Marissa was helpful and tried dissuading me from renting an EV because Houston doesn't have many charging stations. She was right, but then I looked at the Thrifty return policy for EV and you only have to return it with 10% or more battery. So don't feel afraid to rent an EV in Htown unless you plan on doing something stupid like drive to Austin. Ha. Also, thanks for pandesal recommendation, Marissa! read more

Absolutely do not rent from them. Their shuttle comes every 30 minutes while other rental companies come every 5 minutes. Now, waiting 45 minutes for the car and it still hasn't arrived. Definitely don't rent from this company, they clearly don't respect customers or their time. If you end up booking them, take the Enterprise shuttle and walk across the street to Thrifty because it comes way more often. read more

John S, I made a reservation one week before arriving in Houston for a family funeral. I reserved an 8-passenger van. We waited 2+ hours to get our van, only to be told they didn't have one available to rent. It took another 2 hours for the staff to rent us a 7-passenger SUV. My son went next door to Enterprise and rented a sedan for half of our group in 5 minutes. Everyone should avoid Thrifty at Hobby Airport. Better yet, stay away from Thrifty altogether. I could only give one star, but I wanted to give a negative 5 stars. I plan to make a complaint with the Houston BBB. read more

Rented a car a week and a half ago, somehow still had to wait over an hour for my car because they overbooked or something. Also it's been over 24 hours since I returned my car and I still haven't received my 500$ deposit back. Tried calling the store, the phone rang for over 15 minutes before I finally gave up. Tried calling the Thrifty customer service line, and THAT phone number doesn't work either. I'm genuinely blown away by how awful this company operates. This was my first, and last, time renting a car. Shoutout to the workers themselves though they were very kind and patient. Everything else was horrible. Give me my 500$ back pig. read more

Zero stars is most appropriate. Overbooked. Understaffed. Poor communication about status, made us wait over 1.5 hours without updating us (or anyone else waiting, about 5-6 other parties) that they were short vehicles and waiting for returns. Eventually offered us a lesser vehicle without compensation; which we politely declined; and didn't even tell us that they didn't have the vehicle type we wanted (I had to hear that from calling my credit card company customer service). I cancelled with my credit card company and booked across the street at Enterprise instead. Was in the type of car I wanted within 15 minutes and just for about $40 more in total. Worst is that Thrifty falsified rental car documents for a car I never received or even came close to touching! Stay away from this company at all costs; not worth the headache dealing with such a poorly managed company. read more

No shuttle in sight from airport to facility. Had to tip another company's driver to drop me off at thrifty. Arrived at 3:45pm (reserved for 4pm) and no cars available. I needed to go straight to work and I have been sitting here for a half hour waiting on a vehicle. No offers, no discounts, no nothing and I'm late for work because they can't have a car available. Terrible. read more

Zero stars. This is a completely dishonest business. No transparency on all the upselling they do, they bait and switch you into paying for an upgrade by saying no other cars are available. I was in a rush and couldn't wait the 30 minutes they said it would take to find a car for me. I had to pay $75/day extra just to get a car, despite what Thrifty's contact of service says. Lastly, they have one shuttle driver. All the other companies have at least 3. I will never rent from Thrifty again at any location. I have requested a full refund. read more

I had a confirmed reservation time, I arrived to a lobby full of people who had been waiting up to 1.5 hours for cars they didn't have available. They couldn't tell me when I'd be getting my car despite my confirmed reservation time. Very dissatisfied with the service. read more

I usually go with other rental car companies and if this isn't the first time I've used Thrifty it has been some time ago. Where do I start?! Arrived around 9:30 in the morning on a Wednesday where I expected to check in and get a car but instead was asked for my name and what class car I reserved (for the waitlist). Also, was informed the wait to get a car is 1/2 to 1 hour. What?! Based on reviews, it seems this process of waiting (an hour or more) for a reserved car is business as usual). What amazed me the most was how patient and orderly all the customers were given the service failure. Maybe it was because World Cup Soccer was showing on the TV? Overheard-"Folks lining up like they're buying cars." I felt bad for the one person who was doing her best to take care of her customers and working with such a broken process. About 2 hours after arriving a VW Tiguan was ready for me. There were some dents and scratches which I made sure to photo document. Extra star for the Lady who was doing her best given the "no win" service situation Thrifty put her in. "You get what you pay for" applies here. Owned by Hertz -you're better than this! Should've read the Yelp reviews beforehand. read more

