Sixt
reviews and complaints

My name is Gary Coughlan and I am the Customer Service Manager responsible for Sixt U.K

I am really sorry to read that you were unhappy with our service, it should not be the case that you receive a price different to what you booked. I can understand your frustration to receive additional charges but before I comment on that I would like to have the opportunity to look into the reasons why.

Please could you forward your reservation details to gary.coughlan@sixt.com and I will take care of this for you.

Best regards
Gary

My name is Gary Coughlan and I am the Customer Service Manager responsible for Sixt U.K

I'm really sorry to read that you were unhappy with our service, it should not be the case that you receive a price different to what you booked. I can understand your frustration to receive additional charges but before I comment on that I would like to have the opportunity to look into the reasons why.

Please could you forward your reservation details to gary.coughlan@sixt.com and I'll take care of this for you.

Best regards
Gary

My name is Gary Coughlan, I am the U.K Customer Service Manager. I am very sorry to read about your experience with us France and that you did not receive the correct support from my Team in the U.K. Please could you forward some details to gary.coughlan@sixt.com I will personally check this issue for you.

Best regards
Gary

When booking online, I was asked if I was going to take the car out of the UK (yes) and where (France). I was given an estimate of £450. When I went to pick up the car, I was asked for a surcharge of 80% so the fee was now over £800 - foreign use surcharge. I asked why I was asked about foreign usage during the booking process if it was to be ignored in the quotation. Only answer I got was 'we advise you to read the T&C where the surcharge are outlined'. If I am asked the question and the surcharge is outlined in the T&C then why not outlining the cost in the estimate provided? I have since been in touch with Sixt and they have now changed their story to not being able to estimate the surcharge at the time of booking as they depend on the model being allocated. But the surcharges are pretty well detailed in the T&C and surely I would prefer to see an quote with an estimate for the surcharge than no surcharge at all - when they know there will be one?
Additionally the quotation was presented as a lump sum and some parts of the documents were not written in English (think it was in Hungarian)

Their booking algorythm is totally flawed and I dont know if this is by design or by default.

Other things - they have since then sent us a loyalty card - although we have a dispute with them?

I had rented four seater a convertible in Nice airport two months before arrival. My wife picked up the car at night, the staff said everything was in order. When I saw the car I realized it was a two seater convertible of a much lower class than we had rented, with the contract for the premium priced car! When questioning the staff on this, we have not received a response after one week of calling every day. The manager is on holidays... None of the staff gives a damn about the customers.

We rented a car for 6 days from Sixt in Ireland some 6 weeks ago that had been prepaid through our travel agent. When the car was picked up the collison and theft insurance had already been accepted (not by us) the Sixt representative explained it was included and that all I had to do is initial, no explaination was given on charges (as they were included) and no other insurances were accepted.
By the way the car was rubbish, scratched, dented, on route we were worried we wouldn'r get back to Dublin.
Low and behold 1 week later we note that $750 had been debited from our credit card, no invoice was sent, the money just taken out.
Consequently, after 5 weeks of investigating we finally find out that this debit was for insurances accepted.
Our chances of recouping this money are minmal so please beware with the Sixt car rental company where ever you may be, never accpet what they say and read the fine print...better still never rent from them, ever!
As a footnote we rented a car from Hertz for 3 weeks in Germany, went to Chezch Rep, Poland and never had a problem...what you pay for is what you get.

Hello,

My name is Marie and I am part of the UK customer service deparment for Sixt.

Please can you provide me some further details such as your reservation or if you do not have this information the date of rental an the main drivers full name to enable me to locate your hire and look into this further for you.

My e-mail address is marie.white@sixt.com

Kind Regards,
Marie

i have big issue with Sixt too, their car doesn't work and I was in the middle of France with nobody just load of cows! And when I called their sixt assistant number and told them my GPS location they said they can't see it on the map! I don't know if they are stupid or they just don't care! they did nothing to help and told me the call the police! What a police can do with my borken car? at the end I still have to pay in full! plus my phone bill, hotels, taxi etc. They just don't care!

