Originally Posted by braffy

These guys are still using this scam. The name of the Thrifty/Dollar agent in Germany is Terstappen. They practice questionable business practices -- if you google them you'll find hundreds of consumer complaints.

This past weekend in Frankfurt, we also thought we were booking through Thrifty, who we've never had a problem with in North America. Very similar to the poster above, we read the T&C (which said they would only accept insurance from US-issued Platinum Mastercards or Canadian issued Gold Visa cards) and so we took a letter from our credit card issuer (Platinum Mastercard from Barclays bank). Terstappen said that they wouldn't accept it, because the letter was from our credit card insurer, rather than from Mastercard itself. (I actually doubt that it is possible to get such a letter from Mastercard itself, since Mastercard doesn't provide the insurance benefits on our card). We had no choice but to pay for their exorbitant LDW (which doubled the cost of the rental). Anyway, Terstappen has clearly had this scam going for a long time, and we won't fall for it again. Hopefully the word gets out eventually and they won't be able to continue profiting through their deceptive business practices, abusing the good name of Thrifty/Dollar.