Written on: 23/05/2013
I am frequent flyer and works overseas. I normally book Avis but this time is my second with this car rental company (Thrifty) because it is cheap to rent. When I booked second time, their T&C has been changed? I never heard about fuel policy which they give you with full tank and you return with empty? Another one is the proof of address, You need show them two utility bill address. On my case I travel from overseas how can I show them my current utility bills? They also suggest me to show... (read more)
Written on: 22/05/2013 by TimRahill (2 reviews written)
The car suffered slight damage to an alloy -in my opinion it was slight and in line with normal wear and tear. When I returned the car the Company said the back wheel was also damaged -something that didnt happen when I was driving and appeared to be a stone chip. Within 20 minutes of return Thrifty had charged me 257gbp ! This is incredible as of course they could not have had a quote that quickly. When I pursued them I was then sent a quote.....from their own Transport Dept. Never again. (read more)
Written on: 11/05/2013
We rented an SUV from Thrifty at the Phoenix Airport. At first we declined the extra liability because my credit card covered it. However, the agent proceeded to tell us that in Arizona, the law allows rental car companies to recoup lost revenue from the renter if the car is in an accident. Have no idea if this is true or not. Then we said we would fill up before we brought it back (Las Vegas Airport)and were told we might want to consider buying the fillup now because gas was .30 cents... (read more)
Written on: 08/05/2013
I had made a reservation (at Wembley) for a van (for one day) as I was going to move from Birmingham to London. I had made the reservation a month in advance and had made a chain of plans that I had to go through (in my work and family related things.) I turned up to collect the car at designated time, but I had to wait for nearly an hour so that the person at the counter would finish her lunch. Then they ridiculously said that they are not able to offer me the car since I had not been in... (read more)
Written on: 04/05/2013
Don't use them as you will finish your experience with them feeling throughly ripped off. We thought we would pay about $180 -200 in total for 3 days including insurance & all fees comparing to other car hire quotes we had received & we ended up paying in excess of $300. They also tried to palm us off with a small car when the toyota Camry we had ordered was not available for the same cost. They advised us that if we opted to have them refill the car with gas at the end of the trip it would... (read more)
Written on: 30/04/2013
Not actually that cheap bit more to the point if you want to cancel a booking they will charge you for the ENTIRE amount. Also waited nearly an hour to return a van. Most importantly, MARK EVERY SINGLE TINY LITTLE SCRATCH OR DENT on the collection damage sheet. When we returned our van the little man who checked the van picked up every little mark that the guy at the other end hadn't put on the sheet. If he had done, the collection damage sheet would have been full of marks!!! Instead they... (read more)
Written on: 22/04/2013
I rented a car from Thrifty's at Chicago O'Hare airport. Despite my reservation, there was no car upon arrival. The original reserved rate was changed to a higher one. When I returned the car, police had blocked off roads to the agency (Thrifty's is at another location than most other car rental companies, further away from the terminals) because of flooding after thunderstorms. I arrived 45 minutes late and they charged for an entire extra day plus change fee to the contract. That amounted... (read more)
Written on: 16/04/2013 by Lscan (1 review written)
I booked a car in Wembley, when a returned they charged me $170 because of a minor scuff on the alloy wheel. It was so small I didn’t even noticed that it might have been there when I received. When I returned the car, the guy went directly to check it without even looking at the body of the car. It made me feel suspicious that it was a not right to charge me for it. I won’t rent from them again. They don’t seem a serious company! (read more)
Written on: 15/04/2013 by BoSjogreen (1 review written)
I have read a lot of negative reviews about Thrifty and was reluctant to use them. However I did rent from Thrifty and do not regret it. I picked up a car from LA airport - no waiting time, no extra selling and got a new and clean convertible. With this car we drove to LAs Vegas where we changed it to a SUV. Again very fast service, no waiting time and nice clean car. We did not experience any problems and received excellent service both ay pick-up and return. (read more)
Written on: 11/04/2013
I rented this car from Thrifty Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on the 05-03-2013. When I returned the car I was charged my 300 Euro's deposit for damage to the car. I sent the bill to the company who repaired the car, and had their reply, on the 10th of April, more than a month later, which said that they had not done the repair to the car. The bill seems to have been a quote. Did anybody else hire this car since the 12th of March 2013 when I returned it, and was charged for damage. It looks... (read more)
Written on: 10/04/2013
