Thrifty South Africa Reviews 

66
•
TrustScore 2 out of 5

1.8

While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more

To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more

See what reviewers are saying

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Dont ever take a chance with this company - I have used them for many years. In the past they have always been fantastic. Now they are less than pathetic. I tried multiple x to book a car for a week b... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Hi, I went to collect a car at Thrifty Hartfield on 18th July. I was assisted by Ayanda, helpful, energetic give advice where necessary. I had such awesome experience with her customer service. Keep... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

DON'T USE THRIFTY CAR RENTAL!!! Thrifty manipulate their agreements and contract clauses to suit themselves, clauses that are in direct conflict are used to justify debiting your account after yo... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Thrifty stole about R4000 from me. They could not find my booking on their system and charged me a new much higher rate in the day. More disconcerting is that rather than admitting their mistake, the... See more

Company details

  1. Car Rental Agency
  2. also in
  3. Van Rental Agency

Information provided by various external sources

Thrifty car hire offers affordable vehicle rental rates in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and other locations throughout South Africa and Namibia.


Contact info

1.8

Poor

TrustScore 2 out of 5

66 reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

No recent history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative

Hasn’t replied to negative reviews

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

1.8

All reviews

(66)

4 reviews in the last 12 months

Write a review
Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Best customer service

Hi, I went to collect a car at Thrifty Hartfield on 18th July. I was assisted by Ayanda, helpful, energetic give advice where necessary. I had such awesome experience with her customer service. Keep it up Ayanda, we need more people like you in South Africa.

Johannes

July 18, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Professsional

Professsional: excellent. Effective: high Quality. Friendly and kind to an old man: amazing. Tx!Ayanda and Shirley from Hatfield

July 26, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I returned the vehicle on the 03rd of…

I returned the vehicle on the 03rd of May 2023 and I am yet to get my refund. Each time I send an email they refer me to my bank after they indicated it would take 24-48 hrs for the refund to be debited to my account which is all a ploy.

I regret using their services!!

May 16, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Zero is too high

If I could give a Zero or even a negative score I would. Holding deposit has now reached 38 days now and counting. Today they blame the bank, bank says they are lying and not following the right procedure of canceling the transaction.

April 28, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

What bad service from your manager in…

What bad service from your manager in your Pretoria branch just tell her i can hear Afrikaans and heard everything she said. I’m disappointed that 2023 you still have people who judge with the colour of the skin. I rented a 2020 3 series for four days on the 20 of March you can contact me if you want to. It’s because of the consultant that helped me I stayed that day just say thank you to her from me .

February 20, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Stay away

Filled car with fuel before return and billed R95 for fuel! They just debit your cr card without notification. Got a windscreen chop which caused a crack. Debited my card R3975 without notification despite being assured I would be contacted. This despite they also have R8000 on hold on my car card. What is the hold for if they debit your card in addition? Thrifty takes three weeks at least to release the hold. Still waiting for them to release the hold placed on previous rental when I returned the car on 5 Feb. do not use Thrifty. Shocking business practice.

February 15, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I got scammed with "incorrect fuel…

I got scammed with "incorrect fuel charge" having hired a double cab pick-up from these clowns because they were the only ones at the time offering double cab pick-ups.
The vehicle was very poorly maintained, traction control kept on coming on, going into "limp mode" constantly, front wheels so badly balanced that it was difficult to hold on to the steering wheel passed 100km/h. I returned this vehicle for a replacement, after refueling it at the Engin Sky Stop on the OR Tambo airport premises. It was signed back by one of their employees as "8/8" for the fuel. The replacement vehicle, also an Isuzu Double Cab pick-up, was even worse. it vibrated so much that some metal structure in the cab roof rattled so much that you could not have a conversation, let alone hold on to the steering wheel passed 100km/h. When I returned the vehicle, I refueled it again and handed it back. Again it was signed off by their employee as "8/8" as being a full fuel tank. I explained my concerns about the safety of these vehicles hired and the employee told me that they were not allowed to even open the engine bonnet to check vital fluid levels. Both vehicle engines were covered in mud as if they were used in rally race.
About 2 months after returning to the UK, I noticed on my credit card statement that Dollar Thrifty had billed me for "Fuel Charge" without contacting me or even my authorization. After numerous phone calls with people that really did not understand how to resolve disputes, I opted to write an email to the manager of the OR Tambo Thrifty branch explaining the "mistake" they have made. Well I got no reply!
About a month after my first phone call with them I received an email from their "Fuel Administration" man, acknowledging their "Fault" and that it has been sent to their refunds department. I gave them a month to refund me and true to form they have done nothing. End of December 22 I wrote back to this individual telling him that no refund has hit my account as yet...till now 8th February 2023 NO reply.
Dollar Thrifty OR Tambo, enjoy your "Braai Vleis" at my expense, but rest assured that I have passed on my receipts and communications with you to my credit card company fraud dept.
I suppose this does not worry you, but at least this and numerous negative ratings prior to mine would turn potential customers away from you to reputable companies.
You deserve a minus-5 star!!

