Complaint Review: Thifty Rental Car

My wife and I arrived at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Airport's Thrifty Rental Car terminal on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 @ approximately 2:15 pm.

The counter person on duty and with whom we dealt identified himself as David.

Prior to our travel we contacted our credit card company and automobile insurance carrier. Both assured us we were covered for liability, comprehensive and collision and should waive all car rental “optional” coverages.

During checkout while reviewing Thrifty's rental agreement we noticed a $313.38 charge for Loss Damage Waiver which David said included collision coverage. We emphatically told him that we contacted our insurance company and credit card company and were assured we were completed covered.

David instructed us to:

1) Decline Collision Damage Waiver and

2) Decline Loss Damage Waiver;

3) Pay the extra fee for the waivers

While attempting to tell David this information he said four times he had Geico automobile insurance and it is required by Thrifty. Furthermore" he said some states require it and some don't.

Bottom line: We had to pay for the optional items; that is, Thrifty's Loss Damage Waiver" or not be allowed to rent from Thrifty.

We asked for a manager and were told none were available.

We learned there were no other rentals available from any of the other agencies at the airport;  hence, we reluctantly agreed to pay the waivers. In addition; we had an excellent package and did not want to lose  it. When our agent tacked on the additional options) we felt we had been scammed since it increased our package by $313.38; a sizable and unplanned sum.

What's more, after we rented the vehicle and arrived at our hotel we read through our
agreement and the agreement folder it was inserted into.

Two items stood out (see #1 and #2 next paragraph). Had we not waited more than two hours in the rental car terminal and been told by all agencies that no rentals were available without a reservation, we probably would have caught this. Actually, the agreement is not available until after it is printed out and the folder given after the agreement is printed out.

1. Printed on the inside of the folder Paragraph #4 and #5 it specifically states that..."You should  check with your own insurance carrier."; ... before deciding where to purchase LDW, you may wish to determine whether your own insurance affords you coverage ..."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

2. Printed on our agreement as "NEW MEXICO-OPTIONAL INSURANCE AND LOSS DAMAGE  WAIVER ("LDW")" ... Your personal motor vehicle insurance policy may already provide coverage for such claims".

The following morning we contacted “Connie” at Thrifty corporate (Specialty Department) Agent ID: 2710016 at 8:19 AM Central time and discussed our situation. She said it would be best to go directly to the counter where we rented our vehicle and have the charges removed. They couldn't be removed via telephone.

After Connie, I spoke with “Will’ in Sales Support at 9:41 AM Central Time the next day and requested he contact the rental car manager (Mary Ann) to explain our situation. He spoke to Mary Ann and told us she would be available until 5 pm to meet with us to remove the optional charges.

Fortunately for us the manager was available and instructed a male employee to remove the optional coverage(s) and re-issue a revised agreement for $603.45. She asserted we should not have been charged the optional waiver fees.

Before leaving, she offered us the opportunity to make a written statement regarding David's actions which I emailed to the manager. I never heard back that it was received or acted upon. No apology, nada.

I seriously doubt David, the Thrifty agent, is a Roque player. With all of the negative press online about rental car agency scams it isn’t a stretch to believe Thrifty may pay agents a bonus for signing up unsuspecting customers for optional waivers. The agreements and agreement folders clearly state customers are not required by Thrifty to pay for any waivers and should consult with their credit card and insurance company before purchasing Thrifty’ optional waivers. 

This appears to be a scam perpetrated upon travelers who have little recourse at the airport and/or their final destination to acquire a similar deal or possibly any car same day for that matter.

Three other issues with Thrifty's sales practices:

1. If your credit card fails to go through, they force you to wait 24 hrs. before re-running your card.

2. At our pickup location and our final drop off location we were not required to check off the car’s condition. No inspection was performed. I took ample photographs for our protection.

3. We order a mid-sized car; instead, we were forced to take compact car which David said was a mid-sized car.

I will forevermore think of Thrifty as Shifty Rental Car.