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Terrible! Let you book online to reserve cars they do not have. Drove an hour to come here to pick up a non-existent car. Only to be told there are people here waiting already for 3 hours for cars they do not have. Just hoping that some cars will be returned! Staff also very rude and unhelpful. Blaming AI for booking cars they don't have available. read more

Just .. don't . Upon getting on the shuttle bus, the driver had informed us that there will be a LONG wait as they do not have cars! He asking kidding and appreciate his honesty. We got there and sure enough, the inside of the place was full and only allowing people inside whose name are on the reservation. It was a hot day and I understand the situation so i waited outside while my boyfriend goes in and less than 5 mins, he was out! Lol. We both do not have patience and thank goodness the driver gave us heads up! We took a Lyft to Whataburger, he called places and ensure there are cars available then we left to pick it up! If it's cheap, expect the worse aka may not have a lot of cars available as other people are will be renting here, too! It's just a reservation, cancelation shouldn't be an issue unless you booked it through third party (like we did) via Expedia then you have to go through hoops and loops. The problem here is they way too many reservations while not having enough vehicles. Don't they have a system that will advise which vehicle will be returns on time and expected reservations? Anyways. Good luck! read more

Buyer beware: I booked a car through the Southwest app with Thrifty, expecting to pay $359, only to be charged $542 on my credit card. The app may seem convenient, but the final cost is anything but. read more

Don't use this rental company. We used the one at IAH airport! I would give less than a star but that isn't possible on here. They manipulate and upsell to you. They aren't transparent with pricing.. and when you try to contact customer service, they are unhelpful and make it hard to get help. They are intentionally scamming folks to get the most money they can. Not trustworthy, reliable, or transparent. read more

I went in late September, I had a great experience. I'm shook this company does not have 4-5 stars! I booked through "StreefreeCarRental. com" and paid like $30 but they disclosed I had to pay like $25 in person. I didn't mind. The website was kind of sketch, but I can vouch it's legit. Then I went in person and paid the $25, then she asked if I wanted tolls and she helped me figure out if I needed tolls, and I got it for like $14 (even though I had it for a day and a half), I'm sure I got my tolls worth. Breana (I think she said her name is) was amazing! She was the vibe! She seemed truthful and ethical and I hope she is the face of this location! I was in and out within 10 minutes. I paid like a $300 security deposit and got it back and she upgraded me to a nicer vehicle too because they didn't have the basic models. Their hours are great too! And they allow after hours drop offs! It's super easy! Just drop it off, and go to the shuttle. Directions to the location is easy in Apple Maps. Didn't force me to buy their insurance and didn't force me to buy the tolls, I did just in case, and I'm glad I did cause I don't have a toll bill. (My home state doesn't have tolls, so I don't know how tolls work and don't want to worry about it). I guess the only thing that I agree with in another review that it's not actually at the HOU airport, you do take a shuttle but it was a short wait, quick ride. :) Phone doesn't seem to work, which is weird. I was just calling to make sure that the gal I worked with is Breana before submitting this review because she deserves the praise. Haha. But honestly, I didn't need to worry about either of those. I'm not upset. Just glad I got my car within 10-15 mins and got a good deal! I think they improved since all the negative reviews were posted. They seemed organized too. So maybe it's worth trying again. Idk. I hope this was helpful and I hope they prove me right! read more

