Thrifty Car Rental, Inc. UNSAFE CARS, LIES, and HIGH PRESSURE SALES TACTICS Miami Florida

This company is sending unsuspecting renters out in unsafe vehicles, and this is after they have tried to rip them off by lying about toll roads fees and unneeded insurance coverage they claim is required by Florida law!

In my case, I agreed online to rent a compact car for a full month for a total price of just over $800.00.  This was the best deal I could find.  However, when I arrived to pick up the car, the high-pressure salesperson behind the counter insisted that Florida law required me to carry liability insurance (which I know is a lie!) at an additional cost of $13.00 to $54.00 per DAY! When I explained that all the insurance I needed was covered by the Chase credit card I was using to pay for the rental car, she kept insisting I was taking a "grave risk" that could cost me "millions" if I hurt someone while driving the rental car.  

When I finally convinced her I was NOT going to be buying any additional insurance, she then began high-pressuring me into buying a 'toll road plan' that would save me from being fined $25.00 each time I passed a toll booth that would not accept cash, but only a special sticker on my car.  She "warned" me that EVERY time I passed a toll booth, a photo would be taken of my license plate so that Thrifty could then charge these fines against my credit card.  When I told her I would simply avoid toll roads, she insisted that it was "impossible" to navigate Miami without using toll roads (I managed to do this with NO problems whatsoever, by the way!) She wanted me to give her $47.00 per week (for a total of over $200.00 including the additional taxes) to "protect" myself from these fines.  

She kept pushing me to buy this "plan" even after I told her I would only be in Florida for about TWO days, as the majority of my month would be spent visiting my new granddaughter in North Carolina!  I again told her I did NOT want the plan, only to find out later that she had put the cost of it on my credit card DESPITE me telling her to NOT do that!

As if all this wasn't bad enough, just as I was pulling away from the final checkpoint, the "flat tire" indicator light came on, so I stopped the car and looked at all the tires.  The lady at the checkpoint asked me what I was doing, so I told her the "flat tire" light had come on, so I was checking the tires.  She laughed and said that indicator is only to let me know the tire is LOW on air, so I should just stop at a gas station to add air, which I then did (it was the passenger rear tire that was low on air).  

The next day, as I was heading up I-95 about 50 miles outside of Miami, the light came on again, so I added more air.  This happened several times, so when I arrived in Charlotte, my daughter's town, I finally stopped into a Discount Tire shop to have the tire checked.   They told me the tire had a screw in the sidewall, so it could not be repaired and needed to be replaced.  They also showed me the front tires which were nearly BALD!!!  (NO tread left!) . Since they knew it was a rental car, they asked to see the contract and called Thrifty to get authorization to replace AT LEAST the unrepairable tire, but Thrifty REFUSED to authorize the repairs.  In fact, they insisted I was responsible for paying for the replacement tire since the screw was discovered during the time I was renting the car, totally IGNORING the FACT the air was already LOW as I LEFT their facility, and totally ignoring the fact the front tires were dangerously BALD! The Discount manager tried his best, but Thrifty eventually HUNG UP on him!  

He then told me he could add air to the tire and let me try to get back to Miami, but he wouldn't recommend driving such a long distance (nearly 800 miles!) on such an unsafe tire, so I had to pay for the replacement tire MYSELF, which cost over $75.00!

When I got back to Miami, the manager there REFUSED to refund my $75.00 AND insisted I had to pay for the 'toll road plan' that I never even USED or WANTED!  I had to put in a dispute with Chase to try and get that charge REMOVED, but that dispute is still pending.

My advice is to AVOID this crooked company at all costs!  Even if you have to pay another company a few more dollars per day, it will be well worth it in the long run to avoid these THIEVES!