Differental Reviews 461

We picked up an SUV from Differental using the Milan (BGY) airport pick-up. Despite being within normal operating hours, their office had no staff in it and a neighbouring company staff member had to figure out how to sign us in. There was also no preparation for a car seat, which we had pre-booked.

Our drop-off was out of hours and once again, there was nobody at all there and we dropped the car off with a yardsman who didn't want to handle any paperwork. The shuttle bus driver was incredibly frustrated/pressured that morning and drove incredibly recklessly to the airport, despite us having two toddlers without car seats on board.

A few days later, I noticed that I had been overcharged for the rental and charged for damages as well. When I inquired about these charges they showed me a vague photo of nothing and stopped responding.

In the current market, there is no room for this level of con-work and it only costs a few extra Euros to go with someone more reputable. This type of hassle just isn't worth it in the larger scale of the holiday.

They are scammers! I did not contract comprehensive insurance with them, and they looked for damage to my car, damage that it already had (impossible to appreciate). They give you the dirty car so you can't see it and then they scam you. The guy who came to check the car only looked for that damage, because he already knew where it was. They are scammers. Don't rent here

TOTAL SCAM!!! We returned the car in Sicily in great condition however we were sent a bill with pictures of scratches not caused by us. We sent videos and pictures of the car that we took when we returned the car (with date and timestamp for proof!) but they refuse to acknowledge it and charged us €700???? NEVER BOOK WITH DIFFERENTIAL EVER AGAIN UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SCAMMED. We have liaised with customer service multiple times via email and the phone but to no avail. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

FRAUDULENT LENDER, DO NOT PATRONIZE THIS BUSINESS!! HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE, ABSOLUTELY UNPROFESSIONAL. They claimed I could drop my car at MXP, gave me a card with the parking location, which turned out to be a 20 minute drive from the airport. Nonetheless, we arrived there and the parking lot turned us away, said they don’t even do business with Differential. When I called to get help, as we were going to miss our flight and the lot wouldn’t take the car, customer service was closed because it was the weekend. We reached the staff at the local office and explained that the lot they said we could drop the vehicle at wouldn’t accept the car no matter what we did, they said it was “our problem and not theirs” and hung up on us. We drove to the airport so as not to miss our flight, secured the car and let them know where it was. We learned the car was picked up by then right away. To top it off, they tried to take a €300 deductible and claimed we scratched the car. I will NEVER do business with Differential, they are insanely unprofessional, disrespectful, dishonest, fraudulent and deceptive. Luckily AMEX intervened and we got our refund but they caused us so much anxiety and stress, I felt compelled to leave a review. Attached are the photos of the parking location that refused to accept the car after the rental company instructed us specifically to go there. Utterly disgusted.

Apart from the price and the actual vehicle, both of which were OK, just about everything else was poor.
On arrival at Milan airport the shuttle bus was a long way from the terminal and took us several miles to what was actually a car park firm which Differential piggybacks onto and rents an office there.
There was no Differential agent there and a member of staff at the car park was unable to sort out the (free) additional driver.
The fuel was supposed to be full but appeared to be more like 7/8th full.
On return a week later there was still no Differential agent present and no one there to check the car and sign off as no damage (one of our party in another car was told there was £200-worth of damage a few days later when no damage occurred during the hire period).
The arrangements for a mini-bus back to the airport were very poor - there was not enough room for everyone who needed it and the driver was very abrupt and unhelpful.
Overall not a good experience and in future I would pay a bit more for better service and a car at the airport.

