THRIFTY Car Rental Cleaning Charge !!!

[csv8]

My daughter hired a car from THRIFTY and in the contract it states "car must be returned clean" "or a $275 cleaning fee will be charged" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have hired cars from Avis and Hertz and have never seen this charge in their contracts.
Any FF members had problems with THRIFTY, and car cleaning ?

[Peuty]

Pretty common place I thought these days.

[Lightning Strike XR6]

Agreed. What you think you can leave your crap there and expect the poor bloke to clean it up?

Sure they will alow bit of dirt but not a filthy car.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by csv8

My daughter hired a car from THRIFTY and in the contract it states "car must be returned clean" "or a $275 cleaning fee will be charged" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have hired cars from Avis and Hertz and have never seen this charge in their contracts.
Any FF members had problems with THRIFTY, and car cleaning ?

Ha ha ...A $275 cleaning charge is a bit steep when all they'll do is take it around to a car wash cafe and pay no more than $30...or do it in house for the cost of their hired labour

I wonder how dirty they will allow before charging the fee?

[FTE72]

Originally Posted by Lightning Strike XR6

Agreed. What you think you can leave your crap there and expect the poor bloke to clean it up?

Yep sure do. Thats why you pay for the hire of the car. Last two hire cars I had were dirty on both the inside and the outside, but I did not get a discount on the hire rate, why should I clean the car for them?
Actually, the last hire car Avis tried to give me in Syd had bald outside edges on LHS tyres dented door and guard as well as filthy. Check out guy looked annoyed when I asked for something roadworthy for my $100 a day fee. :

[irlewy86]

only applicable if you really dirty the thing.

[csv8]

Car had usual road dirt from a weeks hire, no maccas wrappers, cans etc inside. The "fair wear and tear" doesn't apply. I hired a car in Adelaide, Hertz, two weeks ago, went to Mt Barker, Barossa Valley and it was in a storm sunday night. Outside was dirty, inside clean, Hertz said nothing. So why should Thrifty ? they charge enough to hire a car. !!
Her husband took it too a carwash. $10 !!
ACCC needs to look at the hire car industry.

[Hords]

Racked up >4000kms in WA last April and returned feeless with Budget. Needed a good wash and vac. However, food wrappers, travellers, etc were removed.

[SSD-85]

In regards to this sort of thing, Budget only charge if:

- Vehicle has been actually damaged in some way, including soiled interior
- Evidence of alcohol consumption
- Evidence of smoking

Sounds like thrifty just trying to make some extra money to me.

[cosmo20btt]

No but dont use europecar as they are the biggest rip offs i have ever seen, the missus flew to cairns to see her sons new baby and hired a carnival from these guys, and when she brought it back they signed off on the car at the airport. the guy comes out looks over car then signs form, not thinking any thing about it and fly's back to Brisbane. Couple of weeks later after checking visa statement they had taken out an extra 660 dollars for a headlight protector, and after going through a lot of red tape found we did not have a leg to stand on, truly sucked. So if we need a car in cairns from now on we drive up

[4Vman]

Sounds fair to me, what's so hard about keeping the car reasonably clean?

[Bucknaked]

Any hire car I get, I always make sure it's clean when I take it back to avoid any additional charges. Find a car lovers, take out any rubbish from inside. If the carpets are dirty a quick clean with the vac and a couple of bucks to hose the car so it's respectable. It's really not that hard. Takes about 10 minutes to do.

[El Venom]

I used to be a supervisor at a major thrifty location and yes even though it stats that in the contact it is more for the cost of repairing or replacement. In my time I hacve not heard of this fee being charged and some of the cars that have been returned were shocking eg: Food, throw up, peoples actual and urine, smoke butts that have burnt into seats and floors, condoms and all that on to of the normal stuff like sand, dirt, mud ect.

Some of the thrifty cars are really hard to keep clean (mitsubishis) but as I said I havent heard of the fee being charged. Also you need to factor in that unlike the bigger rental mobs like avis and hertz, thrifty does not have and arrangement with manufactors to buy and use the cars for 12-18 months and sell them back to the manufacture at a pre determind price reguardless of the condition. Thrifty own all there own cars out right with out any deals and at the end of their rental life the are processed, repaired, cleaned and sold off by thrifty at auctions. The only thrifty cars that arent owned by thrifty australia are those cars owned by a fanchise location which there are only a few left on the easten side of the country and gold coast being the only one I can remember off the top of my head.

So dont be scared off by the chance that the fee might happen. Instead look at the fact that a thrifty car is treated, clean and serviced by their employees knowing that that the better the condition of the car threw its rental life the more money they can make when they sell it off

[mik]

when you hire a car from budget they do a damage report, before you take possesion you are supposed to check around the car and see if they missed something if ok you sign off on it, its in your best interests to check very carefully or you may pay!, make sure scratches, dents, stars on windscreen are marked, and a note on your contract if the car was clean and tank full, a copy of the damage report is left in the glove box or on the spare tyre, when the car is returned they check over it .....any thing found extra will be your fault, remembering the car may be checked in by another employee, so if you missed damage or the first guy did you may end up paying, its good practise to filler up before returning the car as well or you may be slugged at the most expensive per litre rate.

