U-Save Car & Truck Rental - U-Save Florence Avis 

Don’t do it, read and believe the reviews. We booked a car but didn’t get one, along with others outside the office. Very surly and rude team inside, very unhelpful .. felt like a scam.

I picked up a car at U Save's Florence airport branch on 1 October. It was one of the worst rental experiences I have had, and the pattern will be familiar to anyone who has read the reviews here.

It started badly before the desk. The shuttle to the branch was poor and the driver was rude, which set the tone for everything that followed.

I arrived with a Barclays debit card that processes credit card transactions and can hold temporary authorisations. I had also bought Full Protection Insurance through RentalCars before travelling. I explained the card several times and offered two virtual credit cards as alternatives. Every single option was refused.

Here is exactly how the trap works, so you can see it coming. First they tell you your debit card cannot hold the excess deposit, even when it plainly can. Then they refuse every alternative you offer, virtual cards included. That leaves one way to drive away: buying their own Elite insurance at 480 euros. The deposit is not really about security, it is the lever used to push you into the most expensive policy they sell. The giveaway is what happened next. The moment I paid, the very same debit card they had called unacceptable was instantly used to hold a deposit of around 50 euros. A card that can hold 50 euros after the sale could have held the excess before it. The only thing that changed was that U Save had taken its money. You end up paying twice, once for cover you already bought and again for theirs.

The attitude ran through the whole visit. From the rude shuttle driver to the counter staff, there was no attempt to help, no acknowledgement of the cover I already held, and barely any attention paid to me. The message was blunt: buy our insurance or leave.

My experience is not a one off. Across hundreds of reviews here the same complaints repeat: unexpected charges and far higher costs than quoted at the desk, and customers pressured into buying expensive insurance or leaving large deposits before they can get their keys. That is not bad luck, it is how this operation runs.

My advice is simple. If you book with U Save, assume the cheap headline price is not the price you will pay, and assume a debit card will get you refused unless you buy their cover. Better still, book with a company that treats prepaid customers fairly and tells you the real conditions up front. I will not use them again.