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December 2025 by Dan Skvarca
Thrifty had two agents checking people in at Lihue and we were maybe 14th in line. What should have maybe been 20 minutes took nearly 2 hours. I have heard of ‘island time’ but this was more than irritating. The ladies working the counter had zero urgency and never once addressed the line of people waiting to begin their vacation with an explanation. They just slowly did their thing, unapologetically. I wish I saw that this thrifty location had two stars. I would’ve booked one of the other rental companies.
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December 2025 by max jones
The vehicle was fine for our needs. However upon returning the vehicle I was charged an additional $350 cleaning fee. The vehicle was not overly dirty. Also remember, where there are beaches there will be sand. I was not informed of this possible charge. The vehicle had tiny bugs all over as well.
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December 2025 by freediver41
Can’t beat it for the price and condition of the rentals!
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December 2025 by Amanda Gleason
Had a terrible experience with one of the shuttle drivers at this location. I went to get on the bus and he said “we are full”. There was plenty of standing room so I politely asked “is it ok if I stand?” And with the biggest attitude he says “Do what you want. I’m tired of fighting. I just want to go home. Like a clown car they just keep coming in.” He then continued to talk shit about me to front passengers. All he had to say was no it’s not possible to stand. The attitude was completely uncalled for. This was an older gentleman with a southern accent. He should not be client facing if he can’t control his attitude.
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December 2025 by Inez Bolivar
This location has the most rude unprofessional racially disparaging and incompetent staff leading them by the most rude unprofessional incompetent and racially disparaging manager named Kimmy this manager was incompetent racially disparaging and aggressive towards me she fought with me in front of my family making racially disparaging comments towards me insisting that I was fighting with her.... this was the worst customer experience in my life I will never rent from this company ever again a star of one is not low enough for the service that I received this is so unfortunate that thrifty car rentals allows customer service representatives like this in their company
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December 2025 by Megan Barton
Very disappointing
On my ticket return time was marked 4 am
We arrived to it being closed
Calling the website the opening hours were 5 am
A gate opened at 5 I drove in and parked the doors to the office were locked
The lady at the front counter looked at me then ignored me at 5.05 she put her hand up at me and walked into side office and closed the door
At 10 minutes past 5 she came out and told me to drive out of the grounds and wait at the return gate which was still closed . She was EXTREMELY rude and said we don’t open till 5:15
I drove in the gates at 17 past 5 dropped the car and walked to the shuttle bus
Another woman came out and was very condescending .i boarded the shuttle to be greeted by a lovely man who was really disappointed in my treatment. I showed him my ticket with 4 am returned which he said he will take up with manager
I will never use them for car hire again in Kauai
They’ve lost my business
I
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December 2025 by Siva
They wouldn't let me get added as an additional driver on my wife's reservation without a $15 per day charge. Customer care emailed us explicitly stating that it's free to add a spouse if you're a blue chip member. But issue cannot be resolved unless I go back to that understaffed location and wait in line for another 2 hours. My wife ended up having to drive everywhere the entire trip. The staff should be better trained.
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December 2025 by Maria Adiarte
Great service and price for the rental.
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December 2025 by CARLOS CAMPUSANO
Rented a jeep and the second day we had it it over heated in Hanalei and left myself and handicapped girlfriend stranded on our last day with all our luggage and told us we were on our own. Our flight back to mainland was that day and I explained that to them put they said get a Uber driver. This was at 1 in the afternoon. What a disaster. We ended up taking a bus with all our luggage at around 4:30. We barely made our flight home. They told me to leave the keys in car and tow truck will get it. On the way to airport got a phone call from tow company that they couldn't find the jeep. This was a disaster. They found it the next day where I left in the parking lot of the church
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December 2025 by stephanie blaisdell
Rented an economy vehicle, which we commonly do for just 2 people. At the desk they told us it would be a Spark, like a Smart car. Upsold us to an SUV. We should have taken the economy car option as there were no Sparks even in the lot. The SUV had not been properly cleaned inside or out - sand in floorboards and smelled of sunscreen initially and later had an unpleasant musty odor. Interior was stained. I don’t mind a well used vehicle if it’s a cheap option (and it did run fine) but I would not rent from this Thrifty again.
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December 2025 by Matthew Larsen
Worst experience I’ve ever had with renting a car.
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November 2025 by Sarah Medrano
Be aware that aggressive upselling is a real issue here. Be prepared to advocate for yourself, because the staff use scare tactics and pressure-based language to push add-on charges.
I had already purchased full rental car insurance through the third-party platform I booked with. At pickup, the agent told me they “don’t deal with third parties,” and that I could be liable for up to 120 days of loss-of-use charges if the car was damaged. She emphasized that without purchasing Thrifty’s coverage, I could end up owing a massive amount of money. After a 10-hour flight and waiting in line for an hour and a half, the pressure and exhaustion made it extremely difficult to think clearly. It also wasn’t presented as an actual option to decline the coverage.
This experience felt misleading, manipulative, and deeply unprofessional. I will not be renting from Thrifty again.
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November 2025 by Lisa Pischel
Terrible service. Be aware that if you leave anything in your vehicle of any value you will NOT be getting it back. I filed a claim for within an hour of turning in our car about my husband’s cell phone and never received any response other that a confirmation number. 2 days later Myself and another person I know both called his phone and it was answered by a Thrifty employee, (who will remain nameless here ), who told both of us we needed to fill out a claim form, and it would be worked when they have time. She said she was turning the phone off to save the battery and locking the phone up for security reasons. Days went by and no response. It's been almost 2 weeks now and I have filled out 3 claim forms ( the first 2 have been deleted by someone) and I sent a relative to Thrifty @ Lihue airport to see if they could get the phone but after spending hours there Thrifty claims they can't find the phone. They also will not try to identify who I talked to or who cleaned out the car. In short, I have come to the conclusion, by their lack of action or concern that they have no intention of returning my phone and they have stolen it. So beware, if you leave anything in the car, they will make no effort to get it back to you Worse experience ever!
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November 2025 by Jim E2
REALLY SLOW line at the rental counter. Like 75 to 90 minutes!
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November 2025 by Mark Vulfson
What others are saying about crazy wait times is true. Had about 10people ahead of me and it took over an hour.
I filled all the details out online (the online check-in) not sure what the point of that was, since I still had to answer all the same questions.
People ahead of us had to come back in because they got overcharged for no reason and dollar refused to handle that over the phone, so they had to come in and waste a day of their vacation arguing with them.
Dollar - I will never be your customer again
