written by on 27/04/2023
Arrived in UK on April 2nd for a 22-day hire, having fully paid for the rental in advance. I thought for the time we had the car (22 days) the cost was fairly reasonable. Before they would release the car, I was required to pay an additional 330GBP bond which I was not told about in advance. Paid this and honestly the car was fine. Clean, as advertised, full tank etc. 100% no problems with the vehicle. Returned it, received the return email saying no extra damage and that it had a full tank and thought no more of it. 5 Days later find an extra unauthorized charge on my card (They had held onto my card details without my knowledge it appears) which the banks says is already processed so I need to chase sixt for a refund. Sixt have not told me what it is for and have not returned my bond or acknowledged they have it on their ''final invoice''. Would not recommend or use again.
written by naderhamz on 13/03/2022
Had booked a pickup from Faro Airport in Feb 2022. On arrival had a lengthy wait, the assistant persuaded us to take a car with a full tank of petrol which we were charged for, took this to hurry things up..very pushy. Returned the car half full, no issues with that. Found out they charged my card 104 euros anyway. On drop off they advised all was good and no charges, now I have to battle to get a refund, really annoying.. Car was OK. Be careful
written by SteveCastle on 27/10/2016
Kia Rio hired for 3 days, Cost £150.00 The most expensive small car hire I have ever had. On pick up the company want to take a deposit of £1200 from your credit or debit card. This can be reduced by paying a daily fee, which effectively pushes the daily rate from £27 to £50.00 Not a nice surprise. Pick up time for a pre-booked car was around 35 mins. On return to Belfast airport do not follow the hire car drop off signs. I ended up in the compound for Hertz and Eurocar and could not get out of the compound due to the barrier. Hertz and Euro staff were not helpful. Sixt got me out, thankfully, after 20 mins. Overall a taxi would have been cheaper for the 100km I drove over the 3 days. Friendly staff but overall too expensive. If visiting Belfast city take the bus, £10.50 return.
written by on 26/10/2016
My travel companions and myself were very disappointed in how our Sixt representative walked us through certain parts of the contract at pick up. First, regarding gas. Our rep asked how far we would be driving, so we told him our route. He said we most definitely would be using a whole tank of gas. So we agreed to the prepaid full tank option. In reality, we didn't even use a 1/2 a tank of gas. I am disappointed in how he seemed so knowledgeable and truly pushed us to chose the gas option, when it fact we would have been better off filling the car up ourselves. So, in an essence we overpaid on gas and wasted money (about 33 pounds over). Second, he again pushed us to get the CDW insurance on our car. Sure enough, we got a flat tire that I am now being charged for the damages. Most credit card companies, if you are using that card to pay for the rental, cover any damage costs to a car rental ONLY if you waive the CDW insurance. Our rep basically said we needed the CDW, so we added it to our contact at a cost of course. Now am paying completely out of pocket for replacing the tire since I cannot claim the cost with my credit card company. I would think that most rental companies know this about credit card companies and CDW. Overall, my travel companions and I (3 females) felt very pushed into choosing options on our rental by our rep (male). It the end these options up hurting us financially in the long run. I do not plan to use this company again for the time being. - Dissatisfied Customer from the US
written by ewMooney442 on 11/04/2016
didn't realize limited mileage on vehicle. prepayed for rental. after finding out about mileage (which was not clear prior to booking)tried to work out a deal or cancel booking. They would not work out a deal, nor would they refund. Poor Customer service. Completley not helpful. Got bounced around to 3 separate people and none of them were of any help. They have lost a Customer in me.
written by JustineKirk on 05/12/2015
Sixt rent a Car have very good technology, however have deplorable customer service. and are Very arrogant people. They asked me for my Sriving license (understandable), my Passposrt (Why as I am in my country), National Insurance number (I am renting a car not getting married to the place)! I asked them to cancel my reservation, really bad service. I seriousley do not know how they survive in this day and age, when everyone else tries thier best to give best service?