The bad points - A long wait at the airport, and poor pick up signing (wait by 15 bus stop outside terminal A). We had over 40 minutes - enquiring at the depot aparently you need to ring them at weekends for pick up (no mention of this in our instructions). A 800 euro deposit is swipped from your card could be a problem if you have a low credit limit. They tried to sell us a Sat Nav (no free map !!)but I ended up buying a map from the petrol station next door...only to find there was a... (read more)
Written on: 01/04/2013 by nadja87
I would never recommend anyone to rent from this company! We got a cheap deal for around 60 euros for the whole weekend, we had booked a hotel room in Luxembourg and were going to pick the car up at 10 AM on Friday and then drive to LUX. We arrive on time at schiphol airport(where we thought the pick up would be), but apparently at schiphol we had to take a shuttle buss to the Thrifty office. We had to wait for quite a while for the shuttle bus to come (they say they are driving every 15... (read more)
Written on: 31/03/2013 by AmarKureishi
We booked and paid online for an SUV. THe didn't have one at their main pick up location. They gave us a lower priced car, without ANY refund. Their attitude was that of indifference to customers. The line at the pick up site was not long - 2 customers at the counter and 2 more in line before as. Yet it took over 40 minutes to get served. None of the other car rental agencies had any line up. And after the long wait, they did not have the car they had sold us on line, and wanted to... (read more)
Written on: 29/03/2013
They come up as the cheapest on search engines. This is probably because they try every con-trick in the book when you take the car back - as a lot of people have experienced. Just don't use them. Edinburgh airport branch is the same as the rest of the country it seems (read more)
Written on: 28/03/2013 by FREDDYFORG (1 review written)
I hired a thrifty car at Munich airport in Feb and the cost was originally 124 euros for 5 days through Expedia.com. By the time I got away with the car as I was desperate to get to my destination it was nearly 300 euros for 'mandatory' snow tyres and 'mandatory' extra insurance. The car door didnt open properly but they just fobbed it off and when I took it back needing just 1/4 tank in the VW Polo it was 125 euros. They also took 600 euros out of my account that was a 'bounty' to hire in... (read more)
Written on: 22/03/2013
I booked a van online and when I went to collect they didn't have one there and the blatently lied to say that they had called to let me know. Extreamly rude service at the counter. Left me with nothing and non alternatives. I even contacted their customer services, who where absolutly useless and were no help at all. Even though this whole thing was their fault they were not willing to help out in any way. Really bad customer service with no idea how to deal with customers. Stay away from them! (read more)
Written on: 17/03/2013
Thrifty don't accecpt cash so hired a van on credit card from Basford Nottingham.We were asked to point out any damage we could see to valeter who recorded some of it on a pre rental report form & told us not to worry about a lot of other damage we pointed out.Valeter told us the damage to front nearside bumper & missing wheel trim from same side was already recorded & not to worry about that.Van was full of scratches & dents & valeter had recoded only some of damage we had reported.On... (read more)
Written on: 16/03/2013 by Patniarfeix
Évitez absolument thrifty particulièrement à dublin Rien n'est clair Vous êtes forcés d'acheter des assurances exorbitantes C 'est de l'escroquerie (read more)
Written on: 16/03/2013
I returned from my vacation over a week ago, and I have been waiting for my blood pressure to lower before diving into this. In short, we placed a car rental reservation online, opting for 5 days' rental with an additional driver and a GPS unit. The total cost listed was 216 euro. We paid a deposit and owed just over half of that amount upon pickup...or so we were lead to believe. I understand there can be some minor fees associated with car rentals that are in the fine print- offering of... (read more)
Written on: 07/03/2013 by resolute (1 review written)
hired a van had to charge my credit card to the sum of 195 pounds did the usual checks around the vehicle pointing out various items of damage only to be told they didn't matter pointed out a scuff on the nearside bumper were the wheel trim was missing to be told they was aware of this went away and moved the items we had to and returned the vehicle the next day to be told that there was a scratch only 3mm long right above the scuff we had pointed out to them [name removed] who checked the... (read more)
Written on: 07/03/2013
(English version below) En mi caso tengo que decir que no tuve problemas. Alquilé un coche en Thrifty Stansted para un día, como tengo 22 años tuve que pagar tasa por comductor joven y por si acaso como nunca había comducido por la izquierda decidí pagar un seguro total de 15€. El coche que me dieron fue un 207 com muchos extras, bien de potencia y GPS integrado, y yo no pedí ni pagué ese extra. Hice Stansted- Manchester- Stansted y no tuve ningún problema a la vuelta. El shuttle... (read more)
Written on: 06/03/2013 by farquar69
I rented a basic car through Thrifty Heathrow, upon return they identified damage to the rear bumper and a wheel that was absolutely not down to me (my fault for not checking I suppose). They have told me this will cost £400 to repair, no rights to challenge. Also had to prepay fule at twice the normal cost, no refund. People DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, they are dire (read more)
