Firefly Car Rental

Not well run, to the point that it is frighteningly bad. Don’t let the price deal suck you in. One check in person but they have you get in line with the Thrifty line even though no one with thrifty can help check you in and it’s a super long line. Check in lady is super nice but they clearly need more people on for their reservations.
After waiting in line an hour, and being told there would be a row of full sized cars for me to choose from for my RESERVATION placed weeks before my trip, I got downstairs to several people who had been in front of me in line waiting b/​c there were ZERO cars that we all had paid for available and no one working here had any idea when more would be available, once it was possible to even track a person down and the attitude was so aloof regarding the matter. I wasn’t even sure I was dealing with the right people based on seeming lack of concern and attire. I was given a solution of going back upstairs and going to Dollar Rental to try to get a car from them. When I pointed out that I had a reservation for weeks with their company and had waited in line for over an hour AND had already gone through the payment contract, the gal shrugged her shoulders. I asked, «so how exactly would that work?» And she said they are all affiliated.
Turns out they had two of the smaller sized cars left and the people before me took those instead of waiting. There was one full sized car off to the side & asked another attendant if it was available & she said, «sure, if you don’t want to wait.» I went over desperate to get in a car and on the road for my trip, but as I approached, there was damage to the vehicle, just noticeable scratched on the paint job, though not where it wasn’t drivable. As I started to pull away, I asked once again to the attendants if there was any issue with me driving that car and whom would document the existing issues with the vehicle. They just point to the checkout gate.
I pull up to the gate and a lady taps the windshield where there is some marking on it & tells me curtly that I can’t leave with that car. I told her what I just went through and she shrugs too and tells me to turn the car around and go back to see the attendants for assistance. I then pointed out that those same attendants said it was ok for me to drive that car, but she says I have to go back. I get back and they aren’t even there. I start talking to some other guy who didn’t really seem to speak English but implied I would just have to wait until someone showed up with a car. The lady from the gate came walking back down and seemed to casually take the responsibility of finally helping me. There was another car in an entirely different area they got me in which is why this is two stars and not one. Though it took begging for help, they got me on the road and for that I do appreciate. Shame it had to get to that.
Car turned out to be great for the trip after that whole ordeal, but I dreaded the return process. Made sure to get back a little early. Thankfully that process was quick and smooth.
I’ve never been through an ordeal like this with a rental car and absolutely cannot understand how this sort of business practice can be allowed. THEY ARE AFFILIATED WITH THRIFTY AT THIS LOCATION & I would stay away from them as well.

I am a fan! Firefly has received some awful reviews and as others I was hesitant however I am a very experienced traveler so I took a leap of faith and booked my car at an amazing rate. Not one issue, jumped on the car rental terminal 4 bus in Phoenix and it dropped me off right in front of the rental car terminal. Firefly was next to Thrifty (sister company) and (FYI) Hertz is the parent company so for $ 20.00/day I got a standard car (of my choice). You can’t beat that! Mary greeted me at the desk and was super friendly. I took the escalator down to the second level, walked right up and a very nice man pointed to the row of cars and said «pick one». Not one issue, only smiles. I would definitely try Firefly again in other cities. They may have had some bumps but give them a try.

Absolutely terrible. We booked our car rental at 12:30pm on Friday and returned it at 1:15pm on Sunday and they charged us an extra hour (ok – fine), but also charged us for another day of taxes/​fees/​loss damages. adding an extra $ 50 to our bill. I went to the desk and nobody was working so they sent us to another «Dollar» desk and stood in line. Eventually the manager said they couldn’t help us and we needed to call customer service on Monday. So I’ve called them 3x this morning because their CUSTOMER SERVICE keeps trying to get me to call the Firefly desk at the airport – and they aren’t answering. Customer service eventually said «your bill is correct and I cannot fix it” – $ 50 for 45 minutes!!!

My husband ad I rented a car for two days while we were in Phoenix and chose to pre-​pay our tank of gas because it would only be $ 2.19/gallon. We had a fine experience picking up the car, didn’t have to wait and no issues with our reservation.
When we took the car back we had to wait 20 minutes for him to check us out. We were in a hurry to catch our flight so we didn’t have time to review the receipt. When we looked at it we saw that we were charged $ 10.99/gallon and had luckily only used ¹⁄₈ of a gallon. We called the customer service and he all he could say is «yah it looks like it’s 10.99/gallon. You’ll have to ask the lady who said it would be less»
Of course no one answered at the office. This is clearly a huge ripoff and we are lucky we got off with a small fee. We still might put the charge on hold with our bank if they don’t correct it. Can’t believe a business is being ran this way

Would not use this company again. Bait and switch on both the car and price.
We were supposed to get a Ford Focus but we ended up with a Toyota Yaris.
We declined insurance but then they wanted us to show proof of insurance from one of vehicles at home. She said this was a state law. You’ve got to be kidding me. Who carries a copy of their car insurance when traveling. A quoted $ 50 rental for one day turned out to be $ 95.
The attitude at the counter was not customer friendly. What a ripoff.

