kilometers to the east. I wanted to fill up before dropping the car off, and coming from the west I started looking for a gas station several km before getting to the airport, did not find one, and then needed to go several km further east past the airport, and then double back; (2) be sure you know how to get the car into reverse before you leave the rental lot; my Fiat had any easy maneuver to get into reverse, but one that I never would have figured out on my own.

For a rental at the airport, check the individual companies who have cars there against the price from Kemwel and from AutoEurope. In addition to my own experience, I've heard several stories where Kemwel had by far the best deal - but of course you have to check for your particular situation.

Do figure out what insurance coverage you want. I insisted on zero deductible coverage; one other quote was for a car with a €2000 deductible (yes, two thousand euros!). Be sure you get the insurance coverage you feel comfortable with, and that you get the appropriate quote from each source, so you are comparing "apples to apples."

In Palermo, offices near the train station are relatively easy to drive to/from. Avoid renting near Borgo Vecchio, where some tiny rental office of major agencies are located. It is a challenging are to drive with many one-way streets, bus lanes and you can get "trapped" into loops of small streets between the arterial boulevards.

There is a cluster of office business in the east side of the city with some rental agencies, they are just a couple turns from the highway (A20), so also an easy bet.

The airport is not very close to the city, but it is an option if you are driving out to locations further west (Erice, Trapani, Marsalla etc).

Larry makes a good point about the reverse -- I once had an issue with finding reverse in a rental car years ago. I never would have figured it out without asking (a Slovenian farmer whose yard I had driven into . . . . just sayin' ) .. .