Written on: 05/03/2013 by vwallis (1 review written)
I will never use Thrifty car rental again. It was my first and last time. I placed my reservation online requesting no options. When I picked up the car I specifically told the salesman I did not want insurance, at least three times. As he walked me through the signing procedure he had me sign the section requesting insurance. I didn't discover this until I returned the car. I felt deceived and taken advantage of. Thrifty wasn't willing to remove the $500+ charges. They weren't will to... (read more)
Written on: 04/03/2013 by jasago
As soon as you waive the insurance the bad attitude becomes worse. counter service was slow and it felt like dmv. The counter person went out of his way to be unfriendly. Read every part of the contract.....stiff penalties to extend contract, (I would imagine they would want to keep a paying customer..not the case). Call in center even worse. It must be a corporate culture to be rude to its customers. You can bet this is my last experience with this company. Car was not very clean and... (read more)
Written on: 01/03/2013
All We can say is "if Rene at Tumbi Umbi is the best you can come up with "your company has lost it.She is rude no knowledge of what she is doing and very outspoken but not in a positive sense.We wont be renting from Thrifty again and will pass the word around. (read more)
Written on: 28/02/2013 by autoTraderisoverpriced (2 reviews written)
got a great deal on line for hiring a large transit van . picked van up for day of removals , checked before i picked up and no major checks when i took back . van was same condition as i had picked veichle up . 6 month old van , and all cars and vans in yard were nearly new .. so overall very happy with van / and customer service were helpful and friendly .. only negative was the very high waver damage excess .. pay first £700 of damage or £250 if you pay an extra premium for hiring (read more)
Written on: 27/02/2013
Went through third party they then charge you for a full tank of petrol if you do not use it all tough.Tryed to extend car for second week,after being ill all week,had nearly full tank left.Told not a problem to keep same car,and no need for a refill.I went ahead and booked it ,only to be told i had to pay again for another full tank.(IT WAS THEIR POLICEY)I was mislead as well as this being daylight robbery.NEVER AGAIN.TOO STRESSFULL,AND NOT CUSTOMER SERVICE FRIENDLY (read more)
Written on: 26/02/2013
We used Thrifty as they were the cheapest van rental in town, but DONT! When I hired the van out it was checked over really carefully which made me a bit suspicious anyway, when I took the van back having only used it to move 1 item the van was checked again by someone different. There was no mention of any damage at all, but I soon found out that money had been taken off my credit card regardless. I went back to see why this was and was told there was a scuff to the rear of the van. I... (read more)
Written on: 19/02/2013 by Leroy889
Location: Edmonton int'l airport location I made reservation on Thrifty website. It clearly said unlimited kilometer but when I went to pick up the car, the staff there insist charging for milage. I showed him my reservation, he said he will ask manager, then he called me said that he hv to charged me millage. This is the first time someone did not honor reservation and change at will. Very disappointed. (read more)
Written on: 19/02/2013 by JammerSlammer (1 review written)
I actually have two complaints to make regarding my booking which, apart from this went extremely well and we loved the little Suzuki Jimny that coped extremely well on the Costa Rican "roads". Complaint number one was regarding nearly £30 (GBP) for "Emergency Breakdown Cover" that I believe, and the key fob that was on the car key confirmed, comes as standard with the rental. [name removed] , the manager in the Liberia branch in Costa Rica, was desperately pouring over our paperwork... (read more)
Written on: 10/02/2013 by Franceselizabeth (1 review written)
Really suprised to read the comments. I hire regularly from this company. I have used all the other companies in the Heathrow airport and this is the best. The cars are always low mileage. very clean and top of the range for each class. I would advise that you book directly with them though . I have read all the reviews about scuffed wheels etc,,,,,,,, what I dont understand is why people dont buy an excess insurance it is arouund 35GBP a year. Anyway compared to all the others... (read more)
Written on: 30/01/2013
My company hires cars for me, out of 4 recent rentals they have claimed there has been damage on return .i know I have not damaged these cars ,but there seems to have been a concerted effort to charge for damage to enable the company to get extra payment for the rental as obviously the rate negotiated is not enough for them steer well clear of this firm of cowboys (read more)
Written on: 07/02/2013
This has just happened to me, they are claiming I have lost the parcel shelf. The car in question was a Vauxhall zafira with 7 seats and a small boot, there was no parcel shelf in the car when received i had to move the seats to put a bag in the back. It's not that obvious that it should come with one. I didn't deal with Thrifty my work did, I'm so disgusted! Just don't bother with them.
