We used http://www.economycarrentals.com/ in Sicily and they did take the credit card, but as far as I know, there was no block placed on the credit card. It's like in France where I am told that are holding the credit card because if I total the car I will owe 16,000€, which is a joke since that is way beyond the upper limit of my card.

The way around the problem, if there really is one, is to use the ATM card to pay for things with cash--most places preferred that anyway.

I hope that you are right, because we were going to pay online before we go and they said they would need our credit card at the counter and would not accept a debit card.

If you have two credit cards on separate accounts, give them one credit card and use the other for day-today use.

That's a great tip, Michael.

By the way, which local company did Economy put you with in Sicily?

In my experience (booking through holidayautos) Sicily By Car held EUR900 and Sixt held EUR1600 on my card.

With many car rentals you need to buy daily excess insurance to lower or waiver the blocking of money. Some car hire companies even blocked us money when we still bought daily excess insurance - one particular car hire company had the cheek to block more than 1,000 euros for a ten day trip, but Avis never did this to us, so in these last five years or so we always book with Avi . We also prefer to buy the daily excess for peace of mind that we are totally covered in case of an accident.

You have to be extra careful at rental offices at pick-up, as most rental companies just block money from your credit card without informing you of the amount. This would be refunded back to your credit card when you return car - but if you are on a budget be aware of this. Keep a credit card with enough money to pay for the car hire, so when they try to withdraw a large sum, they would be unable to do so, and would then have to ask you for another card.

But if you do not buy the daily excess insurance, they would block some money for sure, as a guarantee for some minor or major damage to the car - car hire companies block different amounts, and would only probably inform you of this amount on pickup at rental office..

Bottom line, it is important to keep a separate credit car for car hire and put enough money it it for the rental and excess insurance, if you decide to take it, that way you would know immediately if they would be blocking a huge amount of money.

I think this is standard practice for many auto rentals not just in Italy.

Even if there is an actual block on the credit card for 1000€, would that really affect the use of the card for the duration of the car rental if one has ceiling of $5000 or more on the card? How much would a traveler spend during that period of time?

that is the big question -- what your credit card limit is and if you have enough left once a hold is put on it to get your thru your trip. Obviously it will vary for each person,

Autoeurope always offer no excess deals ie no block on your card, if you have a issue then you just walk away from the car. The only items that are not covered are galss and tyres.

Not sure if these deals are pen to all nationals.

Be careful in Sicily, as we found, scamming is a local pass time.

By the way, which local company did Economy put you with in Sicily?

I do not recall the name. It may have been a Fiat dealership, as these were the only cars that were rented out.