If I could give minus 5 stars, I would.
Where do I begin with this awful company?
I booked a Fiat Tipo estate from Turin Ariport for the following key reasons:
1) large 550L boot for 4 people's worth of luggage
2) Metal roof for a magneti ski rack which I brought at my own expense
3) Petrol for a long 750km range
4) Manual for engine braking on descenets which was critical for snowy mountain roads
5) Light weight (1.4 tonnes) which means braking is much easier and less dangerous if I lost traction.
I even called the night before to ask if everything was ok and they assured me it was.
When we got to the desk the next day, they had no cars left except for EVs. No surprise there - who in their right mind rents an EV when you don't know the area/charging network and have distances to drive? Hertz sold over half of the US fleet for making the catastrophic mistake of buying thousands of teslas. Go figure.
They said they had a Jeep Renegade or an EV. The renegade had only 350L of boot space and they assured me the EV was much bigger. I asked if I could phone the company I booked with to see what could be done and also to call my airbnb host to check for charging options. Nothing could be done but the airbnb host did have a home charger. When I went back to the desk I checked for myself what boot space the EV (MG Marvel) had and it was only 357L. So I said I'll take the Jeep and they told me they already gave it away.
I had to take the EV. After having been lied to about the boot space, they then lied about the range. They said it does over 400km. I got in, turned it on and it was 95% charge but only showed 210km of range. Brilliant. The boot was pathetic for an SUV and especially for an EV - you'd think there would at least be more space but no.
As I drove through the mountains, the range plummeted. Our journey was 130km and the battery was pretty much done by the end. As we neared out destination, they called to tell me they forgot to give me my passport and driving licence. Didn't help the stress. Luckily my friends who landed the next day brought them to me.
The car lost 5% of charge overnight and I paid £45 to put 60% (about 120km) into the battery on a public charger.
The car was so heavy that every time I braked I was gripped with fear. Once, it broke traction and slid and my god you can feel the 2+ tonnes. It did not want to stop. And it was RWD so under acceleration in hairpins, the back constantly stepped out. The regen was too weak on the descents so I had to use more brakes which was worse.
The frunk would freeze shut so we coudnt get to it unless we had a lot of water to hand. The heating wouldnt turn on initially and we had to keep the windshield clear with T shirts. Oh and it had a glass roof, so my ski rack didn't work. Wasted £100 right there.
Finally, when we got back, after having paid around £100 to do £450 km (would have cost £35 with petrol), the desk tried to pull one last fast one on me. They said it was a full-to-full policy. Who on earth has a spare 1-2 hours to find a fast charger close to the airport and make sure it's fully charged up?!?! Utter disgrace. Luckily, after reminding them I booked a petrol vehicle, they let it slide.
Never again. This company is run by clowns. Clowns who think EVs are what people want when it comes to renting. Clowns who lie. Clowns who forget to put snow chains in the car (that happened). Clowns who forget to give me back my documents. Clowns who can't honour the bare minimums of their contract.
Even now they claim it's a similar car. They even had the gall to call a car that had a quarter the range, almost half the boot space, no engine braking, 1.5 times the weight, the wrong fuel type, and opposite wheel drive an UPGRADE that was SIMILAR.
Do not rent from them. Pay more and steer clear.
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