Clarent Reviews 

Nidal is so friendly and helpful! Very good service!

I rented a car from Clarent at Milan Malpensa from 16 May to 3 June, 2026. I wouldn't rent from Clarent again.

Only two days after collecting the vehicle, I was told it was subject to an urgent manufacturer safety recall and had to be replaced during my holiday. This should never happen to a customer, especially given that the recall was issued by the car manufacturer weeks prior

For more than a week, we had to spend time and effort organising the vehicle exchange while travelling through Italy. Although Clarent eventually arranged the swap, we had to change our holiday plans, cancel a planned visit to Lake Garda and reorganise the end of our trip and return the car one day earlier than our rental agreement to make it work. Despite the significant inconvenience, no goodwill compensation was offered, and communication after the swap was poor. Our requests were simply ignored.

The replacement car itself was fine, but the overall experience was disappointing. A holiday car rental should make travelling easier, not create unnecessary stress and disruption.

Never again, and I would not recommend them to anyone.

We arrived at Catania–Fontanarossa Airport with a valid reservation made through Discover Cars. Our flight was delayed — something completely beyond our control — and despite contacting them in advance, they refused to provide us with the car we had reserved.

They took advantage of our vulnerable situation — we were exhausted, traveling with a small child, and it was late in the evening — and under pressure, they forced us to sign a new contract at a much higher price.

When returning the car, they accused us of causing damage to the vehicle without any evidence. Their own return inspection report confirmed that the car was returned without any damage. Despite this, they withheld our entire €500 deposit. To this day, we have not received any invoice or proof of repair.

When we tried to resolve the situation directly at the counter, the employees started shouting at us, verbally abusing us, and physically forcing us away from the area. All of this happened in front of our young son, who was deeply shocked by the whole incident and still talks about it to this day.

After reviewing our evidence, Discover Cars acknowledged the misconduct of their partner and refunded us the full amount for the first car. This indirectly confirmed that Clarent/Stairway Rent had treated us unfairly.

These are scammers who exploit vulnerable tourists in distress. Stay away and choose another rental company instead.

SCAM! Fabricated scratch and stolen money!I strongly DO NOT recommend this car rental company! They are outright scammers who make money by fabricating damages.Upon returning the car, they made up a micro-scratch that was either already there or does not exist at all. Without any proof, they charged our card and took all our money (the entire deposit). Communication with them is impossible; they ignore facts and only try to rip off innocent customers.If you do not want to lose your money and sanity, avoid this company at all costs! Stay away!

Easy communication, flexible pick up and drop off

Scammers and liars – absolutely horrible experience
This company is a complete scam. We arrived at the parking lot where our rental car was supposed to be waiting at 11:30 AM, as per our reservation. There was nobody from Clarent present. When we called them, they told us we did not have a booking at all. Only after we provided our booking number did they suddenly admit the reservation existed and told us, unbelievably, that we had to go to their office one hour away, even though we had no transportation.
When we refused, they finally brought the car one hour later, meaning we had to wait an extra hour despite our confirmed 11:30 reservation.
At delivery, the Clarent employee asked if we wanted to be fully insured. We clearly said yes. They sold us an expensive insurance, only mentioning that glass and rim damage were not covered, so we reasonably believed we were otherwise fully insured.
On the last day of our trip, we had a flat tire and called Clarent, assuming we were covered. Their response was shocking: “Oh no, you only have the Silver insurance, not the Gold. Flat tire assistance is not included.”
This is outright lying. They NEVER explained that there were different insurance levels (Silver vs Gold). They never mentioned flat tire assistance was excluded. They only asked if we wanted to be fully insured or not.Their solution? “Fix it yourself.”
On top of that, they were extremely rude, arrogant, and unhelpful on the phone. When mI called back with additional questions, they simply stopped answering. I called at least six times with no response.
This company relies on misleading information, false promises, and terrible customer service. Avoid Clarent at all costs. Scammers and liars.

I rented a car from Clarent’s Verona office for 73 days.

Halfway through the rental, I received notice of a large unpaid traffic fine from Verona Police, plus a €50 “administration fee” from Clarent for notifying me by email.

After having the police notice translated, it became clear that the fine was not mine.

The original traffic offence occurred months before my rental began

A second fine was issued to Clarent for failing to identify the responsible party at the time

Despite this being clearly stated in the police documentation, Clarent passed their own fine onto me.

Clarent then provided my personal details and home address to the Verona Police, incorrectly naming me as responsible.

As a result, the police are now pursuing me for an offence I had no involvement in.

Clarent has so far refused to correct the error or contact the Verona Police, despite the documentation clearly showing the mistake.

This is not a minor billing issue — it has left me dealing with a foreign police authority for a fine that belongs to the rental company.

Read this carefully before choosing to do business with Clarent.

