Car rental at Charleston Airport

My rental was awful

Pros: Not much

Cons: It took them about 20 minutes to pick me up at the airport. I stood in line an hour at the rental agency. There were maybe four in front of me. Every other rental company, you show up, give them your id and credit card, they give you the key and you are out in about two minutes. Oh no, not Thrifty/Dollar. My wife is not a patient person, and walked in while I was waiting and I told her it was a little slow. Counter lady gets mad at me for accusing her of being slow, said she was training the person. The car was supposed to be a Toyota Corolla and it was a Hyundai Accent, a step or two lower. Counter lady told me the owner was cheap. The low tire light came on and I called their road repair number, and they told me to recalibrate the tires. On a rental car! The person who took the car back told me it was the cold weather that did it. Overall,kind of a pain to rent this lousy car from a lousy company.

Slow service. Car washers don’t care about your time.

Cons: I stood out side waiting for a car for nearly 45 mins with out anyone seeing me and helping me. Guy that was supposed to be filling up car with gas across the street was taking his sweet time. Talking on the phone and walking around the gas station that was in plain view for the rental car place. I was in town for 24 hours to see my grandmother and this event made us miss lunch

There was one very slow person on duty we timed it and each check in t

Cons: It took us over 3 hours to get out of the lot We watched as each customer came back because the car they were assigned was dirty, smelled of cig greeted, had damage the one we initially got smelled of ciggerrrtte smoke the one we finally got had a clicker that didn’t work As we waited we looked at the yelp reviews and the reviews matched our experience Kayak should not include this location as an option All renters should not use it

Pros: Your employees were very friendly.

Cons: Our car was dirty. The last renter's information, including driver's license, was left in the car. The shuttle smelled like someone just went to the bathroom in there. No joke.

Poor customer service

Pros: return was fast and easy.

Cons: Terrible service. Waited 40 mins to be seen and they didn’t have the car I reserved. Every customer there was not happy as cars were cleaned after the customer finished at the check in counter, so everybody had to wait for a car to be available. Staff was not friendly nor interested in customer service. They did say that I could come back tomorrow to swap out for desired car. Who wants to do that on vacation. When I called to try and ensure If I did this that it would be ready to go with no more waiting they couldn’t confirm. They were supposed to call me back and never did. So I dropped the car off and got a rental with a new company for the remainder of my trip. Apparently, this Charleston thrifty is not part of corporate, but instead is an authorized dealer. I’ve had pleasant experiences with thrifty corporate locations in the past but this location is NOT like the rest. It may be cheaper but it’s not worth it.

Charleston Thrifty

Pros: Best car for the money if you’re willing to sacrifice all your patience. Driver who returned us to the airport in the shuttle was safe, efficient and polite.

Cons: Waited too long for the pickup shuttle, waited too long at the pickup counter, waited over 20 minutes for the vehicle to be cleaned even though I had a reservation for when I arrived. Subpar customer service and extremely inefficient process.

Offsite rental location that is seriously understaffed

Cons: Took a long time to get and drop off the car due to perhaps two people working in the entire facility. No line or anything, just took a long time. Rental location is about 10 minute drive offsite.

Lost reservation

Pros: The staff member matches the price and was helpful

Cons: When we arrived our reservation could not be found via name or reservation number. We rented a car seat too and the car seat seemed unsafe and flimsy - thrifty needs to invest in equipment like car seats that isn’t the cheapest model out there.

Pros: While staff were pleasant when I dealt with them, there’d were not enough of them, I had a line and 30 min wait which is tricky when planning a shuttle and flight arrival. They did not greet customers, showed no sense of urgency and did not explain options unless asked. Personal side conversations were a bit distracting though no personal phone use which is rare. Again pleasant but bare minimum service Facilities and car were very clean though customer chairs (for waiting) were chewed up)

Cons: My rental was in definite need of break service. I realized this the first time I had to break at speed on the highway. Either the rotors/ pads or both need attention give the sound, shudder and lack or adequate break response. I had an hour drive and was immediately in traffic given the time of my flight. I did not return the vehicle as a result. After my trip, upon return, I pointed this out for safety. The service woman made a note and pointed this out to another woman who had come from the back. That woman responded, “All of our cars need work”. Not very comforting. I can imagine the constant preventative maintenance needed, however, I got the clear sense that this was not a priority. I will go with a different company next time - for convenience, service and more.

