Several months ago I read on a Travel Forum (can't remember if it was this one or not) about rental car scams in northern Italy. From memory, I think the offending company was Europcar, and it concerned charges for damage/repairs etc appearing on customers' credit cards sometime after the hire had concluded. Does anyone recall this?

I have just returned from northern Italy to a similar experience. 2-3 weeks after returning a Hertz car (hired in Milan, returned to Venice) a bill arrived in the mail informing me that 45 euros had been charged direct to my credit card for "parking charges". No details of place, date, or time. It's too large an amount to be explained by simply failing to feed a parking meter, and anyway we were meticulous about paying parking fees so as to avoid exactly this kind of after-trip surprise. Once we parked in a public parking building overnight in Verona for 22 euros (we paid that!), so 45 euros has to be a full 24 hours parking at least - not something we would very easily forget or overlook! In fact our only really long term parking was in hotel car parks where we were staying, and these were either free or paid for on check-out.

We can only conclude that it's a scam. We've emailed Hertz for an explanation, but how much co-operation they'll get from a branch in Italy we don't know. Has anyone else had this sort of thing happen, and did it get resolved OK?

Thanks...

Good reason to always use Autoeurope or Kemwel as your agent so you have an advocate when these bumps occur. It has saved my tail 3 times.

Did you have to leave your car in the Piazzale Roma parking structure when you returned your car to Venice? Or did someone check you in there?

If you dropped your keys in a box at Piazzale Roma, this may be the 45 euros charge. You should be able to get it reversed.

I dropped a car there once when the office was closed and they tried to stick me with this charge but I got it reversed.

Protest the charge with your credit card company. They will ask that you try to "sort out" the issue with the provider first, so first ask for specifics and clarification from your provider. If they can provide none, then your protest with the credit card company should stand.

Thanks everyone. We dropped the car at Piazzale Roma, and it was immediately checked in and inspected by a Hertz employee and pronounced OK. In addition to emailing Hertz Head Office our travel agent who made the booking is enquiring into it as well. If all this fails to produce a convincing explanation I will certainly lodge a dispute through my credit card company.

I thought it worth posting in case someone has had a similar experience and could advise me on how they resolved it. Also as a warning to others hiring rental cars in northern Italy, as it seems this is not an isolated occurrence.

It may not be a scam at all, but just poor communication. It could be a parking ticket, not a charge to park the car somewhere. LOTS of Americans get parking tickets in Italy because they ignore the signs or don't bother to learn what traffic signs mean in Italy.

IF that is what it is, they should have given you more information and explained that. And in those cases, the fee from the car rental company are NOT the fine to pay the ticket, just fees for them giving the info to the government who issued the citation.

I don't see how it could be parking fees for a garage, that doesn't make sense to me if you had the car returned.

Christina is most likely correct. It looks like the infamous administrative fee for turning your name and address over to the Italian police. Watch for a substantial traffic ticket fine to arrive in the mail in a couple of months.

You only have 60 days to protest with the credit card company.

As pointed out, your Hertz contract includes a clause that you will be charged a fee if they have to provide your info to the police. This fee usually ranges from 30-45€ depending on company. Are you sure the letter isn't referring to the fee? Typically a car rental company does not collect any tickets for police, only their own fee to provide your info. You get a ticket later in the mail for the actual ticket fee (could be much more than 45€). The police have an agency they use to send out these tickets. If you still have your contract, read the fine print and see if the fee is 45€.

After the experiences I had in renting cars in Italy, I feel there is a total disconnect between the American corporate persona of a company like Hertz and it's brokers in Italy. I think the brokers pay fee to use their logo and that's about it. Unlike other types of franchises, they don't ensure that the brokers deliver the same quality product and service as in the States.

Bottom Line... I'd never expect the same care and service when renting a car in Italy. For the most part, they give you little... and you usually have to walk for blocks with your luggage to get your car. They close during 3 hour lunches. They have no air conditioning in their offices. You will often get stuck with a car type you didn't bargain for....

--Jerry

It's disgraceful that they don't have air conditioning in their offices. Call in the marines!

Finzidad, you're absolutely right about the total disconnect between Hertz's local persona (wherever it may be) and their franchisees in Italy. The franchisee pays for the brand logo, but Hertz seems not to have an overriding corporate body taking responsibility for the standards and ethics employed by its franchisees in Italy. Even when I thought I had found such a body (Hertz International HQ in Florida, USA) every attempt I made to communicate with them got redirected to my local Hertz Office in New Zealand.

There is no confusion about what the parking charge was for. Hertz Italy were clear: it's standard to charge for leaving cars in the pay-parking area adjacent to their Piazzale Roma office. They'd probably claim that most people do (really?). However, we didn't; and when we confronted them with this truth, they stopped replying to us.

Since my last posting, two things have happened. First, Hertz NZ, frustrated as I was at getting no response from their Italian counterparts, refunded me the parking charge as a gesture of goodwill. Second, weeks later, my credit card company with whom I had already lodged a dispute, upheld my claim, extracted the money from Hertz Italy, and refunded it to me. Right now I am in the process of returning the refund that Hertz NZ kindly gave me.

A satisfactory result that has restored my faith in Hertz as an overall brand. I would use them again - but not in Italy.

Since my last posting (above) was - at least in part - a reply to Finzidad's posting, I too would be interested to know why Finzidad's posting has since been removed from this thread. I don't recall seeing anything offensive in it.

twoflower, Sorry I haven't been on here in a while. I will say this, I straightened things out with Fodor's. I had posted the link to my family blog about our voyage to Italy (where I am still writing about Italy and related stuff). I didn't know this was against the rules. I hope my opinions and experiences will help other people interested in traveling to Italy and enjoying the culture... as pazzo as it is. (s)

I actually work at Auto Europe and from many experiences with all different rental companies all over Italy, the €30-€45 parking fee is standard when dropping off in downtown Venice.

As always, keeping yourself informed can certainly help you avoid unnecessary fees! Glad to hear you got the refund, twoflower, and kudos for looking into exactly what it was you were being charged for so you could effectively argue your case.

The parking fees, along with any other local fees, will always be detailed in the terms and conditions of your rental contract. Parking fees in Venice are a common surprise for travelers returning their vehicle there, but in the end the fees will be detailed in terms and conditions.

A valuable resource for finding hidden fees can be found here:

http://www.autoeurope.com/go/travel-...r-rental-fees/

Do research, read Ts & Cs, and ask questions on anything you don't understand before picking up a car rental and you'll avoid unpleasant surprises like the Venice drop off parking fee!

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