A vehicle that was in shambles and unroadworthy.

Worst car hire experience ever. Won't be using Thrifty again. They might be the cheapest, but they say you get what you pay for.

I had a car on hire from Dollar Thrifty Cape Town international for 5 days, here was what I experienced.

I specifically booked the earliest flight so we could collect the car and make most of the day. Only to find a total disgrace with regards to the cleanliness of the vehicle. The interior was a shame, excessive marks from a sticky substance were all over the door panel, I won’t go on. Where are the COVID hygiene protocols? We ended up waiting a further hour for the vehicle to get cleaned as there were no other spare vehicles available. Boy, do I wish we took another vehicle, knowing what horror I was in for on this one.

Car was given with a puncture on the rear right tire. Believe it or not, a low pressure on this tire was actually noted on the VIS before taking delivery. I didn’t take too much note of it and drove off to pump it up en route to my destination, only to find, when I got to the petrol station (a few KM’s into my trip), that there was actually a puncture in this tire (nail close to side wall - irreparable). I changed it for the spare wheel which was also flat and badly buckled (wasn't holding air). I have photos to prove. I ended up making it to a tire shop, where they repaired this buckled spare rim for me. This took more than half a day of our time on vacation. No compensation from Thrifty by the way…

Brake pads on the vehicle were worn. I had a suspicion they were, as I could hear a bad scratching sound (metal on metal) coming from the wheels when the car was rolling. I had the tire shop confirm this when the wheel was off.

Then there was a random and strange electronic pump sound resonating from the engine bay every now and then.

For a car that was generally “new”, it was in real bad shape and not very well looked after. This car was a hazard and danger to the roads, including the safety of myself and fiancé.

Upon returning the vehicle on a Sunday eve, I made note of all these mishaps with the supervisor in charge. I believe his name is Abdoel. He promised that they would give me a call in the new week to take further action and apologise. 2 weeks later and nothing, plus he doesn’t answer his cellphone. I wasn’t going to write this review, but I’ve received no courtesy call! You’ve got me on record, phone me and I would appreciate we sort something out.