Gala

Mar 9, 2025

Beware of CENTAURO – Scam Rental Company!

We rented a car from Centauro Rent a Car from February 27th to March 8th, picking it up at Milan Malpensa Airport and scheduled to return it at Milan Bergamo Airport. When we picked up the car, we asked the employee to inspect it with us and mark all the damage. He pointed to the paperwork and said the damages were already recorded. However, we immediately noticed multiple scratches all around the car that were NOT listed in the report. When we questioned this, the Centauro Milan Malpensa Airport employee dismissed our concerns, saying they only consider scratches of certain dimensions—an excuse that seemed questionable at best. He advised us to take photos and videos, which we did. On March 8th, when we returned the car to the Bergamo location, the nightmare began. The employee immediately claimed there was a scratch on the front bumper. Luckily, we had video evidence from the first day showing the damage was already there. When we showed her the footage, she first denied it, saying the photo was unclear—a blatant lie. After we argued, she suddenly changed her stance and admitted she believed us—but then another issue arose. She told us that our €1,400 deposit + €99 fuel deposit would be refunded to our credit card and instructed us to leave for the shuttle. However, we refused to leave without confirmation. At this point, the employee became aggressive, screaming at us and refusing to print a receipt. She claimed she had emailed us the final confirmation, but we never received it. When we demanded proof or asked her to resend it to a different email, she rudely snapped, “I don’t have time for that.” Eventually, when we finally got the documentation, we found fraudulent charges totaling $1,502 for nonexistent damages. When we confronted her, she dismissively told us to ‘claim our insurance’—a clear sign that this was a scam. When I demanded to speak to a manager, she refused, claiming that no one was available because it was Saturday—yet another ridiculous excuse. If we had more time, we would have called the police immediately to file a report. This employee was completely unprofessional, rude, and dishonest. She lied about sending the final confirmation and acted aggressively towards us when we demanded our rightful documents. Frankly, she should not be working in customer service at all. We travel frequently and have rented from multiple companies. However, we always avoid European rental agencies for exactly this reason. Centauro was by far the worst rental experience we've ever had. We are disputing the charges with our bank and will be sharing this review across multiple platforms to warn other travelers. 🚨 DO NOT RENT FROM CENTAURO! 🚨