Sicilybycar Reviews 

I have never written a review in my life but these lot are a scam. Please go with one of the big reputable companies. As other comments, they upsell insurance as they don’t accept AMEX. The insurance is 3 x the original car rental. I can accept that as perhaps if I had a visa or Mastercard I may have avoided the need for insurance to be bought. However, I booked a medium car to accommodate a pushchair 3 suitcases and a wide and kid. They only had a small car available which somehow we squeezed in to. The car was totalled battered, stained and smelt. We then had to wait 30 mins to leave for a rep to review this bumped and scratched card to be told……you have insurance doesn’t matter. Absolutely shocking and no chance complaining will get your money back. Perhaps I was unlucky….but I suspect they are a bunch of scammers. Just avoid

DO NOT USE SICILY BY CAR!!!

If I could put 0 star I would.
SCAM!!! Do not go with this company
On arrival they will take €1,800 deposit incase of any damage. ( which we did not know about )
On return they said the car had to be clean inside and out,( which was not stated )
so they were charging us £270 as car wasn’t perfectly clean
We took the car away and cleaned the car inside and washed it outside ourself
We then went back to return and they are still charging us £1,000 as they have said there is “damage” to the car
There was no damage what so ever to the car.
They will take your money whether the car is in perfect condition.
DO NOT USE SUCILY BY CAR!!!

Started journey, stopped at garage for petrol.
Not working : 1 headlight, 1 side light , 1 indicator, first gear slipping.
Too late to return it.
Would not fix it next day.
We paid for new headlight.
Returned car after week : office literally full of people complaining.
They showed no concern whatsoever.
Dismissive and rude.
THEY GAVE US AN ILLEGAL CAR !

Sicliy By Car at Malta Airport is a scam business. When I returned the car, they reported a dent at a door. A dent that nobody could see. Only their employee. Wanted to charge me €1400 for damages. We refused. After some arguing, the fee went down to €885. We paid because we had a plane to catch. Employee refused to give me his name. DO NOT RENT CARS WITH THEM!!!

I hired from Sicily by car - Malta as that was the firm recommended by easyJet and could be ATOL protected if booked with our flights. I must admit I hadn't seen any of the negative reviews so went with an open mind. It was made clear on the booking paperwork what was required, they do not accept AMEX and require a 2300€ deposit on a credit card which has your full name on it, as well as proof of ID and driving licence. Collecting the car was a bit stressful as they were very busy but everyone was courteous. The car itself was rough, a Fiat Tipo with damage to every panel and the engine warning light on. We were encouraged to take a walk around video before taking the car so we were not held responsible for any prior damage, and talked though the existing damage as it was recorded on the hire sheet. We had the car for a few days and it was adequate, and given the state of the roads on Gozo and the questionable driving habits of the locals I wouldn't have wanted something in mint condition anyway. However the performance of the car was really poor, and some of the hills required a run-up to successfully get to the top so I emailed Sicily by car requesting a replacement vehicle. They emailed back within minutes and said that was no problem just return the vehicle and they would take care of it on arrival. By this stage I'd read some reviews on Trust pilot so was concerned what kind of reception I'd get. I returned the car with a full tank of fuel as this is a condition of hire. When I got there they had a Peugeot 508 waiting, a significant upgrade and did the swap with no hassle whatsoever. Again there was panel damage but the car was fine in every other respect. Again I did a walk around video to record existing damage, this is something I highly recommend you do. We used this car for the remainder of our trip with no problems, and returned it with no issues and no charges for damage which is confirmed in writing at the time of return. I honestly couldn't fault the service, the missing star is due to the condition of the first car, which on reflection was not acceptable. I highly recommended getting your own damage waiver insurance as you are liable for the first 2300€, again this is made clear in the booking paperwork.

SCAM COMPANY
This company will try and charge you €120 when you return the car if you don’t take it away and put it through a car wash. They are situated at the airport and obviously when you arrive, you simply do not have time to do this.
They do not point this out as a requirement when you pick up the car.
I checked at the airport with Hertz and Avis to check if this was a Maltese requirement. They laughed and said they’ve never heard anything like it.
Avoid this company at all costs. Any savings you make with their rates being slightly cheaper will be swallowed up with their scam tactics when you drop the car off.

Was a horrible experience! When we were renting the car, 2 other people where in the office complaining on their cars - we want to keep positive and went ahead anyway. They gave us a car with engine failure which we did not know about. The handbrake did not work (we could drive with it up), the gear was faulty and the horn was not working. The battery died while we were driving, not once but 2 times, the second time in the middle of a hill!!!! So we rolled straight backwards. As the off-road assistance was not included in the insurance we were lucky enough to get help from other tourists to fix the car, and that is also when we realised that the battery was completely loose as well. We tried to reach them during the whole week with no answer and no callback whatsoever. Once we left the car at the airport we only got the comment "You should have called off-road assistance, you would not have had to pay for the assistance" Which I highly doubt considering that they said when we rented the car that it will need to be paid for in case something happens. No offer on money back, no apology, nothing! They also only seem to test drive the cars in the parking house. Also at our last stay during this vacation we got hear the Sicily by Car are trouble makers on the island. Only rent if you want to have several heart attacks and an anxious vacation.

