When I checked car rentals in Boston for July 2022, Thrifty was at the same counter as Hertz. Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty are operated by the same company at Boston Airport. Despite the different brand names at the counters, the pickup and drop-off locations are the same, and the staff are the same, wearing Hertz uniforms. The staff were very friendly. Make a joke or chat with them when picking up the car to build rapport. The waiting time depends; if many people on the same shuttle bus arrive, there might be a queue, but it wasn’t too bad. When I arrived, only Dollar had many customers picking up cars, while others had few. I asked a staff member named Martin why Dollar had more customers and was told it’s because they are cheaper. After comparing several companies, I found Dollar was the cheapest for the same car category. Renting through Hertz’s website ends up costing much more for the same car and location.

The service process was very organized. There was hardly any queue. The rental company recommended the EZPass in-state toll package, but it turned out to be unnecessary. We didn't travel that much, and part of it was out-of-state tolls not covered by the package. If you don't choose this package, you might actually spend less.

Lack of transparent fees and deliberate overcharging.

No need to queue

Pickup was extremely slow. All rental companies in Boston share the same hall. While other companies processed 2 to 3 customers, Dollar barely managed one. If I hadn’t paid in full, I would have definitely switched companies on the spot. The most disappointing part was the GPS, which was a barely usable LG Android model. To make things worse, they didn't provide a GPS mount, so we had to hold it by hand in the passenger seat. After using it for half a day, I went to buy a Garmin GPS myself.