Thrifty Reviews 

The car was in excellent condition and we didn't have any issue but I still wouldn't recommend renting from Hertz/Thrifty... We ve got baited by the prices advertised on the website, 47 euros per day for a Kia Picanto... But uppon arrival at the airport it was "strongly"recommended to pay an extra or 40 euros per day for the insurance ! Almost double the price, something that was never stated at any point in the reservation and definitely NOT how you expect to begin your vacation ...

Never again.

there is a reason why they have under 2 stars. Their cancellation policy is absurd. I suggest your try another car rental company that has a normal cancellation policy. Plus, expedia did a terrible job. It's almost impossible to get a person, only AI

The only reasons there is 1 star is because there is not an option for zero. Last two times renting from Thrifty they added "premium roadside service" to the price. I had to become a detective to have them remove it as they basically do not have a support function on the site to easily contact them. Finally had the charges removed. Both times car was dirty, smelled like cigarette smoke. Complained and received a small discount. People in the garage/parking area at Thrifty are awesome! Friendly!

**Deceptive Sales Tactics and Hidden Charges – Avoid at All Costs**

I am writing this review to warn other families traveling to Málaga about the predatory and deceitful car rental tactics used at this location. What was supposed to be a smooth family vacation started with a completely dishonest experience at the rental counter.

While processing our paperwork, the representative actively manipulated my attention to hide unnecessary add-ons. They deliberately pointed out secondary details on the documents—focusing on standard terms like breakdown coverage and basic vehicle info—to distract me from the inflated bottom line. Through this calculated sleight of hand, they quietly slipped expensive, redundant insurance fees onto the final bill without my explicit consent.

By the time I realized what had happened, hundreds of euros had been added for coverage we neither wanted nor needed. Diverting a customer's focus while signing a contract is outright scam behavior, especially when targeting families arriving after a long flight.

Check every single line item on the screen and paper before signing anything here, regardless of what the staff tells you to look at. I strongly recommend renting your vehicle elsewhere.

They told me they could get same day rental, they lied ! If there was ZERO STARS, I would have given them Zero

I would like to begin by acknowledging Thadius, the representative I spoke with at the Myrtle Beach airport location. His professionalism and assistance prevented this experience from being a one-star review; otherwise, it would have been significantly worse.

The issue arose when I was charged an additional $180 due to the location claiming I did not refuel the rental vehicle. I had to return the car early due to mechanical issues, which resulted in a fuel concern. Fortunately, I had a bank statement confirming that I had refilled the tank just prior to returning the vehicle. I understand that this was likely an honest mistake and that the mechanical problem was beyond the company's control.

However, where the experience fell short was with the customer service team. I first noticed the charge and contacted customer service on July 28, 2026. The representative informed me that he had sent a message to the location and that they would have 72 hours to respond via email, after which the charge would be reversed.

I followed up on August 5, 2026, allowing additional time, and spoke with a different representative named Hazel. She stated she did not have a record of my previous call and informed me I would need to wait another seven days for a response. Despite having a copy of the rental receipt in front of her, she was unable to identify or explain the additional charge. When I requested to speak with a supervisor, she refused and placed me on hold for 20 minutes, only to resume the conversation as if I had not requested escalation. She provided a case number, but when I asked why I was not transferred to a supervisor, she initially cited their busyness, then later claimed they were in a meeting.

Deciding to seek further assistance, I called again and was connected to a representative who, immediately upon hearing the reason for my call, hung up on me.

Regrettably, I will never rent from Thrifty again—not because of the initial error at the location, but because of the inadequate and unhelpful customer service I encountered when trying to resolve the issue.

My lessons from this experience are twofold: first, to always take a photo of the dashboard reading when refueling the vehicle upon return; and second, to avoid situations that require dealing with Thrifty’s customer service in the future.

⚠️ Car rental to avoid — Economybooking / Thrifty Seville ⚠️
I booked in good faith through Economybooking, only to be badly let down when picking up the vehicle at their partner Thrifty.
On site — not at the time of booking — I was informed of an abusive "fuel policy": a €150 deposit required for a prepaid full tank, AND a non-refundable €60 service fee, even if the car is returned with a full tank.
In other words, you pay for a service (the full tank) that you never actually use, with no reciprocity whatsoever.
This practice has in fact been flagged as abusive by the European Consumer Centre (ECC-Spain), since it charges customers for a service that is never actually rendered.
There was no transparency at the time of booking — everything is hidden in the fine print of the local contract.
I strongly advise against booking with Economybooking to rent from Thrifty: double- or even triple-check the fuel terms before signing on site, or simply avoid both companies altogether.
👎 #Economybooking #Thrifty #CarRental #Scam #Seville #ConsumerRights

The car itself was fine, but my experience at the Faro Airport desk was disappointing. I intended to return the car with a full tank, in line with the Full to Full fuel policy. However, the representative pointed to the 10% fuel discount promotion and told me, "Bring it back empty, it will be cheaper." Relying on that advice, I returned the car without refuelling.

I was then charged not only for the fuel but also a €49.20 refuelling service charge and a €6.89 airport service charge, neither of which had been explained to me. Had I been told about these charges, I would simply have refuelled the car myself.

My complaint is not about paying for the fuel I used, but about being given advice that turned out to be significantly more expensive because the additional charges were not disclosed.

