The vehicle I was given at Rome International Airport has such worn tires that a police officer in…read moreGubbio, Italy told me the car was like not street legal. I was originally given a Seat Arona. When I picked up the car on January 7, 2021 the clerk tried hard to upsell the full insurance package. When I declined to purchase it, she indicated that Italian police tend to stop and confiscate rental cars and that without the road service I'd be left on the side of the road. I asked a senior Rome police official about this and he said it was a ridiculous claim. Driving toward Gubbio there was light rain. The car became almost uncontrollable. When I arrived in Gubbio I discovered that the tires has absolutely no tread. Since I'm not a automotive expert, I asked a local police officer to have a look. That's when I learned that car was likely unsafe to drive. I tried repeatedly to reach someone at GOLD CAR roadside assistance, but was never able to reach an agent that spoke English. That's when I decided to contact customer service and request an car exchange at the nearest GOLD CAR office. Bari was the nearest office. I swapped the car in Bari and received a Fiat 500L. This car was in working order. The agent at the Bari airport was fast, friendly, and courteous. My final car return experience at Rome airport was positive. I've experienced dishonest rental agents all over the world, so it didn't surprise me when the woman tried to scare me into purchasing insurance that I didn't need. But her excuse, that the Italian police will simply confiscate your rental car and leave you on the street, does a disservice to the hardworking women and men of the Italian police departments. I found Italian police officials to be honest, kind, and helpful throughout the country.

We booked a car with Gold Car through a third party booking site: Got Rentals. This was for a…read morework-related trip; we were leading two tours of people through central Italy for three weeks and needed the car as a back up in case someone got sick and needed to go to the doctor without taking the full bus tour, and to pick up supplies, etc. When we arrived, we waited over an hour at the office in the airport to pick up the car, and when we finally got to speak to an agent, they would not let us take the car without an International Driver's License. There was nothing in any of our documentation beforehand noting that we needed one. We asked what our options were, and they said, nothing. We did a quick search and found that it was possible to get an emergency digital Intl. Driver's License online. They said they would not accept that. We asked if we could get a refund and they said we had to go through our third party booking site. We had to scramble to re route things and get ourselves alternate transportation for the first few days. We arranged to have my parents get us an Intl Driver's License in the US and expedite it to us. We called Gold Car and asked if we could use the last two weeks of our rental if we came in and presented the Intl. Drivers License and they told us that they car was already rebooked and the rental was no longer available. Fine. We book a car through another company, with our freshly minted Intl. Drivers' Licenses, and they never even ask if we have them available, they just let us use the car. The third party booking site agreed that we should get a refund, but now, one month later, they are still waiting from confirmation from Gold Car that we never used our booking. They tell me that they are sending reminder emails every 48 hours to confirm that we, in fact, did not use our booking, and have heard nothing back. This would not be nearly so infuriating if we didn't already know that they rebooked the car that they were going to give us, so we know that they have gotten paid twice. We just want our money back.