Last updated: August 2026
On Pantelleria, the volcanic island between Sicily and Tunisia, renting a vehicle is less a convenience than a requirement. The bus network is thin, the coast road is 45 km of curves, and almost everything worth seeing sits at the end of a lane no bus serves. Most visitors take a small car; a scooter is cheaper and more fun, but the gradients are steep and the lava chippings unforgiving.
Eight operators rent vehicles on the island. Four have desks at Pantelleria Airport (PNL); the others deliver to the port, the airport or your dammuso. Every phone number, website and address below comes from the operator’s own site or from the airport’s official rental listing, verified in August 2026.
Car and scooter rental companies
- Autonoleggio Policardo — airport and port, cars and scooters
- PantelRent — inside the airport
- Autonoleggio Consolo — airport, also minibus and driver service
- Sicily by Car — airport desk, national chain
- Il Dammuso — booking service with a published price list
- Roger Rabbit — cars, scooters and boats
- Blue Pantelleria — scooters only
- Master Car — local garage and rental
How much does it cost to rent a car in Pantelleria?
A small car runs about €35 a day outside summer and €150 a day in the middle of August; a 125cc scooter goes from €20 to €70 across the same range. The figures below are Autonoleggio Policardo’s published 2026 tariff, the most transparent on the island, re-checked in August 2026. Other operators sit in the same bracket.
| Vehicle | 1 Jan – 22 May | 27 Jun – 3 Jul | 8 – 21 Aug | 12 Sep – 31 Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scooter 125cc | €20 | €25 | €70 | €20 |
| Scooter 200cc | €25 | €30 | €75 | €25 |
| Fiat Panda, 5 doors, a/c | €35 | €45 | €150 | €35 |
| New Panda / Grande Punto | €40 | €50 | €180 | €40 |
| Fiat 500 cabrio or automatic | €45 | €60 | €200 | €50 |
| Fiat Ducato, 9 seats | €80 | €90 | €350 | €70 |
Note the shape of that table: the fortnight from 8 to 21 August costs three to four times the shoulder season, and availability disappears entirely. If you are travelling in August, book the vehicle before you book anything else. The peak is narrow, though: the same five-door Panda is €75 a day from 1 to 7 August and from 22 to 28 August, so moving your dates by a few days can halve the bill. The cheapest way in is a Group A Fiat Panda Vintage from the 1990s at €25 a day off-season, on request only. Weekly rates are much better value than seven single days — a 125cc scooter is around €100 a week off-season against €20 a day.
What you should know before you book
Island rental works differently from the mainland, and the local operators are refreshingly blunt about it. The points below are drawn from the published terms of the companies listed here.
- Minimum age is 25 for a car, 21 for a scooter, with a licence held at least a year. Drivers aged 21–25 can rent the smaller groups with a “Young Driver” supplement of €15 a day.
- Insurance is third-party only unless you buy extra cover. Damage to the rental vehicle is on you. Policardo sells Kasko at €10 a day, which cuts the excess to €500, and full cover at €20 a day, which clears it altogether — except in August, when €300 still stands.
- The vehicles are used, sometimes heavily. Rates typically include unlimited mileage, VAT, third-party insurance, airport fees and helmets.
- They arrive nearly empty. Expect roughly €10 of fuel — enough to reach your dammuso and get back into town to fill up.
- A credit card is required for the security deposit, and the hold can run to €1,500 depending on the vehicle. Extra driver and child seat are €6 a day each; collecting outside office hours costs €30.
- Helmets are compulsory, and the tolerance on your return time is usually one hour before an extra day is charged.
- Think twice about the Mehari. The little open-top classics look wonderful in photographs, but they are very old vehicles and lack modern safety equipment.
Autonoleggio Policardo
The island’s largest and longest-running operator — more than thirty years in business — with offices at the airport and on Via Messina near the port where the ferries and hydrofoils dock. Cars from vintage Pandas to nine-seat Ducatos, plus scooters and motorbikes.
Policardo is the only operator with its own workshop and the island’s only automatic tunnel car wash, and it runs 24-hour roadside assistance for its customers, replacing the vehicle on the spot when needed. It also publishes its full seasonal tariff online, which makes budgeting straightforward.
Contact. Via Messina 31 and C.da Maragana, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · +39 0923 912 844 · +39 339 428 7767 · [email protected] · autonoleggiopantelleria.it ↗ · current tariff ↗
PantelRent
Twenty-two years on the island and the most convenient pick-up of the lot: the PantelRent box sits inside the airport terminal, directly opposite arrivals, staffed every day in step with the flight schedule. Assistance runs 24 hours across the whole island, including at night.
The fleet is the broadest for a small operator — Kymco People scooters in 125 and 200cc, Fiat Panda, Daihatsu Terios 4×4 for the rough tracks, a Dacia Spring if you want electric, and a nine-seat Mercedes Vito for groups. They do not publish rates: the site says prices move with the vehicle, the season and the length of hire, so you ask for a quote.
Contact. Inside Pantelleria Airport (PNL) · +39 0923 913 636 · +39 338 305 4229 · [email protected] · noleggioautopantelleria.it ↗
Autonoleggio Consolo
A family firm based on Via Madonna della Margana, right by the airport, and one of the four operators listed on Pantelleria Airport’s own rental page. Cars with air conditioning and scooters, but also the things the others do not do: minibus and coach hire, chauffeur service, panoramic island tours and transfers for hikers.
That last point is worth knowing. If your group wants to walk one-way — down from Montagna Grande, say, or along a coastal stretch — Consolo will run the transfer, which saves the usual two-car shuffle.
