Complain about a product or service

Thrifty Car Rental

Bob of Toluca Lake, CA April 7, 2009

Bob of Toluca Lake CA (04/07/09)
Reserved a 7 seater van, was told when I arrived they did not have a 7 seater. They would substitute a 9 seater. I told them I did not want to bigger vehicle as it would use more fuel and space. They then said I had no choice as they did not have the car I reserved 3 months in advance. Then I was told since it was a 9 seater that I MUST buy the 30 Euro a day insurance, which I declined. then they demanded I leave a 2000 Euro deposit with my cc. I had no choice as I needed a car. I did not need a 9 seater with the extra costs.

The van looked as if it had problems as the spare tire tools were loose in the trunk. When I returned the car they checked it like I've never seen a company check. Underside, under hood, each tire, each window, details inside. Something they did not do when I picked up the car. Then the guy checking states the spare tire was stolen. It was obvious that the previous renter had taken the car out of Germany to France and by the tools they had tire problems and perhaps the spare was not put back. No one checked this when I picked up the car, who checks for the spare when you rent? On the contract it did not state it came with a spare. They then wanted to keep the 2000 Euros for the loss of a spare tire. I did not want a 9 seater from the start, thus I was forced to take a bigger, more expensive vehicle.

2000 Euros for a spare tire. I had a similar problem with them on another occasion, they have low prices but pressure you to buy unneeded insurance which your credit card often covers. They will bill you crazy fees for any minor ding, scratch, nick, even if it is considered normal wear and tear. They are OFF airport which means you need to take a shuttle, plus they have odd hours so if you have an early flight you will have problems dropping the car off.

Lois of Holliston, MA April 7, 2009

Lois of Holliston MA (04/07/09)
The following is the text of an email I sent Thrifty. This is one of three; I also sent one on one of their consumer complaint forms on-line, when I didn't receive a response, I sent this one, and subsequently, sent another to the name of someone I found at corporate headquarters. I did not receive a response to any.

I am writing in response to a letter I recently received from Seymour Tiger, Operations Administration of Thrifty Car Rental regarding a rental I had in Florida from 12/7-13. This letter informed me of a 25 charge to my credit card as a result of a 50 cent toll that was allegedly not paid during the rental period. This is absolutely false, as my colleague and I paid this toll, in cash, as 2 quarters, directly to a tollbooth attendant. If we had not paid, I don't know how we would have been able to proceed through the booth.

In addition, I am frustrated by other aspects of the rental experience. I initially requested a compact or economy car (I'm not sure which, but I imagine it's in your records, as I reserved on-line). After waiting in line for an inordinately long time in Orlando, the rental agent convinced me to upgrade the car class by telling me that in addition to having more amenities on the car, I would be able to have my colleague as an additional driver without incurring charges for this. He specifically remembers her saying this as well. While I realize I reflected my understanding of this by initialing the appropriate place on the agreement, that is definitely contradictory to her explanation, and very frustrating.

We were only traveling together for a portion of the week, and I certainly would not have paid 9.99/day for an additional driver for an entire week had I understood that to be the case. It also appears that I was charged for an extra day on this weekly rental (12.34), when I only had the rental for 7 days, and in fact returned it in the morning of the seventh day. This whole experience was frustrated, culminating in the 25 charge for failure to pay a toll which was definitely paid. I am very disappointed with customer service.

Extra charges. 25 for a toll that we paid, plus the extra 9.99/day for an additional driver, which I was told I would not incur if I upgraded the car class.

Mary of Springfield, IL April 4, 2009

Mary of Springfield IL (04/04/09)
I rented a van for a week from Thrifty car rental to attend my daughters graduation from basic at Lackland AFB. During the time we had the van we evidently at some point unbeknownst to us were on a toll road at some point. We found this out when we received a notice today from Thrifty car rental that they have already charged my credit card for the 70 cents for the toll plus a 25.00 violation admin fee that was assessed for a total of 25.70. We never came to a toll booth so I don't know how we could even owe a toll?

25.00 violation admin fee for a 70 cent toll that we didn't even know we owed. We would have paid if we had know we owed it.

Bert of Columbus, OH March 17, 2009

Bert of Columbus OH (03/17/09)
Arriving at Boston Logan, we waited nearly 25 minutes for the Thrifty shuttle. When we called Thrifty's location at Logan (which is way off the airport grounds) we were told that they had five buses circulating and that we had missed the bus. When I told the Thrifty employee that there were three of us that had been waiting for 25 minutes and that no Thrifty shuttle had come through in all that time, he again insisted that all three of us were wrong. He then made a radio call in the background and a Thrifty shuttle magically appeared.

HOWEVER when we got to the rental location, our agent Juan went out of his way to start slapping on all sorts of charges and fees. Even though we are married, Juan was going to charge an additional 10 a day for the second adult driver (Budget does not charge this fee if you are married). The best was the rental car insurance - Juan didn't ask us which one we wanted (if you already have auto insurance, you don't need their insurance), he informed us that we were going to pick one of their plans. So We said we didn't want it. He said that we would be liable for damages. We said our auto insurance would cover us. He said that it wouldn't. We said it would. He said it wouldn't cover the deductible. We said we knew this and we still didn't want their insurance.

Then he dropped the mother of all lies: if we didn't take their insurance, and there was a wreck, Thrifty was going to bill us for each day the car was out of commission getting fixed. Now I have been renting cars for 26 years from a variety of companies and this simply isn't done. They could keep the car out of service for a year and bill us while they fix it? We demanded our ID's back and took the shttle back to Logan. We called National Rental Car, got a car from them. The daily rate was bit higher, but they are a no [lie] company, and no hard pressure sales. I have contacted Thrifty and demanded an answer.

Rental car companies should be forced by law to disclose to their customers in writing that their rental insurance is voluntary, AND they must disclose what percentage of the insurance fee is paid to the agents as commissionable sales. Plus I want Juan retrained on his cutsmoer service skills.

Doretha of Nashville, TN February 17, 2009

I purchased a vehicle from Thrifty Auto Sales the end of December 2008. It was a 2007 Chrysler Sebring. I was told that I was approved and Drive Financial would call me to verify some information. Drive Financial called me for an interview and they went through an inventory list regarding the vehicle. They listed information that was not on the vehicle such as: leather seats, satellite radio and moonroof. I informed her that I did not have that type of equipment on the vehicle.

I received a call from Thrifty after a few days informing me to come to the dealership. They took the gray Sebring from me and said I will have to take the white Sebring because I did not tell Drive Financial lies about the false equipment that was on the vehicle. The white Sebring was given to me without test driving it. I also paid 1500 down on the vehicle and Thrifty has not refunded the money. I informed Drive Financial that the car is a lemon and I wanted to know what was the procedure to breaching the contract under lemon law. Drive Financial informed me to take the car back to the dealership (Thrifty Auto Sales).

I called Drive Financial twice to make sure the Supervisors were telling me the correct information. Both supervisors told me the same information. I returned the car to Thrifty Auto Sales on February 16, 2009. The Manager at Thrifty raised his voice and told me that it was my car and take the keys back. I could not reason with him he yelled at the top of his lungs at me and I walked out of his office along with my daughter and a friend of mine. The threw the keys and almost hit my daugther. The manager was very unprofessional and I feared the worst.

Steven of Kaneohe, HI February 16, 2009

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