Thrifty Car Rental

quite honestly the worst rental experience. There are no directions for the car rental and return procedure, leaving those with a first time rental here clueless as to what to do. Dont be baited from the low car rental /​day fee, its a trap. $ 10/​day for two days ended up costing $ 167 what?! Ridiculous.
Note: under 25 fee is $ 25 per day. They do not specifically say this online because it can «vary» but use this as a baseline for what they may charge you.
Would not recommend or rent here again.

I’m a Blue Chip member. My car was ready and I was able to get in and out as soon as I arrived. However, the car that I chose didn’t seemed to have been washed on the outside and the time it took to return the vehicle was very slow due to there being only one person with a checkout computer. After the trip I called customer service because I selected the prepaid gas option, but forgot and filled up before returning the car. Thrifty refunded the money without an issue. I recommend them and will rent again.

I rented a vehicle at Thrifty for 10 days. I was given a choice of 4 vehicles. The car was clean and I had no issues. Picking up and returning was easy and there were no over charges or «hidden» fees. I would use them again for sure!

Car rental places are tough places to deal with. I think the sales associates are probably asked to push the insurance and gas packages but I’ve learnt to also decline those so it’s always such an awkward battle there. We arrived late to the airport so we were the only ones waiting for the shuttle (probably helped our service experience). The lady driving the shuttle was very friendly and we made polite conversation about the weather. The check out process was very quick and the salesman didn’t push too hard when we said no to his offers. After we got to the hotel in the rental I quickly realized that I had left a poster tube somewhere between the airport and the hotel. we rushed back to Thrifty with pretty low hopes of recovery since they had closed at 12am and we got there around 12:10am. Fortunately the staff members were just leaving and I was able to flag down one of them to explain my situation. The lady driver recognized me, went to unlock the shuttle and found my poster for me! Thanks Thrifty for going out of your way to help us.

Flew into San Diego and picked up a car from Thrifty and rented it for 12 days at $ 8 per day. Dropped it off in Phoenix with no drop-​off charge for a total 12 day pre-​tax bill of less than $ 100. Can’t beat that.

Reserved online. Was in and out of the office and into a car within 10 minutes. There were plenty of full sized cars to choose from. The check out process was also fast.

Just simply the worst car rental exp. crammed and small shuttle vans that only run every 15 min, returning the car took for ever and no one seemed in charge or in control. I won’t rent there again and will gladly pay more for a better experience.

Shuttle arrived quickly at airport, and the lot was very close. I recommend signing up for their «Blue Chip» program (free) — you’ll get all of the paperwork done ahead of time and will not have to stand in line to get your rental car.
One note — shuttle back to airport dropped everyone, regardless of airline, at baggage return. It was quite a walk to get to the check in counter.

Best deals on great car rentals and Thrifty is in the lot across from the airport! Pay in advance and let them pick the car and you save big!

I always used the National green Aisle. But now I am a member of the Thrifty Blue Chip Club! Shuttled Quickly to the car lot. Being a blue chip member all forms were completed before I arrived. I was escorted out to pick the full sized car of my choice and away I went. 2 weeks later I returned the car, I was given a receipt that matched my estimated total, and was promptly shuttled to the airport. And the best part was I saved $ 250.00 on a two week rental by using Thrifty rather than National.
I have already reserved a car from Thrifty to next months trip to LA !

I have to say I was very leery about renting from Thrifty because of all the bad reviews. But I was very pleasantly surprised with the service in San Diego airport. The shuttle was there when I got off the plane and the first thing the driver asked was if there were any Blue Chip members. Do yourself a favor and take a couple of minutes and apply to be a Blue Chip member online! It’s very easy! I was taken right in when I arrived at the car rental facility and was treated great! No pressure to purchase more insurance and there were no hidden fees. I booked on Expedia and paid $ 86 for a week on a midsize car and was in and out of there in less than 5 minutes. Wonderful experience and will definitely use Thrifty the next time I’m in San Diego!

Even though our shuttle took a little longer than expected their customer service was excellent. We were having problems with our credit card and Eddie Sandoval went above and beyond to solve the issue and help us. I’ll definitely recommend getting your rental from here.