HORRIBLE COMPANY AND EXPERIENCE charged us a crazy deposit of 2000 to begin with which was not even close to the cars value. Car was poorly maintained and obviously not roadworthy as the car barely has any power to get up a hill. After our first night with the car the battery decided to die in the middle of nowhere at 2200 after that we contacted support and sent us a roadside assistance vehicle which then charged the battery and blames us for leaving the lights on which we 100% did not do and started charging us up to 200€ for this inconvenience which he says we wont be getting back as we hadnt optened there expensive and overpriced Insurance that they tried to sell us on.

Extremely bad experience with Sicily by Car in Malta. When booking, we were not informed about additional “young driver” fees, which ended up being more expensive than the actual rental and insurance combined. Upon arrival, they falsely claimed that this extra fee is due to “Maltese law”, when in fact it’s just their internal policy – a clear case of deception.

Out of fear that they would charge us for damages that were already present (and poorly documented), and since we had to return the car outside of their office hours, we decided to return the vehicle the very next day.

The car itself was in terrible condition – it kept stalling, was poorly maintained, and clearly not roadworthy.

On top of that, they required a ridiculous deposit of €1800, which is absurd for a vehicle of that class and condition.

I would not recommend this company to anyone. Their practices are unfair and leave tourists feeling scammed.

Absolute liars. Said they wouldn’t accept my AMEX card to try and upsell me their insurance. Their website clearly states that they do accept AMEX. Had to abandon and find a different rental, they took me to Alamo / Enterprise / National who gave me a ridiculous price and said they were the only rental who accepted AMEX in Malta airport which was a complete lie. Dreadful start to our holiday.

Unfortunately, I have discovered that these crooks are not alone... Just like Sicilybycar, (BAD) Surprice Cars also attract clients with low daily rates to screw them with extra charges at the end.
These guys give you dangerously unmaintained cars that WILL breakdown and then YOU get EXTORTIONALLY billed for their recovery.
(BAD) Surprice Cars will EXTORTIONALLY bill you for PRE-EXISTING barely visible little scratches.

I'm just reaching the end of a long dispute with SbC. I picked a hire car up at the airport which we discovered was mechanically unsound and have been charge nearly E600 with no proof of previous safety checks done on the vehicle, the company just apportioned blame to the customer who happened to be unlucky enough to be hiring the car when it broke down.
Never ever hiring from them again.

It is a scandal! They charged us 550 euros + VAT for the license plate wich had an almost imperceptivel defect in a corner (i have a photo of it and would like to share it!). it was nothing! could be fixed by hand. At the same time we were complaining, other clients in their office were having an identical problem with a mirror.

Total scam. And they are proud of it. They charged 550 euros for a license plate that had nothing. Nothing!!! This a scam company. They will take you all the money of the deposit by pointing the most ridiculous things. They should be ashamed but they simply don't care. Malta do not deserve this complete shameful company.

Horrible experience. Highly unprofessional manager. Refused to deal with rental car not working. If you want to wreck your time in Malta, use this company. Don't say you haven't been warned. The genuine reviews for this lot say it all!!

I rented a car from this company, and on January 1, the police stopped us because the car had expired registration and no insurance. The car was impounded, leaving us stranded, and their “24/7 assistance” was completely unresponsive.

We had to retrieve the car ourselves and return it just to secure our deposit. Despite multiple attempts, we are still waiting regarding a refund. This company’s negligence is dangerous. Renting from them puts you at serious risk. Avoid them!

this company is like a scam. avoid if you can. you never receive any reply for any emails, or calls. for the incident they charged soo much money, and it has been almost 2 months, insurance company cant reach them. they are the worst

My flight, which was supposed to end at At 00:35 (Saturday) flight FR9656 was delayed by 3 hours. As a result, the car rental office was closed when we arrived, no information about opening hours, no answer to calls to +35699217673 - only voice mail. Same situation with phone calls until we physically arrived at the office.
By the time we were able to return to the car rental office on Monday, my 12 day reservation had been canceled and I could no longer collect the car I had booked and paid for (with insurance). As my car was booked through booking.com, the answer was that I should manage my booking through booking.com.

If I could award zero stars I would. Arrived at the airport on time, and went to the office, where we were met with a long queue. After 2 hours the remainder of the queue were called into the office to be told there were no more cars. I was shocked as we had pre-booked (and paid) online. Staff member advised us unhelpfully that this "happens all the time". There are plenty of other rental providers at this airport, none seemed to have long lines nor issues with delivering cars, so make sure you book elsewhere

the car was very dirty and smelled, the worker at the desk was very unfriendly, we didn't get the car we reserved at all, but they gave us another car, that second car couldn't be locked and had broken windows and there was garbage from people who used it before us, all in all a disgusting experience, avoid this agency at all costs and that they charged us an additional €100 because we changed drivers, PLEASE AVOID THIS AGENCY