When I made it back home, I called them and after spoke with 4 to 7 people on the phone that speak no english, but they told me they can. And they told me they have NO customer service phone number! The best I can do is write to them at cs-holidaycar@sixt.de This is the only way to contact them if I have an issue. Further more when I return their replacement car to Zurich airport, that "Bi**H" at the front desk said, she doesn't know S**T, if I have any bill to claim or anything.. don't talk to her, write to the CS department. What a serivce!

Btw, they will read your mail (when they feel like it) so good luck. What I am doing now is I call my credit card company to "HOLD" that payment to Sixt until me and Sixt resolve everything. And all I am asking is to HOLD not cancel or anything. They are big company, so I think we need to use some bigger company in order to get our right.

BOTTOM LINE - rent from Enterprise. They actually cost less (for a bigger car) AND they do not have the "must have current license for 5 years" policy.

STORY:
Car was reserved for pickup @ Dublin airport via Ryanair services 30 days before travel to Ireland. 4 days prior to arrival, reviewed the reservation. Sixt contract states one must have driver's license for 5 years in order to rent. I questioned (via email and FaceBook) clarification: must I have had a driver's license for at least 5 years, or is it that I need to have my current, valid driver's license for 5 years.

The reason I needed to know was because I moved to a new state this year - and changed my driver's license to the new state (as required by law). The new license, therefore, had an issue date of 2016.

I received NO response from the email - and although their FaceBook page states they will respond within a few hours, it was 16 hours before I got a response. While the responder was not rude, she was not helpful, either. She merely stated that they will NOT rent to me, even though I've driven for over 44 years and have both my current state's license as well as the one from my previous residence. THAT IT IS A REQUIREMENT BY THE COUNTRY OF IRELAND.

Now, this does not make sense to me. If this is truly their policy, then most Americans would not be able to rent from them. So I checked Avis & Budget - THEIR policy stated 1 year (unfortunately, that wouldn't help me).

SO - I called the only Sixt phone number I could find (reservations in Ft. Lauderdale). The young lady confirmed the policy, but said it actually depends on the branch manager, whom she would call for me. THEN not only did she put me back into the queue (instead of on hold, which is what she did when she checked the policy), Sixt disconnected me.

At this point I was more stressed than I had been when I was the caretaker for BOTH my parents (one who was up during the day, the other at night - both falling on a regular basis).

My daughter (who is in the UK and has rented cars) suggested Enterprise - so I called them. THEY were wonderful!

I agree never use SIXT. I've just returned from Northern Ireland £2000 worse off because of the unpleasant treatment by Sixt U.K. Hard sell on purchasing their "excess reduction insurance". Told them I already had a policy, was told it wasn't worth the paper it was written on- if only I'd bothered to google! Told me that "if we find anything on the car and you've gone for the largest excess, you won't see a penny of it back" to which I replied, well I would surely if the repair cost less? They laughed and said- "no-one ever sees a penny of that again as it gets sent away for assessment then somewhere else for repair and you get charged for everyday of lost business!"
I was asked to sign to agree to the large excess, and without realising I was also signing to say the car was in perfect condition. They hadn't even told me which car I was getting- as they swapped it from the one I'd booked! They never once mentioned anything about the condition of the car or asked me to check, just merrily handed the keys over in the dark, and what do you know- I returned it in the light and they found a 1cm scuff to the hubcap and 2cm scuff to the Wing mirror! So they've kept £1200! Add to that, the fact that the car was back on the forecourt and was offered to my brother for rental the very next day. Waiting to hear if I get any money back. Seeking legal advice and as I worked for police, discussing it with fraud team too. Please for your sake avoid this company at Belfast international.

They advertise some really good specials, but when I tried to reserve a car the price more then triple for the exact car, when I asked for the special that I was looking at and other specials on the internet page I was told they have no knowledge of those deals and therefore cannot honor them.Then I was told to reserve the vehicle at the price I was being quoted and call back for specials later and I might be able to find a deal then and I could always cancel at no charge. I said I wanted to reserve a car now and wanted one of the specials I was looking at and was told they couldn't help me. WTF kind of customer service and false advertising is this. I'm sure it's not legal!

