Differental Reviews 461

Nice car and pretty efficient pick up. When you get back they hunt for a scratch. They claimed some on rim and wanted 700 euros. No way they will fix such a basic scratch so this is how they try to make money. Very annoying end to what I would say was a good experience till drop off. I would avoid this firm

Differental Rome Fiumicino. They are used to claim damage on non-existing scratches.
This is the strategy of the manager who is there to scrap any opportunity for more cash. When returning the car there was nobody at the desk within the opening time in the early morning (8am). So you have to drop the keys and they take the opportunity to make unsubstantial claims. It was also agreed that any scratch below the 50mm is not considered. I had the same experience three times with the same manager who previously used to work for "Italy" rental.

I booked my car with HolidayCars. I presented myself at the Differental at the agency (Olbia italy) to pick up my rental vehicle. The Differental agent attempted to charge us approximately 400 euros in insurance fees, which we refused, as insurance was already included in the contract made through your platform. This amount was more than double the cost of the vehicle rental itself.

After a brief discussion, the agent cancelled our reservation, stating to say that he no longer wanted to do business with us. As a result, I was unable to retrieve the vehicle and had to rent another car for my stay. Holidaycar has no email or phone. Do not make business with them or with differental. I have no idea if I will get refunded. I use to travel a lot but this is my Worst experience ever .

It felt like the person at the return end made sure that there was something for us to pay extra on. He eventually uncovered a Tiny mark on the bumper and demanded £275. Why? It is clear this would never get fixed as they would just hire out the vehicle immediately again and note the mark to the next victim. Thats why they can hire out so cheaply.
The departure out of the airport is utterly confusing and the driving skills around are breathtakingly bad. Roads are a disgrace also.

Just returned our car at Milan Linate airport after 6 days rent. No questions or issues at all upon return. Excellent.
They did try to make us buy extra insurance, but we avoided both types. All scratches (also small ones) were already marked in the agreement, so that’s good.
I would rent here again!

I would describe our experience with this car rental company as one of dealing with a business that shows a complete lack of regard for its customers, and whose primary objective seems to be extracting as much money as possible by any means.

We arrived in Italy for a family vacation and had booked a large family car for three weeks. Imagine our frustration when, despite their website clearly stating that they accept all types of bank cards — including debit and credit — they refused to accept our Revolut card for payment. Worse still, they then rejected our Portuguese debit card from Caixa Geral de Depósitos for the security deposit.

What makes this especially frustrating is that my Revolut card includes comprehensive insurance that covers rental cars. However, it became obvious that this company — “Differental” — was deliberately refusing such cards in order to force customers to purchase their own, very expensive, insurance products.

We were left with no real choice: either lose the €2,560 we had already paid online for the rental (a sum they flatly refused to refund), or pay an additional €1,600 for their insurance. All of this could have been avoided if they had simply honored the payment methods listed on their own website. But they chose not to.

In a final attempt to resolve the issue, I asked whether we could modify the booking — for example, reduce it to a one-day rental, leave a deposit, pay the one-day insurance cost, and return the vehicle the next day. This proposal was rejected outright, without any explanation, and without any reference to contractual terms that would make such a request impossible. I was simply told: “It’s not possible.”

In conclusion: this company operates in bad faith. Their practices are deceptive and predatory. If you are looking to rent a car without unnecessary stress, I strongly urge you to choose another provider. Stay far away from these people.

We arrived in Catania airport and picked up the car with no problems at all. payment was previously agreed so we paid the fee and signed all the documents. When going home they inspected the car, no problems there, and even got us a luggage trolly for our cases. I would recommend this company in Catania.

Please avoid these complete scammers. Had purchased through a broker and unfortunately ended up booking with this crowd. What a terrible experience. I will admit we were late as we had missed our flight for reasons beyond our control, I did email to confirm the same. Arrived at Linate Airport and followed the instructions and had to wait for a shuttle bus, this took 30 minutes to arrive. When we got to the car hire cabin. We were greeted with a potacabin which was surrounded by cars. When we went in to collect the car we were told that they had given it away because we were late. However, they would upgrade the car for slightly more money. I was fine with this until it came to the insurance. The employee asked for a credit card to guarantee the insurance. I handed him my card and he advised that due to the fact that it wasn't embossed that they could not accept it. I gave him another card and it was the same story. He then advised that I would need to pay the full insurance of €590 in order to get the car. There was no problem taking my card for this payment. When I asked if I could rent a different car, he advised there were none available. When I went on the website there were plenty of cars available to rent on the day, but he made the excuse that they were not back yet 😂. We ended up not taking the car as I feel businesses like this should not be supported or encouraged. What a waste of time. The only positive thing I can take from our experience (2 adults and 2 kids was that I wasted a substantial amount of this guys time and that I can leave this negative review. Avoid as you can see from previous reviews, these guys are not worth it.

