Landing from Denver to Dulles, I rented a car from Thrifty 01/03/25. It was snowing sideways there and I asked the guy at the Thrifty Service Counter if the car had All Season's on it. He said, "All Season's?", I said, "Yes, All Season Snow Tires... it's snowing pretty heavy out there!" He assured me the car was equipped for winter conditions. I go out to the car and from the sidewalls of the tires, the tread appears to be decent. I also noticed a couple of dents and large paint chips. So, I went back inside to inform them, and they gave me paperwork to fill out for pre-existing damage and told me to give a copy of the paperwork at the gate when leaving. So that was taken care of, I've rented enough cars to know to inspect it for damage first so they can't claim that you did it. Anyhow, on my third day of snow showers and consistent, unseasonable 14 degrees weather, I get the car stuck in less than 2" of snow while turning around in a parking lot. It was a Nissan Sentra, the front wheel drive was at about a 20% decline and I couldn't get enough traction to back the car out with dry pavement less than 10' behind me. I hopped out of the car and with the wheel turned, I could see that the front tires and then the back were completely bald. I mean, even on a summer day, you wouldn't want to be driving around with these tires. They were that bad. I tried using some snow melt, tried shoveling, tried placing an old rug underneath the tires. With 14 degrees and blowing wind, it was miserable. Called Thrifty Roadside Service and even though I told them the tires were completely bald, they told me that it would be a $200 fee for them to send a tow truck or I could use my own insurance. I refused to do either and told them they could send a new car to me with decent tires on it. They didn't have a car in Rockville, MD (where I was stuck) and wanted me to drive down to Silver Spring to replace my car, that no one could deliver a car to me. I'm a seasoned Colorado driver, there was no way I was going to pay for a tow to move the damn car less than 10'! Finally, met someone who had old rubber floor mats in their vehicle that they use just for getting unstuck, took about 20 attempts before I finally got the car backed out enough! Oh! And also, zero windshield washer fluid in the vehicle real nice for snowy weather! And I kept having to use the key fod manually because of low battery. And wouldn't one think that if Thrifty's Service Department hadn't noticed or done anything about these tires, I bet the brakes were well overdue for maintenance as well. Right now, I'm seeking legal advice concerning negligence, endangerment based upon consumer protection laws. Let alone that I spent one good day out of my 5 day trip just getting the car unstuck!

I was charged over $300 for car insurance, which I declined at the desk. I did not realize this charge was on rental when I signed the agreement. I rented the vehicle at MCO airport. I was tired from a long flight and was traveling with a family member in a wheelchair. The rental agent took advantage of this situation and put the charge hoping I would not notice. Other reviewers have commented on the predatory business practice of Thrifty, and I agree. The next morning, less than 24 hours after I rented the car, I noticed the charge. I called the 1- 800 number and was told the charge would be removed after the contract ended, since they now have a record of my call and disputing the charge, or I could return to the rental location and address the concern. I drove to the MCO airport rental location and arrived at 12 pm. I rented the car at 11:30 am the previous day. The agent told me they could not assist me with my problem, so I asked to speak with a manager. The agent called the manager, and I was told they are too busy to come and speak with me. I got the manager's email and sent them an email while I was at the agency. I waited an hour, and the manager has yet to come to speak with me. At the end of the rental contract, I called the 1-800# again. They told me they would investigate and call within 7 days- I waited- no return call. I called a second time- and was told they were still investigating. I called a third time- and I was told yes, we have all the notes from your initial phone call and documentation that the email was sent to the manager the next and video footage you returned to the agency- but they needed more time. I called a fourth time--now one month since the rental date. And was told, " our policy does not allow us to reimburse you". I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they took my phone number and told me a supervisor will call me within 24 hours- today is the fourth day and NO phone call. These business practices are unacceptable, and I advise everyone to stay away from Thrifty. I also noted another reviewer posted the same problem- the charger for insurance, however, they commented they were reimbursed after 4 phone calls. Obviously, they do reimburse people. Stay away from Thrifty do not give them our hard-earned money! Let these predatory, dishonest, unethical, misleading companies feel the impact of their many dissatisfied customers.