Written on: 24/01/2013 by bumbbetuna
I wanted to rent a car for a trip from Thursday to Monday. I stumble onto Thrifty and found a great deal on a rental... well I thought I was getting a great buy since the one by the airport was going to charge me about 129. well thrifty online was going to charge me 79. i thought that was great until Thursday arrived and I went to pick up my rental.. well the website didn't tell me it didn't include insurance. so I really thought I was getting this car for 79 bucks. no I add 22 a day for... (read more)
Written on: 12/01/2013 by Bexv
I have to have hire cars with work,I have had out of 6 hires 3 claims of damage to cars that I have not done,I look after my cars and never have damaged my own so how I have done so much damage is beyond me.The people they send round are like door men they inspect every minor detail then belittle you.If I can advise anyone please don't use even if you check the car first they will find something wrong,this must be where they make there money. (read more)
Written on: 10/01/2013 by sleinad1
When we picked up the vehicle it was raining and difficult to see every little mark on the vehicle. When the vehicle was returned after being looked after very well Thrifty claimed that we had damaged it.I questioned the allegation of damage and was shown two minor scratches near the rear wheel arch. The damage did not happen during the period we had it. Unfortunately, Thrifty disagreed and when you provide your credit card details its a licence for companies like this to charge your account... (read more)
Written on: 27/12/2012
Unlike other reviews I found this company excellent!! Quick pick up from airport to car hire - quick handover - nice new Volkswagen Polo, very clean - quick handback and return to airport!! No quibble about 800 euro refund on return. Very friendly staff who spoke good English!! Would definitely use again! (read more)
Written on: 17/12/2012
I used Thrifty in Sydney - Alexandra few weeks ago, When I returned the van I was never told that I need to pay for tolls as I expected those will be just debited from my card accordingly. However, 1 month later, I received two tolls of $5 each plus admin fee of $10 each, i.e. the tolls that costed total $10, they cost me now $30! If Thrifty told me I need to pay those myself, I was going to do that straight away and avoid admin fees. Anyhow, that is not all. My credit card was debited for... (read more)
Written on: 19/12/2012
I had A car on reservation for two weeks. with Thrifty Car Rental In Charleston, SC. Res # 234852474, conf # FQX3G5. I Checked on this vehicle 4 days before pickup and again the night before. I told the clerk where I was going and I needed a vehicle with the retractable rear seats for Snow Skis. She said this will be no problem. Where are you going I said Denver. She said you're good to go see you in the morning. Today I was told you can not have this vehicle as you are taking it out of the area.. It's hard for me to understand that after continuing to check on a vehicle that this is what your told the day of the pickup.. These people are complete ripoffs, idiots and extremely unprofessional.. I called Thrifty Corporate they told me there was nothing they could do as they are a franchise and they run their show the way they want..Avoid Thrifty or get screwed...
