Car rental at Olbia Airport (OLB): deposits, cards and ferries

Car rental at Olbia Airport (OLB) is one of the most common requests we handle, and the questions are almost always the same three: how much will they block on my card, will my debit card work, and can I take the car on a ferry. This guide answers those from the offers we put together for travellers every week. We name the companies we recommend at Olbia specifically, because a company that is excellent at one Sardinian airport can be mediocre at another. If you fly into the north-west of the island instead, our Alghero Airport guide covers the companies there.

Short on time? Here is the summary:

• Lowest deposit: Locauto, at 0,01 EUR
• Debit card accepted: Locauto, Keddy and Centauro
• Credit card only: Sicily by Car and Goldcar
• Taking a ferry off the island: Locauto, Sicily by Car and Goldcar allow it
• Landing late: Sicily by Car issues cars until 00:30, for an extra 100 EUR
• Travelling in July or August: book early and use online check-in, queues run long

Where the car rental desks are at Olbia Airport

Almost every company offering car rental at Olbia Airport sits in a single building called the Terminal Autonoleggi. Come out of arrivals, turn right, follow the rent a car signs, and it is roughly 50 metres away. There is no shuttle bus. The airport operator Geasar confirms the same 50 metre walk on its own site.

That is a real advantage over Italian airports where the cheaper suppliers put you on a bus to an industrial estate. At Olbia the low-deposit options sit in the same building as the big names. Locauto, Sicily by Car, Goldcar and Centauro are all in the Terminal Autonoleggi. Keddy is in the terminal itself.

The car rental companies we recommend at Olbia

We assess every airport separately. Prices, stock, staff and reviews all differ between Olbia and the other Sardinian airports, so this list applies to Olbia only.

Why we recommend these companies

Every company below earned its place the same way: consistently solid customer reviews at this airport, and terms with no hidden conditions. The second point does most of the work. Plenty of companies quote a low daily rate at Olbia and then recover it at the counter, through compulsory extras, disputed fuel charges or excess reduction sold as though it were mandatory. The five here do not do that. Where a genuine condition exists, such as the written ferry permission Locauto asks for or the card validity rule at Centauro, we set it out in this guide rather than leaving you to discover it at the desk.

Car rental at Olbia Airport, company by company

Company	Deposit	Debit card	Ferry	Online check-in
Locauto	0,01 EUR	Yes	Yes, free, written permission needed	Yes
Sicily by Car	200 EUR	No, credit only	Yes, free	No
Keddy	800-1200 EUR	Yes	No	No
Goldcar	950-1400 EUR	No, credit only	Yes, free	No
Centauro	1000-1500 EUR	Yes	No	Yes

Locauto is the strongest option at Olbia and it is not close. A deposit of one cent, debit cards accepted, ferries permitted and online check-in available. If your dates work with Locauto, take it. Locauto’s one-cent deposit applies at other Italian airports too, as you can see in our car rental Italy guide.

Sicily by Car has the second smallest deposit at 200 EUR and allows ferries at no cost. Pick-up is slow, though, and there is no online check-in. If you are travelling with tired children or arriving in the first half of August, that queue may matter more than the money saved. Credit card only.

The higher deposit options

Keddy accepts both credit and debit cards and sits in the terminal itself. The deposit of 800 to 1200 EUR is substantial and the car cannot go on a ferry.

Goldcar allows ferries at no extra cost and holds your car for four hours if your flight is delayed. The deposit is high and it is credit card only.

Centauro accepts debit cards, offers online check-in and has the most generous late arrival policy at the airport at twelve hours. One condition catches people out: your card, whether MasterCard Credit, MasterCard Debit, Visa Credit, Visa Debit or Visa Electron, must be valid for at least three months after your drop-off date.

Autorentwiz tip: if your card expires within three months of your return date, that is not a small administrative detail. Centauro will refuse the rental at the desk and you will be standing in the Terminal Autonoleggi with no car. Check the expiry date on the card you plan to travel with before you book.

If you only have a debit card

Most travellers who message us have a debit card and no credit card. That is not a problem at Olbia, but it does narrow the list to three: Locauto, Keddy and Centauro. The same pattern holds across the country, which we cover in our guide to renting a car in Italy with a debit card.

The gap between them is enormous. Locauto blocks one cent. Centauro blocks up to 1500 EUR. Both accept the same card. If your account cannot comfortably carry a four figure hold for the length of your trip, do not book the cheap headline rate with a high deposit company and hope for the best. Pick the company whose deposit you can actually cover.

Not sure which of the three suits your card and your dates? Message us and we will check the deposit and card requirements for your exact booking before you pay for anything.

Deposits at Olbia, and when you get your money back

A deposit is a hold, not a payment. The money is frozen on your card for the length of the rental and released afterwards. It is usually released within a week of returning the car. Sometimes it takes up to 30 days, which is the point at which the hold expires automatically.

One thing surprises almost everyone. You will not see money arrive back in your account. When the hold is released it simply disappears and the balance is available again, as though it had never gone. There is no incoming transaction to look for. If you are watching your statement waiting for a refund to land, you will wait forever.

Do I have to buy the rental company insurance at the desk?

No. If you bought third party excess cover before your trip, you do not need the excess reduction the desk will offer you, no matter what you are told there.

Why the desk pushes its own cover

Here is why you will be told otherwise. Rental companies make a large part of their money selling their own excess waiver, which frequently costs about as much as the rental itself. They make nothing at all from your third party policy. So the agent at the counter has every reason to talk you out of it, and there are two lines you will hear: we cannot see your insurance in our system, and that insurance is not valid with us.

