Thrifty - Bad Experience in DTW

I reserved an SUV at DTW, but when I arrived the shuttle, the driver told me that my car was ready on spot 12, which had a minivan, not a SUV.

I asked him why, and told me to go inside and find out. I went to the counter, and the attendant told me that I was being upgraded to a minivan since there were no more SUVs available. I told him that I didn't want a minivan, I wanted an SUV, or something with all-wheel drive. The reason I rented an SUV is due to the weather in Detroit.

He told me I could upgrade for $56 a day to a Durango. I said that I was given a Durango the past week. He said that it didn't matter, there are no other cars available, and the only way was to pay for an upgrade.

So I asked him if there were other cars available, he said no, everything will be an upgrade. At this point I started to get mad, seems that his only interest was to sell me an upgrade, as I asked him if I could downgrade and take a fullsize car and said that those were not available. I was ready to walk out the door and go to another rental company, so I asked to talk to the manager. Which he came in, and told me that they had a Cherokee just pulled in, and that I would get that car ASAP.


It's very disappointing that this time this location was only interested in selling me an outrageous upgrade.

I had good experience with them before, it's very disappointing what happened. I have 9 more months in this project, and I think I am moving to Budget instead

than I would have...anyone have any new codes? sams (10%) doesn't work in pdx, aaa does, but only worth 5%

You could just try reserving a Compact with Hertz and more than likely they would give you a SUV :D

I'll add that I had a similar experience with Thrifty -- Memorial Day weekend at Love Field in Dallas. Advance reservations for a mid-sized sedan. Even an e-mail from Thrifty the day before pick-up to remind me of the reservation. But, when I arrived at the Thrifty location, I was told that they were 'out of mid-sized' sedans. The only thing that they 'had' available for my reservation was a minivan. They had upgrades available, though, for about double my reservation price.

I last made a reservation with Thrifty, way back in 2004, at SAT. Exact same experience. No sedans available, only a minivan. Upgrades were available, then, too.

Amazing how I can rent, over the three-year period, close to seventy-five cars from Hertz, Avis, and Alamo without problem. But, two visits to Thrifty and two bait-and-switch routines.

Is it correct then to say that Thrifty has a higher proportion of minivans and if I want a minivan for a low price, I should rent from Thrifty? Or is there something wrong with their minivans?

If you want a minivan you would pay more for the privilege. If you want a midsize its a free "upgrade"!

Same thing happened to us at LAX in March. Booked a Mid-Size, was shown a Minivan. We refused and they finally gave us a full-size with the same price. However, when returning (only one day rental) the insurance jumped from $9 to $16 because of the car size changed. We decided not to take the crap and went inside to have it fixed.