Received a Mazda CX3 at Airlie Beach Hotel and key was faulty, was held together with sticky tape and they extracted a manual key from iside the key pad which was very diffucult and painful to use. Ended up with a blister. Ist attempt to contact Thrifty, all they did was blame Mazda and didnt leave their name as a reference and didn't address me by my name. Emailed "customer service" twice since January 20 and 2 weeks later, still no response. They don't care and are very rude. The Staff at Airlie beach were lovely but clearly don't get any support.

At the beginning, at the front desk at the airport we were explained everything crystal clear. The problem came once we were back from our trip. We got back less than fifteen days ago and we have already got 3 different charges- which we were due, obviously- with their 3 different administration fees each. so far we paid a lot on administration fees. I tried to reach them via email but got not answer. We hired our car in Norway and we were informed that all the tolls, ferries and some parkings will be charged on our card. We agreed on that. However, instead of waiting for a reasonable time to get all our expenses- I guess they have already some experienced on how it works on their own country- they keep sending us the invoices as they arrived with their administration fees, last one for 375,00 Krones. Whereas the parking was just 92.50 Krones. We ended up paying a total of 467,50 krones just because they charged us this amount for sending us the new invoice via email. I consider this administration fees abusive and quite unfair for having paid 3 different taxes only because the rental car company has not timed properly.

They look for any excuse to charge more money. Remember the receipt from the last refuel, even if the car is full and seemingly other insignificant obstacles so they can squeeze the lemon. Recently I had to have the car for an extra day (8 instead of 7). For that one day, they want 3x the price of the first 7 days. Rent a car 10-12 times a year - this was the last time ever with this company

Don’t EVER book with Thrifty! Waited over an hour at the Atlanta airport to get my car. Only 2 people working. Reps had super poor attitudes. 2 employees walked around doing absolutely nothing!!!! Super POOR customer service.

We arrived at the LAX airport for a short overnight visit. We needed a rental car and booked Thrifty in advance.
We had to wait 45 minutes for an agent to help us. There were only 4 agents and the rental agency that could easily had 10 agents. When we arrived at our car, it was obvious that it had not been washed for some time. Spots and bugs on the windshield were present. I sent a message to Thrifty to give them a chance to make it right. I have yet to hear back from them.

Booked a premium SUV over 6 months ago on arrival at LAX and a long flight from London arrived to the thrifty counter were 25 people was waiting to be seen. After about 1 hour wait I was told my booked premium SUV wasn’t available and if I would except a downgrade had no choice but to except our hotel was in Hollywood not far from airport we had tickets booked for universal studios next morning car wouldn’t start had to be towed back to LAX taking valuable time from my holiday and missing universal studios day out on arrival no apologies just gave me my original booked SUV I have always used ALAMO no issues but thought I would give thrifty a go never again it’s unbearable to wait in a que after a long flight then wait another hour while they find you a car then have to be towed back to the airport the next day the big issue is the waiting never had this issue before with other brands for that reason I won’t be using thrifty again best to pay there rivals higher car rental costs then go through this misery

Hired a car from Thrifty at Alicante airport. I declined the additional insurance and extra driver they try to sell you. However, Thrifty surreptitiously included a roadside assistance cover on the hire agreement. It wasn’t until after I returned the car and returned home that this additional cost was charged to my credit card. I have complained to Thrifty who have not responded, I went via the rental company and the credit card provider. Because I signed the rental agreement which sneakily included the roadside assistance and I never noticed it I cannot get a refund. Please be aware of these additional costs that the car hire companies seem to be adding without your knowledge.

They charged 200EUR for cleaning!! Car has some sand, usual amount for beach trips, not terrible at all. Also, staff on desk fooled me that part of payment will be returned after I drop the car. This never happened and i shouldn't have been trust staff wo reading papers..

Had to wait for over two hours for our rental car to be available. Delayed our trip and negatively impacted our plans. Poor communication as delay was initially attributed to car being moved to back lot, then staff break time, then became staff calling in ill. No offer to make up for inconvenience and impact to our Vancouver Island plans.

They tell you one thing but charge you for all sorts of other things later on, and they have no interest in resolving the issue afterwards. Avoid this rental company!

I've rented a car from Thrifty at Riga Airport four times over the past two years, and every experience has been a good one.

This time, I actually looked at other rental companies because Thrifty wasn't the cheapest option. In the end, I still chose them because I knew exactly what I was getting – and for me, that's worth paying extra.

The staff have always been friendly and helpful, the cars have been clean, modern, and in excellent condition, and everything has been straightforward from pickup to return. I've never had any hidden fees, unexpected charges, or unpleasant surprises.

I can only speak about my experience with this Thrifty location, but after four rentals, they've earned my trust. For me, a stress-free rental experience is worth more than saving a few euros.

I’m giving 1 star, and the only reason it isn’t zero is because the employee at the rental desk waited for us after our flight was delayed. He was friendly and helpful.

Everything else was an absolute rip-off.

Our rental for three weeks cost around €500, but because they refused to accept a Visa Debit card for the security deposit, we were forced to pay an additional €400 for their insurance. That almost doubled the total cost.

This felt like a hidden extra charge rather than a genuine choice. If you don’t have a traditional credit card, be prepared for extremely expensive add-ons.

I would never book with this company again and cannot recommend them.