Booked an online rental through Kayak. Was thrilled at the low rate firefly quoted. 2 day rental for $ 87. When I walked up to the counter, there was a couple going back and forth with the one employee that was working and the lady in front of me was quite vocal and loudly pronounced that she had been waiting 20+ minutes and was not a happy camper. That should have been my clue to run the other direction. When I finally get to the counter, the clerk informs me that because I have a debit card they will need to run my credit score to determine what my deposit will be. I agree stupidly. Next, the employee tells me that insurance is mandatory and I will have to purchase for $ 35 a day. I hastily agree. There goes my low quote. Jumps from $ 88 to $ 157. She also asks if I would like to prepay for the gas. I say no and she informs me when I return the car I will need to show the gas receipt. Ridiculous I thought but agreed. To top it off, all the intermediate cars where gone, so I was going to get a Hatchback Varis. The receipt is printed and it now shows a grand total of $ 180 dollars. I ask the employee why the increase and she explains that because I was late picking up the rental by one hour, there is a late charge. No where on the kayak website is that mentioned. I had enough! I tell the employee to cancel my reservation and I ended up renting from Alamo for a cheaper price than $ 180. The employee instead of apologizing for the inconvenience, merely said «fine» and that was it. I do not recommend using Firefly at all. The hidden charges cause you to pay what you normally would at one of the bigger car rental companies. I’m not sure how they still are in business.

I wish I could give this company –10 stars. DO NOT USE THEM, it is not worth the monetary savings. I arrived to the counter, no one was manning the desk, so I waited for 15 minutes until the employee arrived. She said she was closing down for the day, but would take me as a courtesy.
Because my car was in the shop, I was uncertain of the number of days I would need but was told I could extend the rental for only $ 20 per additional day. NOT SO! I called to change the rental for a few extra days, though I was going to be charged $ 26 per day not the contracted $ 20. The new quote was to be $ 211.86, and they couldnt provide that in writing. My car was to be completed a day earlier than I had needed the car so I called to reduce the dates of my reservation. At this time, I was informed the total would be reduced to $ 278. I was on the phone with management for 30+ minutes only to be put hold again, then have the phone ring back for 5 minutes. They did this to me TWICE in a row. Ive had awful experiences with Fox Rental cars, but their customer services outshines the terrible service offered from Firefly.

I am very unhappy with the services provided by Firefly. It completely ruined my vacation.

I can’t give zero stars, or I would I reserved a car with Firefly, had my confirmation for Phoenix airport. When I got there, they said they had no car to give me. They said a reservation only guarantees the rate, but not that a car would be available. They took my name and number, and said they would call me within four hours with a car! Needless to say, they never called me. They never got me a car. I had to rent last minute from Advantage at double the Firefly rate. Needless to say, I will never ever use Firefly again. I will never recommend Firefly. And I will be cheering the loudest when that crap company goes bankrupt.

JUST DON’T! The rate is great — but there is a reason why — they overbook. I made my reservation six weeks in advance so it’s not as if they didn’t know I was coming. I booked an SUV but the only car they could offer me when I arrived in Phoenix was a tiny car which wouldn’t have even fit our luggage. No other rental car company would honor their rate so I was left at the airport without a car. Their rental agent offered me nothing and she couldn’t have cared less that I was left without transportation. I will mention here that I am disabled & it was 108 degrees when I arrived in Phoenix so I couldn’t exactly walk where I needed to go. Live & learn — BOOK WITH A BIG COMPANY WITH A LONG/​GOOD REPUTATION as there is a reason for that. I ended up next door at Alamo who had plenty of cars…

Why cant I give them ½ star? Got to the counter after flying in from North Carolina. No-​one was there and no sign either. I called corporate and they said they would call the counter. Hellooooo! I was standing at the counter. They called and I heard the phone ring. Absolutely useless. The guy at the Thrifty counter came over and said that Dollar would honor the firefly rate. I went over to Dollar and they did. Amazing. Very nice guys. After a week long vacation I was back at the Dollar counter and noticed that the Firefly counter had a sign saying they were not there today. Did you know that Firelfy is owned by Hertz? So is Dollar and Thrifty by the way.
Never consider renting from Firefly! Not worth the supposed $ 60 savings over the week.

