Drivalia UK Reviews 

A big thank you to Sanj and Moss for their excellent service. I highly recommend Drivalia around the world.

I want to preface this by saying that I worked in rental cars for years so I understand the process. I had an extremely disappointing experience with Drivalia that nearly derailed the start of a three-week holiday in the UK.

I was ready to make my booking online when I contacted Drivalia's online chat to ask a simple question about collection arrangements. The chat agent advised they could make the booking for me instead and offered a discount, free cancellation, and a free additional driver. I agreed and received a confirmation email (I now realise this was to allow booking and collection agents to gain a commission which they wont for online bookings).

Unfortunately, the chat agent failed to update the pickup time and left it at the 9am system default. As a result, when we arrived to collect the vehicle, we were told we had been recorded as a "no-show" and our car had been given to someone else.

What concerned me most was that staff confirmed no attempt had been made to contact us before the vehicle was reallocated. This would have identified the booking error and avoided the entire situation.

I accepted that mistakes happen and initially expected Drivalia to resolve the issue by providing an alternative vehicle. Instead, the only option offered was a replacement vehicle costing approximately £630 more than our original £575 booking.

At that point we were overseas visitors, carrying significant luggage, stranded at an industrial estate, and being told our only option was to pay more than double the agreed rental price. We were also told that no manager was available, they have no telephone, and no means to contact head office or the reservations team, this seems implausible.

Despite being told there were no cheaper alternatives available elsewhere, I searched online myself and quickly found another rental company with a substantially better price. When I asked for assistance getting there, the request was initially refused before the staff member eventually agreed to take us.

As someone who has worked in rental car management for many years, I found the handling of this situation far below the standard I would expect. Booking errors can happen. The real test of customer service is how those errors are resolved. In this case, Drivalia created the problem, failed to contact the customer before releasing the vehicle, and then attempted to charge more than double the original booking price to fix it.

At best this is complete failure of all customer service responsibility, at worst this is a deliberate tactic to extort more money/commission from customers you know are in a vulnerable position.

The experience left me with no confidence in the company's customer service, booking processes, or commitment to resolving issues fairly.

Car was good. Getting it took a while as they were very busy. Checking it back in with Abdullah was smooth

After a bad experience with them a couple of years ago I thought I'd give them another go as it was short notice and there wasn't much choice. I should have known I'd regret it. Because my booking was using the name I normally use, my middle name, rather than the first name on my passport, they said I'd have to pay an extra nearly £40 per day for extra insurance. Booking was still fine but I'd have to pay nearly 300 extra. Of course, something like amending the name is just far too difficult. Extortion.

Excellent car experience. Abdulla provided fast and good service during drop off. Very much recommended.

Very impressed,the whole process was easy and Stuart made it simple to follow and gave good pick up and drop off instructions. I would us this service again and ask for Stuart every time

Staff. ____

Terrible rental company, avoid, as they are trying to offer low rate, but will charge you extra if late by 1 hr at £50 per day, claiming this no show fee, even if flight delayed. Then make you pay additional cost for an automatic car saying they no longer have the car you originally booked. Fuel is not full-to-full so again make you add more fuel than needed. Insurance with £1500 excess requires a credit card, otherwise debit card per permitted to pay £38.99 per day insurance. Help centre for EasyJet no help at all. Front desk team
At Glasgow airport branch unfriendly and seem very disinterested in the customer.

