Italian rental car costs Ottawa woman 4x agreed price

An Ottawa woman's vacation was nearly derailed when her rental car wasn't available, and she had to pay thousands for another. CTV's Katie Griffin reports.

An Ottawa woman had to unexpectedly pay thousands of dollars more for a rental car in Italy after being told the vehicle she reserved wasn’t available and the only options were vehicles in a more expensive category.

"We had rented an SUV because I had to make sure that it fit four of us with our luggage and our carry-on. So, I had called repeatedly up until two days prior to leaving to say, ‘Look are you sure this is going to accommodate?’" said Patty Martinelli.

“And Avis said, ‘yes, Mrs. Marinelli, don’t worry about it.’”

Marinelli, her husband and two children travelled to Rome in August 2024 for a dream vacation years in the making.

“We’ve waited 35 years to go back; it was our anniversary… my children were coming back with us, so it was a whole family event.”

When they went to pick up the rental at the airport in Rome, they were told that a vehicle in the category they booked wasn’t available and brought out a small car.

“I looked at the car and I said, ‘this is not going to accommodate all of my luggage with my two kids and my husband,” Marinelli said. “They said…well, it’s either you upgrade to a BMW SUV, or you get a seven-passenger van.”

With a three-week trip ahead of her, Marinelli said she felt forced to pick the SUV.

Marinelli’s original rental agreement for a Jeep Compass or similar vehicle costs $1,516.98.

The price for the BMW X3 was $6,025.63, meaning Marinelli had to pay $4,508.65 more.

Marinelli contacted Avis as soon as she returned to Canada at the end of August and was told she’d get a refund for the difference.

“The international office came back and said, ‘Oh, while she signed the contract’ and I said, ‘Have you ever heard of signing under (duress)?’ Like, what did you want me to do?”

Five months later she still hadn’t seen the money and reached out to CTV News.

After CTV News contacted Avis, Marinelli finally received money back.

“We apologize for instances in which customers may have experienced a delay in refund and we have contacted the customer directly to resolve and process a refund,” Avis wrote in a statement.

“He apologized for the delay in my in my resolution of my problem and that they were going to be refunding me 3,000-something Euro which came out to be about $4,000 Canadian, which was great news to get and actually happened the same day that you had come to see me and they called me later in the afternoon telling me that it was going to be refunded.” Marinelli said.