DO NOT RENT HERE!
First I asked for a car and was giving a Mazda 5 — okay car but definitely not what I was told I would get.
Secondly, the guy at the counter and I had several conversations about gas and the fact that I would bring it back as is and use their $ 2.59 gas instead of taking the time to get it filled up. However, now on the receipt I see it says if I didn’t fill it up I will be charged $ 9.98 a gallon.
Which could account for why my bill which was supposed to be $ 130 is now $ 247 — ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
To top it all off there is literally no way to get ahold of this company. They list two phone numbers one of which just rings and rings and the other which goes to voicemail which states it is fill.
What a scam!!!

Reserved car through Priceline. $ 13 a day with $ 11 for insurance. Got there and there was a sign sending us to dollar. My $ 95 reservation ended up costing over $ 300. They honored the $ 13 but insurance was $ 28 a day plus various other charges tacked on. Apparently firefly is a sister company to dollar and thrifty. Won’t use any of the three again. Definitely feel scammed.

Reserved a car through Orbitz and there wasn’t anybody working the counter. A few of us waited for a while but no one showed up. Firefly shares a counter with Thrifty so the person working for Thrifty called us over and offered to match the rates on our reservations. I didn’t have much of a choice and ended up getting a smaller car from Thrifty for higher price. I thought they were all one company owned by Hertz. Oh well.

I wish I would have shelled out the extra 5 dollars for a different company. The service is a cross between the DMV and Pop Copy (Dave Chapelle).

I’ve seen quite a few terrible reviews about this company — and maybe the personnel working there when I happened to go in (both to rent the car and to return it, since I interacted with the same employee both times) is a class above his co-​workers, but I enjoyed the experience with them immensely.
I just moved to Phoenix for work, and while my company offered to pick me up from the airport (I don’t want to buy a car until I’m settled in and have everything else I need), I wanted a chance to see the city on my own and learn how to get around a bit.
I rented a large sedan; my choices when I arrived were a Dodge Avenger or a Chevy Malibu. I picked the Avenger, and the model I got had 39k miles on it, ran perfectly, leather seats, hands-​free radio controls. Gas mileage seemed good, nothing went wrong with the car.
I rented through Expedia, and the initial rate quoted on the site was $ 16/​day. I kept it for an extra day and they simply charged me — get this — an extra day. No $ 10/​hour over, just an extra day. My final rate came out to $ 19/​day — with taxes and insurance, I paid sixty for two days.
I would assume that if I wanted a specific, limited option type of car, this may not be the way to go — those cars got kinda pricey. But if you’re looking for a bargain, you can’t expect to get top-​line products and not pay extra for them. I think I got a reasonable car and service — almost exceeding my expectations — for the beyond reasonable price I paid. I would absolutely use them again.

Battery died, horrible service at the counter, and no apologies offered. An entire evening ruined and then some major attitude dished out by a very rude woman at the counter.
Will never use this company again, and would advise that others think twice before using this company.

FireFly seems to be in a class by itself, at the very bottom. (And I have direct experience with virtually every other USA rental car brand.)
As others noted the clerks are trained to use FUD in a high-​pressure up-​sell conversation as you rent. They will tell you that those rentals have no insurance. That if the rental needs repair after your use, you will liable for the list-​pice rental fee during the repair period, etc.
FireFly cuts costs by leasing the furthest away, cheapest parking area for their fleet. They have no personnel in the car area for check out or check in. Their Lost-​and-​Found is a black hole of no-​response. Don’t count on ever seeing again anything you leave behind.
Finally, and most egregious, is the condition of their fleet. Our Dodge Avenger (perhaps a piece of trash by itself — way underpowered and terrible visibility) had over 50k miles on it, pulsating brakes and handling that caused us to keep in the slow lane (out of alignment?) and never keep-​up-​with traffic in Arizona’s 80+ MPH Interstate speeds. Ugly.
The savings of a couple of dollars per day was not worth it. Will not rent from these guys again and suggest avoiding them.

My experience with Firefly has taught me that shopping on price alone is not the way to go. As if Airline Fees aren’t bad enough, Firefly seems to have managed to bring them into the rental car business. I agree with others who post about their inflexibility. They spent more time trying to up sell me than actually focusing on helping me. And that was after the ridiculous wait thanks to being light staffed on check-​in/​return. Just skip’em.

I wish I could give this a zero star, but a 1 star will have to do. We booked our car rental online about a week before our trip. Firefly was the least expensive for the mid size car, so we went with that. After our journey from Portland, OR to Phoenix, AZ, we went to check in for our car rental. Except, that part didn’t happen. The girl who was supposed to be checking us in was not there. Nor did she show up after twenty minutes of us standing there waiting for her to show up. So, no show from the attendant led us to renting from Thrifty car, which cost us more money than we had originally been quoted from Firefly. Really frustrating. Won’t even try to rent again in the future.
Anyways, I guess if you want to see my true car rental experience, see what I ended up writing for Thrifty car rental.