Budget Car Rental - Palermo

UPDATE: I won the dispute with my credit card company regarding the fraudulent up-charges and this company put me in collections! BEWARE! Fraudulent dealership. My car was paid in full before arrival booked online and they then charged me an additional amount which was had costs me another almost $400 for a three day rental. They are even fighting with my credit card but can provide no validation for the charges! DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!

Amazing staff team! They are very helpful and truly nice which makes a big difference in customer service. Anything asked was done quickly and with a smile. When we tried calling to extend our rental it was awful through the phone (because it is not the direct number to their office and the call center are just terrible at helping out), so we went to the office and the job was done easily and fast. Also, the arrival and the departure was a more pleasant experience dealing with such sweet people. Each and every one we have dealt with from the desk to the parking lot were all great! Big thank you to all the budget team in PMO airport :)

An awful experience. Even though the rental was prepaid, the local agency charged more than double the amount on top from my Credit Card. Questioning the amount when getting the car, we were told in poor English it's the usual deposit. Eventually, the entire amount of more than 260 Euros was charged to my card, on top of the prepaid sum via Expedia. It seems now impossible to contact anybody, as neither Expedia nor the local Budget company in Germany feel responsible. Not my first really bad experience. Unfortunately, as a tourist in Italy one always is the prey for dubious practices, hidden behind not speaking the language. Try to avoid hiring a car with them.

Terrible, terrible experience with Budget Palermo airport. Returned the car in perfect condition after a simple one week rental. The rental agreement was for 224 euro and they charged me 637 euro --- three times more, with no explanation. Called Budget customer service, Italy --- number no longer exists. Wrote to their email --- emails bounced back. Finally, called my credit card company and am now in dispute with them. Such a pity that an international company like Budget allows such fraud to continue. Please stay away from them if you travel to Palermo.

Well, we were lucky to be first in the queue! I was initially offered a smaller car than the one booked and then, after the usual pressure to buy additional insurances to cover all eventualities under the sun (I have an annual policy for this) they eventually, after almost half an hour, found us a car. It had 10 listed scratches and blemishes to which I added another 5. After a couple of days the front brakes became noisy - what do you expect with a hire car that's done 48000 km??? We couldn't be bothered with the hassle of returning the car and, as the brakes still worked perfectly well, lived with the noise. Not a very good experience!

Rented a car on this location and it was totally fine. From the luggage claim you go to the left and its the first counter with Avis. Getting the car process took about 45 minutes that's with waiting in line till the booking was finalized. I booked directly though there website and got basic cover with excess because that's the only option provided. The agent did try to sell me a higher policy but i decline and that was fine. In my case this was what i need it and it served me good. The agents were not rude and tried there best to speak English. I got a different car from a small one to a minivan, but that turned out to be good as it was brand new with 6000 km on it. It drove very nice. Would i book again? yes they were helpful and nice. Was the car clean? yes it was on the inside outside was a bit dirty. The closest gas station in my case was ERG and it's the closest to the airport. Return was a breeze. 10 minutes at most from the moment i arrived and the staff was very nice as well.

Terrible service. My car was involved in an accident and paid the full cost of repairs although responsibility was shared with the other vehicle. It took me year of chasing to get an answer from the Claim handlers (Van Ameyde) who confirmed that I am entitled to 50% refund of the excess charged. I have sent numerous emails to Customer services since to claim the 50% refund with no reply. They are good at taking the money but never there to return it back when it's not theirs.

This is the nightmare that never ends. Rental happened back in October 2021. First, despite having a timed reservation, had to wait for over an hour to actually obtain the car. The car itself had a significant amount of damage to the bumpers and permanent marker on the fabric interior. Then when returning the car, before they opened due to flight time, they sent an email stating there was extra damage. Had the worst and most difficult time trying to contact them about this. No one replies from the email address, and because it was a foreign rental they gave me the run-around when trying to get a hold of anyone to contest the charges. I had to contest the charges with my bank and place complaints to finally get an answer. They did eventually refund the charges, but it took a lot of work to get that done. Thinking that everything was finished I received an email that the vehicle had a traffic violation when in Palermo. Never did I have a ticket on the vehicle, and never was I pulled over or involved in an accident. They say they are charging my card on file about 50 euros for processing the request and forwarding my information to the police. This is straight up mafia style extortion. They say to reply within ten days, but don’t give any email or number to reply to. I would never use their services again, and will likely cancel my membership due to how horrible this company is. 2/22: Update: The initial problem with charging for damages to the vehicle, that were not new, was resolved and we were refunded the extra charges. Regarding the administrative fee, it was buried in the agreement. That being said, it shouldn't take having to receive multiple poor reviews to have issues resolved. The fact that I had to spend at least a few hours trying to get in contact with someone to resolve issues is horrible. It shouldn't fall on the social media department to address these issues. It still was a horrible experience having to deal with them, and I wouldn't use this branch for any rental in the future. My only comparison for international rentals was in Costa Rica, and we had no issues with that company. I guess maybe they could get 1.5 stars as the egregious charges were reversed, but given the lack of appropriate communication and attempt at superfluous charges I couldn't in good conscience change the rating.