I rented my vehicle through Priceline which was prepaid and denied coverage. This was paid with my booking package and all I had to do was pick up the car. Upon arriving at the rental at IAH airport, my flight was late and arrived right before closing, 10PM, they close at 11PM. Thus, it was already a wasted day, and I didn't mind. The clerk at the counter was rushing since it was near closing time and inputted everything quickly and did not explain anything. I had to figure out later on how to pick up the car, where to drop off and who to call when needed. She asked if I wanted extra insurance coverage, I CLEARLY STATED NO, ONLY WHAT I BOOK AND PREPAID FOR. Then she handed me the paper slip and told me to sign here, sign here, sign here and grabbed the paper and told me to go to the parking lot. After everything I had charged on my credit card and when I called, they said I was charged for insurance and other fees. I told them I had declined these when I picked up the car and customer service said they are sorry and cannot do anything about it. I was charged an additional $307.45 USD ON TOP OF MY PREPAID CHARGED MADE WITH MY PACKAGE. Then there was a bunch of other charges made on my card which the company could not explain. There was charges two days after I returned the car for 138.34 CAD, in which I am still figuring out and had to put a dispute in with my bank. Customer service at Thrifty said they would email the location and i asked to have it emailed to me too for dispute, they never sent the email. Very unprofessional and no offer of compensation was made for this. This company is a scam and there are so many complaints online similar to my experience and clerks earn commission off of charging people insurance without them knowing. They charged me after I declined and scammed me into signing things without explaining and then started charging my credit card for other fees and no explanation.

Their response;
We apologize for any misunderstanding regarding the additional charges billed for the Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) and Liability Insurance Supplement (LIS) on your recent rental. Our records show that these services were accepted and signed for at the time of rental. As such, the benefits of these services were extended for the duration of your rental. As these charges were outlined on the rental contract, which was signed, they are considered valid and a refund not warranted. Please find a copy of your Signed Rental Agreement (SRA) attached. It is the customers responsibility to review the terms of this documentation, which a printed copy is provided in the rental sleeve, before departing the facility.
With this in mind, we must respectfully decline your request for a refund of the optional services as they were accepted and the benefit of the service provided for the duration of your rental. While we are unable to recreate a verbal conversation at the rental counter, we must base our decision on the rental contract. Due to this, we encourage all customers to review the printed and provided copy of the rental contract before leaving the rental facility.

We booked through Priceline for a Thrifty vehicle from the Phoenix Airport. Priceline's total was $325 (basically 4 days@$78/day, plus taxes and fees of $146). Later at the Thrifty counter we specifically told the clerk--twice-- we did NOT want its insurance. She agreed so we signed the rental agreement. She then gave us an "Estimate of Charges" for various items totaling $162 and explained that a $200 deposit would be charged on our credit card, with any balance returned to us. We checked to be sure there was no charge for insurance included among the items listed in the Estimate of Charges.
About 10 minutes before we later returned the vehicle to Thrifty, we filled up the gas tank. This is because the Estimate of Charges had warned, "You agree to replace fuel used or pay a refueling charge of $11.56 per gallon." The gas gauge registered "Full." The Thrifty parking lot attendant then thoroughly checked over the returned vehicle and saw the "Full" reading on the gauge. Another Thrifty employee at the return window told us to just leave the rental papers with them, and we would be e-mailed our receipt. We trusted them so we left for our flight.
SURPRISE! The receipt we later got showed Thrifty had charged us $511. This included "Fuel Purchase Option" of $96. But of course there had been no fuel to replace when we dropped it off.
We were also charged $167 for "Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW)" which apparently was for the insurance we had twice rejected. This item had not been listed with others on the Estimate of Charges, so Thrifty's own form (saying "the Estimate of Charges amends your Rental Agreement") confirmed that we declined its insurance when we picked up the vehicle.
We were also charged a "Concession Fee Recovery" (whatever that is) at 11.11% for $73.42 (while the Estimate of Charges showed only $44.08). (Obviously, as new charges appear unexpectedly, or when the original charges are increased over the Estimate, the 11.1 % charge on them must also produce an amount that exceeds the Estimate.) We were also now charged a "Road Tax" of $24.64 which, like others, had not been an item listed on the Estimate of Charges.
Finally, we were charged a "Tax" of $118 (at 15.60%), when the Estimate had been only $72. Again, when Thrifty's new charges appear unexpectedly on the bill, or when the original charges are increased, the 15.60% tax on them obviously will exceed the Estimate.
When we later called a Thrifty customer service representative, she gave no good explanations. Among other things, she said, "The rental agreement says you wanted the insurance" (failing or refusing to acknowledge that the Estimate of Charges says that it "amends your Rental Agreement"---and the Estimate does not list insurance as a charge. She also said we should now produce the receipt for the gas we bought days ago. She did say, however, that she would email the Phoenix Airport Thrifty rental agency and explain why we felt no gas should be charged. And that if successful, that charge would be taken off of our credit card. Three weeks later, that charge has not been taken off. Nor have we heard anything from Thrifty as to why.
We will never use Thrifty again.

