Car hire in
Florence

Probably the best rental car experience I have ever had. For many years we primarily used Europcar whenever we visited Europe and so probably used them 15-16 times from 2001 until 2019. They were fine, no complaints at all until the pandemic happened and they charged me the full rental rate for a vehicle we had reserved (but not paid for as we selected the pay at pick up option) and was told that France and some other European countries had passed laws protecting certain travel and tourism related businesses for fear they would go under during the pandemic. As a small, family owned tour operator (26 staff) owner I actually thought this was wise and would protect all those companies who were about to have to refund monies tey could not really afford to refund, but found it strange that a multi-billion multi-national company was claiming the same. Anyway, at that point we started using SIXT both internationally as well as domestically in the USA and have found them to be excellent. Previously we only used Enterprise for domestic rental cars. SInce 2019 we have now used SIXT a dozen or so times including the past 6 trips to Europe since 2021 and each time they've been great. However, this most recent experience with SIXT at the Florence Train Station was heads and shoulders above and beyond. Francesco Rinallo who helped us with the vehicle was amazing for several reasons. 1) My wife who actually rented the car accidently forgot her drivers license and the reservation was under her name and licenses number and so I was the only one of age who could rent the vehicle. Normally, this would have resulted in a cancellation penalty and charge because we had to basically make a brand new reservation. Francesco said he was going to try and make sure we got a refund from the first reservation under my wife's account although it couldn't be guaranteed. I was then copied on 3-4 different emails he sent back and forth on our behalf to SIXT in which he was able to do this. 2) When we arrived for our 12:00 pick up the vehicle type and size was not available and wouldn't be until after 18:00 for which he apologized and as a result he was able to then find another suitable vehicle for us to pick up and added some additional perks and services for the inconvenience including waiving the fuel fee in order to return the car with only the fuel we used and to have it refilled at the market rate and not the much higher 'rental car' rate. 3) He kept us posted and apprised of the situation several times while we were in northern Italy but not in a burdensome or time consuming way and lastly when we return homed I received a very nice and personal email from him making sure that everything went well, we enjoyed the vehicle. Most people will only post reviews if something went wrong and they want to bash a company or customer service representative, or in our case, someone went above and beyond. Even though we are now loyal SIXT renters, this most recent experience encouraged us to use SIXT again for a couple more rentals this summer, one in SW france for a week in late June and for a week in Spain. For us it is SIXT or nothing! Thank you Francesco Rinallo!