The whole experience was great! This is a smaller company so be cautious that they don’t get overwhelmed in high season. We rented a car in late October so much less people to deal with. The staff were kind and courteous. They speak English well enough.

A very disappointing experience. I returned the car perfectly clean, yet the deposit was not refunded in full. I happened to check my mobile banking app and noticed that a certain amount had been charged. I sent them over 10 questions regarding the issue, but received no response. Eventually, they contacted me via WhatsApp and claimed the charge was due to the car not being clean. I requested that they provide a written explanation by email, which they failed to do. They charged an excessive amount for something that was not justified. I also have photos of the car at the time I returned it, showing its condition. Overall, a very disappointing experience with this company.

We have rent a 7 seats car for 1 week in Milan well in advance and had to pick it up alone in a parking with no staff from the agency to check the status of the car. During our journey, we then discovered that the rear lights were not functing (the car was therefore dangerous and not compliant) and the driver’s window was blocked (you can imagine the trouble at each toll or parking !!). Not to mention the general state of the car with a light indicating that a control was to be done. The agency was not answering to our many calls and when we finally had an answer, they ensure that we would have found an adequate agreement when we are back in Milan. But noone was aware when we brought the car back and they finally only propose a voucher for a future rental in Italy with them which obviously was a nonsense as we have no other journey in Italy to come and we will obviously avoid another rental with them. In a nutshell, run away from this company !!

Very bad, I Ve rent a scooter and I had an accident not responsive. They ask me 2300€ to fix the dammage and they re will have also the reimbursment of the insurance. Go away and rent your scooter in another company !!! Any support during the accident and nobody answered on phone
Info+: in Sicily, driving rules don't exist!!!

I think the online system is just make reservation but no confirmation, ideally it should not accept reservation if the car is not available. We lost 4 hours and panic in search of the car once they said car is not available

Absolutely AWFUL. They shuttled us out to their car park then left us stranded in the baking heat with our two young children. They had cancelled our booking and refused to help us get another. We were stranded with no car, no food, no water. AVOID this company.

CAUTION - Aggressive and threatening behavior by Clarent employees!

During our vacation in Milan, my wife and I rented a car from Clarent for a day. The pickup in the morning went smoothly at first: We received the key at the office and were instructed to pick up the car in an underground parking garage about five minutes away.

In the evening, when we returned the car to the same underground garage, we were not sure where to take the key. There were two men at the entrance whose affiliation to Clarent was not recognizable - no uniform, no name tag. They asked us to simply drop the key in a wooden box. As they didn't speak English and we didn't speak Italian, we wanted to take the key straight back to the Clarent office to be on the safe side.

What happened next was absolutely unacceptable: one of the two men tried to forcefully snatch the key from me. He almost tore my T-shirt in the process. My wife had to retreat in horror. It was only after we threatened to call the police and a passer-by intervened, telling the man in Italian to call his superior, that the situation eased slightly.

However, the supervisor who was called over reacted in a completely uncomprehending, rude and dismissive manner. In retrospect, we should have pressed charges in any case - the entire scene was certainly recorded by the underground parking garage's surveillance cameras.

We are grateful to have survived this threatening situation unharmed and strongly advise against renting from Clarent.

After trying 2 other car rental companies in Catania, and having a bad experience (one for being too expensive, the other for being rude and uncooperative), we found Clarent on the web, also thanks to Trustpilot comments and rating.
In their website you can opt directly for the insurance that covers windows, wheels, tires and full body of the car. Be aware that it does not cover for theft of the car or personal belongings. For that they will propose it to you at the counter when making the rental contract. I strongly advise you to do it.
We can confirm that there were no hidden costs, and choosing to have the full cover insurance saved us a lot of worry. We got an upgrade to a slightly bigger and better car (it was actually brand new). When we returned the car, they only asked if we had any issues (which we hadn't) and if the car was returned the with the same amount of fuel as when it was picked-up.
Very nice customer service. They even kept our luggage in their office as our flight was later in the afternoon, allowing us to go to the beach, totally carefree.

I reserved the car. When I went there to pick it up, perfectly on time, they said there is no car.

I rented a car with this company and I did not read the small letters in my contract, which is my mistake.

Nevertheless they failed to communicate to me, after a conversation of 20min where "everything" is explained, that they would charge me € 50 for each fine that I receive while driving their car.

As I was driving the car in cities and a country that I do not know, this ofcourse happened and thanks to Clarent, a fine of about € 45 became.. € 95!

This company clearly is getting itself additionnal revenue by charging its customers exorbitant amount for a work (paying the fine), that should not take more than one hour.

As a customer, I consider their practice of not informing the customer about this misleading and deceiving, a total ripoff.

Would not recommend this company, and ofcourse lesson learned, read the small letters and do not trust a "complete" explanation of one of their agents.