I was forced to take out full insurance or I couldn't have the car.
Their excuse for me having to take out the insurance was that my credit car didn't have embossed numbers on it and if the car got stolen they wouldn't be able to take more than the deposit.
I explained that I always use my own insurance to cover the deposit but refused to let me have the car without the insurance.
I had to take out the insurance because I had already paid for the car hire.
What makes it worse is the fact the car insurance was nearly 3x more than the car hire.
Absolute con artists of a company
My car hire was from Linate airport Italy.

So bad! Definitely felt like a scam! They scoured the car upon return and found dings that were already there and we luckily had taken video of the car before renting it which I will always do from now on. They charged us over €300 for “returning windshield with a chip” though it had 2 or 3 chips already when we rented it! Why did we have to pay to replace the windshield and not the previous “chippers”? We disputed with our credit card company and they sided with us fortunately. I would def be very careful renting from them. When we picked it up they said “do you want to clean it or pay €15 now as we’re a ‘clean to clean’ rental company”. Then when we got the car it was dirty! Literal bird poop on the car window and dirty windshield making it difficult to see the existing chips in the windshield! Very scammy! Be careful!

Terrible experience. Rude staff, especially one woman who tried to force me to sign a long report without letting me read it. They charged me €850 for a tiny 0.2mm scratch, even though the car was already full of damage. When I resisted, she threatened not to send the invoice so I couldn’t claim it from my insurance. Only backed off when I said I’d call the police. Absolutely untrustworthy — avoid at all costs!

STAY AWAY

We rented a car from DIFFERENTAL (Venice Airport) in April 2025. Everything was prepaid, but weeks later they started charging our credit card again – three times €61 – claiming supposed speeding fines. We never received any official documents or proof from any authority, only internal invoices from DIFFERENTAL.

After asking repeatedly for real evidence, they stopped replying. They promised a callback on the phone – but never called again. Now they’re completely unreachable.

This feels like a scam. We are now forced to involve a lawyer and will report the case to the police.

Very low quality company, with unprofessional staff determined to rip you off.
Dont be mistaken by the low price you see online, they add all the costs on spot so in the end we had to pay double price of what we paid online.

We also ordered car seat for thr baby but they didnnot have it on spot and made us wait for 1 hour with a baby.

Everyone in the receiption had an argument with them
So better to rent from normal companies than this one, their misleading cheap price will cost you lot of time and nerves.

Scam thugs – A Masterclass in Modern-Day Theft by Differental (Milan Linate Airport)

If Dante were alive today, he’d carve out a new circle of Hell just for the soulless parasites running Differental at Milan Linate. I arrived with a confirmed booking, a German passport, and a perfectly valid UK-issued HSBC credit card with a pretty limit. You’d think that would be enough to pick up a car I reserved. But no, not in Differental's twisted little world.
They refused to give me the vehicle because my credit card wasn’t from the same country as my passport. Yes, really. Because clearly no one ever lives, banks, or works internationally in 2025. Then, to top off the insult, they declared my card invalid because it wasn’t “embossed”. Embossed! As if they’re still running 90s carbon-copy swipe machines behind the counter.
I was left stranded, treated with open contempt by the smug, dead-eyed woman at the desk, and forced to pay 150 euros for a last-minute taxi to Cremona. I missed key parts of a wedding I had flown to Italy to attend, a once-in-a-lifetime event wrecked by this company’s pathetic, deliberately obstructive policies.

Differental is not a rental company. It’s a trap. A glorified scam dressed up in corporate - and aweful - branding, run by people who take visible pleasure in destroying travel plans. They are emotional pickpockets. I wouldn’t trust them to rent chairs for a picnic, let alone cars.

Disgrace of a company and clearly others taking the time to review mostly agree. Firstly, it is rare that I would ever write a review. I booked the car on discovercars.com with insurance at a price of 400 euro. On arrival, they refused the use of my Revolut credit card as it is an online banking institution. My wife had a credit card and they refused to accept it as the contract was under my name and the credit card HAD to be under my name. At this point they increased the price to 700 euro on top of the 400 I paid already. Before doing this they asked me to ring Discover cars.com to ask for my insurance back before proceeding with their new contract. After a long flight, at 7pm in the evening, although very unhappy, was of the mindset to just do what had to done to get on our way and start our holiday. However, all was not over. There was a couple beside us with another staff member. I was paying attention to their interaction and to my utter disbelief I see a revolut card being used and processed, right in front of me!!! The woman who was dealing with us clearly saw my face of complete disgust and she panicked, taking her colleague aside to reverse what he had done on account of this 'mistake' on his part. This colleague, who was approximately a 45 year old man, appeared to be completely oblivious to this rule of not accepting Revolut. And although this is stated in fine print on their website, the whole situation was a farce. Not only had I originally paid with my revolut credit card (nothing flagged), I checked in online before reaching this establishment with the revolut credit card. Again nothing flagged as being restricted. This company clearly exploits the fact that people have travelled long distances, arriving at their business, knowing that it is highly unlikely the clients will seek an alternate company at such short notice. In hindsight, if I had seen these horrific reviews or I had witnessed her colleague accepting the Revolut card before I had paid the new terms, I would hope that I would have been provoked enough to walk away and cancel everything with this ridicule of a company.

