Thrifty Car and Van Rental Gatwick

I just handed back a car after a 20 day hire period and wanted to share my experience because it really was great. From my first point of contact talking to a young lady who reserved my car over the phone in their call centre to all of the staff at the Gatwick office who were all very professional and pleasant to deal with and one gentleman in particular who is passionate about his job is Mr Leo Ambi at Gatwick who was very knowledgable and demonstrated that he really cared about my satisfaction. I fly back home to the UK a number times each year, given the prices Thrifty quoted which were significantly lower than the other companies I called and the service they provided, they will always be my first call for future requirements.

BEWARE! I would be so careful if renting from them! And I do not recommend doing so!! When I returned my car, the attendant at the lot looked over my car and said everything was ok. The woman at the counter also said everything was ok and handed me back my completed contract. A week later there was a £200 charge on my car for supposed damage on the wheel. I definitely did not damage the car. The customer service attendants were of course obtuse and not helpful. They did not answer any questions and said I had to pay. Sadly another car rental company scam!!!!! Read everything and ask to sign your completed contract then and there upon return!

My partner and I hired a car with unlimited miles through Thrifty Gatwick with the plan to car trip through Europe on our holiday over from Australia. On arriving to pick up the car we discovered a fee to take the vehicle to the mainland. This cost around as much as the initial hire. We paid that and confirmed that we had unlimited miles to play with. We were told yes. On reaching the mainland we discovered that unlimited miles is actually capped at 2000. This is not stated anywhere on their website or online terms and conditions and is only hidden in the fine print of the contract. Part way through our holiday the car broke down and we were forced to get roadside assistance. During this time we were constantly on the phone to Thrifty Gatwick. They never updated our file to reflect any of the issues with the breakdown and constantly seemed surprised to find out that it had happened every time we called them to inform them of anything new. The car was transported to the Kia garage and we continued on our journey with the blessing of both Thrifty Gatwick and AA roadside assist. The Kia garage was unable to fault find the car until the day we were supposed to return it. We contacted Thrifty Gatwick to inform them and were told that this wasn't an issue and it would be passed on to their maintenance team to deal with from now on who would deal directly with AA. We were informed that everything was good and we were good to go from there. Three days later after the original return date we were contacted by Thrifty Gatwick asking why the car was three days late to be returned. Apparently either nobody had yet passed the car file over to the maintenance crew or nobody had put a note on our file after it had been passed on. We have since returned to Australia and still don't have a resolution to this issue. They are absolutely useless at replying to emails and we have no way to contact them from overseas. I recommend not hiring through Thrifty Gatwick. They turned what was supposed to be a fun European holiday into a stressful and costly debacle that still hasn't been resolved even after we have returned home. P.S. Charlotte was very helpful however. She seemed to be the only person who genuinely wanted to help us. Everyone else just seemed to be waiting for us to finish speaking so they could hang up the phone. Her help is the only part of our experience I can consider a positive.

There was no one available to check my car when returning the vehicle. What made things even worse was when I left the marriot court yard hotel ,whee the shuttle bus to the south terminal leaves from we had the rudest female driver I have ever encountered . She only waited 20 seconds outside the hotel , and drove off .I had wait with my family and pregnant wife plus 4 year old for the bus to return 20 minutes later. The driver was so rude when i complained, and made us wait even longer, I then lost my flight . I would seriously avoid this company.

Charlotte went out of her was to be super helpful! Their prices were great and renting a car with them was super easy. The deposit was also refunded to my card within a day or two.