Drivalia UK - EDINBURGH AIRPORT Reviews 

Never use this company! My flight was delayed, it then took 20 minutes for the shuttle bus at Edinburgh airport to pick me up and a further 15 minutes to be seen at the counter. At that point I was told the small city car I had reserved had been released to someone else. All I was offered was 2 huge executive cars, the cheapest of which was an extra £180. Now I have been told that my £1500 excess deposit will take up to 30 days to be refunded!!

I rented a car through Ryanair Car Hire at Drivalia Edinburgh Airport and had a very disappointing experience regarding insurance sales practices.

At the rental desk, I was told that my AXA insurance purchased through Ryanair was “not valid” and that I needed to purchase additional insurance in order to receive the vehicle. The conversation was conducted in a way that made it feel like I had no real choice if I wanted to collect the car after travelling to Edinburgh. Under this pressure, I ended up paying an additional £279.93 for “Super Peace of Mind” insurance.

After later reviewing the rental agreement, I discovered that the contract explicitly allows customers to use their own insurance. This means the information provided at the desk was misleading.

What made the experience even worse was that, when returning the car, I witnessed a very similar discussion with another customer regarding additional insurance. This gave the impression that this may be a common upselling tactic used on customers at the desk.

I consider this misleading and unfair behaviour. Customers should receive clear and honest information, especially after already purchasing insurance through the booking platform.

Very disappointing experience and I will be pursuing this further through formal complaints and my credit card provider.

Oh and Drivalia thanks for the automated response on the review. I of course already did. They are like hitting concrete. People be warned about their practices at the pickup desk.

long wait time but lovely service from marshall :)

I’m still waiting after 3 hours to collect our prebooked rental car. When we arrived they told us it was a 1 hour wait, which we now know was a lie because they later admitted that did not have any cars left and that they were waiting for returns and cleaning them. If they had been honest and offered us a refund we could have picked up another rental. But they continually lied in order to keep is waiting and not lose their fee. On top of that they were rude, and the pickup is in an inconvenient location. They do not pick up the phone and they refuse refunds

The worst rental company. I've been waiting for my car for two hours. Rude staff, they don't know how to give us indications on when the cars will be delivered. There are no cars available. Incredible

They say the credit card hold of £1500 will be refunded in 2 to 10 days with some banks taking longer. BUT a month later I had to ask for my bank to recover it. It’s not the banks that delay it’s this hire company. Go with a reputable one and your deposit is returned the same day! Never experienced anything like it. Never again.

A 45 minutes wait for a shuttle from the airport to the pick-up location.

Forced us to take an unneeded car insurance because of a credit card technicality.

Left with an empty tank of gas.

Brake fluid level too low one hour into the journey.

Never again.

ben is so helpful, ty for recommending us the safari! 🙏

Much recommended for the way Rahil coordinated with us.

Absolutely appalling. Booked a car in advance, turned up at hire location (Edinburgh), queued for 30 mins to be handed a pager and told to wait. 2 hours later - still waiting. No explanation, no apology, staff appeared more interested in eating than dealing with customers. A couple who had arrived 1 hour before us were still waiting for their car when we walked out. Do not use this disgrace for a hire company under any circumstances.

Previously good service. Was a regular customer. The team are now more focused on working to rule and milking the customers rather then service. Pickup was abysmal I was the only customer. Had to wait 20 minutes while the manager was eating his dinner. Trying in the meantime to use the app to check in The app crashes when you try to take a photo of your license and passport. Complained about it and was told they weren’t allowed to do the check ins themselves. Eventually they did a paper check out with no photographs as normal. Returned the car and 2 minuscule cosmetic scratches which . It’s the first time I’ve not made photos as I trusted the team . My own fault. But cost me £600. Part of the risk I take as a.regular car hire . But I won’t be using Drivalia again.

This vas truly the worst car rental experience ever

The collection of the car took more than 1hr, the return just less than 1 hour.
Then both Drivalia and booking.com are refusing to provide me with a vat receipt. All other car rental companies provide vat receipt even when the booking is done via Booking.com.

Hired a Van (gave me a bigger one at no cost despite ordering a medium size). Got picked up from shuttle fairly quickly and dealt with in the same manner. Flo was fantastic. Even gave me a house warming recipe for my new place. Super friendly and chatty. Makes all the difference. Gracias!

I'd like to start by describing what happened to me and warning you against picking up a car without a full tank. I think they operate this way because it's an airport and tourists rent cars from them. So, I picked up the car with a half-full tank, and when I returned it, I filled it up and it was a little low on fuel (10 liters max), but I thought it was a minor issue. I was wrong, because the company charged me a £55 fee for running out of fuel without informing me. Only after numerous phone calls and emails did they kindly send me a note about it. Please be careful of these scammers and very arrogants stuff I was treating like rubbish. Don't explain me nothing and when I was asking about my payment the man said no worries that will be refunded and now I can't get full receipt from them. Honestly very bad experience I just give up I lost a money but never again. People just stay away from this company!!!!

Raghil was excellent at the Edinburgh Airport branch. Quick and efficient.

Pleasant & professional from start to finish. Booked with Drivalia, Edinburgh airport. Wayne and the rest of the team were most excellent. Very accommodating and extremely helpful.

I booked a Honda CR-V Hybrid through Drivalia and specifically chose this model. Despite the listing showing Honda photos, the small print says “or equivalent.” What I actually received was a 3-year-old MG that had clearly been driven hard.
The pick-up location felt more like a side-hustle operation than a professional rental company — just a small porter cabin. The car was already dirty inside, but I accepted it after negotiating a lower excess by adding an additional driver.
Just a few hours into the rental, the car started overheating badly. I barely made it home. When their roadside assistance arrived, the mechanic told me the engine was knocking and there was no oil in the car. He then had the nerve to ask why I hadn’t checked the oil level when I collected the vehicle.
After multiple stressful phone calls, the car had to be towed. I had to take a taxi back to their office to sort out a replacement or cancellation. After long discussions, I cancelled the booking. It took several months of chasing and countless follow-ups before they finally issued a partial refund. They refused to refund the full unused portion of the rental (I had already paid for a full day I couldn’t use) and did not cover my taxi fare.
This experience was an absolute nightmare. Drivalia’s cars are poorly maintained, their customer service is incompetent, and their refund process is painfully slow and unfair.
Save yourself the headache. If you save £10–20 by renting with them, you risk losing £100s (or more) when things inevitably go wrong. I would not use Drivalia again even if the car was free.
Strongly recommend avoiding this company.

Another great hire, scott was very helpful.
Bus shuttle service is very slow however, this could be improved.

Fraser was extremely helpful getting a last minute car hire order whilst helping with other customers.