Cons: The car was not very clean at all. Still trash in it and not vacuumed. I also would never book a car rental through Kayak again. Our flight was cancelled so we were unable to get the car at the time I had the reservation for. When I called to change it to one day later I was told that if I didn’t cancel there would be a $50 penalty. She said I had to cancel the reservation and make a new one. By doing this I ended up having the car for one less day but paid over $100 more for the new reservation. Tried to save money but ended up not:(.

Not a good rental company

Pros: Very nice and helpful shuttle driver

Cons: Long wait in line, long wait to get your car after waiting in line and paying, and then makes erroneous changes on your credit card after returning the car. I am never renting from Thrifty again.

Pros: Car was comfortable and clean

Cons: It took 2 hours to pick up the car. First we had to wait for the shuttle to the rental car location. It was only a 15 passenger van so could not accommodate many people. There was only one van, so we had to wait for the van to drop off and come back. When we finally go there, there were only two people working and they took 20-30 minutes per guest. We waited in line for about 1.5 hours before being told to wait outside they would bring our car out. After 30 min more of waiting, we yelled to the guy in back who was hosing off a different car to please bring our car to us. He finally did. Total 2 hours waiting. Drop off was much better. Took 15-20 minutes. Although considering most airport car rental places they are waiting for you as soon as you pull up, it was still significantly longer than most other places. We will never rent from Thrifty again.

Cons: Location was way understaffed, took a really long time to get the car. The car was dirty inside and had an overpowering smell of smoke. The car condition report said there was nothing wrong with the car but when I inspected it there were numerous scratches.

Pros: The car for the price ...

Cons: Had to wait for car to be vacuumed and cleaned for 20 minutes. Got unrepairable flat tire ... changed to spare donut tire which could not go fast enough for Atlanta's highways so I had to find a tire repair shop ... did ... confirmed the original tire cold not repaired ... so paid $40 out of pocket for new/used tire. Called Hertz phone number for questions on coverage, reimbursement, etc and phone representative knew nothing. Passenger side headlight out when high beams on

Cons: Picking up the car took 2.5 hours. We arrived with a full shuttle (10 people) and took that long to get everyone through. This was very troublesome with two little kids.

Cons: Had to wait too long to get rep to help me at the counter

Cons: Check-in and check-out was way too long.

Won't use Thrifty again unless they are at airport

Pros: The car was fine and clean. The dropoff was much better.

Cons: Pickup of car was pitiful. We had to wait an hour and then once we got an agent, we had to wait 20 minutes for them to bring the car around frront. The money we saved wasn't worth it.

Poor experience!

Cons: Pick up took over an hour and we were at the head of the line. Sime customers were in line for several hours. Did not have a car even remotely what we had ask for (asked for a small compact and they only had pickups and vans) and it had not been cleaned adequately. Inefficient and understaffed. Drop off was better.

Very dissatisfied

Pros: The car worked fine

Cons: Waited so long, the front desk was extremely unfriendly, terrible in the phone, had to ask around, wait around, couldn't help me with what I needed, car came in dirty, no instructions were verbally given at the front desk or when giving me the car, I wish I went with another car rental service. I was very disappointed

Pros: Waited an hour to get my car. Terrible customer service and terrible experience. My car was full of stains and smelled terrible. Will avoid the Thrifty in Charleston at all costs.

Pros: Leaving.

Cons: It took almost 2 hours to get a car and we were third in line. There were no processes in place. It was pretty shocking how poorly the place was run.

Pros: Agents were friendly.

Cons: Being charged "airport fee" that was not mentioned in original quote, adding $18 to total. Sneaky. Desk was understaffed causing a looong wait to check out. Putting some simple signs up to explain how to line up would prevent confusion and grumpy customers.

not an airport location

Pros: Car was fine. Price was fine.

Cons: Terrible wait for check in and check out. Not on site, so you have to take a shuttle to and from the airport.