THRIFTY: The Good and The Bad on my December Rental

[robinb]

I just returned from a 15 day trip to WDW and I rented from Thrifty. I booked an Economy car using the "AU02" for $79 per week (I think this code has since expired). I had to split my reservation into 2 sections since the code was only good for 5-10 day rentals and I was staying 15 days. Still, the savings was enough for me to drive back to the airport part way through my vacation to swap cars.

The Good
We were scheduled to arrive late and got in even later. I arrived at the Thrifty counter past midnight after a 10 minute shuttle ride. I got a great agent who didn't pressure me on any extra costs as he set me up with the car. He checked my return date which was only 1 week later and I told him I actually had 2 back-to-back rentals because of the code. He cheerfully extended my reservation to my actual return date at my same rate. No driving back to the airport! Whoo-Hoo! I was hoping to be upgraded to a bigger car since I was getting in so late and was very happy to see a silver Ford Taurus waiting for me in my assigned slot. I was lucky, but "your mileage may vary".

The car was very comfortable and roomy. All of our luggage easily fit in the huge trunk and I thought about how squished we would be in a much smaller car . I'm not sure I would take the chance on actually getting an Economy car the next time considering how much we ended up taking with us (1 24" rolling suitcase, 2 20" rolling suitcases, 1 kids rolling suitcase, 2 PC/electronics bags and a stroller).

The Bad
Everything was going great until I returned the car. The return agent went over the car with a fine toothed comb. She found a small ding near the door handle and a scrape on the bottom of the bumper. I didn't hit anything with the car. I have a convertible with very little clearance and I am used to being careful with the bumper and undercarriage. Since the damage was not marked on the original sign-out sheet, they made me fill out an accident report. I gave the car a quick once-over when I rented it, but I didn't see any damage in the dark. In fact, I was not aware of any damage until she pointed it out to me. I had the car for 15 days and never noticed a thing. Once I filled out the accident report it occurred to me that I should get a picture of the damage, but the car had already been whisked away and I was short on time. I saw another customer with a damage slip in his hand as I was waiting for the shuttle. Less than 10 cars were returned in the time I was there, so perhaps this is a money making opportunity for this Thrifty. {{sigh}} We'll see if they will try to charge me for a door ding and a curb scrape.

 

[LauraR]

Good luck with the ding and the scrape. I hope they don't charge you alot for them. I'm always alot more nervous driving rental cars because of the possibility of that happening. Let us know what happens!

 

[seashoreCM]

The advantage of most credit card rental collision protection programs is that they pay for what your own insurance policy does not, namely the deductible. The damage you describe looks small enough that your own rates won't go up.

Rented from Payless a few weeks ago, I myself went over the car "with a fine toothed comb" and marked off several miniscule items. The agent then told me they don't care about scratches, and dings "smaller than a quarter, only big dents" he said. I was surprised, after reading all the negative comments about second tier companies like Thrifty, Payless, and Alamo. No problems mentioned at return time.

I'll still inspect cars thoroughly regardless of what rental company.

More hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.htm

Rented from Thrifty twice (both times in Orlando!) this past August, no problems or hassles, they did not go over the car meticulously at return time.

 

[robinb]

Rented from Payless a few weeks ago, I myself went over the car "with a fine toothed comb" and marked off several miniscule items.
{snip}
Rented from Thrifty twice (both times in Orlando!) this past August, no problems or hassles, they did not go over the car meticulously at return time.

I rented from Thrifty in August and they didn't go over the car as meticulously as they did this time. If they had, I would have been far more careful with my "pre-flight" check. I usually go over the car carefully and have the agent add notes about existing damage. I did look at the car this time as well, but it was pretty dark, even under the lights.

I would say that the door ding was about the size of a quarter and the under bumper scrape much bigger, about a foot long. I have not heard anything from Thrify yet and it's been a week. No news is good news. Maybe they'll see I'm a frequent renter and that hitting me up for a ding or two is not in their best interest.

 

[dvc guy]

What a cash cow I rent from Hetz and National all the time and never have a problem. I never examine the car that close, just a quick look around.
It seems as if with the plastic bumpers on the new cars, everyone I rent is marked on the top from people dragging luggage in and out. I would NOT pay a dime. My guess is if you fight them they will back down .

 

[inkkognito]

I've gotten the "we don't care about small dings" lines from several of the companies. We take a photo just to be sure, but thankfully we've never had a problem. We just rented from Thrifty recently, and I was leery after reading this thread, but thankfully they didn't try to pull any tricks.
Barb