November 9, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Scam at Thrifty Car Hire

I have used this company many times in the past, but no more.
There is a scam going on with the petrol. Last time I filled up and drove straight to return the car. I was charged fuel plus handling. I disputed with no joy.
The same thing happened on my recent trip and this time I checked with
the guy filling the car and we agreed it was full. I drove the 1km to return the car and again I was charged for fuel plus handling.
I complained and the company said they will not refund me.

January 23, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Thankful

Good day,we hired a car from thrifty's at the Cape town airport branch on the 9th of January. We had a bit of an issue regarding my hire the consultant we dealt with first was not helpful at all. We called a day after and spoke to a consultant by the name Lyn who assisted us she was absolutely helpful and polite and most of all understanding knowing we were very stressed....Thank you Lyn for the lovely service 😊the only thing I am disappointed with is the deposit refund policy that's something that should be re-looked at 14 working days is a bit ridiculous

January 9, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Criminals stay away

Do not hire anything from their scammers!!! I hired a car from them last year in December and also previously normally your holding deposit of R8000.00 is returned within three days I contact them regarding the matter and they just told me it will be 14 working days before they will refund my deposit without any explanation. They hold your deposit for 14 days after you returned the car but they confirm they will be renting that car to the next customer while they haven't released your deposit criminals !!!!

January 8, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I returned my rental car and they then…

I returned my rental car and they then charged me the deposit amount for no reason, despite a few emails they have not refunded the money back to me. I have now had to raise a dispute with my bank for the amount they took. They also said I returned the car with not a full tank of fuel which was a complete lie as I fulled up the car completely prior to returning the car, I asked for photographic evidence of this and they have not responded. They are complete thieves !!!!!

December 29, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Please do NOT support this company.

Please do NOT support this company.

I hired a car from Sandton Thrifty and had the pay the remaining balance of $8,410.02 on collection. When I returned to Australia I discovered they had taken $8,410.02 twice from my bank account. I have sent numerous emails, made numerous phone calls and to date (approx 3 months after the incident) have still not be refunded for the double deduction they made

October 22, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

SCAMMERS

SCAMMERS. I am opening up a case fraud against this company.
When booking a car on the website, they charged me R1300 and when I got there they wanted to charge me R8000.

December 18, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Fast friendly service

Fast friendly service
Had to book an urgent car on the spot in CApe Town last week and was a fantastic fast and easy experience
Thanks Thrifty!

December 14, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Thrifty stole about R4000 from me

Thrifty stole about R4000 from me. They could not find my booking on their system and charged me a new much higher rate in the day. More disconcerting is that rather than admitting their mistake, the blamed a third/party booking site and then the cards i used…becuse i inadvertently used another card to pay for the new booking. They rely on price to get in business, but have zero respect or consideration for their customers. Avoid like the plague. After a month of robbing me off..i’ve decided to take legal action against Thrifty.

October 4, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Dollar Thieves!

Dollar Thieves!!
They are scammers and they are thieves.
They will keep your money if you cancel a car, due to the fact the car you booked and payed for is not available at the chosen branch (even though its what was available on the website, chosen, booked and payed for)

They will pretend they are working on it and tell you lies over and over just to stall so you will loose the reference number then they will blame that.

They also ALWAYS keep the deposits!!! So be careful if you rent from them, accept you will NOT get your deposit back!

July 12, 2022
Unprompted review

The Trustpilot Experience

Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.

We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.

Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.

Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.

Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.

Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.

Take a closer look