written by Collinsaz13 on 07/09/2015
I booked my car hire through Atlaschoice and hadn't heard of Sixt Car Hire previous to this occasion. I booked very early and was pleased with the price of the hire, I only wanted a 'Mini' sized vehicle as I was visiting friends. Having found the Sixt desk in Arrivals n Dublin Airport, I was not made to wait behind a couple of passengers who were deciding which vehicle they would want to hire and instead the staff at the desk said to go wait for the shuttle bus outside. This was good service however the slow service at the car hire depot meant that no time was saved overall. The shuttle bus came after 15 mins, many other car hire shuttles had come and gone at this point, and when I did get on the bus there was no windows at all because Sixt had decided that the brand name should be the whole van length and not thought about the comfort of its' passengers. If you get travel sick at all then you will know how uncomfortable it is not to be able to see the outside world. On arrival at the car hire depot, thankfully not too far away, there is an office building with a few Sixt desks and a tiny outdoor cabin which barely holds the 1 or 2 staff members inside. It was raining and many customers were waiting for their vehicles for 20-30 mins and had no shelter, customer comfort compromised again. The shuttle bus also only pulls up a few metres away so children and prams need to be tightly controlled otherwise it poses great risk. A proper waiting area should be provided. I had to go and sign for my vehicle and the staff inside the office were lovely although the combination of tight pencil skirts with a high slash and tall bar-stool style chairs makes for some slightly inappropriate thigh views! There were no more Mini cars so I was offered a free upgrade, which I was very pleased about as it was a diesel and wouldn't have cost anymore in fuel costs. It took another 15 minutes for my car to be ready as it was being cleaned. When I was given the keys, I did a once over and one of the front tyres looked almost bald. I asked a staff member to look at it and he said it was fine, I knew it wan't but by this point I had enough of waiting and just hoped I wouldn't be stopped and fined. I checked with friends on my trip and they said the tyre was definitely not legal. When I opened the door of the car I was hit by a very unpleasant odour which unfortunately lasted throughout the whole trip, I can only suggest it was a very cheap, musty cleaning fluid smell. The car had just been cleaned and the steering wheel and dash were slightly damp still however the real problem was that polish had fallen into the footwell of the car and made the carpet (no car mats were present) slippy and hence the soles of my shoes. This meant that when using my pedals for the first hour of my journey was very dangerous and I stopped to wipe the soles of my shoes a couple of times. Ridiculous. I have yet to receive a final email from Sixt acknowledging the return of their vehicle and toll charges to be taken from my card, I can only hope there is no hiccup there. I have hired many cars before and this is, by far, the most thoughtless car hire company I have used. I hope they up their game to match their competitive prices.
written by MyaMonahan on 20/04/2015
I recently rented 2 cars on 4/5/15, one in Atlanta and one in Knoxville. At the Atlanta service center I was specifically asked about insurance coverage and declined. At the Knoxville location insurance was never discussed. Unfortunately I did not review my contract carefully before signing and insurance was automatically added; for this I accept responsibility. Sixt, please note that customers are in a hurry, stressed and sometimes travelling under difficult circumstances. How about having the customer initial yes for insurance, not just when declining? I'm sure your agents are compensated on the total value of the rental contract, and it is in their best interest to not discuss insurance at all, in hopes that most customers will never notice until it is too late.
written by petedawson on 23/02/2015
I took a hire car for a two day period over the weekend. Having booked a Polo "or similar" I was disappointed when presented with a Corsa. I voiced my disappointment to the attendant assistant and described the Corsa as a spiteful, underpowered, back-breaking little car....they didn't try to find me any alternative but just said "tell me about it". When I pointed out that the tank wasn't full I was told "anything in the red line is considered as full. If you want to give it back with 7/8ths then that's fine". How do you do that when filing a car with petrol? How do you stop when you know when there's 7/8ths in there? Ridiculous. Seems to me that I've just paid for the fuel for a member of staff's personal use. The central console in the car was filthy, looked like it had been wiped over with an oily rag......and when driving into the sun the same could be said for the windscreen. On the plus side, there was a reasonable level of trim in the car, the radio worked well and it was reasonably priced.....main reason I used SIXT again was because I can walk there from my home.