I can tell you that I am not an ex employee of Sixt. However their business practices are appalling. Three days after driving a Vauxhall Insignia 150 miles in Ireland, the clutch went out. Sixt agreed to replace the vehicle albeit not in the time frame promised. They gave us another 6 speed which we had for a week with no problems. Three weeks after coming back to CA I get a charge for 3329.75 euros because Sixt attributes the failure to driver error. They do don't know what driver. Me or the 50 previous renters but they are holding me responsible. I've had manual transmissions for 50 years and presently have a 2006 Subaru 5 speed with 85000 miles with no clutch problems. For them to arbitrarily accuse me of this is ludicrous. In the mean time an internet search turned up quite a few clutch problems for that make and model before 50000 miles. My bank is refuting the charge and autoeurope is questioning their motives. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY !

I do not work for the company and never have but I was given false info about my rental in PR. I do believe the employees are misrepresenting what you need and don't need when you drive in Puerto Rico and they must be getting commissions because they go out of there way to to sell you thaw fact that you need to get the product or you will not be able to travel in the island. Be aware PR is part of the US the money is the same and your insurance is valid in the country as long as you have full coverage in one of states in the USA .i was unable to go anywhere else and they knew it so I had no choice but to do what the lady told me.

NEVER, EVER HIRE/RENT FROM SIXT! When I went to pick up the car at Malaga airport I told the agent that I had already purchased collision damage waiver insurance through the booking agent, rentalcars.com. The agent lied to me and said that the insurance I purchased through rentalcars.com was not valid. In addition, the agent added glass and tire insurance, which I did not ask for. Since I had a very early flight, I did purchase the petrol refill, which was exorbitant! When I next looked at my email there was a message from rentalcars.com warning me NOT to purchase insurance from Sixt because it was not necessary-the rentalcars.com insurance covered everything! When I complained the company did not offer any refund or compensation of any kind. Since then I have read numerous reviews from others that have had the same experience, or worse. Their business model is based on defrauding their customers. Sixt is the absolute WORST rental car/car hire experience I have EVER had!

I have recently rented a car from your company, my pick up location was Geneva, France exit.
Let me start by saying the car I have gotten was clean and roomy enough for a sub compact category however the tires were a different story. The car was equipped with summer tires in the winter season, at the time when we made the reservation we were not informed of such and we thought with the proper tires we should be able to get around fine so we turn down the option of snow chains to the tires and putting a vehicle on the road like this is an accident waiting to happen. By the 10th which was a Thursday, it had started snowing and it merely accumulated a few inches of snow and my car was stuck on our way back to the apartment we were staying in, it took us over an hour trying to drive the car to the side of road where it was safe to park the car. On Friday morning my husband made a couple of phone calls to your reservation center seeking for help and it was nothing but being pushed around from customer service to roadside assistance. Roadside assistance refuse to help because they said my car being stuck in the snow its not the same as a break down so there was nothing they can do and I need to drive my car back to Geneva Airport to change out my car, and they clearly did not listen nor did they understand the definition of the word “stuck” . I decided to call the reservation center again wanting to speak to a Supervisor and soon I was speaking to Jessie the Supervisor from the Basel Reservation Department, she was not polite nor helpful, throughout the phone call she kept telling me to keep quiet with her limited English, she kept telling me on the phone that I was angry, I explained that I was not angry I was annoyed and nervous. She also claimed it was not the company’s responsibility to have all season tires on the car even its winter, snowing season. The only thing she offered was to put snow chains on the tires at the location where the car was stuck in and it would cost me €694, which I thought was absurd amount of money, so she gave me no solution and made me feel helpless. And the audacity of your employees both from the reservation department as well as the road side assistance service department telling us to drive back to Geneva Airport after informing them numerous times the car we have is not equipped for the dangerous road conditions. I had also filled a customer comment form online via their company website and the response I got was the branch manger, general manger and the supervisor were all involved " but unfortunately, this ( the car ) was not up to your expectations and we are unable to offer any other solution in your specific case. I found that the company renting out vehicles that are inadequate to road conditions, negligent to consumer safety.

Rented from them at Tampa Airport. This company is a Rip-off, they are Rude, Unprofessional, and they will run your bill up HUNDREDS od DOLLARS on your credit card, for a minor scratch or any blemish. If you see them appear on your bill after getting a cheep rate from Hotwire or those other company's, EAT the bill and go to a reputable company. This is a THIRD WORLD COMPANY!