ENGLISH REVIEW:
I am extremely disappointed with my recent experience with Differental and the lack communication and transparency from this car hire company. Despite multiple follow-ups, they have still not provided me with the photos of the damage to the vehicle, as promised as well as the invoice for the actual repair. Additionally, I found it highly unprofessional that they did not show me the contents of the completed forms or explain the potential cost implications before asking me to sign five times. Only after I had signed did they inform me of a potential cost of around €800 for a small chip on the windshield, which I believe may not even require a full replacement. The lack of clarity and honesty in their communication is unacceptable, and I would advise others to be cautious when dealing with this company. Furthermore, even though I had private insurance, I do not believe it is fair to be charged a future potential cost given the minimal extent of the damage. I returned the car in excellent condition and I feel compelled to leave a very negative review because I had the impression that my naivety was taken advantage of and that I did not have time to discuss the issue due to the rush to catch my flight.
It is a real shame, as I found the rest of the service efficient and satisfactory.
ITALIAN REVIEW
Sono estremamente delusa dalla mia recente esperienza con Differental e dalla mancanza di comunicazione e trasparenza da parte loro. Nonostante numerosi solleciti, non mi hanno ancora inviato le foto del danno al veicolo, come promesso, così come la fattura per la riparazione effettuata. Inoltre, ho trovato estremamente poco professionale il fatto che non mi abbiano mostrato i contenuti dei moduli compilati o spiegato le possibili implicazioni di costo prima di chiedermi di firmare per cinque volte. Solo dopo aver firmato mi hanno informata di un costo potenziale di circa €800 per una piccola scheggiatura sul parabrezza, che ritengo potrebbe non richiedere una sostituzione completa (e che per altro non sono convinta di aver causato io visto che in nessun momento durante la guida ho percepito alcun tipo di colpo e non sono riuscita a vedere il graffio ad occhio nudo).
Per quanto io mi fossi munita di assicurazione privatamente, non ritengo giusto che mi venga addebitato un costo potenziale futuro data la minima entità del danno avvenuto.
Ho riportato l'auto in condizioni ottime e mi sento obbligata a fare una recensione molto negativa perché ho avuto l'impressione che ci si sia approfittati della mia ingenuità e del fatto che non abbia avuto il tempo di discutere la questione a causa della fretta di prendere l'aereo.
E' stata una grossa delusione perche' fino a quel momento il servizio era stato buono.

Do not rent a car from Differental they are fraudulent and misleading people.
We just arrived at the Differental car with an agreement to rent a car for a reasonable online Price, but they asked us for much more than agreed. Totality misleading and bad service. After a long discussion and disappointment, we returend with our children at a late night and very last minute to the airport and rented from a.different company. We war lucky avoid renting the car after all and after reading the feedback here on Trustpilot.

Best
Marina

When I arrived in Sicily they tried to sell me their 200 EUR insurance that I refused because I was already covered with discovercars. They tried to say that I would be more covered with them but I refused.
After I brought the car back and left, they sent me an unclear email with pictures and the updated contract with new scratches on the car but without any description or cost. Since the car was dirty we could not see that much on the pictures, only a minor things on the bumper that might have been already there. I asked to clarify and they sent me a WhatsApp saying that they are going to charge me for 1’525 EUR! And they did ! Now I hope to get reimbursed by the insurance. Never go with them they are thief.

They didn't return my 1000€ deposit even though I asked them twice and waited for twelve days. Eventually I had to contact my bank and ask them to cancel the deposit. I woudn't trust these guys.

We had a great experience. Very easy to use and reasonable. The service was friendly and it was easy to drop off on our return. Would use again.

Be careful, company that scams customers, does not show the damage to the car upon delivery, so they can charge you later, pretending that the customers were responsible for the damage.

Avoid this company. Ruined our holiday. Couldn't provide the car and baby seat hired and cancelled the booking. Left us stranded at the airport and refused to offer assistance - said we had to email in. They are now refusing to refund.

