Thrifty Car Rental

On the morning of the day we're leaving, we try to pick up the car we reserved on Priceline from Thrifty Car Rental on the North Spokane (Wall St.) location - which has the same owners as the Sprague location. When we were picking up the car we were asked casually ""where are ya headin'?"". We replied Logan, UT, our destination, and we were immediately told that UT was out of their coverage area and we couldn't rent the car. Shocked, we expressed to him that we had reserved the car on Priceline and nothing was mentioned about a coverage area. Ironically, our destination was 1 hour outside their ""coverage area"". Of course that didn't make a difference and the rental Nazi still denied us, agreeing with us that it wasn't easy to find the ""coverage area"" on the priceline website. So after being turned away, we immediately went back to Priceline to discover that Thrifty and Priceline give a new meaning to ""read the fine print"". How about FIND the fine print? For the Sprague location it was a link that was in fact broken and not working - the only place to see Thrifty Car Rental's terms and conditions. As far as the Wall St. location, the ""coverage area"" was 3 sentences categorized as ""miscellaneous"" within 12+ sections within the link - basically impossible to find unless you're looking specifically for it. They've completely thrown a wrench in our gears and after contacting the general manager George at 509-838-8223 with enough time for them to correct their error, the most he could offer was passing the info on to the owners and said they would get after Priceline to correct their issues. Convenient for them. We'll never rent from Thrifty Car Rentals in Spokane, WA again. more

I rented a car from Thrifty in Spokane for ten days. As far as I could tell, the car was undamaged when I returned it, but Thrifty had no one available to inspect the car at about 9:00 am. I had a plane to catch, so I left the keys at their counter. Several months later, Thrifty billed me for replacement of a chipped or cracked windshield, including loss of use of the vehicle. Their paperwork showed an estimate for windshield replacement dated a week after I returned the car, the only clear evidence they provided to me regarding when the damage was noticed. Rather than discussing their claim, Thrifty in Spokane referred me to a collection agency that offered a choice between payment and legal action. My best guess is that the car was damaged at late in the 7 day period between the day when I returned the car and the date of the repair estimate. Since I was the most recent person to have rented the car, they charged me for the damage and for an extended rental until the damage was repaired.\r \r I'm shocked and disappointed. The one time I had a broken car window, I called a repair shop the day the damage occurred, and the shop provided an estimate and repaired the damage that day. I can't imagine that in a business that makes money from having cars available they would wait a week after observing damage to even get an estimate. I also can't imagine a reputable car rental company charging a customer for damage without a clear indication that the damage occurred during the rental period. \r \r Thrifty's corporate office provided no help, since they say they have no authority over disputes with franchises. The main reason for using a franchise is that the corporate office will enforce standards of honesty and professionalism. Since they failed to do so in the face of a valid customer complaint, I will never rent from Thrifty again. There are plenty of honest and professional car rental companies, and next time I will choose one of them - anyone but Thrifty. Pros: convenient location, advertised prices sound low Cons: integrity or professionalism, or both more