Thrifty's economy cars are priced low in the car rental industry. We found that, with Thrifty, car rental prices were contingent upon location and the type of car procured. Thrifty does a unique price-matching program, where they will honor lower rental rates and give you a ten percent discount.

Luxury Price Range

Thrifty also rents luxury vehicles, the rental price is average in the industry. For customers who would like to rent luxury cars, Thrifty may be a great option with the high availability and the

States Available

Thrifty can be found in 46/50 states. This almost covers every state-a huge advantage over the average car rental company who covers only a fraction of that. It also benefits travelers and local residents who are in these places or are traveling to these places.

Airports Locations

Thrifty has rental counters at most major airports throughout the United States and Canada. This makes renting cars for travelers more convenient and easy.

Online Check-In

Thrifty has online check-in, allowing you to check in before you show up. Customers are required to provide a few pieces of information, including license number, date of birth, and a few pieces of information about driving records. While rental counters can have slow lines and long waits, checking in online speeds up the process and gets customers driving away in their vehicle more quickly.

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The Bad

Roadside assistance availability
No instant return
No on-site fuel discount

Roadside Assistance

Thrifty offers what they call Protection Packages, which offer 24 hours a day Premium Roadside Assistance Service. These packages, although good, are only available at U.S. Corporate Locations and at participating licensee locations. You have to ask the rental counter for the availability of any of the packages. Thrifty sets it up so that if you want one of the following protection packages you add it to your online reservation and get more information about the package (i.e. price) when you pick up your vehicle. This is not a good option because you should be informed of how much these packages cost before you get there in person to rent the car. Other companies charge an additional fee for roadside assistance as a separate item without having to buy a whole package that you may not be able to afford.

Instant Return

With Thrifty, vehicles must be returned to the rental counter. This is standard operating procedure with most rental companies. Instant return can be a very convenient feature that some companies offer which allows the customer to leave the keys in the car and leave.

On-Site Fuel Discount

There is no on-site fuel discount with Thrifty. They do have a prepaid fuel option. When you return the car with an empty tank, you pay the amount to fill it up, multiplied by the manufacturer's gallon-per-tank capacity. It would make it more advantageous if an on-site fueling discount was offered to help offset traveling expenses.

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The Bottom Line

Thrifty has a high availability and has a presence in 46 states. Thrifty also offers competitive economy prices, and a decent amount of variety in their vehicles. For very frequent travelers, they will receive a free rental day for every sixteen they pay for-a great perk for customer loyalty. Because of these factors, we recommend considering Thrifty for your car rental needs.

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