written by on 10/10/2013
I'm a frequent business rental car user and have booked hundreds of times with all of the major companies over the last 8-9 years. I recently booked a car for two weeks from Dublin airport on Travelocity with a guaranteed rate of about 140 Euros (a good rate by the way). I always waive the insurance on rental cars since I have private insurance that covers this. At the kiosk I discovered that they charge a 28 Euro administrative fee to waive insurance plus block 2K on the credit card. I understand blocking the credit card since they need to recover payment in case of damages, but the hidden administrative fee is abusive.
Other reasons to avoid this company include inconvenient pickup and drop off locations. Their lots are typically located much farther than their competitors and you have to wait longer for their shuttles. It's so frustrating to stand there and watch all of the other company shuttles go by again and again but no sign of the Thrifty shuttle.
They also inevitably provide you with an old beat up car. On this trip I was provided a car with 40K miles, covered in small dents and scratches and with a broken volume controller on the inside.
They also wanted to charge my card for a fuel deposit of about 120 Euros, that they promised to return if I brought back the tank full. That's about twice the price of a tank full of diesel. Additionally, charging a card in a foreign currency then reimbursing it later results in conversion fees both ways. I had to prepay a tank of gas at the regular fuel rate to avoid this silliness.
Finally, they charged my card in US dollars instead of Euros without my permission or my request. This resulted in what they called "their best guaranteed currency conversion rate". However, their rate is 2% higher than the rate most credit cards will charge which is about 3%. So I ended up paying a 5% currency conversion fee on top of the other charges they added.
I rent an average of 100 days per year and this is the last time I use Thifty. Learn from the experience of others and avoid this second rate company.
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