SCAM!

They debit money from my account weeks after the rental was completed without explanation. They sent in an invoice which says something like "Fee for verbal service" whatever that means. There was no verbal service apart from chat we had to have at the pick up of the car.

Furthermore they debit 40 bucks already at pick up for a "fuel charge" - but as confirmed in the contract I received the car full and I retuned it full. There was no fuel filled at no point from them.

So they debt money from my account with no reason at all! I already involved the booking service and I will file a complaint to the police as well

To summarize, I rented a car in Milan for 1 week. It was a lot of bureaucracy to get the car (1 hour) on the last day. I called to ask if I could renew it for 1 or 2 days and the man who answered was the same man who rented it to me, and he was very rude. He said on the phone that there was no way he could extend the rental and that I should take the car. I left the hotel and went to Malpensa. When I got there, I waited for 30 minutes to simply return the car and the same person said that I would have to wait. A very nice lady finally arrived and I asked if I could renew it and she said, "Of course I can." I renewed it for 2 more days. Finally, I went to return the car and the guy was there. He received my car, checked that everything was in order and 2 hours before the scheduled time. He said everything was fine.

That same day, at the end of the afternoon, I received a call from the lady who told me: You need to return the car. I replied that I returned the money 2 hours before the due date... she apologized and hung up. When I arrived in the USA I received an invoice charging a late delivery fee. A disgrace. I called, sent emails, etc. but the amount never returned to my card.

Be careful with this company and its affiliate AutoUnion.

Avoid avoid avoid!

I would give minus stars if possible

It was such a terrible experience the police had to be involved.

After they tried to rip us off by another €60 charge before we even had the keys we stood for a further 2 hours trying to find a solution to the fact the had given our pre booked car to someone else and wanted us to “upgrade”

We finally decided to cut our losses and went to VIP car rentals who were extremely helpful!

Whilst organising our new hire car the boyfriend of the staff at differential confronted and tried to intimidate us to which we will be filing another police report.

Please avoid at all costs they are not for the faint hearted!!!!

Scam. Robbery.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

They messaged us on WhatsApp to lets us know how to get to the office at 14:41
Our reservation was for 21:00.
Our flight was due to land at 21:00.
The flight was delayed. We let them know this.

The first lie was to tell us that the office closes at 21:00 and we will have to pay €100 late fee.

When I said no they said sorry this is a mistake. This office is open until 23:00.

When we landed we go to the office just before 23:00.

They told us that they have given our car to someone else as we were not here within 1 hour of our booking.
The only thing we can do is pay € 60 upgrade.
Surely if your company makes the mistake. You should sort the issue.

Trying to get more money out of you at every try.

STAY AWAY.

We've recently returned home from a trip to Italy and unfortunately had the misfortune of renting our vehicle through Differental car hire at Milan Bergamo airport.

I had prebooked the Mercedes Vito people carrier a few months previously, the vehicle itself was perfectly fine and was cleaned to a reasonable standard.

The initial problem was admittedly my fault however the way it was handled and communicated was very very poor. When we first reached the hire desk I was asked for all the relevant ID which was present and correct. I was then asked for TWO credit cards, I only had one. On average I hire cars in Europe and America 5-6 times a year and have only ever had to present one card. I offered to pay the rental outright on my debit card and then the deposit on my credit card, this was not allowed. I was then told I could only hire the vehicle if I was willing to pay an extra 120 euros per day (7 days) on top of the 1120 euros I'd already be paying for the vehicle in order to cover the EXTRA insurance required. I already have a separate insurance policy specifically for hire vehicles but obviously this couldn't be accepted. I then suggested that my father in law hired the vehicle as he had 2 credit cards and all the required identifications. A phone call was made and we were told that this was possible but the hire rate would increase to 3500 euros for the 7 days. Normally I would've cancelled the hire and rehired elsewhere however I had 2 young children and a 2 elderly family members with me who wouldn't have managed a return journey to the airport so begrudgingly I had to pay the extra insurance.

The 2 child seats I'd paid extra for were just thrown in a pile of other seats in an open cupboard and the staff just pointed and told us to take what we wanted. None of these seats are checked from hire to hire and were in a very poor state of repair, nor was any advice offered on what the seat requirements were for that region.

The car was given to us 3/4 full of fuel which is difficult to match when you return, in the contract it states full to full.

The vehicle was new and performed as it should for the week we had it.

When we returned the vehicle there is no signage to direct you to the grotty industrial estate where the company is based, we were told where to park by a member of staff, we then got out of the vehicle and was then shouted at by someone else to move the car, all in all and unorganised shambles.

We waited ages to be seen by staff and was then directed to a minibus for a transfer back to the airport, me and my wife had to sit in the front of the minibus where once underway discovered only 1 seat belt worked, we mentioned this to the driver, he said he knew and laughed and the continued to go for a new fastest time back to the airport.

All in all and woeful experience and I urge any customers considering this company to look elsewhere.