Thrifty Car Hire Ireland Reviews 

Car was clean, new and aligned with our booking (automatic with space for 4 suitcases). Service at Kerry Airport was quick, efficient and friendly at pick-up and drop-off. Very pleased. Would use again.

I bought car rental and insurance from booking.com for the total of £95.

When I turned up I was told that my insurance wasn't real and that I have to purchase Thrifty's "super insurance" with lots of additional extras, including driver baggage and wheel and glass protection.

None of the charges were adequately explained. When the €250 turned up on screen, I thought I was paying a comparable amount for insurance and a deposit. No, it was additional charges. This is probably my fault for not questioning it enough, but I was late for a wedding and felt under immense pressure to pay. The worker acted like all of this was obvious and that I should hurry up.

Then, we got in the car. While we were staring in shock at the receipt, the car started to roll backwards. The handbrake was pulled as high as it could possibly go, and yet we started rolling backwards. Worse, when we started driving, the brake would push in with way too much give until it hit a point where the brakes effectively slammed on. I'm a good driver — I have no idea how someone got the thing back to the car rental place in one piece.

Later, at the wedding I attended, I discovered that the exact same insurance scam had happened to another attendee. Then I went online to discover other similar horror stories.

I didn't think this type of con-artistry could happen in today's world, but here we are, at Thrifty in Dublin. In cohoots with Booking.com

Unlike many of the reviewers here, my experience with Thrifty at Dublin Airport was straightforward. I had booked through a broker, Zesty, and taken their additional insurance as it was significantly cheaper than I would have been charged at the hire desk. I car I got was a two year old Polo which was OK except that all the media was locked down so couldn't even listen to the radio. Pickup was quick and efficient. Returning the car was easy. The additional charges for motorway tolls and a half tank of petrol were what I expected.

The car was OK, pickup pretty smooth...

However, I've just received a notification from my credit card company that I've missed a payment as Thrifty charged me €20 at the end of the rental period without giving me any notification. It was full to the brim with petrol, having filled up at the nearest station; it was returned on time, and in perfect condition, as confirmed by the man at the drop off point. I have written to ask for an explanation and have not yet heard back.

Awful experience with Thrifty in Malaga airport.
Left the car back and we were then hit with a €200+ vat cleaning fee due to som bougainvillea petals that were left in the boot. Absolutely ridiculous. No response from anyone after we emailed a complaint.
Last time we will book here.
Don’t be fooled by the low price.

Used Thrifty for our car rental during our Switzerland trip. The car was provided by Hartz, in Zurich Airport. The process was smooth to take the key, but no one came with me to the car I had to find the car myself and took video of the car. All went well I returned the car on 5th day and asked at the drop off point if they need to inspect the car, they replied no. After few hours when I’m back in Ireland received an email stating that CHF440 was charged for damage. No report/photos of where was the damage, what kind of damage were provided. Since then I was in contact with them to provide me the report and photos for insurance claim purpose which they haven’t done so. I was in contact with booking.com as I rented the car through them. I’ve seen previous reviews that they charge damage without any mention of where or what was damaged.
I hope this review will be seen by the company management and also booking.com and the issue will be sorted.
At this stage I think this is a scam plot to take extra money from the customers. If you ever thinking of renting cars in Switzerland please take full cover insurance to get your money back and take video/photos (I have both) before and after you return the car. However I can not even claim insurance as I don't know where was the damage and there are sections where you have to mention the damage and report need to submitted for the claim.

This company is a scam!! Rented a car through booking.com and ended up with these guys. They charged €480.12 AFTER dropping back the car / having it inspected/ confirming everything was okay / confirming the deposit would be returned. Cannot get through to a single soul on the phone. Only get a glitchy chatbot that keeps shutting down mid convo. Have to get onto my bank to do a chargeback

At Kerry airport, I was charged for Superpremium emergency roadside cover(€56) and also Wheel Tyre and Glass Cover (€56) withhout being asked if I wanted it. According to their website, the latter is included in the €152 Supercover that I paid for. Even though I returned the car with a full tank, I have been charged €108 "Maximum Refuelling Price" plus €9.50 fuel service charge. I did have a receipt for the petrol but they weren't interested in seeing it. Because my flight was late landing, I (and several other people uin the same situation) gotcharged €30 for late collection (they had to stay open till around 8pm rather than usual 6.30pm). The actual total bill was nearly four times the headline rental price of €169 for 8 days rental.
Basically, they just try and take money off you whichever way they can and don't tell you what it's all for,

Have frequently rented from Thirfty / Hertz, South Loots Road, Dublin 4. I have only experienced excellent, friendly and professional service from Gabriel, Louise, Gary and their Team on every occasion. Very pleased as the location is a 15 minute walk from my home so really convenient.
Highly recommend.

I used this third party Service to book a car for the week while mine was in the garage. I got the car for half the price quoted by the Car company directly. It was the very same service - very same vehicle- but half the price.

Great service, seamless pick up and drop off. Our shuttle bus driver Paul was lovely - waited for us to be ready, good chat. Great experience overall - would use again!