Booked a car through argushire who are brokers for sixt. have literally sent an email a day for the past 8 days to resolve an issue regarding a baby seat and have had no response whatsoever. Argus are happy to take the money up front and then you are dust, sixt have been non existent and it is simply shameful the lack of response. Any ideas who to contact regarding this, can't find a customer service manager...

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding a past rental or need any help arranging vehicle hire. I am the Customer Service Manager for Sixt rent a car in the U.K, my contact details are gary.coughlan@sixt.com or [protected] if you prefer to speak directly to me. We'd love that every rental went without a hiccup but we are realists and we know that from time to time there is a problem but I am here and I will be happy to help you and for you to help me improve our service.

Gary Coughlan

Hey Bunnr-au,
First of all, you are telling me that you 'ordered a C class and got a B class', but you can't even tell me what the difference is!
Would you mind saying something along the lines of 'I ordered a C class which is supposed to come with .-.-.-.-.-., but instead I got a B class which does not come with .-.-.-.-.-.'
Until you can do that, I cannot agree that you were being downgraded.
JUST BECAUSE YOU SAW A TOYOTA ONLINE DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET THE TOYOTA. IT SAYS 'OR SIMILAR' SO YOU MIGHT GET THE SAME EXACT CAR, BUT GET A FORD OR A KIA OR A HYUNDAI OR WHATEVER.
You reserve a size, not a model. For example, if you order a luxury car (which means that you get a fully-loaded car) and you see a picture of a Mercedes-Benz, or similar and you get to the lot and the car is a BMW, but its still fully loaded, are you going to whine about it?

Hi there, Mike from Sixt UK here,

I am sorry to hear that you have experienced problems with your rental and that you are still awaiting a resolution from Sixt Italy. This is certainly not the norm for us and we absolutely pride ourselves on our customer service.

I am passing this on to our UK customer service department and I will request that they investigate and contact you as soon as possible to discuss.

Best Regards

Mike
Sixt UK

When you book a car, you get a car class or similar. Which means you don't necessarily get a free upgrade. Car classes are typically determined by how passengers it seats and how much luggage it holds. This always gets me, if you like another car, just pay for the upgrade. Help out the employee at the counter. He's going to get fired if he doesn't perform. So seriously, pick the cheapest option and get it if you want a hassle-free experience.

As for the billing problem, it was probably a system error if they were all for the same amount. If the matter does not get resolved, you can always file chargeback under 'multiple transaction records found'.

I' ve rented a car in Paris in august 2010. from the office from gare de l'est paris. the agent sent me 3 streets away to pick up the car from parking. the car was parked at 4th floor in the darkness corner. nobady was there to give me the car. i had inspected the car, looking around to see any visible damage. because it was too dark i didn't see much. i've took the car and left. i have returned on the 17th august at charles de gaulle airport sixt's office. the agent from that office looked at the car and sayd that everything is ok. no paper has been made. just put me to sign in electronic device like a PDA. i asked what to sign for and reply for returning the car. i left france on 17th of august and on 20th of august they charge my credit card for rental fee. On 20th of september they charge my credit card again with 250 euro for a damage at the car that was rented by my. they took the money and after that send me an email with a service report and a bill for 250 euro. when a wrote to sixt they send me another email with pictures of car scratched, but frfom those pictures i can't tell where are made, when are made and also a report signed by me with the damage. i didn't sign any paper at returning the car (just in that pda where nothing was written jus a blank screen), i didn't received any paper from sisx when i returned the car.

WHEN YOU RENT A CAR ASK THE AGENT TO GO WITH YOU TO CECK THE CAR.
DON' T SIGN IN ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE, BECAUSE YOUR SIGNATURE CAN BE PUTTED ON ANY PAPER AFTER THAT. ASK FOR PAPERS SO YOU CAN READ WHAT IS WRITTEN AND ASK FOR YOUR OWN COPY SIGNED BY THEIR AGENT.
DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD, IF IT'S POSSIBLE, BECAUSE THEY CAN CHARGE YOU ANYTIME AFTER YOU LEAVING THE COUNTRY.

DON'T RENT CAR FROM SIXT !