written by MayraNelson80 on 04/11/2014
We pre-ordered a vehicle through Sixt's Palma de Mallorca office and arranged our own insurance in advance. When we collected the car we were asked whether we wanted insurance and we declined. We were given a receipt and the counter clerk pointed out the service number and that €150 was being taken as a precaution in case the tank was not full on return. We returned the car at the end of the holiday, with a full tank, and have since found that we have been charged €49 for insurance which Sixt claim we asked for at the counter. Absolute lies of course.
written by iuCarson215 on 13/08/2014
I have rented from Heathrow Terminal 5 twice over the last few months, both times I was not happy with the service, having booked online for pick up at 8am at terminal 5, I was told that they didn't have the group car there and that I could upgrade if I wanted to, no I wanted the car I booked a few weeks before online!! I had to wait about for half an hour, the car was dented a lot, but off I went. The second time I did the same thing booked on line same group car, got to terminal 5 , the car was ready this time, BUT it absolutely stunk of cigarette smoke, and had bad burn marks on both front seats....I had the car for over a week and the smell was unbearable, I was too fed up with the company to bother to say anything when I dropped it off, but both times I sent an email, with no reply , surprise! Then a month down the line, a charge had been taken off the credit card!! No idea what it was, no explanation, until I returned to the UK a few weeks after, a letter from the metropolitan police with regards to a " notice of intended prosecution" for speeding???? I accepted it and thought I will deal with it next week, when I looked at it the following week, I realised two things, I had not been in the area of alleged speeding nor was I in the UK at the time of the alleged offence!!!! This was the credit card charge that they had taken. When I called Sixt, as usual they were rude and obnoxious as they have been every time I have called them!! No help whatever . So I have to try and contact the police to get this rectified even though I am out of the country in a few days time!! I am so angry with this pathetic car hire company, this could cause someone else a great deal of stress and anxiety , as it is I know it wasn't me and it is just a pain in the backside to sort out, and I will be wanting money back from this awful company! Don't hire from them, pick another, I have not had problems with any of the other major companies at all over the years. Sixt, your staff need to be customer service trained, and you need to stop taking the **** out of your customers , especially when it comes to taking money for credit cards without ANY NOTIFICATION OR EXPLANTION!
written by deReid119 on 07/07/2014
I had to go to Paris from Amsterdam by train, due to a strike I had to find another solution at the last minute. I went to the airport and checked all the car rentals available, the one which had the best ratio quality/price was Sixt. I clearly asked if there would not have been surprises with respect to the final price written on the receipt that I signed, and the girl at the reception was super sure that no, there will not be surprises (the fuel was on me). A week later I was debted more money, and I called the costumer service. They told me that, for that car, only 200 km were included, that this was written in the contract, and that it was not possible to have a refund (despite this was not written on the document I signed) Now, Amsterdam-Paris by car is way more than 200 km, and since I am asking you for a car to go to Paris (she even gave me the address of the parking where I should have dropped it!) you should be clear on extra charges due to long routes, especially if asked. If I knew the total price, it would have been more convenient to book with another company
written by CeliaB on 26/06/2014
Hired a car to be collected at Yellow Storage Morden. Car arrived almost half an hour late for a one day hire. No telephone call to advise of tardy delivery. One 93 year old man kept waiting - traffic excuse was complete nonsense. Offered and given a refund. - they said £10 but it was £8.33 from Sixt and the rest was a reduction in the VAT charge. Tinge dishonest I think
Written on: 01/07/2014
Hi,
Sorry to see that your vehicle was late arriving to the Big Yellow.
My name's Jess and I work for Sixt Rent A Car. If you'd like to email me your reservation details I'll look into this for you.