I rented a Thrifty car from IAH Houston airport through the Hopper app. Although the car was very comfortable, and the initial rental rate was only $84 for 4 days, but aware of a couple surprises: 1) It was false advertising when it said the rental car pickup was onsite in the airport terminal. Not true! You actually have to take a shuttle to a remote parking lot offsite to pick up the Thrifty rental car, so that adds to your time to get out of the airport and on the road. The most disappointing delay was that that a car was not ready, and there were 4 customers in line in front of me. I arrived late at night, and it was 22° in January, and the garage, although covered, is outdoors with NO heating. They were very inefficient, as there had to have been at least four Thrifty agency workers in the parking garage, but it seemed like only 1 was actually fetching cars, 1 was at a computer terminal, and 2 of them were just sitting there gabbing with each other and ignoring customers. It was about a 45 minute wait (!) to bring me my car, and then they didn't even show me the features of it, like how to turn the windshield wipers on, which was not intuitively obvious in the new model car, and it was pouring rain when I drove outside the parking garage and had to pull over to figure out how to turn on the wipers. 2) The biggest shock was that although my entire car rental was only $84, there was an additional $43 (!) upcharge that was emailed to me a week or two AFTER the rental as a surprise of toll road charges! No one at the rental counter mentioned anything to me about toll road surcharges, and where I live in another state, there are no toll roads. Of the $43 of toll fees, $20 of it was a "convenience service fee"! I have no idea whose convenience that was for, but it wasn't for me. I called my brother who lives in Houston where I visited, and he said those tolls on those roads should not have added up to more than $5 for the four days I was there. It's abominable that I was charged $43 for what should've been $5 of tolls. Thrifty is owned by Hertz, which uses a third-party company called Platepass to bill for the toll charges. Beware that it is impossible to reach a live person on the phone through Thrifty customer service to ask questions to make sure it's not a scam. If you don't pay the toll right away that is emailed to you, then they threaten to add on an additional $20 of late payment penalties in certain intervals! There is NO way to reach a live person to contest it! I think it's an internal kickback scam between Platepass and Thrifty/Hertz, and it's just a way for them to squeeze more money out of you AFTER you chose them based on low advertised car rental rates. Don't rust their low rates! They just upcharge you on the back end with these toll up charges and "convenience fees" and "service charges" that you can't even contest. If their low rental price upfront seems too good to be true, then it is! I won't be renting from Thrifty again. Terrible customer service, long wait times, unfactual claims that they are IN the airport terminal, and hidden up charges on the backend. Nope, I'll be going back to Avis again next time who I've always had good experiences with and no surprise upcharges. read more

I have yet to find a car rental place near Hobby that just does it all right. I rent quite often as I don't like to put miles on my car for long road trips within Texas. What has kept me coming back here are the rates are alot better than most of their competitors, not counting the off brand places that I would never rent from. That may be the one and only positive thing to say about this place. Their hours are pretty horrible too. I like to hit the road early and they only open at 7 am (hours listed on Yelp are not accurate). What ends up happening is I pick up the car the night before which usually means an extra day of charge depending on when I return it. When I have arrived at 7, the line has been long and the nice ladies up front can only do so much. The cars are slightly older with visible wear and tear. Make sure to snap pics before driving off. They will try and upsell upgrades and coverage like their life depended on it. I've given them a few chances and the price alone keeps me coming back. If their competitors come close, I will definitely go with them! read more

It's unacceptable that a rental car company can't have a car ready for their customers. Everything about the trip was going smoothly until reached this place. All our time saved was gone. Sitting waiting for a vehicle for more than 45 minutes. That's insane. Why rental car places have to be this way? read more

A better explanation or address of where the actual location is, giving us our actual vehicle we booked for, better communication, better service, cleaner vehicles. read more

Do not rent from thrifty they don't deserve any stars. They are a big scam. Purchased the full option and when signing the paper work the lady renting the car made it seem that it would be cheaper to pre purchase the full and at no time made it clear that you will not get a refund so the only way that this works is if you return the car on empty. Everything is extra at thrifty and their customer service is a joke. Do not rent from them. Would leave zero stars if possible. Do not rent from thrifty. read more

Tonia and the other two ladies had such a pleasant vibe walking in. They handled everything with ease and it was a busy weekend, start of the rodeo. People became impatient but they kept a level head and took care of the customers with a smile. Great job ladies! read more

