It may be then that Auto Europe don't have any contract with rental companies in Italy that allows c

My dh is travelling next week for work, and we used our visa debit card to book a car online. We now find that they require a credit card to pick up the car, for a security depoist at the airport? I rang them,a dn they said if he does not ahve a crdit card in his name they will not release the car.
What country beach haven inn san diego is the car being hired in ? ... In general the answer is no .. but I think in some cases some car hire companies may accept a Debit card if you have sufficient funds in the account and they place a hold on it for the period that you are renting .. it's not to cover the rental cost usually but the deposit is for damage excess.
If you booked directly with the car hire company and aren't getting any satisfaction from them then cancel and rebook with Auto Europe or similar .. I'd recommend Auto Europe, but give them a call rather than do it online .. they're normally very helpful and they'll be able to advise if cash rental is possible - their site seems to suggest in some places it is, but you'd need to leave a cash deposit.
It may be then that Auto Europe don't have any contract with rental companies in Italy that allows cash/debit card rentals ...at least they should offer free cancellation ..so best cancel then I suppose.
Its practiably impossible to rent a car without a major credit card. All of the big companies will insist on one , you could try some of the smaller independent ones but apart from paying over-inflated prices for below-par cars they will insist on a cash deposit of �600-�1000.
Remember most of these organisations are franchised in each country so rules will differ. If you are going to Italy and Hertz will take a debit car for the booking in advance then take it. In my experience they are good on the ground for Italy but be sure to take out full insurance because knocks are a way of life in many towns and cities. Maybe the 28E includes full insurance? Check it.
Just updating for information's sake. We eventually got Auto Europe to sort it for us. Amazing how the squeaky wheel gets oiled. We rang them again, got onto a supervisor, explained that we had booked a car with a debit card, it was Friday evening, travelling for business on sunday and could they possibly help us? Well Supervisor got onto Bergamo for us, and arranged that on payment of 500E he could have the car on Sunday evening, as per booking. And on return, he would get full deposit beach haven inn san diego back, barring accident etc of course. Sent him an email to that end immediately. Very helpful in the end, got him totally sorted and a HUGE pressure off him thank god.