It was not a disaster...yet. Redeemed 2 x $25 CS coupons here but the agent could not apply them to the contract and said a manager would do it. She got all huffy when I asked her to sign off that she took the 2 vouchers. I told her that there WAS A REASON why I had those 2 vouchers and that shut her up. Good, new and clean car though.

I've had excellent service from Thrifty at Salt Lake City. They always give me an upgrade when I ask.

The main reason I rent from big U.S. companies in strange places is that if something goes wrong I assume I can go to their corporate HQ to handle the situation rather than deal with someone in someplace that may not have a "customer's first" policy.

I had the nightmare scenario happen... you return a car with no damage, they even walk around the car with you and check you out... then, you get back to the states and there is a $145 extra charge on the bill from Thrifty in Cape Town... I protest, through Blue Chip and Thrifty HQ in OK, and I get some letter back about how because it is due to "damage" they can't get involved.

I even talk with someone in Blue Chip customer affairs who was assigned my case, but who tells me he can't help me.

So, I ate the $145... what am I going to do, it is their word against mine, and I am on the other side of the world.

So, while I like Thrifty here in the states, I'd say that the CPT location is avoid at all cost... and that goes for the Dollar location there, which is located at the same counter and run by the same people.

Oh, and now when I rent overseas, I take pictures of the car before I leave the lot and after I return.

My good Thrifty experiences (Blue Chip): FLL, DTW, LAS, DCA

I generally go thrifty because they are the lowest price (have to use low price for business travel).
CMH - At airport, never had an issue and they usually upgrade
IND - Off terminal. Usually upgrade, but not as fast as CMH
PIT - At airport, never had an issue and they usually upgrade
BWI - Off terminal (all rentals are) - At first they were unsure about processing blue chip, then after taking 5 minutes to review the contract, they gave me the car. A couple of rentals have been like that at BWI. Seems like a training issue.
PHX - They seem friendly and overworked. Contracts/pricing were wrong and took a while to fix. When checking in, they tried to overcharge because they recorded the wrong rental check out time.
SAT - Off terminal, but fast and friendly.
CVG - Off terminal, but very good. Returned later than I planned and they shuttled me right away without waiting for more people.

I have had some difficulty getting rewards credit, but an e-mail to bluechip has always fixed it.

Horrible experience in BOS. Bad experience in SAN. Never wanted to return to them, but just booked two weeks in PHX because they were nearly half what the others were...hopefully I won't be adding PHX to the list.

I will certainly be checking the others until my travel dates arrive, and if price comes down to close what I just booked -- I will be switching.

My experience:

YUL (Montreal) Good
YOW (Ottawa) Bad , offsite franchise operator
YYZ (Toronto) OK

I saw the title from the recent posts on the front page, and immediately thought about my rental earlier this week in New Orleans

*Shuttle took 20 minutes to come
*Phone "busy" when I called for shuttle
*Long wait inside for car
*rate was wrong
*car smelled like fish, but by this point I was almost late for my meeting
*on return, nobody outside to check in vehicles, so I went inside waited patiently for my turn at the counter at which point I was told that "ohh, you returnin? you gotta see the girl outside" (turns out she was nowhere to be found when I insisted he accompany me outside.
*shuttle bus driver refused to leave until "the bus got fuller"

Has anyone had any experience using Thrifty at any of the Los Angeles airports (LAX, ONT or SAN)?

Waited 90 minutes outside, followed by another half hour inside only to find out that the neon i had requested were no longer available. Clerk wasn't rude, but for some reason my information wouldn't take. So another 30 minutes at the desk. Finally get my car, a dodge charger. The lot is sorta small, the car isn't the smallest. I felt like austin powers trying to get the thing out.
RDU anyone? Im getting a car there in September.

Anyone with experience renting from Thrifty in Kona?

DCA - OK experience. Had a 6 a.m. reservation for a compact car. The shuttle picked me up at the Ritz hotel (my friend's apartment is next door ) and arrived at their location to be told they have no cars. They said the drivers out to get cars from Dollar down the street. I waited about 40 mts and was told I'm getting a full size car instead. Good thing I was not in a hurry so I gladly took the free upgrade in exchange of the 40 mts wait.

SEA - Another OK experience, just this past weekend. Had a reservation for a compact car and was told they ran out of the compact cars and upgraded me to midsize. Picked up a Chrysler Sebring and went to my hotel. After I drove the car to grab some late night snacks, I feel the car is totally uncomfortable for me. Beside having no power, with only 18K miles on the odometer, the car is just a complete POS. So before my 3 hrs drive to YVR the next morning, I decided to call in and try to get a different car. My choice was either Pontiac Vibe, PT Cruiser or Chevy Malibu. I was hoping to get the Vibe but someone took it while I was on my way to the location so I got the Malibu instead. Boy what a difference between the Sebring and the Malibu ^
In SEA location, the girl tried to be slick and asked me if I want the basic or full insurance coverage. I asked her for a third choice

be careful at SNA. had an incident where Thrifty tried to bill me for damages two months after the conclusion of the rental. the check-in person signed off and gave me a receipt, and then i got a letter in the mail demanding that I pay damages to the car, and even threatened to send it to a collection agency. the pictures that were sent were black and white and very blurry, and the damaged described was too obvious not to be noticed by the check-in person. it took over two months of phone call and letter writing for them demanding they explain the 'delay' in notification and better evidence of damage (better pictures) before they backed off. from that point on, I always make sure that the person who receives the returned car signed the 'damage assessment' paperwork that car rental companies have you mark on if there are damages when you receive the car. this way, i will always have evidence that someone at the company inspected the car upon return, and concluded that the condition is acceptable.

my Malibu had a damaged right front bumper when i picked it up. i x'd the area on the check list before i leave the lot. woudn't that be good enough in your defense?

though to be honest with ya, the lady at the gate didn't even verify the damage areas where i have marked on the checklist

the problem was that there was no damage on the car when I picked it up, nor was there damage when I returned the car, but Thrifty still wanted to claim that the damages occured during my rental period. I am sure that I didn't cause the damage (on the driver side door) because it would have been too obvious not to be noticed by myself or the return check-in person. my best guess is that another dropped-off car swiped the door later on while the car was waiting to be taken to for clean-up, and they decided to assign the damage to the last person who rented the car. which is why I always keep the damange check-list diagram (didn't before), and asked the return check-in person to sign and date it.

LAS is terrible....I've had my 2nd bad experience out there. No cars available the on the 1st time and I had to wait around for 20 minutes for a car, then it was a smoking car and got attitude when I asked for something else...My trip last weekend, I had poor customer service and an attitude from the desk agent. I'll stick with Avis in Vegas.