Damn, wish I would have checked these ratings before booking. Shame on me. Thrifty was naturally cheaper than other competitors (I almost always use Enterprise and should have) and given that my 6 day trip was already getting expensive, wanted to rent at a reasonable cost. The actual rate for the car wasn’t too bad — around $ 170 for a mini-​SUV for 6 days.
The expensive part was the insurance. Now Enterprise is usually 19.99 per day was so expecting something along those lines. Nope, the following charges for 6 days:
Loss Damage Waiver — $ 17.00 per day X 6 — $ 102.00
LIS — $ 13.99 per day X 6 — $ 83.94
Uninsured Motor Prct — $ 6.99 per day X 6 — $ 41.94
Other charges that weren’t advertised
Concession Fee Recovery — $ 37.86
Customer Facility Charge — $ 37.50
Tax — $ 12.06
Total — $ 315.30
When insurance is double the cost of the rental vehicle things are getting ridiculous. In the future I will just stick to using my credit card Travel Insurance and THRIFTY will never get my business again. Further, the mid-​SUV that we rented had squeaky brakes which went off all the time, plus the tires seemed worn out. Horrible.
As someone who works in Government (Politics), really think there should be some consumer protection in place — car companies should have to post all insurance rates on website at time of booking so consumer can make adequate purchase decision. Maybe time to write a few letters.

The service was horrible! The attendant that checked my car in was very nice, but had no clue what was going on and could not explain to my why I was charged a different amount from what I was quoted. Then when I went in to speak to someone else, the lady was rude and didn’t know what she was talking about either! I explained to her that I was already charged an amount and my bank verified the transaction. She vehemently denied that I was charged and couldn’t tell me whether I was going to be charged again for the difference I was quoted outside. It was a mess! I won’t be using thrifty again. Ever.

Front desk people are like snake oil salesman. Pushy (tying to hard sell insurance) and rude. Our car was junk — Tire pressure light went off randomly and fuel gage was faulty. We got charged $ 10 a gallon for gas we already filled!
No surprise these guys have 1.5 stars

I’m only leaving a star because I have to in order to leave a review but with all due respect this place is the worst place I have ever rented a car from. The employees are rude. They don’t try to help you out or explain the details. by the time we were done with the reservation the extra added fees were triple than the initial cost.
It’s honestly pathetic.

Good hardworking staff with out to lunch management!
We did find the shuttle was timely and driver nice. That is the end of the good news. Line to get car was terrible and the wait in the hot sun not lovely (though they did provide bottled water, which was kind). Then the car was not in stock (full size) nor was my brother’s SUV (we were on a family reunion vacation trip). He sucked up and took a monster pick up. We made a fuss and a full size materialized (from Hertz next door). Then we waited an addition 20 minutes to make it out of the gate. When we returned the car, they were so understaffed, they would not even inspect the scratch we had caused. When I complained to a counter agent about the wait to return cars, he wisely and kindly offered to get a manager but alas none was available. I so wish we had checked Unilocal!This may or may not be a local to San Diego problem but they have soured me on Thrifty for life. Unilocal,permitting, am hoping to upload photos of some of the abominable lines we waited in — at the desk — to get a car– to get out of the lot– to return the car!

Excellent customer service. We ordered on Hotwire without knowing who we were renting from. When we arrived, we were offered an upgrade at an amazing price. We were able to cruise around San Diego in a Red Mustang Convertible. Great service!

Shittiest rental agency in San Diego. The lines are consistently long, and I’ve had to come back to exchange the vehicle that I rented because the ignition system was malfunctioning. Don’t make the same mistake as me — just rent elsewhere.

A numbers game:
3 Avis, 3 National, 3 Hertz, 2 Enterprise plus 5 random shuttles passed before the Dollar Thrifty shuttle came to get us from airport arrivals
20 minutes standing in line to rent
+ 12 people still in front of me
+ 15 people behind me and more kept coming
+ 3 tired counter workers that work are nice and working hard… but. so. much. work.
+ 2 minutes of a hard sell for additional insurance
+ 3 times we had to say No thanks
+ 4 car line to get out of dodge
+ 1 open exit booth
+ 78 minutes ordeal all in to pick up our rental
= exasperation.
Thrifty makes me hate numbers games. I blame
and my deal hunter tendencies (cheapest is not always bestest).