Written on: 02/07/2014
I hired it from Big yellow collection in Morden on 15th June (probably the only hire that day from that location)- as I understand it, it was delivered from the Battersea depot. I have driven between Battersea and Wimbledon more times than I could count, including on that morning and there was no traffic problem so that is a lie. I had a mobile phone which Sixt were able to use to check I had dropped the car off the next day but they could not be arsed to use to inform me of the delay. I was taking a terminally ill 93 year old out to lunch and for a drive around London - the timing REALLY MATTERED! 'customer service' have already apologised and given the refund but I am appalled that anyone thinks a reduction of £10 equates to a refund of £10 from Sixt - absolutely appalled.
Written on: 02/07/2014
Hi, thanks for the info. I've managed to find your reservation, and I would like to express our sincerest apologies that you faced that kind of delay when under such delicate circumstances. I'm sorry to hear that the branch didn't contact you regarding the late vehicle, we have your phone number in the booking so you should have been contacted.
While it can't change what happened, I'd like you to know that I've now processed an extra refund of 20.00 GBP on top of your original discount. I hope that this can go someway to restoring your faith in Sixt.
Let me know if you need anything further.
written by on 03/11/2013
We rented a sixt for 22 days my wife had a health problem ..tried to contact them to drpo off the car earlier ...refused..kept 3oo eur deposit ...fabricated some chages Ex. Tires insurance...and not returned any money from the deposit ..compaired to othor companies ex. Avis were kind ..refunded immediatly ..not count little oil shortage in tank
written by on 07/09/2013
It seems like they knew where to look for the scratch that I didn't make. I wonder how many others were charged for the same damage. I asked for a picture and an invoice that it was fixed so another renter is not charged in this scan
Written on: 09/09/2013
As I said before, the woman asked if we wanted full insurance and I and the people with me said yes. Can you send me a picture of the damage to the car ( that the person checking the car knew where to look for it) and an invoice that you fixed the car. Also how many other people were charged for the same scratch. I will be in touch with the equivalent of the attorney general in my country. They can investigate and check how many times this charge was applied.
written by on 07/05/2013
We have made an online booking through rentals.com for a period of six days for a car in Manchester, UK. The only thing that was really disappointing was the customer service. The gentleman who handed over the car to us acted unprofessionally, maybe because we were foreigners? Initially he triad to provide us NOT with the car we have booked but with a smaller one. Eventually he changed his mind and agreed to give us the car that has been booked and was actually available and awaiting for us. Then he triad to persuade us buying the full tank of fuel although we made it clear upfront that we do not need such deal. Upon handing over the keys we were shown the parking lot where to find the car. There was no intention to accompany us over there and to have a look at the car, and no mention even about the type of the fuel the care was taking. We handed over the car as planned and the guy who took it over tried to make me sign that during the 6 days the car has been with us a small scratch (of a wheat grain size, caused most likely by the contact with a tiny pebble) has occurred. This was very annoying since that thing has been there for a long time! It was good though that he did not insist over me signing when he realised that I would refuse to do so for obvious reasons. While the car was fine and according to our needs, the service provided needs a lot of improvement. It was a pity to realise that actually this whole situation was the only negative part of our holiday. People handling the car hiring process must be professional and willing to do their job right. Also all customers, foreigners or not, must be entitled to the same standard of service and being treated fairly and correctly.
written by frolkenstein on 17/04/2013
Hello! We rented MB Viano in Sixt at Frankfurt Airport in the end of March 2013. Without any reservation we got car in Terminal 1. Fuel tank wasn't full. So we made a decision to fill it to the same level at last day. When we were leaving the car at Airport Sixt parking man that inspected the car said everything is ok. At the office they said that the fuel tank is not full, so we have to pay for it. We told that it had less fuel when we werу taking the car, but they couldn't do anything and told us to write e-mail. After e-mail they romised to check the fuel level before we took the car. After e-mail they wrote, that car has fuel consuption 12 l / 100 km and after calculating decided that we have filled not enough fuel. By the way! On the car on-board computer the consumption was 10.5 l / 100 km (using that calculation we did everything write). And they just didn't try to check how much fuel was in the car's tank after previous customer. By the way, they told we had to call them, when saw that there's not enough fuel in the tank. But we didn't know about that rule. So they think we had to fill on fuel, that we haven't use during car rental. So Sixt is realy expensive and can realy cheat you.
