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Thrifty car rental company secretly upgrades your vehicle without informing you, resulting in hidden charges. It's a rip-off!

The line was very slow. There was no free upgrade, and even the car I reserved, a Toyota Corolla, was unavailable. I had to wait an hour for a Hyundai. The manager, a woman, essentially said 'take it or leave it, cancel if you want!' No Chinese language service, not open 24 hours, no delivery service. Very aggressive upselling! The male African American clerk stared at me and said, 'This is America!' meaning if I didn't buy the insurance he recommended, I wouldn't get the car! The service attitude was terrible! I will never rent from Thrifty again. Moreover, when I called 'Zuzuche' (the third-party booking platform), their support was very weak. They told me to listen to the car rental agency! Even though I had already purchased full insurance on my order, they didn't firmly support me against buying the additional insurance the clerk recommended. I felt helpless! The service was extremely poor!

This company's practices are unscrupulous, with hidden charges and deceit. This is not my first time renting a car abroad, so I am aware of the insurance upsell tactic, but I still fell for it. Here's what happened: Upon arrival in Los Angeles, I went to the car rental company, where a Latina employee handled the procedures. She seemed very friendly, chatting away. Since I knew about the insurance upsell, I paid close attention, but she didn't mention anything. When I paid with my card, the amount seemed off, so I asked and was told it included taxes, so I didn’t think much of it. This staff member didn't hand me the paperwork but instead came around the counter to personally help me choose a car. It seemed like such great service. After choosing the car, the staff put the paperwork in the glove compartment of the passenger seat. That night, I drove to Las Vegas. The next morning, I found a flat tire and went to a local Thrifty to have it fixed or get a replacement. It was then that I checked the receipt and saw that they had charged me extra for so-called roadside assistance, costing several hundred dollars over the ten-plus days. This was definitely not tax, which should have been included in the total. No wonder she was so attentive; she didn't want me to see the paperwork. Later, they refused to refund me. The flat tire took two days to fix, and it still wasn't properly repaired—just inflated again. They didn’t have a replacement car for me, offering only a lower-grade vehicle instead. I wasted three days dealing with all this nonsense. Thrifty = Thief.

Friendly staff, but couldn't understand the road toll they were promoting.