Catania Car Hire

Sicily rental at Syracuse. Do not rent from Ace.

Pros: Decent rate but for just a few dollars more you can get a better car and service from many other agencies.

Cons: Know signage for Ace. It's actually Gold rental car with a rye up for Ace. Wasted 2 hrs to search for Ace/gold. Even gold employee did not know about Ace tie up. Sleezey counterperson tried very hard sell for insurance $40 day vs $30 for rental. They try to make profit off damages. Car was same class but not same car. Not Opel, Citroen was terrible..

Couldn't find company and would not rent to us!

Pros: Nothing

Cons: The car rental company was actually under a different name, so we spent over an hour looking for a company that didn't exist. After being on hold long distance, we located the company by a different name. Then the company wouldn't rent to us as we didn't have an international drivers license. Incredibly poor!

Extraordinarily confusing & conflicting

Pros: Car was OK. Small, noisy, but it got me where I wanted and returned me safely.

Cons: Picking up the car was awful. ACE is apparently just a "portal" for other local car rentals, something that is not made clear up front. There was absolutely no information about ACE at Catania airport, no signs, no nothing. We had to ask other rental companies about ACE, who then directed us towards GOLDCAR, which is apparantly whom ACE subcontracts with. Then finding GOLDCAR was another adventure. No signs until you actually trip over the place about 500m from the airport. Then the fun begins. I had booked this car over KAYAK, and paid with my credit card and bought insurance, assuming this was with ACE. Apparently not. It was through Alliance, who had send me the contract. Which GOLDCAR insisted they did not accept. I had to pay once again for both, the car and the insurance, as well as a 150Eu "deposit" to insure a fuel fillup. Well, the gas gauge was faulty. When I picked it up, it showed slightly less than a full tank. When I returned it after filling it to the brim, it still showed slightly less than a full tank. Returning the car was yet another adventure. There are barely any signs, and when you do find it after wandering in the wilderness for half an hour, it took yet another twenty minutes to find the GOLDCAR attendent to receive it. Once this was done it was fairly smooth. But, given the faulty tank, he said that he would hold on to the 150Eu deposit until GOLDCAR could confirm that that tank was indeed full. So I have no idea how much this car rental will end up costing me. But certainly many multiples above what I thought I was going to pay for it. Which, if so, would be an absolute scam. I am not likely to rent cars through Kayak again - and certainly not through ACE - although I always purchase my air tickets through Kayak - they are great at this.