Avis Reviews 

I recently returned from hiring a car through Avis in France. The entire experience was awful. Unhelpful and disinterested staff. Ambiguous contracts and charges. On my return, I discovered Avis had charged almost £500 to my credit card without providing any documentation or explanation. It's taken literally hours to unpick and have the unwarranted charges refunded. If I were being truly cynical, I would say the behaviour of Avis extends beyond dishonest and into the realms of fraudulent. Right up there with one of the worst customer experiences I've ever had.

Worst experience ever.

I collected the car in Rome Campino and straight away the sale representative was attempting to charge me for snow chains even though they are a legal requirement in Italy and should be free. He then at the end gave them to me for “good will”. How nice of him….

Having previously worked with avis in Ireland I knew not to bother taking out the insurance as it’s all a scam. I therefore had the sales rep come out to the car with me and mark all the unmarked damage on the car, which was A LOT. He proceeded to down right refuse to mark some down as he said “no need to worry. This scratch is too small it’s okay” even after me insisting to sign it off. Lucky I took photos and time stamps of it all. Also the tank was not full which I also have photo proof of.

For return we had to drop the keys in the box even though it was only 6pm as the office closes at 4pm on a Monday. We again took all photos of the car and proof of the petrol that we filled it up, even more than when we got it.

Of course as soon as I returned home a day later I received a lovely invoice for damage to the car along with photos of said damage. And what do you know, it was damage that was ALREADY there and that I had the exact photo of along with time stamps of. Also one the guy told me NOT to worry about. So they have already charged me for damage and even though after multiple contacts have told me oh yes the damage department will get back to you. It’s been almost 20 days and the money is taken out of my account. THAT IS NOT ALL! They also charged me a late fee! Even though I actually dropped the car back 30 mins EARLIER than my agreed time and even have video evidence with a time stamp of me dropping the car key into the return box. How convenient of them to try charge me a late fee even though their office wasn’t open AND I have a video of me returning before my rentsl was up.

All I can say is this place is a total scam and that comes from a ex Avis employee. So please please do not rent from them. Their customer service is also just the most unhelpful experience ever. I’ll be sure to let my company know to cease trading/renting with them which I can assure you will be a big loss.

They are real thieves! Please save yourself from them

Catania Airport, 11 pm, 40 people in line and only 1 operator. 2 hours to fly to Catania, then 2 hours to get a car.

We had a number of incidents from Budget-Avis in Malpensa airport. The following occured:
1)We booked a car from Terminal 2, however the terminal has closed down and nobody has informed us about that. We learnt this from a taxi driver on our way to terminal 2. We had to go to terminal 1
2) They gave us a different car from the one that we booked
3) We had to wait 1,5 hours on the queue
4) The key issue is: I supposed to pay 74 euros for the deposit, however the amount of 225 euros was extracted from my account without any notification. Even the contract is about 74 euros.
5) The amount of money did not return within two weeks, as promised from the company.
Therefore I have communicated with my bank (HSBC, Greece)where I have fill-in to cancel the transanction and get my money back.

The company rented a car for me from Avis at Providence RI airport.
When I got there, I was shown to a car that smelled like a whole army smoked in it. When I asked for a non-smoker car, the woman gave me a toyota camry with numerous dents and scratches. But that was not the worst of it. I just took pictures of those, not to be held responsible for those when I return the car.
But the interior was a disaster: Seats had large stains and felt sticky.
This was hands-down the dirtiest rental car (or any car!) I have ever seen!
When I asked to change it, the woman said all other cars were smoked in!

Bad bad bad! We didn’t get the car we rented!! Don’t rent cars from this company they don’t have the cars people rent and they can’t keep a promise about the car people have paid for!!! They gave us a huge bus full of dirt and with scratches all around the car it was smelling and just NOT WHAT WE PAID FOR!!!!!

Terrible service. We had to wait for one and a half hour because they tried to do everything by phone even when there was someone at the desk. They sent us to two different locations at the airport and still were not able to give us a car. We finally decided to cancel the reservation because it took so long and they charged us 65 euros cancellation fee. How they treated us comes close to criminal behaviour. I would strongly recommend you to avoid this firm and use one of the more reliable car rental companies.

I rented an Avis car in Florence and months later was charged an extra €42.70 for a fine that the police were allegedly going to inform me about in writing. Three years later and I’m still waiting to hear about what I supposedly did wrong!

Shame on you Avis Florence. You can’t be the same company that I use in the US!!

Interesting to read previous reviews, seeming to suggest systemic issues with Avis.
Second rental in 2 weeks and again so many problems, this time at Malpensa
1. Car seats dirty and certainly not Covid clean
2. Car delivered with the tank not completely full, luckily this was sorted out before driving off and EUR6 deducted from the bill
3. I have been an Avis Preferred customer for many years and one of the benefits is reduced paperwork on arrival. So I was instructed to go straight to the car park, where the car was not in its marked bay and staff incredibly rude shouting at my wife that we have to go locate it in the parkade ourselves.
4. It seems to me that Preferred customers are seen as a cash cow for easy revenue. In many years of renting from Avis I have never taken the additional insurances, yet when the final invoice arrives I am billed EUR76 on top of the reservation for unrequested windscreen damage and insurance waiver fees. At no point was I asked if I wanted these, they were simply added to the bill.
I find it unbelievable that a company can operate like this in the 21st century in the midst of a pandemic with fraudulent scam invoicing and appalling customer service. A company that always charges more than quoted, avoid it.

