Car Hire at Palermo Punta Raisi Airport

Rented a Mercedes A-3 at the Palermo Airport. Pick up process was chaotic as in normal in Italy. I read that you want to make sure you have sufficient damage coverage so that you don't have to fight with them if something happens to the car. When I rented the car on line, I was directed to Allianz where I purchased trip insurance and car rental damage and theft coverage for $77 with a maximum benefit of $75,000. When I picked up the car at the airport, the agent told me I had no insurance coverage. I ended up purchasing the super damage waiver and a few other extra coverages ( probably not needed) which I now determine to be about $225 so the whole insurance coverage cost me about $300 while the cost to rent the car for a week was $500. Also, the Kayak estimate showed estimated taxes, fees and surcharges at $140 but the road tax and surcharges were $160 plus a 22% VAT of another $205. So what I expect to be a total rental cost of $830 ended up being $1135. Despite the pricing issues, the car was great and the drop off process was easy.

Even though we don’t speak Italian, everything was very smooth at the check-in counter and where we picked up the car. Everyone we interacted with was very professional and kind. No complaints!

The car was in great shape, we thought it was too expensive but that was the only problem. Supply and demand I suppose!