jgoodm

Hi All,

I am awaiting my Sixt Platinum Card (via Starwood Plat) and am planning on renting a car in Italy. Does anyone have experience with renting an Auto Transmission in Italy? They don't have any on the website when you try to rent online and there emailing them has been VERY slow back and forth.

Also, if you do know anything about this, do you have any ideas what kind of upgrades they would do when an Auto is requested?

Thanks,

J.

Dovster

I don't believe that Sixt has its own cars in Italy -- it works with a partner company. In general, that means that your Platinum card will be of very little value.

jgoodm

Thanks. Sixt has been so unhelpful, its actually impressive...

Frank3172a

I was in Rome in January, booked a "Smart for 2" on-line with Sixti (their low budget brand) the car was picked up in the airport at the Sixt counter.

I received a car with an bad # on the license plate, asked to change it. Was told it the only automatic available, I never requested an automatic & didn't need it. Was given a "smart for 4". This was not listed ont the website either.

They weren't to nice to communicate with, & I believe it's franchise & not corporate by the address on the car keys, invoice, credit card billing etc....

please post your experience with them here, it would make good reading.

totti

It's quite normal that you get an other car than this listed by SIXTI. If you rent compact their examples are Ford FOcus and Opel Astra. As others reported in various threads you can get an A-class, A2 or VW Golf instead. Even if you rent a Smart for 2 which you did, it's uncertain that you get one, they also have a lot of other eco cars.

HamburgAround

They do have their own counters in Italy, as mentioned before.
I once rented the smallest car and got a Nissan Micra.
As they have Smarts, they will give you one of these if you request a automatic transmission.
We Europeans don't enjoy automatics too much, so the chioce is limited and most of the cars have manual stickshift.
So just try to make sure you get the transmission guaranteed.
Just book your car via internet www.sixt.com and you can enter everything there. It may be the case, that not every size offers the possibility of auto-transmission.

kallah

Just to add some experience:
• you probably don't want an automatic in Italy - too many hills and tight bends.
• I agree Sixt can be a pain. We hired a Smart saloon (at Bergamo, outside Milan) and were quite impressed until we hit one of Italy's thousands of tunnels and the dimmed headlights wouldn't come on We were about 50km from the pickup and phoned. 'What's your problem?' was the reply. We pointed out the (obvious) dangers. They (in the form of a very grumpy rep) said come back to the pickup point and we might replace it!..and you, the customer, will have to pay for the petrol. Hmmmm....so we did and met another grumpy, unsmiling rep who replaced the car with a Renault - another nice vehicle but this time with a huge crack across the windshield!
• anyway, they're cheaper than most and we're goping back to them, but reluctantly and warily.

totti

First of all welcome to FT kallah!

If you are dissatisfied with the service you should let them know to improve their service. If something like that would happen to me, I'd do so. The Sixt customer relation service is pretty good and normally you'll get an answer within one week. In such a case you could expect some sort of compensation probably ~10-20 EUR discount on your original calculation. It's worth a try.

Cheers
totti

USAFAN

Sixt in Italy? Not for me!
$800+ for 10 days for a tiny Fiat Panda .... with my Sixt Platinum rebate ..No thanks!
Anybody else with (much) better rates at Sixt, any other rental company...?
I Germany Sixt is fine. Nice cars, good service, pretty good prices. In Europe I often end up with Avis, but would like to hear some alternatives.

bostonbali

Any recent SIXTI experiences in Italy, specifically at FCO?
Two of us have an upcoming 5-hour layover at this airport. We could either stare at a wall the whole time, or perhaps catch a quick breakfast, or tour Ostia Antica (which is very close to FCO).

SIXTI has a Smart (or something similar...) that would cost € 8 for the day. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I just want to make sure this location won't nickel-n-dime us about not washing the car when we return it (we don't plan on getting it dirty, but they give themselves the right to charge a € 9 'cleanup fee' if the car has a dead bug on the windshield when you return it).

Also, their T&C's state it takes the rental agent about 30 minutes to check in a car once you return it - doesn't seem right to me (way too long!) Any experiences with a quick return?
Bostonbali

fduvall

Not exactly relevent to your question, but I recently requested a Mercedes station wagon from Sixt at FCO. I rent from Sixt in Zurich all the time, so hoped that I would have similar good luck at the airport in Rome.

Unfortunately, they had given away my car and offered me a Fiat station wagon. Not even close in quality, and they did not directly offer me a lower price. As I was traveling with 3 other people, I did not have time to haggle.

Will be calling them this week to see what they have charged me and what I can do. BTW - the customer behind me also had "his" car given away. I had called the Rome station three hours earlier to confirm that they had "my" car and was told "no problem."

fduvall

totti

Late answer but anyway: in the last month I always rent with Hertz in Europe. They have great rates and a good service. Cars are quite okay as well. Last rental was in Spain for a week and renting with Hertz instead of Sixt (being Plat as well) saved me 200 EUR ^

Cheers
totti

frank_spencer83

From Italylogue:

Should I get an International Driver’s License?
While it is not legally required, it’s a very good idea to get an International Driver’s License if you are even considering renting a car in Italy. Should you have any trouble with the Italian police, the International Driver’s License is at least translated into Italian so you don’t have to try to communicate by gestures. Also be sure you find out from the rental agency if there are any particular laws in the region about what you need to have in the car at all times - sometimes it’s things like a reflective vest or flares, and if they’re legally required the rental agency should provide them.

Car Rental Agencies
Most major international car rental agencies will have offices in Italy - usually at Italian airports and often in town as well - and there are also several companies which only serve European countries, too. Companies like Six-T and Europcar might not be familiar if you’re coming from outside Europe, but they’re big European auto rental agencies. Auto Europe is also a good company to check out for prices, because rather than being a car rental company themselves, they will match you up with a rental agency in the country you’re visiting.