Thrifty Car Rental

Spend the money and go somewhere else. Their employees are extremely rude, don’t know the policies and you will be waiting forever.

SIMPLY THE WORST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!
I rented a car from here, and it was an absolute lemon. The engine was messed up, it leaked gas (over half a tank in under an hour). I ended up needing to trade it in during my trip, which took me an hour and a half out of my way. This does not count the time lost when Thrifty directed me to another location to trade it in, only to discover that the location had been closed (another 45 minutes out of my way).
When I returned the car there was no manager there to discuss a refund/​credit with, so I was advised by Thrifty customer service to return the car but NOT to sign to close the contract, and that the manager would contact me soon. But then I never heard from a manager, and started receiving phone calls that because my contract wasn’t closed out that I would be charged for keeping the car, even though I had returned it and was just following the instructions of Thrifty customer service.
When I called Thrifty customer service to sort this out I was transferred 7 times between departments, for a total call time of over an hour and 15 minutes, and nobody could address my situation, kept saying it was a different department’s responsibility.
In the end I will need to waste even more time and money traveling back to the location in order to close out the contract in order to not be charged for extra days.
So the total amount I’m out: $ 20 in extra gas from the lemon car, and the extra driving; 2.5 hours extra driving time; $ 25 and over an hour in getting to and from the Thrifty office a second time to close the contract. All of this because I was given a broken car, followed the mistaken instructions of Thrifty customer service (first to switch out the car at a location that had been closed, and then to not close out the contract when I returned it until speaking to a manager).
Needless to say I will never rent from Thrifty (or Dollar or Hertz, it’s parent companies) ever again. It may seem like a good deal when you book, but it’s the worst ever.
PS. Three signs of a terrible company — 1) there is no phone number to contact the branch directly; 2) the manager leaves before the employees at night; 3) they have terrible Unilocal reviews which they don’t even bother replying to, let along improving upon.

Worst place ever! Moronic staff and wacky policies I.e. If you’re not there within 30minutes of your rezzie then they cancel it?! I waited 40mins to get my car. It’s a complete mess and the car was dirty.

Absolutely worst experience ever. First they rented me a car and I had to wait two hours to get it. Then they talked me into an overpriced $ 21 ez pass but when I went through the ezpass I realized they didnt put it in the car. Told me the tolls on the bridge would be $ 17 but thats not how much they are.
So I went through ez pass as I had no choice and probably got a ticket. Then they told me I could drop the car off after hours and put the keys in the drop box no problem. Woman on the phone told me this. Not true. I get there and the guy standing there says sorry too late. I call thrifty. They are clueless. It’s midnight and I have a very tired ten year old in the back. They told me I could either sit there on the street and wait seven hours until they open or go to laguardia airport and drop it off there. $ 30 cab ride home of course. So I said no way and put it in a garage, which cost me $ 35 for the night (so much for being «thrifty»).
How can they accept reservations and take money but have us have to wait over an hour for them to pull-​up w a car on the street. And if you had a problem w the car you can wait another two hours for another. No mention of the ez pass when they handed over the car for me but it was on the rental agreement. Unbelievable awful experience. Can’t believe they do this for a living every day.
They didnt even have seats for people to wait for their cars. Had to spill out and stand on the sidewalk watching the people yell back and forth to each other across the street. Everyone standing around w little kids for two hours with nothing for them to do. Couldn’t even take them to get something to eat because they had no idea when to tell you to be back to get your car. They just kept saying they are coming from the east side. (Of what? Iceland?) No one seemed to know anything and it was bedlam. I’m going to zipcar from now on. This place is a joke. So not worth it.

They only get a star because the waiting area has air conditioning. Slow, confused man running the counter. Despite having made a reservation, no car was available. That went for at least six more people at the counter. Counter guy argues with other staff getting cars. Who has the key? Is the car ready? Then, with a huge line, wants to take time to explain tourist attractions to customers. Don’t rent from here!

I don’t recall the last time I’ve waited so long to rent a car. The man ringing up the person in front of me took 30 minutes to get through the process for ONE vehicle. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry at all while people waited patiently behind him. The next person took just about as long. One hour to get to me, the third person in line! To make it worse, the other attendant refused to check anyone else in. He decided to stand outside and listen to the radio of the rental car waiting for the first person in line. Avoid this location like the plague!

Staff was very helpful when we picked up the car but when we brought it back everything changed. They had several employees standing in the street looking at returning cars to find dents. We were told to go into the office and file an accident report even though we had not been in an accident and the small dent was there when we picked up the car. THIS IS A SCAM!
There was a long line. so we didn’t stay to file the report. When we got the bill in the mail –there was no charge or mention of an accident. I think that if we had waited in line to discuss this, they would have made it appear that we had damaged the car.
We will never rent from them again.

Do not take the easy pass instead of you are going to travel far. It’s cheap but be careful because they are going to try to scam you at every opportunity they have