My rental agreement number was *******. The vehicle rental was pre-paid on J*******901 through American Airlines Advantage through Cheaptickets.com itineary **************. On 10/30/2021 I noticed the 2020 Toyota Corolla had a low tire pressure appear on the dashboard. I pulled over to a 7-11/Exxon station to check the tire. It was losing air pressure and was flat. I noticed it had a nail in it. I changed the driver's side front tire with great difficulty as I am 73 years old. My son also came and tried to help. When he arrived that the right rear tire was also flat. We called Thrifty at Dulles Airport and with some difficulty a vehicle the request for a tow truck was made at 10/30/2021 8:30 PM for a tow by AAA at 7113 Sudley Road, Manassas, VA *******. The tow truck and driver did not show up until 1:00 AM on 10/31/2021. The tow truck driver could not deliver the vehicle to the Dulles Thrifty facility because no one would be in the booth to let him to the facility. The rental vehicle was not returned by the tow driver until 11/1/2021 at 10:45 AM. If you examine the rental contract I only put 45 miles on the vehicle. My wife and I flew to Dulles to visit our son in Manassas, VA and he provided my wife and I with transportation as our rental vehicle had two flat tires. I prepaid the rental vehicle $400 and was only able to use the vehicle two of the four days of the rental contract. When my wife and I initially picked up the vehicle I noticed a funny sound coming from the front of the vehicle but did not think of it because I thought Thrifty would not rent me a vehicle that is unsafe or that has an initial problem. One note is that Thrifty has charged me $127.65 for the tow truck charge. No apologies. No concern. No care. They never offered to bring another vehicle to me or reimburse my son for costs of time and mileage associated with helping my wife and I. I will finish by saying this. I WOULD NEVER RENT A VEHICLE FROM HERTZ/THRIFTY EVER AGAIN AND WILL TELL ALL MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES ABOUT THE TYPE OF SERVICE I RECEIVED AND A CORPORATION THAT RENTS DEFECTIVE RENTAL VEHICLES. AND TREATS ITS CUSTOMERS POORLY. INCIDENTALLY THE NAIL IN THE DRIVERS FRONT TIRE LOOKS LIKE IT HAD BEEN THERE FOR SOME TIME. THAT IS WHY YOU DESERVE LESS THAN ONE ON THE RENTAL EXPERIENCE. RENT FROM THEM AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

