By clicking a retailer link you consent to third-party cookies that track your onward journey. This enables W? to receive an affiliate commission if you make a purchase, which supports our mission to be the UK's consumer champion.
Thrifty car hire review
Guy is an award-winning travel writer with 20+ years' experience. He runs a crack team of researchers, unearthing everything from the best beaches to the worst car hire companies.
What is Thrifty?
Part of the Hertz group, low-cost provider Thrifty operates in more than 4,000 locations across the globe.
Which? verdict
Thrifty claims to cater to budget-conscious travellers, but its mediocre value-for-money rating and below-average overall score means you’re better off hiring with someone else.
Visit thrifty.com.
Thrifty customer ratings
If you want to see how Thrifty measures up against its rivals, read our best and worst car hire companies page.
| Car hire company | Which? Recommended Provider? | Overall score |
|---|---|---|
| Thrifty | No | 66% |
Overall score is a combination of the customer score (overall satisfaction and how likely people are to recommend the company) and our own expert analysis. Survey carried out in Feb/March 2026
What’s Thrifty like?
Thrifty claims to offer great prices, but it only scored three stars out of five on value for money in our survey. That could well be because customers ended up paying more than they’d bargained for when booking. One told us: ‘The cost of hire was more than double what I was led to expect. If I had had any expectation of the actual charges, I would have used another agency.’
This chimes with our expert assessment of the clarity of the final hire cost and transparency of T&Cs. It only scored an average three stars in both of these categories. We struggled to find mandatory age-related surcharges and additional driver costs in some territories, and we found additional mileage fees buried in the T&Cs.
Thrifty also scored just two stars out of five on ‘collection time’ in our survey. ‘It took two hours to fill in paperwork at the depot to collect a pre-booked vehicle,’ one customer told us.
Should I book with Thrifty?
Thrifty is cheap, but that doesn’t make it good value. You’ll find better budget options through a reputable broker such as Zest Car Rental.