r/sicily • u/United-Truth-2402 • 14d ago
Turismo 🧳 Car rental advice in Catania
Hi, I'm looking to rent a car to pick up and bring back to Catania airport for 6 days and I was thinking of doing it on the Sixt platform. Do you have any opinions to give me? Is it reliable? Is it true that it is better to avoid renting Fiat pandas, 500s and 500xs?
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u/NecothaHound 10d ago
Dont know if you still need this, but pande get stolen a lot in sicily, so are fiat 500.
Sicily by Car so far has been really good for me, Im sicilian living abroad and go back once a year
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u/fzzg2002 13d ago
I‘d recommend opting for full-coverage insurance. Go with a broker (you can still get a car from Sixt) and they generally offer lower insurance rates. Personally, I use booking.com to rent cars
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u/ImpressiveArrival884 9d ago
Is there any companies that does not freeze couple thousand euros during renting?
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u/NoNameHuman333 2d ago
So after being surprised in Iceland that my travel cc didn't cover my rental car (the folks at the rental desk were super friendly and helpful) I wanted to avoid anything like that in Italy.
After doing a ton of research, contacting various rental companies, and comparing rates I discovered that ultimately Sixt was the best deal. Why Sixt? By the time I took into consideration the cost of the rental plus full coverage insurance they had the best price in every car category I looked at.
Also, just FYI, if you get 3rd party rental insurance they do not pay the rental company directly. Instead, you have to pay for the damages and then seek reimbursement from the insurance carrier.
Personally, the savings found with a 3rd party were not worth it because if something were to happen I don't want to deal with the headache of securing the funds to pay for an entire car in another country.
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u/Due-Confection1802 14d ago
Not sure where you are from, but, for Americans, I recommend AutoEurope (Kemwell for Europeans is the same company). They are a highly regarded broker. You can compare prices of lots of major companies, and they usually offer a full insurance option (which is a good idea in Sicily) for a lot less than the negative surprise at the desk. One other advantage for Americans is they are based in Portland, Maine, for any post rental issues. Many of the name brands are franchises, and you may have to communicate with local offices in italy if there are issues. We have rented Pandas and found them to be perfect in Sicily. It is probably the most popular car with locals and nicely fits the narrow roads and limited parking on the island.
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u/blackscholesmert0n 14d ago
A couple of weeks ago I rented a car from Sixt at Catania airport, for about a weeks time and returned it at Palermo airport. It was a really nice experience. The car was almost brand new, was nice and clean when we picked it up and the return was easy without any surprise fees or anything like that.