DO NOT RENT A VEHICLE FROM THRIFTY AT ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT! So this is how Thrifty treats their customers..."Customer Service" is clearly a foreign term and not a priority with this horrible company: Last week I rented a mid-size car through Thrifty at Orlando Airport for one week. Stood in line over 40 minutes to get the rental paperwork to go to the garage and get the car. I returned the vehicle in the same condition as it was when I took possession of it, upon return it was full of gas, no new damage and it was returned at the time specified in the rental agreement. I was directed by an employee which lane to pull into at the Thrifty return garage at Orlando Airport. I and several other customers in front of and behind me in the lane were all waiting our turn for the man with the computer to come down the lane and check us out. He told us all to "just leave the keys in the ignition and you can go." We all looked at each other slightly puzzled by his declaration, as I have never just left the car and walked off. Against my better judgement I followed his instructions, as did everyone else. I have now been home 6 days and I am still being charged daily for the rental I returned on May 4th. I was also being harassed with robo calls from Thrifty, threatening me that if I did not return the vehicle they would report me to the police. Don't bother, because I reported you. I since have had to block the number due to the incessant nature of these calls, multiple times each day. I have called the customer service line 7 times, and each time I was assured that they "just forgot to close out the rental- and it happens all the time." Each rep assured me they sent emails to the Orlando Airport location as well as "vehicle operations" to close out the rental, but I currently have 5 pending charges on my credit card from Thrifty, for each day since I returned the car. I was told each time I called that it takes 24-48 hours to close out the rental. It has now been six full days and I am still being charged. Until the harassing robo calls began, I would have never even known this had happened if I hadn't checked my credit card account online and discovered the pending charges. During the 7 phone calls, I asked on two occasions to speak with a supervisor. I was put on hold both times and a supervisor never came to the line to speak with me. The first time I was on hold for over 30 minutes, the second 15. I even called Hertz and spoke with the manager at a location I had a flawless previous rental with. Since Hertz owns thrifty I thought they may have some idea as to what I should do, since I could find no other phone numbers for the Orlando Airport location except the toll free number. I was told that everything has to go through the toll free number. Hertz actually checked on the rental and told me it hadn't been rented out again since I returned it. That's a screaming red flag and it was at that time I finally became downright angry. Hertz manager advised he would email the pm manager at the Airport location and ask him to close the rental. Again, it didn't happen. One rep said he would email the "vehicle operations" dept. and ask them to do it, but that didn't work either. Most of the cust. Service reps were nice, but were either powerless or just too apathetic to help me. The two that I asked to get a supervisor on the phone were rude and condescending and never honored my request. I asked the Hertz manager to call the back line number at Thrifty and ask them to take care of it while I waited on the phone. He said he couldn't because "they never answer the phone because they are so busy waiting on people." Now, since I have done everything possible to rectify this issue with ZERO assistance from Thrifty, I have been forced to file a formal complaint with the Orlando Police Dept. in case this vehicle is used in a crime. It's quite apparent to me (and confirmed by police) that the employees are running scams with the vehicles that are returned but purposely not checked in. It's been confirmed that there has been an ongoing problem with the employees using the returned vehicles to run side businesses, renting these vehicles out to people-after they are returned but not checked in. In some instances they are also using them, or loaning them to their criminal buddies, for their narcotics dealing business, the B&E's they commit or the drive bys they are involved in. If you look on goole reviews for Thrifty, you will see many complaints by renters who have been charged for gas after they return the vehicles full. This is most likely because these scammers are using the gas that is in the tank upon its return by the valid renter, and then returning it empty after they are finished using it. They are most likely also driving through toll locations and the last listed renter is being charged for the tolls long after they turn the vehicle in. Whomever at Thrifty corporate came up with the weak chain of custody system currently being used, should probably look for another line of work, because it's an epoch fail! It's obvious that corporate has no idea what's transpiring with their own vehicles, or they are making so much money off unsuspecting tourists they just don't care. I was told that sometimes the company doesn't know for weeks that a vehicle is even missing because there is no formal protocols when vehicles are returned. I have rented many vehicles from Enterprise and have never had even one slight problem with them. I made the mistake of using Thrifty this time because my credit card company was running a special offer. WHAT A MISTAKE! A formal report has now been filed with Orlando PD about this horrible experience and the still missing car. I fully expect that they will try to charge me for a tank of gas and tolls that I did not wrack up because I used my own EZ Pass and returned it full. In preparation for that nonsense, I included all my receipts and photos of the vehicle with my formal OPD complaint. Good luck to any of you who, after reading this review, still rent from this horrible company.

I prepurchased through a third party, picked up the car from Portland Airport for pickup on August 26th and returned it to the same location on August 29th.