[XR Martin]

$275 is probably what a detailer charges to do a full clean. Not unreasonable when you think of what can be done to a vehicle (vomit, alcohol, needles, mud, blood etc)

[XDV800]

When i hired a 380 years ago i had it for a week and thrashed the beejesus out of it. Muddy roads, hard braking, burnouts, cranked metallica on the stereo, smoked in it, ate fast food while driving then made a mountain of rubbish in the back, etc.
But the night before returning it i made an earnest effort to to clean it. Spent a whole $12 at a super dooper clean/wash convenience, sprayed half a can of deodorant inside, made sure the interior was as recieved, topped the tank, and didn't suffer a surcharge!
Simple.

[buickman]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

Any hire car I get, I always make sure it's clean when I take it back to avoid any additional charges. Find a car lovers, take out any rubbish from inside. If the carpets are dirty a quick clean with the vac and a couple of bucks to hose the car so it's respectable. It's really not that hard. Takes about 10 minutes to do.

I do the same and fill the fuel up so I don't have any issues I also take out all insurance that I can get to cover any damage to the car or other cars and property it is a rip off but saves headaches if any accidents might occur

[Hords]

Originally Posted by Scotty85

In regards to this sort of thing, Budget only charge if:

- Vehicle has been actually damaged in some way, including soiled interior
- Evidence of alcohol consumption
- Evidence of smoking

Sounds like thrifty just trying to make some extra money to me.

Wrong on the second. I dropped a stubby one arvo when the mrs turn to drive.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by cosmo20btt

No but dont use europecar as they are the biggest rip offs i have ever seen, the missus flew to cairns to see her sons new baby and hired a carnival from these guys, and when she brought it back they signed off on the car at the airport. the guy comes out looks over car then signs form, not thinking any thing about it and fly's back to Brisbane. Couple of weeks later after checking visa statement they had taken out an extra 660 dollars for a headlight protector, and after going through a lot of red tape found we did not have a leg to stand on, truly sucked. So if we need a car in cairns from now on we drive up

How could a headlight protector cost that much? Or was the "headlight protector" the front mudguard?

By the way, I have a specific insurance policy through ANZ Bank with a $125 annual premium that covers me for any excess charged by a hire car company both here and anywhere overseas.

[EDManual]

I hire cars a often and i usually leave a fair bit of work related and some fast food rubbish, but mention it to the drop off bloke and they say thats fine.

[blueau]

i hired a 12 seater van for a bucks night(from avis) . 2 of the guys threw up in it,had to wash the back out at carlovers and clean the seats a few times.it looked clean but could not get the smell out it was foul! took it back about a month ago no charge yet. think i just got lucky.

[FPV GT40]

Not sure what the problem is you dirty it, you clean it, thats life, if you could not be bothered cleaning it then you must pay whatever they charge, if you think its unreasonable or too expensive you have always got the option of cleaning it yourself.

[4Vman]

Rent a unit out and vacate it dirty and see what happens to your Bond....

[BOSHOG]

i had a hire car from europecar when my car was at autotech for a week and i took it back dirty, no rubbish, but as dirty as a car gets in a week and no extra charge for me

if you send a car back filthy you should be charged extra, why should the price of a hire car rise for the vast majority because a few want to send a car back filthy?

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by cosmo20btt

No but dont use europecar as they are the biggest rip offs i have ever seen, the missus flew to cairns to see her sons new baby and hired a carnival from these guys, and when she brought it back they signed off on the car at the airport. the guy comes out looks over car then signs form, not thinking any thing about it and fly's back to Brisbane. Couple of weeks later after checking visa statement they had taken out an extra 660 dollars for a headlight protector, and after going through a lot of red tape found we did not have a leg to stand on, truly sucked. So if we need a car in cairns from now on we drive up

If you know you didn't damage the car I would not have stopped till I got every cent back...

That's a weeks wages for many people. What red tape did you encounter?

[LeadFoot81]

*double post*

[LeadFoot81]

Considering how much it costs to hire cars Id expect to be able to return it dirty (meaning I havent washed the exterior irrespective of how dirty it is, and the interior is free from rubbish) This is how Ive always returned hire cars with ***'d companies btw.

What next, theyll expact a full detail upon return as well? And if youre unlucky enough for the spanner to light up on the dash you have to get it serviced? ffs!

[Geez Louise]

I dont always wash the outside of the car (Although I do try and take it to a car wash before giving it back), but I do fill it up and clean any rubbish out of the car. I couldn't imaging giving a car back with rubbish in it. Yuk!

[xr8 utey]

i myself rented a falcon xr6 from thrifty last weekend for the phillip island(bahrain) round from tullamarine.i found their service to be good and helpful.
upon returning the car i made sure it was as i received it bar incelement weather and dust storms etc etc and a full tank of fuel.
the car was refuelled at the BP @tullarmarine to the first click at the pump.
next day back at home i checked my credit card with internet banking and found i had been charged a $22.00 fuel charge from thrifty!
i contacted the thrifty desk @ tullamarine and enquired as to what this charge was about?
i was told it was a fuel charge! i explained to the person on the end of the line that i had filled the car to the first click of the fuel pump(as per the owners manual) less than 200 metres away before returning vehicle to depot and also told them that i had left receipt in glovebox.(should have kept receipt i know)
thrifty lady advised me that this was a common problem with the falcons and promised me a refund would be forthcoming and it did come!
but be aware,check your banking statements after renting any vehicle from any rental car agency.

[XR Martin]

Yeah FGs fuel guages are all over the place.