I am sorry but this location is unprofessional, rude, and unorganized. My rental was paid and scheduled for pickup at 7am and I did not get the car rental until 9am. The operation hours for this location state they are supposed to be open at 7am but three customers were waiting outside for the doors to open. The only employees there were for the shuttle and rental returns. One employee was nice enough to open the doors for us at 7:30 since it was cold outside but we were sitting in building in the dark. We asked the employees multiple times if they can assist us with our reservation but stated they cannot. We asked if someone is coming to assist us and they stated they are on the way but cannot give us an ETA. Around 8am they finally decided to turn on the lights in the building and stated they are still waiting for the person or manager to assist us with our reservations. Then the shuttles were dropping off people from the airport. There were about 20 people or more waiting to be helped. I attempted to call customer service over the phone which was a hassle. It is automated and will redirect you to go to their website for help. Filing a complaint could only be done online as well. The employee finally arrived at 8:30, me and the other 2 customers that were there first tried to get our reservations. He then proceeded to tell everyone that he going to help BlueChip members first and disregarding that a lot of people were there at a specific time. Also keep in mind that he is the only person that will be helping everyone that a reservation from 7am. I overheard the employee explain to a customer that he was in the way to work but drove back home for his cellphone. Once the employee was assisting me with my rental he yelled "Jesus Christ" at me and snatched ID and credit card from my hands which was very unprofessional. This company does absolutely nothing for this location. I should've seen the reviews. I ended up filing a complaint online since customer service over the phone directed me there and stated someone will call me. I then received an email a couple of days later that absolutely did nothing and was a waste of time. There is no compensation for picking up your car rental late and no management to speak to over the phone. read more

Thrifty Car Rental - Car Rental Near Me - Houston, Texas

I was trying to rent a rental car in Arizona, which understand I need a major credit card, but to get refund back was a problem, still haven't received my refund back smh read more

One person working?? Do you hire managers? Awful. 45 min wait - zero stars. Customer service horrific. read more

I'd love to say that all car rental companies are comparable. In the past, I've usually just searched for the least expensive rentals and gone with that company. After my experience with Thrifty at Houston Hobby Airport, I will probably never go back to Thrifty! We reserved the vehicle months in advance and thought that the pick-up would be an easy process. We quickly found the shuttle from the airport and arrived at the rental agency. That's when the experience fell apart. When we got off the shuttle and saw the waiting area packed with people, I assumed that they were waiting to get on the shuttle. That was not the case. They were all waiting for cars! There were not cars in the lot. We were told that they had to be brought over from other lots. This left us waiting for HOURS! We sat in the Houston heat for almost 2.5 hours, waiting for our name to be called so that we could get our rental car. It was ridiculous. I asked an employee if this wait was standard and they informed me that it was like this every day! To add to this...our rental was filthy (we could barely see out of the windows) and we realized (when we were already in Galveston) that the tags were expired. Returning of the car was not a quick or easy process either and the line was very long on that day as well! What a tremendous disappointment! I would not recommend the use of Thrifty Car Rental at the Houston Hobby Airport! read more

Never again! Pre-checked and arrived an hour after my reservation. The sign says if you pre check go straight to your car. No I'm told there were no cars and I hold have to wait 30 min-1hr and there were 5 ppl ahead of me who needed a car. She then said I could walk across the street to enterprise because they always have cars as they are more expensive. So I had to go across the street and got a car. They totally wasted my time and the game nasty niceness they can keep. read more

I had a fantastic experience with Thrifty Car rental at IAH airport. I accidentally rented an electric car by mistake and when I told them I don't know how to drive an electric car they said no problem and even upgraded me to a nice utility vehicle. I dealt with Marrisah, Jamashira, and Garcia. They were all super accommodating and friendly. And went out of their way to make me happy. I will definitely use the Thrifty car rental in Houston for my next trip. read more

There are at least ten couples waiting on a car AFTER checking in already. . I'm sure some have waited an hour. We are last in line This place sucks so bad I cannot believe this place I wish I could leave zero stars read more

NEVER AGAIN. We're still sitting here waiting for a vehicle for now OVER AN HOUR. No update on time. No acknowledgment. If zero stars was an option... read more

