Smartcarrentals Reviews 11

Absolute scammers. I booked my rental under ref 29FFE9 from 04/04/2026 - 06/04/2026 for a 8pm collection. The company reviewed & confirmed my booking 24hours post booking however when I came to collect my car, the following took place:
1) All their cars were returned back to a dodgy lot so no cars to rent out
2) The office is dodgy as hell with foul smell all round and 2 other fake rental companies desks in the same premises run by the same 2 gentlemen on sight.
3) I have been chasing to get my refund as never got a car and have sent 8 - 10 chasers without a single response. No customer service quality I suppose.

Imagine the same scenario with a young family outside of the airport at 8pm with this level of service is an absolute joke.

DO NOT USE MOVIS or any other SMART CAR RENTAL brand in Malta!
I want to share our experience so others can avoid the same mistake.

We booked a car online for what seemed like a great deal: €61 for 5 days. After carefully reading the terms, I decided to purchase full insurance separately (third-party provider) to be safe.

At pickup, things quickly changed.

First, the price increased to €71 due to a “local tax” that was not clearly communicated upfront.

Then came the real issue:
If you don’t take THEIR insurance, they require a €2300 deposit on a CREDIT card (not debit). We had multiple cards, but all were debit – like many travelers nowadays.

This is where the trap is.

Because of this, we were effectively forced to take their insurance at €35 per day, plus an additional €500 deposit. This increased the total rental cost to almost 4x the original online price.

From what we saw, many other customers were caught in the same situation. This appears to be a core part of their business model.

Other major red flags:

The office is NOT at the airport. You need to go to an off-site location shared with multiple low-cost brands – clearly a large-scale operation.
Communication was extremely difficult. The staff member spoke very unclear English (strong accent, mumbling), making it almost impossible to properly understand the terms or ask questions.
The process felt rushed and confusing: “sign here, here, and here” without proper explanation.
The vehicle condition report was incomplete, and some damages were not listed.
We noticed that the inspection document had already been digitally signed by someone else (!).
The car itself was in poor condition, and even had a service warning light on when we started it.

At that point, after a long and frustrating process, we just wanted to leave.

Thankfully, I took detailed photos and videos of the car before driving away – I strongly recommend everyone do the same.

Final thoughts:

This experience felt like a well-structured upselling trap rather than a transparent rental process.

We will NEVER rent from Movis (or similar “too cheap to be true” providers) again.

👉 My advice:

Always check deposit conditions carefully
Make sure you have a CREDIT card (not debit)
Be very cautious with unusually cheap offers
Document the car thoroughly before leaving

Learn from our mistake.

Stay safe and enjoy your trip.

Scam show different photo when you return car and charge very expensive fee for some previous scratch. Smartcarrent and movis is same company.

Hired a car with Movis in Malta airport. I’ve never driven a worse car in my life. Dirty and worn out. After I declined purchasing their recommended insurance they started threatening me how much I would have to pay if things get broken. Asked me to take photos and videos of the whole car without having any list with pre-existing damages. Then they kept my deposit for 30 days , luckily I ve just got my money back. Do not use

I returned the car on November 14, 2025. There were no comments or additional damages, as the car was already quite damaged when we received it. 53 days later, we still haven't received our €1200 deposit, with no explanation and no response to ours emails. Now the company is calling itself Routes Car Rental so people don't associate it with Smart Mobility Malta. They are scammers. Patric

Old cars that break down and they charge you to fix their car! Deposit is exorbitant and everything comes with an admin fee that is way over the top.
They are not on site at the airport and there is a hike required to find their office which is full of unsatisfied and ripped off customers(soon to be ex-customers).
Do yourself a favor and do NOT rent from these cowboys.
Go to the big boys at they may be a little dearer but you will have zero issues upon return and your deposit will be safe from these RIPOFFS

Made a reservation, arrived at the office which is outside the airport, carried suitcases and family across the highway, waited in the queue, finally got served and told they have no cars. I should have considered the other poor ratings. Horrible experience

This company has made me pay twice
When arriving at the car company I had to pay woth them directly to put less deposit down as the want £2500 deposit which I didn't have they told me to cancel my rental agreement with auto Europe which I did immediately now auto Europe are saying what I paid was additional so I basically have paid twice for the car hire so both companies need avoiding as they are conning people
I will be writing regular reviews so people are aware of our situation and to help it not happen to other in future

Movis are not located at the airport. They have a desk in an airport car park (long walk to it) then they walk you to their off aiport office (a struggle with heavy suitcases)
The car was a complete P.O.S. with 1" cut in a tyre. Tyre pressure warning contstantly on and no rubber on one of the wiper blades. This was not a typical nearly new rental car, rather an end-of-lifer and knackered.
I drove back approx 45 minutes to the office to swap it after a few days, having used about €5 petrol and they insisted I go find a petrol station to return with a full tank before giving me a replacement car, which I looked at and was equally a wreck. It took alot of restraint to not take his head off.
I don't mind a knackered car when paying beans but this was a unsafe so crossed my red line.

We booked through Car Jet, then company mentioned Smart Car Rentals but it was Movis we picked up from. They must all be connected to each other so I have written reviews on each of their Trustpilots as not one of them tried to give us a assistance. They are worst car hire companies I ever used. They allegedly upgraded the car we hired we paid extra for their insurance, including refund of excess. Car was sun standard, gears stopped working and eventually broke down. They had to get it towed then, so we were charged excess. Tried to claim their insurance but apparently mechanical failure not covered. How someone can break a gear box in 5 days with minimal use astounds me. Tried to get money back but they wouldn't see reason. Is avoid at all costs. They are out to con people to pay for faults they know their cars have

I warn you against renting a car from Movis Malta/Smart.

If you want to have a ruined holiday, spend part of it waiting for assistance and have at least several hundred EURO in additional costs, this company is for you.

The Movis Malta company, under which the Smart company actually operates, is clearly a company that cheats customers and whose method of operation is designed to extort as much money as possible from tourists obligated by the contract. At first I thought it was just me who was unlucky, but after searching the Internet I found similar events described. The company delivers very old cars with hidden defects that become visible a few hours after renting. Later, Movis does not take any action until it receives a guarantee of payment of 150 Euro for each event and demands a fee, e.g. for a damaged old Toyota Yaris tire in the amount of 375 Euro net, before replacing your car with a temporarily functional but 17-year-old car (it broke down the next day and a tow truck took him away).

I rented a car in July 2024 for 13 days and after 4 days I canceled their services after:

- 2 assistance, EUR 150 each = EUR 300

- extorting a fee of EUR 200 for an old tire before replacing the damaged car, but later they took EUR 200 from the deposit again, i.e. the cost was EUR 400

- 2 cars in 4 days - the first Yaris is 9 years old, and after the replacement Citeoen C3 is 17 years old!

- Not to mention the embarrassing service, nerves and wasted vacation time.

They require a deposit of 1,500 Euro, which exceeds the value of the entire car, and in my case, in only 4 days, they charged 700 Euro for a cracked old and worn tire without tread, replacing the wheel with a spare wheel from the trunk and towing the vehicle!!! I don't even want to think about what would happen to subsequent cars, or rather to the costs of assistance and "damaged" parts.

Be careful and stay away from Movis Malta/Smart!