Contact. Via Madonna della Margana, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · Stefano +39 338 611 6825 · Annalisa +39 339 715 7586 · WhatsApp +39 320 842 6113 · [email protected] · autonoleggiopantelleria.info ↗
Sicily by Car
The one national chain with a desk at Pantelleria Airport. If you want the familiar mechanics of a big rental company — online booking, standard contract, loyalty scheme, the option to pick up in Sicily and fly over — this is the option. Expect chain pricing rather than island pricing.
Contact. Pantelleria Airport (PNL) · +39 0923 912 940 · +39 345 448 4390 · [email protected] · sicilybycar.it ↗
Il Dammuso
Not a rental company but a dammuso agency that books vehicles for its guests, with the car or scooter waiting at your arrival point. The fleet is Policardo’s — the agency says so on its own page — which is why the vehicle groups match exactly. Collection is at the airport desk or the Via Messina offices near the port.
Its price table is worth reading for the group-by-group breakdown, with two cautions. Read the Italian page, not the English one: the English version still carries the 2023 tariff. And its August band is flattened into a single figure — €75 a day for the five-door Panda across the whole month — where Policardo’s own tariff charges €150 for the peak fortnight. Use it to compare groups, and the operator’s tariff for what you will actually pay.
Contact. Strada Perimetrale Est 378, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · [email protected] · ildammuso.com ↗
Roger Rabbit
Founded in 2014 on Via Edmondo De Amicis, and the only operator that will rent you a car, a scooter and a boat. Support runs around the clock, with a garage on call.
Vehicles are delivered anywhere on the island, which matters if you are staying somewhere remote. The boats are Blumax hulls with 40hp outboards, no licence needed, hired by the half day or the full day — so you can do a land day and a sea day through the same operator. If you would rather charter privately, compare on Click&Boat.
Contact. Via Edmondo De Amicis 19, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · +39 388 658 0685 · +39 338 467 2678 · [email protected] · noleggiorogerrabbit.it ↗
Blue Pantelleria
Scooters and nothing else, run for the past six years or so by Marco Cona and Piero Cecchini. Because they do one thing, the service around it is the most developed on the island: a replacement scooter delivered within two hours if yours fails, free collection at the airport, and a shuttle for people or luggage — genuinely useful, since you cannot carry a suitcase on a scooter. Picking up at the port runs through that shuttle and costs €30.
They run from April to October. Kasko cover is available, and they publish three discounts: 10% for paying in full at booking, 10% for customers returning from the 2025 season, and 20% for taking Kasko cover. The first two do not stack, and in August they apply to weekly rates only. The Kasko discount is the exception: it does stack, and it holds in August too.
Contact. Pantelleria · Piero, bookings +39 329 197 0578 · Marco, on-island assistance +39 328 029 8112 · [email protected] · scooterpantelleria.it ↗
Master Car
A local outfit in Contrada Arenella–Sidere that combines a body shop and vehicle inspection centre with a rental fleet. No booking website — call or message on WhatsApp, and expect a plain, practical service rather than a polished one. Handy as a fallback when the airport operators are sold out in high season.
Contact. C.da Arenella–Sidere, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · +39 331 493 4392 · +39 388 794 1072 · [email protected] · Facebook ↗
Should you rent a car or a scooter?
A scooter costs roughly half a car and parks anywhere, which counts in the harbour town in August. But Pantelleria is steep, windy and paved in lava chippings, the roads have no barriers in places, and you cannot carry luggage or shopping. If you are two people staying a week, take the car.
Take a 4×4 only if you specifically plan to reach Balata dei Turchi, where the final descent is rough. Everywhere else a small car is fine, and easier on lanes that narrow to a couple of metres between dry-stone walls.
If you would rather not drive at all, the island’s hotels and rental firms run airport transfers, and Consolo offers a chauffeur service.
Where to drive on the island
The perimeter road loops the island in about 45 minutes without stops, which nobody manages, because you will stop constantly. Do it clockwise and finish on the west coast for the sunset.
- East coast. Cala Gadir for thermal water in the rocks, then Cala Tramontana and Cala Levante either side of the headland, with the Arco dell’Elefante between them.
- South. The Laghetto delle Ondine natural rock pool, and Cala Nikà where hot water meets the sea.
- West and north. Sataria Cave, the wind-cut inlet at Cala Cinque Denti, and the lava field on the Gelfiser Path.
- Inland. The crater lake at Lago di Venere, and the climbs to Montagna Grande and Punta Spadillo, both of which need a vehicle to reach the trailhead.
Worth building into the loop: a tasting at Donnafugata or Coste Ghirlanda to understand the island’s Passito, lunch at Il Cappero, or a stop at Alchimia Café. Nominate a driver if there is tasting involved — the roads are not forgiving.
Renting in Pantelleria: questions answered
Effectively yes. The bus network covers the main villages but runs infrequently, and most beaches, thermal springs and wineries sit at the end of lanes no bus serves. Almost every visitor rents a car or a scooter. Four rental firms have desks at Pantelleria Airport.
A small car with air conditioning runs about €35 a day outside summer, €45 in late June and up to €150 a day between 8 and 21 August. A 125cc scooter ranges from €20 to €70 across the same periods. Weekly rates are considerably cheaper than seven daily ones.
Usually 25, with a driving licence held for at least a year. Drivers between 21 and 25 can rent the smaller vehicle groups by paying a Young Driver supplement of roughly €15 a day. A credit card in the driver’s name is required for the security deposit.
For one or two people travelling light, yes: it costs about half a car and parks anywhere. But the island is steep and windy, the roads are surfaced in lava chippings, and you cannot carry luggage. Helmets are compulsory and rental insurance is third-party only unless you add cover.
For August, before you book anything else — the fortnight from 8 to 21 August costs three to four times the shoulder season and sells out completely. For June, July and September a few weeks ahead is usually enough. Off-season you can often arrange a vehicle on arrival.