⚠️⚠️THRIFTY CAR RENTAL DUBLIN⚠️⚠️picked up in Terminal.
I was told I had to get on a bus and go to the car compound after waiting nearly forty minutes the bus arrived and we got to the compound.

After we returned the car I explained there were no issues and that I had fueld the car up to full.
In the pouring rain I was handed a receipt for my hire which I put in my pocket.
Only whilst waiting over thirty minutes on the bus I checked the receipt which I noticed the extra charges.
10 euros for petrol
16:18 euros extra days hir
8:37 fuel service charge
Plus vat totaling 40:24.
All these charges are fraudulent and I am dealing with this through the credit card company.
I have proof I filled the car to full and also have proof that I was not late picking the vehicle up or dropping it off.
Also when I went back to complain he was saying the same thing to an American couple who also said that they had filled it up.
I believe this is a common practice by this company at dublin Airport.
My advice to anyone thinking of using this disgraceful company is don't!!!!!
But if you do keep proof of everything!!!!!
Also what they know is that we are in a time sensitive predicament my plane was leaving in less than two hours.
⚠️⚠️ ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED⚠️⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Avoid thrifty at all costs. They will make you pay a deposit of €2000 on a credit card and if you dont have that there are loads of hidden charges. I got charged over 500€ for a week and a halfs rental. No receipt, breakdown or sadisfaction on the phone. Avoid

Don't use this company!
After being asked to pay insurance on top of insurance coverage that we had already paid prior to leaving Australia, we had a couple of pretty significant problems.
First, the passenger side window would not go up so we were asked to travel (out of our way) to Kerry Airport, where they then sent us to a mechanic in a local town.
A few days later we received a notification, on the dash board of a engine start alarm. I rang the Dublin office and was told "don't worry about it, it's just a service advice".
When returning to our vehicle, in Cobn, the car would not start. I contacted the Dublin office again to be told to contact their Cork office to arrange roadside assistance.
on both occasions I asked "why am I doing all the work here" at which on the second occasion was hung up on.
Honestly.......DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

a terrible experience with Thrifty Car Rental in Alicante, Spain. When I booked online, the rental price was clearly shown as less than €300, and I paid this amount in advance.

However, when I arrived to collect the car, they refused to give it to me without charging an extra €600 simply because I had a debit card instead of a credit card. This requirement was never clearly stated during the booking process. I felt completely trapped and forced to pay.

In the end, I paid over €900 for a rental that was supposed to cost under €300. This is outrageous, misleading, and feels like a scam.

I will never use Thrifty again, and I strongly warn others to stay away from this company. Their business practices are dishonest and predatory.

I made a booking which felt suspiciously inexpensive so phoned the Dublin airport office and confirmed with a female employee, she said that my booking didn’t include insurance, but I have cover with my credit card. She advised me to have a statement from my insurer stating my cover, which I did. I asked her to confirm there were no further charges and she stated all I would pay was the rental charge of €41. When I arrived to collect my car, the first had a broken charger so I had to go all the way back into the airport to change the car. I was given a much older car, with 62k k on the clock. I’m not sure why I was given a less desirable car due to an issue that wasn’t my fault, and the gent on the desk didn’t even answer my question.

Then apparently I have to pay an extra €7 per day for NOT taking their insurance. I then had another €30 cross border fee, which is fine as I didn’t mention this when I phoned to check the price.

I returned the car and received a receipt for €126 total costs. Which feels astonishing when my original rental fee was €41. I’ve also been charged a €22.91 ‘location service charge’. I can’t seem to find any way to contact them to find out what this is.
Please be careful with these hidden costs, my price has multiplied by 3!

We had a horrible experience renting from this company. They insist on charging additional "junk" fees that are not part of the agreed upon rental contract. We were forced to pay excessive additional costs even after raising to their management that these were not in the rental contract. They employ bait and switch tactics where they state the price in the contract and paid for and then charge hundreds more when picking up the car. Based on our experience with this agency, we would recommend avoiding them. We have rented cars all over the world and have not had a worse experience than this agency. Thrifty needs to re-evaluate their business practices as this is disgusting!!!

A guy called Damian at Cork airport Thrifty car rental was unbelievably helpful.
We didn’t end up using Thrifty, but he went to huge trouble to help us locate our booking.
No question we’ll use Thrifty next time. He’s a great advocate for the company.

we had an extra charge debited 4 days after our return from Malaga. car was checked for milage and fuel on return , everything was good, full tank and no damages, now extra charges on my card and cant get in contact with them

Made a booking through Thrifty for a medium sized vehicle to be picked up from Kerry Airport. When I arrived I could see a sign for Thrifty but when I entered the 'Thrifty' office there was only a sign for Hertz...the operative said "we are Hertz" pointing at the sign on the wall and then asked for my name and booking ref. I should have known this was going to be a disastrous experience...and it was.

The personal service was unbelievably poor. They took £ from my card without telling me how much. No receipt issued. For a 2-week rental I should have paid around 350 Euros but they managed to get well over 700 euros from my account. No customer service worth talking about ... I could go on. SCAMMERS... STAY (FAR) AWAY from Thrifty, CarJet and Hertz. So upsetting and stressful, not to mention costly.