Car Rental in Olbia: Excess, Deposit and What Is Charged at the Desk

Before you pay for a rental in Olbia, find four numbers in the conditions: the excess, the deposit, the fuel rule and the extra charges for a second or young driver. A low daily price says nothing about any of them, and none of them is the same at every supplier. Compare rental cars in Olbia and open each offer’s conditions before you choose.

Excess is not the deposit

The excess is the amount you can still owe after covered damage or theft. The deposit is money the supplier holds on a card as security, to cover the excess, traffic fines, fuel and similar charges. You can have a small excess and a large deposit, or the reverse, so read both lines. Neither figure is printed on this page: amounts depend on the car, the supplier and the season, and you should take them from the offer you are looking at.

What Full Coverage does and does not do

Discover Cars sells an optional product called Full Coverage. According to its help pages, it refunds the excess and certain eligible costs if the car is damaged or stolen during the rental, and it can be added up to the scheduled pick-up time. Two points matter. It is a refund, so you pay the supplier first and claim afterwards. And, as the conditions state, buying it does not exempt you from leaving the supplier’s deposit.

That second point is where many first-time renters are surprised. The cover that reduces what you can lose does not shrink the amount blocked on your card at the counter. The conditions say the deposit is taken from the main driver’s credit card or another card the supplier accepts, so check the cardholder name and the card type before you fly. Whether the supplier at Olbia accepts a debit card is for the offer to answer, not for us to guess.

The desk: where extras appear

CDW, the basic damage waiver that usually sits behind a high excess, may already be in the price. Look at what is excluded: tyres, glass, the underside of the car and keys are the usual items a waiver leaves out, so read the list of exclusions in your own offer.

The supplier may also offer its own protection at the counter. Do not accept it under time pressure. Ask what the extra covers, what it costs per day and whether it lowers the deposit, and get the answer written on the agreement.

Fuel, extra drivers and age

Discover Cars gives the common rule in its example: the car comes with a full tank and goes back with the same amount, or you pay an extra charge. Rules vary by supplier, so confirm yours. A second driver, a pick-up outside opening hours and a child seat can each add a fee. Drivers under 25 should expect a young-driver surcharge, commonly charged per day and sometimes capped; the exact age and amount come from the offer.

Walk round the car first

Photograph every side, the wheels, the windscreen, the fuel gauge and the mileage before you drive off, and make sure existing marks are on the handover sheet. Keep the photos until the deposit has been released.

Our recommendation

Pick the offer whose excess and deposit you could actually afford to lose, not the one with the lowest first price. Compare the conditions of the Olbia offers side by side and decide before you reach the desk. Not sure you need a car at all? Our guide on renting a car in Olbia says when to skip it. If your plan is mostly boat days, the Tavolara boat tour with snorkelling (4 hours, from €65.25, rated 4.9 from 1,290 reviews) shows how little a car matters on a day like that; check the meeting point on the booking page.