Thrifty - I would never rent with ThrXfty again

Due to business issue, I have travelled to Melbourne Australia and spent 2 days over there. I have rented a car with ThrXfty because it is slightly cheaper for 24 hours lease. I have had an inspection of the vehicle with one of the guy who washed the car (he did not wear any thrXfty uniform). He never mark any damage on the report and I have to point out everything by myself, which is very unprofessional. Unfortunately, I did not bend down and look at the underbody of the vehicle, this is how the nightmare begins.

I returned the car within 24hrs (just above a hundred KM), however, the rental consultant told me that there is a new underbody damage under the front bumper.

I am 100% sure that I am not related to that damage at all. They said it is obvious that it was caused by parking and the front bumper got hit by the edge of the road. I have done several parkings in that 24 hours but all of them are reverse parking. The damage/scratches looks like new but anything happened before 24 hours and within a few days could look like new. The damage on the front alloy rim looks like new either(I have marked on the report luckily) and I believe that it is related to the underbody damage that was caused by the previous driver.

I am very frustrated and not sure what should I do next. That rental consultant said they would give me a call once they have got a quote.

It is really a lesson and I suggest anyone who rent a car should take a camera or DV with you when you have your vehicle inspection before you rent the car. And of course, remember to bend down and have a look of the underbody.

Thank you for reading this article and it would be highly appreciated if someone could give me some advice on what should I do next to minimize the charges towards me.

Thank you.
George

My dad and I went to England and rented a car. When we went to pickup the car there was no one around. We looked for 15 minutes. Everyone had run off. The reason we had to look was the passenger side mirror was hanging off the car. So we took the car and left.

When we turned the car in they tried to ding us for the damage. I refused to pay so they gave me a notice of not cooperating. About six months later I got a notice of suit. I phoned up their office and explained what had happened and said I will not cooperate and I will deny any charges to my credit card. The person was very reasonable and said put it in a letter. I did and never heard anything else about it.

So, don't cave.

Good Luck,
Shane

Hi Shane,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I have received a quotation from thrXfty on last Wednesday and the rental consultant required me to give them a reply by the end of the day. The cost for respraying that tiny scratch (smaller than a palm and no dent at all) is approximately USD250. I have called the Consumer Affairs at Melbourne for assistance and the lady who answered my phone call could only show sympathy to what had happened on me. She told me that these companies always make money from these kind of incidents and I am just the the little fish who took the bait this time. Since I have signed the first vehicle inspection report, they could not do anything for me either.

I have called a few Bodywork Repair Shops at Melbourne myself and suprisingly the price quoted from these shops was just about USD150. (I believe that it would be cheaper if I could show them the car)

While I believe I would not be able to choose my own repairer without hiring the car again, I gave up and paid the USD250 they requested to get rid of these troubles.

On my credit card statement, it shows that they charged me AUD0.02 extra in order to round up the total (eg. 99.98=>100.00). They have not even notify me at all and it is different from our agreed value. I have hired cars with Hertz or Budget before and they never round up the total (eg. 99.98 is 99.98). What they charged is what they've mentioned on the quotation and they would not charge me for an extra penny.

Well, this is just another issue I could share with my friends and tell them to be really careful when dealing with the unethical companies.

Thanks.
George

If you pay they have won. It is that simple. The power you have is that you can dispute the charges and make it more difficult to get the money than it is worth. Once you give that up, well you have paid.

It really depends on either how much the $250 is worth to you or how much you want to stand on principle. Think about it. If you refuse to pay, what is their next step, court, never rent to you again, ..... ? None of these are easy. But talking you out of $250 on the phone is simple.

Good Luck,
Shane

FWIW, another scam rental companies like is to charge for repair of damage like this without ever repairing it.

well, after renting a Thrifty car in Costa Mesa for Labor Day weekend, I was once again reminded that one has to ASSume that Thrifty is gonna try to squeak some extra $$$ out of you:

* car not washed.
* bumper scratches not listed on rental form.
* gas tank half empty.

Two trips back to counter rectified that, but is kinda of a PIA about this car company.

Otoh, rates are relatively cheap, so guess this is part of the cost of doin' business.

This is no way to generate extra revenue. But I see a pattern here. I too have had the same lazy attitude about noting prior damage at pick up. The drop off inspection however is quite detailed.

I've used Thrifty numerous times at OAK, SNA, LAX, and ONT. I've generally been happy with my rentals.

I've rented from Thrifty dozens of times and have never had a problem, even when I returned a car with a flat tire.

Thrifty in Australia is very differently run than it is in the USA. There is no 100% deductable on insurance. There are still something like $500 nondeductable on all rentals.

Many years ago, when I rented a car with Thrifty in Sydney, I also had an accident not my fault as the truck in front of me decided to back up with a metal thing sticking out of the flatbed. It caused a huge gash on the hood.

There were no police around, and the driver of the truck just handed me HER license. I got the details down and gave to Thrifty and explained what happened.

Thrifty still took out something like $500 'deposit' while they investigated my claim. It took them a while to track down the driver who decided to change her story in the meanwhile, but Thrifty did explain to me that their investigators noticed that the way the gash on the hood had occurred there was no way I would have caused the accident.

Well to cut a long story short, they refunded my deposit - after 9 months! No apologies ...

Well, that's how things go there...

I've noticed that overseas rentals are strange like that. Thrifty in Sydney offered me two coverage options: decline LDW and have something like a $3,000 deductible (all damage over that was covered by them) or purchase LDW and reduce my deductible (aka excess, to them) to $300. Why on earth would I pay $30 per day to still pay $300? It just seems like a weird setup to me.

Here in the U.S., it's an all-or-nothing deal: decline it and the full value of the vehicle is on you; accept it and you can hand the keys to the agent and walk away. I like it that way. For me, the point of buying LDW is to avoid hassling with a claim with my insurance company and/or my credit card company. If I still have to submit a claim for that $300 deductible, I'm not avoiding the hassle and my insurance company will likely react the same way to a $300 hit as to a $3000 hit (i.e. raising my rates). Thanks, but I'll pass.

I think it may have something to do with laws in those countries, as I believe other agencies are the same way.

(Also, most overseas car rental agencies include third-party liability insurance. The U.S. is one of the few places where renters are completely responsible for third-party claims, and even then, some states here do require companies to provide at least state minimum liability insurance...)

Had a similar bad experience with them in both LAX and LHR (although many years apart). They do not seem to be trustworthy on the whole. What might start out to be cheaper, ends up to be alot of hassle.

I have generally saved money and had pretty good experiences with Thrifty...got one of their 300c's right now!