written by DougK on 05/02/2013
I booked a car online with SIxt in December for a fixed fee for munich airport and arranged everything as we were on a late flight.On arrival at the desk The man asked if we wanted extra insurnce,etc and we said NO!So he said sign the form and check your car and if OK go.We returned the car fine with no one from Sixt there.We later checked the credit card to find an extra 110 Euros on the bill for extra insurance!I"ve complained to no avail! This is the 2"nd time with Sixt, in 2010 I was charged 125 Euros for winter Tyres after We returned home (not asked for). I"ve rented cars all over the world since 1979 and this is the only firm that I"ve been ripped off in this time!In 2004 I rented at Nice Airport with Sixt (via Web Company)and later discovered 300 Euros deducted! We will never use SIXT again and do not Recommend them to anyone!
written by on 28/09/2012
SixtRental Car Service: their service is cheaper because their cars come with a long list of scratchs and other damages (one waits a long time to pick the car up because they have to list everything that is wrong with it before they hand you the keys). But it was returning the car that became the real nightmare. It took us more than an hour. First, because the guy was finicky about the 'full tank' on return. We had to drive to the nearest petrol station and pay exactly £1.30 to fill it to the top... When we returned he then spent a long time inspecting the car, looking for new damage. He found two tiny scratches that, according to him, weren't there before. I was infuriated. We have done nothing wrong with the car (we drove to Brighton and the car was parked in a car park until we came back to London) but it will be their word against ours. When we rented the car we were a bit worried to receive a car with a list of damages, but they were so insignificant we relaxed. Of course we had no time/patience to go to the whole list after having waited for almost 40 minutes there. Also, even if we had checked the whole list, we wouldnt be able to spot things that weren't listed, as we have no expertise for this kind of job. So, at the end, we will be sent a bill of something we will never know if we really were responsable for.
written by leedone on 14/08/2012
I have three items to complain about, all of which were very mis-leading from the time of making the booking to the time of collecting the vehicle and incurring extra charges as a result. 1) - I ordered a 4-5 door ford fiesta or "similar" / "best value vehicle" and got a 3 door fiat - it was explained that the ecnm code on the booking translates as "economy" which in turn means a 3 door ? 2) NO HIDDEN CHARGES - I was led to believe I was insured as part of the booking through thr 3rd party, however it transpires that the 3rd party broker insurance is not recognised by your company, unless you have an account which holds £1200 for the excess, you have to compulsory take out the car provider insurance. 3) "out of hours" - our flight was delayed and i made several phone calls to phone ahead to the 3rd party advise of the delay - there were no instructions for flight delay in the paperwork and the call handlers had no idea what to do, i was eventually given the direct number who in turn advised of a "out of hours" fee which was an additional £60. Surely there should be a contingincy for flight delay, this cannot be the first instance in niether yours or the 3rd party terms can I see any headline for "flight delay" - on the booking I gave the flight number. Had I not contacted them directly, they would of been closed I have been misled to beleive I was insured, and had no directive advice to follow a "flight delay" the sixt rep response to me "this is what you get for booking through a 3rd party, the day the 3rd parties are no longer in business, the better our lives would be" - this shocked me, why bite the hand that feeds you ? afterall, you were willing to accept the business. what I thought was a car rental for £92.21 was eventually a rental cost for £216.65 I would request someone takes a look at this situation, and the misleading or "breakdown of communication" between yourselves and the 3rd party (argus)
Written on: 15/08/2012
Hi Lee,
Can you send me the details?
[email protected]
I will do what I can to help.
Thanks
Gary
Written on: 15/08/2012
really appreciate the prompt reply, i will send you the details and thankful that you are willing to take a look at this situation.
many thanks
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Jessmason's Comment
Written on: 07/07/2014
Hi deReid119,
Sorry to hear that you weren't completely satisfied with your recent rental.
If you wish to discuss this further, please get in touch and I'll be happy to look into it for you.
Jess, Sixt UK.