Written on: 14/12/2012
We rented a car through rentalcars.com which uses thrifty as one of their agents. On arrival at Amsterdam airport we went to the car rental section of the airport and were slightly worried that we got scammed as there wasn't even a sign up for thrifty. We decided to ask one of the girls at the Avis desk who in turn advised us that there was a shuttle bus outside which would get us to the rental place. Once outside there was a bus station but again there was not even a sign about thrifty... (read more)
Written on: 07/12/2012 by Jani123 (2 reviews written)
Landed in Calgary after a 9 hour flight which was delayed. Arrived at the desk where a single person sat fiddling with his phone. No lines. Waited a little to see if he would acknowledge me. Wanted me to buy their insurance even when I even showed it to them that I have already payed for additional insurance via the website. They were very intimidating saying very dangerous to drive without 'their insurance' told me breakdown will not be covered if I dont pay the extra right there?? asked... (read more)
Written on: 05/12/2012 by sammytowil15 (1 review written)
We Booked a car from an Arguscarhire.com using thrifty as the retailer. When booking online the price was reasonable and it went all great. We went to pick up the car from the Croydon retailer and the dissapointment started. First the lady who served us couldn't be bother with us treated us REALLY POORLY because we didn't booked directly with thrifty and she told us " you think that booking online it'll be cheaper than booking directly with us well you are wrong" she continue with the paper... (read more)
Written on: 02/12/2012
After renting the car at a location in downtown Toronto, I asked if I could drop the car off at Toronto airport. They replied that it would be an additional $30 CDN to which I paid. I used the car for 6 days and dropped it off - seemingly to an employee who knew nothing about the situation. He went into his office to check something and came back and we did an inspection. He didn't note anything was wrong at the time and since I had pre-paid everything at the downtown location I felt... (read more)
Written on: 28/11/2012
Rubbish company. Found out that the family brand name is Scot Group Ltd and they bought the master franchise for Dollar Thrifty in the US and now trading under the name Thrifty Car & Van Rental. Hidden charges galore. If you hire a car please don't damage it or else you will get excess charges galore and there all scam charges. with there connections to the motor trade they can repair there vehicles for cheap and falsify documents, convincingly to over charge the hire of there vehicles.... (read more)
Written on: 27/11/2012 by Cartye (1 review written)
My experience was with them in Boston USA, booked via Carhire 30000 in uk. I had made sure to pay for everything upfront so that I would have no other charges, as I had been warned to look out for these. When I arrived, I was presented with one of these electronic screens where you tick answers with a pen and then sign the screen. I was adamant to refuse all extras offered and as far as I was concerned I did. They then did a print out, folded it over and handed you the keys and you are... (read more)
Written on: 15/11/2012
Booked on moving day (Van)8.30 am to 5 pm ,When we arrived at Their Reading (Berkshire) Branch there computers crashed ,staff gave no feedback to the delay for nearly an hour,When we complained the staff became aggresive in their attitude ,So we decided to leave and find another vehicle hire company,Customer services now refuse to return our deposit but acknowlege their computers crashed ???" Rabbits had us on the road in 15 minutes ! Don,t trust Thrifty more hassle than its worth!! (read more)
Written on: 12/11/2012
we recently booked thrifty from the UK for our US trip to california, I found the search through this site, and it was cheapest, I emailed to request it was full costs minus tax, and they said yes, the quote was for the "wildcard" car basically you get the excess car left, no smaller than economy but marketed as possibly a far better car and cheaper by around 80 dollars on other quotes. As we were just a couple decided to take the risk. When we got to the airport after travelling 13 hours,... (read more)
Written on: 12/11/2012
Forget any savings. The hassle, horrendous staff attitude and the faulty GPS (which added60km to our trip), made for an unpleasant experience. And of course they are based 10 minutes from the airport. Shall happily pay the higher rental from Avis or other next time! (read more)
Written on: 10/11/2012
We will never rent from them again.Had the car for 12 hours. Returned the car in the same condition as when I rented it. They checked it over with me and said all was good. And then over a month later, we get a letter in the mail owing almost $800.00!! Cannot believe this! (read more)
Written on: 08/11/2012 by MPMtraveller
A bad experience from start to finish. Cheap car hire from Schiphol but it is easy to see why! They are so far from schiphol they should not be allowed to be advertised as an airport car hire company. The pick up point outside of the Sheraton hotel is NOT signposted anywhere and unless you have hired previously you literally take a guess where to stand. The pick up driver then proceeded to take his "mate" to his car before he attempted to drop us off at the car hire building. Not to mention... (read more)
Written on: 04/11/2012 by MargaretJuby
WE hired a vehicle from Thrifty from a branch near Freshwater in Australia. We were visiting my daughter for the birth of her first baby. When we collected the car we suffered the usual pushy sales person trying to get a further $550 from us to reduce our excess of $3500 which we refused. When we returned the vehicle, we were charged $550 for a scratch on the drivers side wheel arch which we are certain we didn't cause. When we questioned the amount for such a small scratch (around 2cm)... (read more)
Written on: 24/10/2012
they lure you in with nice cars on offer and cannot fulfil with the right cars. I got downgraded TWICE after ordering a BMW 3 series as wanted a spacious car for my kids and luggage. Ended up with a small honda civic! I was so mad - what is the point of offering categories when you end up with any old rubbish they have going spare. I was always told you get a free upgrade if they dont have your car free, but yet again a broken promise by this company. needless to say a complaint has... (read more)
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Timandespen's Comment
Written on: 29/03/2013
The same happened to me in Southampton. Do what I did and write to them asking for your money back, threaten to take them to small claims court and report them to the BVRLA (British Vehicle leasing association) who keep a file on the complaints. If you need their address for Thrifty and BVRLA contact me at timandespen@hotmail.com.