Upon picking up my rental car I was asked if I wanted any additional services. I accepted the fuel service but declined the additional drivers and liability insurance. I specifically told the representative that I did not want additional insurance as the credit card which I used to purchase the reservation provides that. The representative acknowledged me and told me they would need to place a hold on my credit card for $320. I found this to be a lot considering I had prepurchased but the representative assured me it was normal and would be returned to me after I returned the vehicle and the fuel cost was deducted. At no point did they mention they had added insurance. They asked me to sign the signature pad to authorize the hold on my credit card. They did not mention that I was signing for the actual rental agreement to which the had added the liability insurance without my consent. Once I received my rental agreement the representative once again mentioned nothing about the insurance but did point out the agreed upon fuel service estimate. I looked at the paperwork but did not realize there was an additional item listed simply as "LIS" and with the representatives assurance I trusted everything was in order. I returned the car quickly and easily being told that I would receive a finalized receipt in a few days. It wasn't until the additional charge posted to my credit card that I became concerned. Still unaware of the additional and unwanted insurance added to my rental I had contacted the booking company to investigate the charge. I thought perhaps I was mistakenly double charged. Upon their investigation they informed me that the charge "LIS" was in fact for liability insurance. This was immediately concerning as I had explicitly refused this service. I contacted Thrifty customer service to further inquire about this and although the representative was polite they told that there was nothing that could be done for me. Very unfortunate. I did request to place a complaintwhich they did oblige me. I'm not sure what that actually accomplished.

Not only did this unduly increase my cost by nearly 60%, but I feel that I was mislead and cheated. This experience abused my trust and lacked transparency, and was unethical.

Lesson learned, I will very intentional not use thrifty in the future even if that means spending more money INTENTIONALLY with another company.

Definitely do NOT recommend

First, compared to a few of the other car rental companies out there, you can get a reasonable price when booked in advance like buying an airline ticket.

What is misleading, for example, the "Wildcard Program" rate that they are advertised to put you into a vehicle that you may a bigger vehicle is simply a joke in my experience, and please do not fall for this crap.
I've booked here with Thrifty, and Dollar the same company, and the same outcome. Only the smaller car is always available and may be one for two left at all times to choose from.

What they are not telling you is that you are better off just paying for what you want because your chance of a free-up upgrade is zero.
I was told on more than one occasion, that only compact tends to be available.

Additionally, depending on your travel plans, it would be better to take the return full option. After you drive off you realized that you paid about 50- 60 cents per gallon

Sadly, it seems many car rental rates have gotten so high, especially a few of the well-established ones, you may come out cheaper better buying a used car if you have time, register it when compared to some of these weekly rates.

Also, most of these companies are the same under one umbrella posing as separate companies and when you arrive, you realize that anyone can pretty much check you out. So are you getting a deal by skipping one and or sticking to the locality?

What has changed about 5 years later?...

"Increasingly, they were are worse than flying, because the vehicle is unavailable, with long lines." I gave them only 2 stars and this was four years ago. After a recent booking, I gave it an additional star in 2022.

You still need to exercise caution because the line is still very long.

Again and extended waiting than normal, but processing was much better than Pre-COVID-19. I also contacted reservation to inform them of the new arrival when my flight was delayed, one of the representatives said he had to cancel the reservation and rebook at a much higher price.

This is not my fault, and just the hours, not the day, had to be moved. It updated at the same rate after I requested a manager. I booked into a small car for considerably less, and upon arrival, they told several customers, including me that they would have to wait but could leave now in an upgraded SUV for an additional $50. Thank you, however, I would get one if I wanted one for less than a day in town. Strangely, after a couple of people declined, one became available in 30 minutes.

I understand that COVID-19 has caused several financial problems for many businesses, but if this is a tactic to increase sales, it won't affect someone like me who has been renting intermittently for more than 18 years, and will only book the type of vehicle as needed.

Overall, it wasn't too bad; just make sure to plan carefully and reserve in advance. I will book with them again. Hertz/Dollar -the same company