As others have mentioned, Thrifty generally has by far the best prices in the neighborhood and that’s mainly what brings us back to this location, but aside from the fact that it can be glacially slow to pick up the car, we don’t have many complaints. We’ve rented from here about a dozen times, often for driving trips to Canada, but even for weekend day trips when Zipcar gets too pricey. The office closes late (10pm even on Sunday) so it’s fine to pick up the car in the morning and return it without having to park it overnight. Their online rates are tough to beat unless you want to head out to the airport.
The guys that work there have always been pleasant to us. They don’t seem too stressed about scratches to the car — they wave us off whenever we mention them, although I’ve seen them offer to put notes on the customer’s file when people insist. The cars are generally decent. The last trip, we booked a compact and got a Prius which, in addition to saving us a pretty penny on gas, had cruise control, a USB port, and power everything we needed. Before that, we rented a mid-​size and got a Camry with pretty much the same features. The only dud I can recall getting was a Kia Mini-​SUV which had terrible pickup.
My one big complaint (aside from the slow check in process) is that the last time we dropped off the car, my husband left something in it and we couldn’t find a direct number to the office. He left while I was on hold with their corporate line and walked the 12 blocks before I could get through. Pretty inefficient.
Speaking of inefficient, I’d say to budget at least 1 hour when picking up the car on a Friday or Saturday morning. That’s our usual wait, even if there are only 2 people ahead of us. I find car rental pick up inexplicably slow in general, but here, there’s usually only one person doing check-​ins, and there’s always someone ahead of us who needs all the insurance packages explained…
But overall, good prices, decent cars, and nice guys. We’ll keep coming back.

Worst customer service of my life.
Called to confirm I could return the car until 10pm– said yes. I arrived to return the car and it was closed with a sign saying they closed at 3pm (it was New Year’s Day). Customer service sent me a different garage where I could return it to the garage even if the rental car location was closed. I went there, they were closed (was told they would be open) and was charged out of pocket for parking the car because there were no more spaces for rental returns.
Then I called to get a refund for the parking and get a credit for the aggravation they put me through. I was told after calling 4 days in a row that they weren’t able to close it because they couldn’t reach anyone at the location where it was returned. I went down there in person and finally they were able to close it out and credit me for the garage.
Then when I called customer service to ask for additional credit to make it right for the hours I’ve spent dealing with this, Sean essentially told me that he would rather lose me as a customer than do anything for me.
This is where customer service goes to die. Go to Hertz or Avis– anywhere else is worth it even if it’s more money.

Clearly the Thrifty headquarters and this Thrifty don’t communicate. When we called to make a reservation they said they would waive a fee and also accept a coupon I had. When we arrived at the Thrifty location no one knew what we were talking about, everything I said they said «we can’t do that.» I have had a much better customer service experience with Enterprise.

Apparently this place doesn’t support military since they were completely unaware of the sailors and soldiers act. They also are unaware that might active duty military ID suffices as validation for my expired drivers license. Very rude and poor service. Thanks Thrifty.

NATIONALLY/​INTERNATIONALLY STAY AWAY! Wow I wish I would have read the reviews prior. The company as a whole has a policy to charge $ 15 per gallon of gas that they have to put in your return car. This was by far the worse company I have dealt with in a very long time. The customer service person raised her voice when I phoned the USA toll free number and refused to let me finish only repeating herself that all my challenges with the company (the car broke down) was company policy.

I had a very nice experience with Raphael who took me through the whole process of renting from start to finish, as I was a walk-​in. He answered all my questions and ultimately I got a brand new car that I was very happy with. It is recommended to make an online RSVP first to get a better rate, and also (mon-​wed) is cheaper to rent.

A joke! Waited over 2 hours past my reservation, rude staff, rude customer service, not a manager in site!

Beware the «EZ Pass» scam.
Rented a car from Thrifty on the upper West side last August. Didn’t ask for EZ Pass, came with the car. Don’t remember using it at all. Months after (In November!) we got a bill for the 2… yes TWO tolls THEY SAY we went through with EZ Pass… for $ 35.00. That’s $ 5.00 in tolls and two times $ 15 in «ADMINISTRATIVE FEES». Now do I remember ever using EZ Pass? NO I DON’T. I don’t think we did, frankly. We were driving mostly in Massachusetts.
This is a scam. $ 15 in fees PER TOLL!!! HOW do they get away with this?
Do NOT let this happen to you!

Often this location has the best prices around my neighborhood, so I’ve been here a few times.
Rafael is a sweetie and talks a lot… but I knew I was being taken care of.
The one major thing I don’t like is how packed this street is of traffic and parked cars. It makes it difficult to drop off the rental car without being in fear of being towed.

Don’t rent from here.
Overpriced and terribly inefficient with just two computer terminals to check guests in or out.
It took over an hour to get a car this morning, partly because the counter guys spoke very halting english which took extra time as each customer ahead of us tried to translate what they were saying. (I could understand them, but folks in front of us were having great difficulties). Further, it seemed that they were fleecing some out of towners who spoke little English themselves, so I am marking them down for shadiness in adding fees and quick talking tourists.
Car was fine and drop off was easy, so it gets 2 stars instead of one. I shouldn’t have come back after last time was not a good experience, so shame on me.
Going to Hertz on 77^th street next time.
PS — don’t let them try to push an SUV «free upgrade» on you when you reserve an Economy car. It’s their standard MO and you’ll pay twice as much for the gas because the SUV gets just 12 MPG.

I had a pretty good experience with this location.
I made my reservation online for an economy car. I came in during my appointed time and left about 30 minutes later with a car.
My car was fine. I had to drive upstate and back in one day and it worked out fine. The car was clean and didn’t smell. It looked pretty new.
Came back that night and dropped it off. I didn’t have any issues with checking out either. Service was friendly here.
If I had to rent a car again in NYC, I would come back here.

«You said it cost you fifty, so you’re thrifty, I don’t mind»
My experience here was A-​ok. Just that. I’m not sure what happened to all of these other Unilocal!ers but I feel bad for you all.
I will admit the car we got was a Nissan Versa and it, well… sucked. I hated everything about this car. Everything. The door locks, the cup holders, the windshield wipers.
The guy who signed us out for the car was super thorough and so was the girl who checked us in.
Would I rent from this place again… if the price is right.yes. Otherwise head somewhere that’s less than no frills