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Updated: 21 Jun 2022

Thrifty review

We survey thousands of real car hire customers to give you an independent, unbiased rating of Thrifty and let you compare it with 12 other car rental companies.

Guy Hobbs

Part of the Hertz group, low-cost provider Thrifty operates across the globe.

Which? verdict: While Thrifty has climbed the table a few places, there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

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: Thrifty (82)
Which? Recommended Provider	Customer score	Clarity of final hire cost	Customer service	Age, condition & mileage of car	Value for money
No	69%	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
We sampled 2,282 Which? members in January 2020, a further 843 in January 2021, and a further 657 in 2022. Sample size is in brackets. Customer score combines overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. A dash means not enough responses to calculate that category.

What's Thrifty like?

Thrifty has a mid-table customer score of 69%. You told us it deserved four stars for the fact its fleet of vehicles was in good condition and that you were satisfied with the process of returning the car, as well as for the clarity and satisfaction with the fuel policy.

One customer said: ‘There were no problems with any aspect of the hire. It was extremely easy collecting the car and returning it and staff were pleasant.’

But some of its category rankings are not quite so positive. Its three-star customer service proved a mixed bag. One customer reported being told that if they went over the drop-off time by a few minutes they’d be charged for a whole extra day.

The record of scratches seemed to be another issue for customers, with several reporting they had to ask staff to note down damage that hadn’t been picked up before driving off.

And most concerning of all, despite marketing itself as a budget brand, with a slightly lower cost per day than many rivals, it still only scored three stars out of five for value for money.

Should I book with Thrifty?

Book with Thrifty if you find a really good deal, but we think there are better car hire companies out there. Alamo was only slightly more expensive in our survey and has a much higher customer score. Find out which car hire companies Which? recommends.