Car hire damage charge in Italy
Updated
General information, not legal advice. The outcome depends on the facts of your case.
Hired a car in Rome, Milan, Sicily or Sardinia and got a damage charge after you returned it? Italy has no special dispute service for car rental. That makes the order of your steps more important. This guide shows the routes that do work.
Step 1: write to the company
Dispute the charge in writing, ask for it to be put on hold, and ask for:
- the check-out and check-in reports;
- photos of the damage, with dates and times;
- when and where the car was inspected after return;
- the repair invoice or at least 2 quotes, and how the amount was worked out;
- if a damage price table was used, the table and why that level was chosen.
See what your dispute letter needs.
What the Goldcar fine showed
In 2016 Italy's competition authority (AGCM) fined Goldcar Spain and Goldcar Italy €2 million in total. It found that Goldcar's damage table had three levels with no objective criteria, that staff charged the blocked deposit even when the customer refused the damage assessment, that customers had no real way to check or oppose it, and that there was an internal target for damage revenue. The authority held this was an aggressive practice.
That case is useful to quote when a company charges a flat table price and ignores your objection.
Fees for fines and fuel
In June 2024 the Court of Bolzano held fees charged by Goldcar and Sicily by Car for handling fines, tolls and refuelling to be unjustified or unfair, as reported by ECC Italy. See our guides on fines and admin fees and fuel charges.
Free routes
- ECRCS, if you booked direct with a member brand, live outside Italy and have the company's final answer. Members include Avis, Budget and Maggiore (Avis Budget's Italian brand), Europcar, Hertz, Sixt, Enterprise and others. Its decision binds the company. Read how ECRCS works.
- The European Consumer Centre in your country, if you live in the EU, Norway or Iceland. It works with ECC Italy, which also publishes a sample letter for rental damage. See how the ECC helps.
Goldcar, Sicily by Car, Locauto, Drivalia and most local firms are not ECRCS members. For them, the ECC and your card are the main routes.
Your card issuer
If the money is already gone and the company skipped the card rules (for Visa: notice within 10 business days of return, at least 2 repair quotes, a statement that paying by card is optional, and a 20 business day wait), a card dispute may work. ECRCS refuses cases already raised with your bank, so decide the order first. Read our card dispute guide.
Court as the last step
For a cross-border claim up to €5,000, the European Small Claims Procedure is a written process with standard forms, and you do not need a lawyer. It does not cover Denmark, Norway or Iceland.
Honest limits
Italy has no binding dispute body for rentals outside ECRCS. If the company has dated photos of new damage and a real repair bill, a dispute is weak. This is general information, not legal advice.