If you are in Italy, do not rent with AVIS, they took over euro 50 from my credit card, for services as NONE fuel and delay drop off, completely out the blue. After reading most of the reviews, it is crystal clear they try to steal money from the customer. I ll not rent with them any more. Car not clean especially with COVID19, and not correpondent to what I have booked. It was from Roma Termini Station. Customer service, I had the nightmare to speak with Damiano, Patrizia and Alex completely useless, they are there just to get your money. It is not a customer service at all. POOR POOR EVERYTHING, FAR AWAY FROM AVIS ALL PLEASE.
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Se sei in Italia, non noleggiare con AVIS, mi hanno prelevato più di 50 euro dalla mia carta di credito, per servizi come NESSUNO carburante e riconsegna ritardata, del tutto inaspettati. Dopo aver letto la maggior parte delle recensioni, è chiaro che provano a rubare denaro al cliente. Non affitterò più con loro. Auto non pulita soprattutto con COVID19 e non corrispondente a quanto prenotato. Era dalla stazione di Roma Termini. Servizio clienti, ho avuto l'incubo di parlare con Damiano, Patrizia e Alex completamente inutili, sono lì solo per prendere i tuoi soldi. Non è affatto un servizio clienti. POVERO POVERO TUTTO, LONTANO DA AVIS TUTTI PER FAVORE

Avis did not pay back my deposit in full. I have made several complaints and they are just playing pathetic games by asking me to constantly resend the documents I've already sent, when I then request an update on my complaint I get the same response from a rep called Caleb Manning which is....we are still investigating your complaint. This complaint was filed in May it is now October. Avoid this company, they are a total disgrace and rip off merchants.

I paid for a week: 204.83 and then other 164.87 for the insurance for 1 week rent between 23/7 and 30/7
Today, out of nowhere, Avis took out an additional 50 without sending any information about it....

Avis charged me 130 euros for gas when I gave the car back with the full tank. This happened at Rome airport FCO. Customer service was useless; they are dishonest

This company is dishonest. They will lie to you straight in your face and overcharge you when they can. My experience with the agency in Milano Centrale is too lengthy to describe. Do yourself a favor and book somewhere else, especially if you are a tourist.

We hired two cars at avis bologna airport. One car ( a 9 persons bus) broke dwon the first day. After 2 days I had to accept a smaller car and had to go to another city to get it.
On return of my car they said that my tire was flat! There was nothing wrong with it !!( foto). ''No, but in an hour it will be flat.''

At home my credit card was credited for 500 and 400 euro's!!! I had to pay for a new tire! and probably for damage to the second car: but I never saw an invoice . I tried to get one, but there was no reaction. They do not pick up the phone, they have no E mail adres. AVIS Italy did not react.

NEVER hire a car from AVIS or BUDGET car ( same desk) . I had al lot of bad experiences with car rental in general, but this was the worst.

We had a very good experience overall. Giulia at the FCO airport (Rome) was very helpful and the process of check in and check out at Naples was very smooth.
We learnt later that Giulia is the manager at FCO and she helped us change the timing of the reservation without any extra charge. We were offered a very expensive all risk insurance but we declined as we had basic cover anyway.
We were very concerned about the Avis Italy reviews but our experience was different and very positive.
We even got a text on the day of the car return with google map so it was easy to locate the exact location for the drive.
After the car rental finished we got a telephone call the next day to confirm that everything was smooth.

The only problem we faced was that about 4 days before the pick up we got 2-3 calls from Avis but we could not hear anything from the other side. Apparently it was to confirm the contract on phone. We tried to ring them on every possible number for 3-4 days several times but no one picked up. We could not contact via the avis preferred app either so had to send an email to them.
In any case FCO office sorted out everything when we were there in person for the pick up.
Our experience overall was excellent with the quality of the car as well. The process of check out was also smooth. So far we have no unexpected charges and they had given us a zero balance printed account at Naples at the check out.
We will not hesitate to rent again. Hopefully Avis will continue the good work and it is reflected in other people's experience as well.

This company is an embarrassment, closer to a fraud. The have customer service in spain only for the whole of europe, and they don't have any connection t the local offices. they promise cars that they don't have, in offices that so not exist even. NEVER BOK A CAR with avis unless you have some masochistic wish list.

We had the worst experience renting from Avis in Italy. A trip from Florence to Venice, in Venice no one was in the office. We were told to park the car in a garage and drop the keys in the mailbox. Later we were charged EUR 300 extra, Avis claims we returned the car two days late. It's impossible to get a hold of anyone, emails bounce back. We have rented many cars in different countries but never experienced anything like this. Better take your money elsewhere!

We have now had 2 bad experiences with Avis in Italy. First was with the condition of a car rented in La Spezia......car was dirty and not in good condition. Second was with a rental from Avis at Lake Como. We ordered and paid for a BMW Series 1 but were provided with a Fiat 500. We've written to Avis on numerous occasions since early in 2020, and today been advised that:

"As per the website and the internal data, the received vehicle does match the requested group, therefore from that point of view the charge and the received vehicle are both correct. Please extend our apologies to the customer, but since there were no mechanical issues with the vehicle we are unable to offer compensation at this time.

Kindly note, this is our final decision and this decision will not be overturned.

Hope the above is clear and will be of help. "

The car provided did NOT match the requested group in terms of engine size or equipment fit. Avis Italy will simply not acknowledge our written concerns, and our request for a refund to reflect the car provided has been denied.

DO NOT HIRE A CAR FROM AVIS ITALY - you will be disappointed.