Just don't do it. Rather hire a car from a place that leaves you feeling good.

I hire a car from OR Tambo. The experience begins with what feels like ******ion to get customers to take our super cover (do it or else we demand an enormous deposit). The car smells of grease. Later on, I try to start it but the battery is dead. I'm at the Eastgate parking lot, its getting late, and my young child is with me. Probably fine, but I don't feel too safe there at night. I ask security if they can help. He calls a friend and I'm soon jumpstarted.

When I get to my destination (family), we hook the battery up to a charger (by the look of the engine area, this car ain't new). In the morning, I test it. Hooray, it works. When it's time to take the car out for the day, it won't start! Seems the battery won't hold the charge. No problem, we load the charger into the car, with a long extension lead, and off I go (after jumpstarting again - the charger works for this).

When I take the car back, I explain the situation to the Thrifty man who collects the key in the parking lot of OR Thambo. He says, don't worry, send an email to complaints and they will sort you out. A day or two later, I send the email. Every few days to a week I receive a reply saying something like "apologies for the delay, we are escalating your complaint". Finally, I receive an email saying "we are sorry for the problem you had, it is not our usual standard, but won't compensate you because you didn't report the matter." No mention of who I failed to report it to, or how they are responding now if I didn't report it, nor that the email concedes that there was a problem. I object, no response follows.

Just booked a new car hire. Guess what? Not with Thrifty. Just don't do it.