For starters I was picked up on the airport and brought to their place in Malpenza. There, I was asked to wait there while the only person that was working had to pick up another costumer. This took more than 20 minutes.
After arriving back, I started the rental process and in the middle of it, I was asked to wait, again, while another custumer had to be carried to the airport.
After finally completing the whole process again, I was again asked to wait while another costumer was processed before I got my car.
In total, it took more than 1h30 from the momen of my arrival to the moment I was finally able to leave.
The car performed fine,but on the second day a small crack appeared on the windshield, growing from it's right border. This came absolutely out of the blue. On close inspection, it is clearly visible that the crackorginated on a small defect on windshield side. There was no fault of my own, nor any freak acccident to blame, other thant the integrity of the glass itself. Still, I got charged 1600 euros for it.
They also do not provide any invoce of any kind of charges. They pull a number out of their asses and provide you no document to justify anything. This is borderline fraudulent.
Since I started asking for an invoice for the claimed expenses, they stopped every line of comunication with me. They refuse to provide me with any document, and provide any kind of explanation on why they can not provide such document. They charged me what they could and ghosted me ever since. I believe this company is FRAUDULENT and am being forced to resort to higher authorities to help me solve my issues!
Overall, this experience was a total nightmare and would SERIOUSLY recomend anyone to look elsewhere...
BEWARE!!!

Fantastic company. They helped us out to get a car in a very short notice in the late evening.
Kate opened up after closing time and arranged us a car and also checked on us during the week so everything was going well. They and She made our holiday!!
I really recommend this company.

Be careful before renting from this company: despite the many positive reviews I have seen, unfortunately this rental seems to like charging in some occasions hidden fees to make up for a low rental price given at booking time.
This is exactly what happened to me: excellent fare (less than 30 Euro for 3 days), no info about additional fees at the booking time.
First surprise at car pick-up, which I have to admit was very smooth otherwise: 22 Euros added to the contract for car cleaning at return (?). The person at the desk even replied "You know, when the rental fare is so low..." to my claim that I was not given this info earlier.
Second surprise at return: additional fee of 100 Euros (including the above cleaning) communicated to me AFTER returning the car for supposed "damages". The point is that no representative from the rental was there when I returned the car, but in any case shortly after I left their location they sent me a return document stating that the car was ok, no additional dents/scratches or other damages then the ones at pick-up. Later in the day they charged 100 Euros to my card and a couple of days later I received an invoice claiming these supposed "damages" (unspecified...).
Of course I rejected the charge but apparently the rental think it better to keep the 100 Euros, sendign photos of the supposed lack of the radio antenna (?) which could have been taken at any moment after i left the car there, definitely not in my presence. And their retrin document with no damages of course has no value :-)
BE CAREFUL, VERY CAREFUL...

Thank you for your reply, very professional.
Still you avoid:
- to clarify and apologize for the hidden fees I had to pay for;
- to clarify why your staff issued a contract final report with no indications whatsoever about damages to the car.
Professional answer, but professional operation is a totally different matter.
I just hope the broker I normally use will not propose any "offer" from your company, as I requested them to to do.

THEY ARE A TOTAL SCAM!!! AFTER PAYING IN FULL FOR THE CAR AND IT WAS RETURNED WITHOUT PROBLEMS, THEY CHARGED ME A FURTHER € 800. THEY ARE THIEFS. I WOULD DEFFINETLY NOT RECOMMEND THEM.

Do not rent with them!!!

We were scammed for additional insurance. No one told us about it, they just took the card and charged additional 200EUR. You will not see the agreement before they will charge the money!!! They just send it to e-mail after.

Customer service is a joke :)

So disappointed to have to leave a bad review as the car rental was amazing. However, 3 months later after coming home I received 2 ‘administrative fees for fines’ despite not being fined for anything, and nobody can explain what the fines we are being charged for… and we are being charged for admin not the fine itself? Scammers!
I would understand if we did do something wrong however nobody can tell us what, which seems suspicious…

Rented relatively last minute from their Milan Malpensa office (10 minutes away from the airport). Made the booking through DiscoverCars.
Read a lot of negative reviews about small Italian rental companies but at least with this guys, my experience was excellent.
Price: Excellent. 275 Euros for 8 days for an Alfa Romeo Tonale diesel.
Service: 100% polite, professional, and courteous (thanks Andrea).
Reliability: Excellent. I received the car model I was promised, and so far have not seen any hidden charges. Representative was patient and clear when I picked up and dropped off the car.