Both are technically true and both are beside the point. Your third party policy is an agreement between you and your insurer. The rental company is not part of it, cannot see it and does not need to. It does not cover the rental company. It covers you, for what the rental company charges you.

Your card still gets charged

The part left out of that conversation is the part that matters, so be clear on it before you travel. If the car is damaged, the rental company will still charge your card. Third party cover does not prevent that. It reimburses you afterwards, once you claim. Expect the money to leave your account first and come back later. That is how the product works, and it is still far cheaper than paying the desk price.

Autorentwiz tip: decide before you reach the counter. The pressure is applied when you are tired, at the front of a queue, with people waiting behind you. Knowing in advance that we cannot see your insurance is both expected and irrelevant makes it much easier to say no.

Taking your rental car on a ferry from Olbia

Olbia is the main ferry port for northern Sardinia, with crossings to Civitavecchia and Livorno, and the port is about 5 km from the airport. Ferries dock at the Isola Bianca quay, which the Sardinian Sea Port Authority lists as the passenger and ro-ro terminal. So this question comes up more here than anywhere else on the island.

Locauto, Sicily by Car and Goldcar allow their cars on ferries at no extra charge. Keddy and Centauro do not.

Free does not mean automatic. With Locauto you need written permission before you travel. Getting it costs nothing, but you have to ask for it and you have to have it in writing.

Driving onto a ferry without that permission is not a technicality. It puts you outside the terms of the rental agreement, which means the insurance on the car may not respond if anything happens. If you are planning a crossing, sort the paperwork when you book, not at the port.

Planning to cross to the mainland? Message us before you book and we will make sure the car you are quoted is one that is actually allowed on the ferry.

Arriving on a late flight

Olbia takes a lot of evening arrivals, and this is where plans come apart.

Sicily by Car will issue a car up to 00:30. That is the latest reliable option we know of at Olbia, and it costs an extra 100 EUR for the night pick-up. Beyond that window we do not have a night time solution we would recommend. If your flight lands later, the honest answer is that you have two sensible choices: pick a different flight, or book a hotel near the airport and collect the car in the morning.

That 100 EUR is worth doing the arithmetic on. A slightly more expensive flight landing in daylight, plus a normal daytime rate, often comes to less than a bargain flight plus a night pick-up fee. And you will not be doing paperwork at half past midnight.

If your flight is merely delayed rather than nocturnal, the grace periods matter. Goldcar holds the car for four hours. Centauro holds it for twelve, the longest at the airport.

Driving from Olbia Airport

The airport sits about 5 km from Olbia town centre. Porto Cervo is roughly 31 km by road, around 35 to 40 minutes, though July and August traffic towards Arzachena can stretch that. San Pantaleo is about 21 km north.

Sardinia has no motorways and no toll roads. Speed limits are 50 km/h in towns, 90 on secondary roads and 110 on main roads.

The Olbia ZTL

Unlike Alghero, Olbia has a limited traffic zone in its historic centre, and it is enforced by camera.

Access to the historic centre is controlled by six camera gates, known as varchi. The best known sit on Corso Umberto I, Via Regina Elena and Piazza Regina Margherita. The comune has since reorganised the area into zones A, B, C1 and C2, and not every gate operates on the same schedule: some run around the clock, others only in the evening. The current plans are published by the Comune di Olbia. Because the rules differ gate by gate and change from time to time, treat the whole historic centre as off limits in a rental car.

Rental cars are never pre-authorised. The lower band on the sign reads eccetto residenti centro storico, meaning except residents of the historic centre, and that is the only exemption. Your rental car does not have it.

Fines run from 83 to 332 EUR under the Italian road code, reduced to roughly 58 EUR if paid within five days of notification, and your rental company will add its own administration fee for passing your details to the authorities. Cross more than one active gate and you can collect more than one fine.

The practical advice is simple. Park outside the centre and walk in. Blue lines are paid parking, white lines are free. The historic centre is small enough that this costs you a few minutes at most.

Autorentwiz tip: do not rely on your satnav to keep you out of a ZTL. Watch for the square white sign reading Zona Traffico Limitato, usually with a camera above it and a display showing whether the gate is currently active.

The summer queue, and how to skip it

This is the complaint we hear about Olbia more than any other. In July and August, travellers report waiting anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours at the desks, and it is not confined to one company.

There is a practical answer, and it is not picking a quieter desk. Locauto and Centauro both offer online check-in, which moves the paperwork off the counter and onto your phone before you fly. In high season that is the single biggest difference between collecting a car in ten minutes and collecting it in ninety.

Two other things make Olbia worse in summer. Cars genuinely sell out, as at Alghero, so there is no walking up and taking whatever is left. And a slow supplier is slow for everyone in its queue regardless of what you personally booked. If your dates are flexible and Olbia looks sold out, it is worth checking flights into the south instead: our guide to car rental at Cagliari Airport covers the deposits, cards and ferry rules there.

Whatever the queue does, the handover itself is where most disputes start. Our 5 tips for a flawless car rental pick-up covers what to photograph and what to check before you drive away.

When to book a car at Olbia

July is by far the most expensive month at Olbia and November the cheapest. Booking around seven weeks ahead tends to land a below average price. In high season, though, booking early is not really about price. It is about whether a car exists at all.

Timing is only one of the levers. For the rest, see our guide on how to save money on car rental.

Frequently asked questions

Talk to us before you book

We put together offers for travellers going to Sardinia every week, and Olbia is our second busiest airport. If you want to know which company suits your card, your dates and your plans, message us and we will tell you.

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