Bad experience at Houston Hobby. Be aware of hours with booking. Booked for 4pm. Didn't know they were offsite and by the time we got bags and walked over to shuttle pick up - it was 5pm - CLOSED. Didn't know this until saw many shuttles go more than one time and finally called the 800 number only to find out that they were closed in Houston Hobby. read more

Have a reservation for a car for over two weeks. When we get there we waited over 90 minutes. One excuse one after another. They said the car be ready in 15 minutes. It end up 90 minutes. During the wait I would check up on them after 30 minutes and the no car was ready. I would ask them because there people are waiting for us. The reception would make up excuse one after another and they said if you don't like it just cancel a go rent the other company. When the contact was paid in full for the rental. Don't recommend anyone go with this company. Be aware. read more

Charges do not match initial invoice. Booked thru Priceline at around $200 bucks. Final invoice close to $600. Save yourself a headache and book somewhere else read more

We sat for over an hour and a half waiting for a car. There was a long list of people ahead of us and apparently there were no more cars. We ended up going to enterprise across the street. read more

Rushed over to pick up my rental only to find out that there would be over an hour wait before I could get a car. It's not like this is their first time renting cars. Over 30 people waiting and two people working behind the counter. They have no regards for people's time. Don't bother pre checking it is a waste of time and means nothing as the lady behind the counter advised. They just want your information to sell off. read more

Thrifty Car Rental - Lobby of thrifty. - Car Rental Near Me - Houston, Texas

Worst place to rent a car, we had reservation and there were not enough cars for everyone. There were lots of customers waiting for cars. Some people were waiting for over an hour. We end up cancelling our reservations and walked across the street to enterprise car rentals and got a car in less than 10 minutes. read more

Omg what a pain in the azz! So the vehicle served its purpose brand new Suburban only thing is it cake with a cracked windshield. So we drop off on a Friday. Husband gets a text on Monday or email. Saying they can't find the truck. He calls and is on hold for the longest. So, we come up here. Am writing this sitting at the parking lot. Always take pictures of your rentals glad we did. We get here and I find the damn vehicle myself! We go inside and tell her. Then she says they are charging us for the windshield. This whole experience has been a headache and inconvenience!! To say the least we've been her going on an hour. My husband is inside arguing this crap that he shouldn't be. We should not be out here doing their job looking and locating the SUV!!! Oh and they moved it's not where the location says. It's across the street in the Hertz rental lot. We should get a compensation for this BS. This is for the lady helping us she did a wonderful job and was patient. Despite the fact that she was alone and busy! Her name is Tawana thank you!!! She took care of the extra charges. read more

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Well I rented a car on 11/9/2023 they asked me for $500 deposit AND STILL DID NOT RETURNED IT. They provided me a receipt saying that they released deposit but THERE IS NOTHING. Customer service are doing a thing and not willing to involve. AVOID THIS TRASH AT ANY MEANS read more

After an hour flight to SMF, I will likely be in line at Thrifty for at least two hours. Sadly for me, I booked through a third party and would likely never see my money again. Here is a photo of the Thrifty counter and one of National and Alamo. This is ridiculous. read more

Thrifty Car Rental - Same "line" at better car rental agencies. - Car Rental Near Me - Houston, Texas

My sister made reservations for today. This location was over crowded. Some of the customers said they had been waiting for a vehicle for 2 hours! So you know what that means for us. My sister could not cancel because of how she made the reservations. People were waiting inside and outside for a car. They did not give a good explanation accept they were behind and cars were being washed and they would call you once a car is ready. The employees had to sense of urgency. This is beyond ridiculous. That'san entire lie! Bad service. Do not rent here! They do not deserve 1 star read more

This was the worst car rental experience I've ever had. The in-person representative was very kind but my follow up with the online customer care was awful. It is worth spending a little more on a car rental than to go through an experience like this. I definitely do not recommend. read more

So, I had a reservation almost a month ago. I had to be in Hempstead about an hour after I landed. I get to the Thrifty/Dollar Rental company, just to be told that I'd have to wait about 2 hours for a car. I asked why didn't they inform me of this ahead of time and got a lame look. I booked with them because of the price, but should have checked the reviews ahead of time. You truly do get what you paid for! read more