​Horrendous Experience – Bait & Switch and Mis-sold Insurance
​I originally booked a Seat Alhambra with a "full to full" fuel policy and pre-purchased full insurance. What followed was a horrendous experience from start to finish.
​First, instead of the vehicle I reserved, we were handed the keys to a subpar Skoda. The car was handed over in a dirty condition with rubbish and a pillow left inside from the previous renter, entirely ignoring the "clean to clean" policy.
​Despite the "full to full" agreement, the tank was practically empty upon collection (only about 40 miles of range). This forced me to constantly calculate my fuel usage throughout the trip to ensure I wasn't giving them free petrol upon return.
​The absolute worst part was the aggressive upselling at the collection desk. The representative convinced my wife that our existing full coverage wasn't valid and mis-sold her their own insurance policy for three times the price we had already paid.
​To top it all off, their customer service is non-existent. I have tried multiple times to submit a formal complaint, but they completely ignore correspondence—in fact, their email inbox was full and bouncing messages back.
​An absolute nightmare of a company with terrible practices. Avoid at all costs.

amazing company amazing staff

Very easy process start to finish

Wayne was a really nice staff member, was clear in the explanation and very welcoming. Overall nice check in experience but a bit too slow, we waited about 40min before being served

Quick response, good answers, helpful to the letter

User friendly booking procedure. Prompt reply to my queries. Good prices.

This was our second time using Drivalia and it was just as good the second time. Great prices and absolutely superior customer service. All the employees were very friendly and helpful.

We hired a Toyota Aygo for 7 weeks from the Bristol airport branch. The service we received was first class and a big thank you to Mila who checked the car back into the depot with a big smile and kind words. We will definitely use Drivalia again.

Nice staff, Aarron and Kash were very polite and friendly. Reasonable price if you avoid the extra insurance. Cars are ok, clean, low mileage, but not always in the best condition.

Very poor experience. Our flight was late and we called multiple times to arrange a latr pick up. Once we got there, obviously the car had disappeared into thin air and the only option was a car twice as expensive...
Avoid this agency at all costs.

I booked a hire car at the Newcastle Airport branch to go to the Lake District, having selected and paid online for the manual Nissan Juke to be collected at 10 am on the Saturday morning (I arrived at 9-50am) expecting to get into the vehicle and start our trip….I was still there at 10-35 am as I was waiting for a previous customer to complete the “Laborious” check in procedure. After completing the paperwork I was told I could have an upgrade of an automatic Juke, I explained that was not what I ordered and would like the manual option which I am used to. As I drove onto the main road a tyre low pressure warning light on the front drivers side flashed up. I got home and used my electric pump to rectify the problem, noticing the tyre had no dust cap on it?. On further inspection the car had a visible dent on the back left passenger door. A visible scuff mark on the back bumper, inside the boot was covered in food crumbs and inside of the driver’s door were cobwebs. The exterior of the car had not been cleaned to an acceptable level as I would expect. With the high deposit of £1,500 on my mind I decided to ring the branch and explain the issues and that I had taken photos to show them when I returned the vehicle on the following Tuesday. We got to the destination in the lakes much later than I would have hoped, parked the car at our hotel knowing it would not be needed until the day of our return. On leaving our hotel to come home it started to rain, and as you do, you try to screen wash the window….low and behold there was no water/windscreen wash coming onto the dirty windscreen. I returned the car at 4pm although it was not due back until 5pm, and once again found myself waiting for previous customers to go through the long process of paperwork and finding the correct credit cards etc etc. When it got to my turn the assistant had no recollection of me ringing him on the Saturday morning to report the 7 issues I had encountered. I took him out to the car to ensure he saw the problems, I asked him to try the windscreen washer to ensure he understood….He told me a light should show up when it needed water!? This was not the case. When I enquired about the the other issues he apologised and said they would all have been noted on their inspection log?? . I replied that you might want to inform the customer also as to alleviate and worry regards the £1,500 of damage deposit on my credit card. Unfortunately I was disappointed on how my concerns were dealt with and their total lack of customer care ensures I would not use this company again. Also whilst sitting in the portacabin there is a TV screen playing what was obviously a (violent) movie not meant for children, causing the mother sitting next to me to turn her young son’s face away from the screen….it’s the little details that make all of the difference in retaining customer’s trust and satisfaction in this day and age.
UPDATE… Received an automated reply asking me to contact them via their website… You couldn’t make it up… they have my email and contact details!?