Marrakesh in Morocco is a massive tourist trap and a few days at most are plenty to look around the downtown area. So if you’ve booked a week to be in Marrakesh you might want to rent a car and drive out to the Atlas Mountains or other surrounding areas.
This is exactly what I did when I rented a car at Marrakesh Airport for four days through Holiday Autos to drive around the High Atlas. My plan was to visit North Africa’s highest ski resort at Oukaimeden, two hours south of Marrakesh. The hire car was from Thrifty, a member of the Hertz Group.
The car was through Holiday Autos for four days, coming in at just over £100. The car was an automatic and generally car hire companies charge a premium for these, especially outside the US. I have yet to figure out why this is but if you are comfortable driving a manual you might find they will cost about half as much as an automatic.
By the way, you can get 5% off if you use this Holiday Autos link for your next booking.
Making A Booking With Holiday Autos
I’ve been a frequent customer of Holiday Autos, renting from them for several years. They have an easy-to-use platform where you enter your destination, dates and pick-up times then hit search.
On the following page you can sort by price, recommendation or rating. Also, on the left hand side are various options to choose from such as automatic, manual, rating and so on. I’ve written a separate article about using the Holiday Autos and Argus Car Hire platforms so please read it here.
The Thrifty Desk At Marrakesh Airport
The Thrifty/Hertz pick-up desk was within the terminal at the brand new Marrakesh airport. As you come out past the passport controls carry on walking straight, following the signs to “Car Rentals”.
Tip: Make sure you don’t exit the building otherwise they will need to rescan you again and the queues can be long!
As you walk through the corridor connecting the Arrivals and Departures halls the car rental desks will be on your right. In fact, the Thrifty booth is the first one you will see.
Waiting To Be Served
I had to wait about 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged me – an American guy was taking a long time to get his car as he rented right there at the desk. So they were filling out his papers and since everything was in French with no English translations he was asking a lot of extra questions.
Instead of hanging about I decided to use the time to take some photos and make some video recordings which I will use to make a video review. When I could not come up with anything else to do I decided to step right beside the American guy which made them notice me and one of the three clerks in the booth asked for my reservation.
Unexpected Situation At The Desk
I rent quite frequently and normally picking up is pretty simple. You hand over your passport, driver’s license and credit card then just get on with it.
Unfortunately it was the first day of the guy on the desk and he did not really know what he was doing. So his supervisor was helping him to learn the ropes and this made the process a bit longer. Anyhow, they were very friendly and smiling all the time so nothing to complain about really but by this time I had been waiting for about 30 minutes and still no key in sight.
I handed over my documents and they started looking for my booking. The guy was at it for a while when I asked if there was something wrong with my reservation and they said no – it was then that the manager told me it was the receptionist’s first day on the job.
Well, everyone has a first day on the job so I did not mind the extra wait, we all need to learn to do a job! Once he filled out the form on the computer I received a form to input my name and sign then they tried to charge my Amex for the 15,800 dirham deposit.
Unfortunately the card did not work! Turns out the American guy before me tried the same and it did not work for him either. Fortunately I had a Mastercard on me which worked but I would have preferred not to use it.
Finally after about 40 minutes I received all the documents and had to walk to the car park to get the keys and check for any damages.
As I was walking towards the exit the manager ran after me and said that they upgraded me so here is the new print-out to give to the other guy in the car park.
Finally Getting The Car
Marrakesh airport is not very big so there were no shuttle buses to pick up the car. All I needed to do was walk past the metal detectors and then cross the car park. The car rentals are all at the end of the car park, just underneath a big red pylon which is the main light for that section of the car park. If you look at the photo below, you will see the palm trees – walk towards there.
Here you will find the various rental desk representatives wearing either a cap and/or t-shirt with the logo of the company on them.
Once I located the Hertz guy I gave him my documents and he went off to the garage to pick up the car. I waited in the car park for about 10-15 minutes for the car to arrive which I used to chat with the American guy about his holiday in Morocco.
Things I Liked About The Car
The car was clean on the outside and it turned out it was a brand new Peugeot 308. It was so new that they have not even received the official number plate yet – instead it had a sticker on it with the registration number. When I checked later the clock only had 550 kilometers on it and some of the plastic covers were still in place on the inside!
When the guy handed me the keys he seemed very proud and he told me it is brand new with that sort of proud smile on his face so I thought I better take extra care of it! I certainly did not want to be the person to destroy the car and make this happy granddad looking guy sad!
When I opened the door that typical brand new smell hit my nose and it was almost love at first sight! The only problem was that they did not properly wipe the armrest between the seats and someone had spilled some coke so it was sticky! Also, the gear stick and the plastic between the stick and the armrest was also gooey and sticky from a spilled soft drink which I later wiped off myself.
Anyhow, other than this all seemed fine and I was happy. We did a quick walk around the car and checked for scratches and then they explained how to get out of the car park. Incredibly, there was already a missing front light and various scratches on the bumper even though they’ve only driven it for less than 1,000 kms!
Driving Off
I did a couple of practice runs in the car park then I drove off toward the exit. Here I had to hand the parking ticket to the attendant and then I drove off to the city and the High Atlas Mountains. The car handled very well and I really enjoyed driving it most of the time.
Things I Did Not Like About The Car
I thought driving downhill the gearbox was struggling to adjust so I had to help out with the trip-tronic which is like a semi-automatic stick so you can adjust the gear yourself. What annoyed me most was the eco-drive option whereby the car turns off every time I stop or put my foot on the brake pedal. This meant that in a traffic jam when it’s stop and go the car kept turning on and off and I simply could not figure out how to turn it off.
Also, the front light wasn’t very strong and I just could not figure out for the life of me how to use the heating, radio and other gear.
There was this mega touch screen in the car and everything was operated from here. The problem is you probably need a week to learn all the basic functions using a 5,000 page manual.
In my opinion all hire companies should have a quick laminated cheat sheet placed on the seat in every car for pick up so that the drivers can easily figure out the 5-10 basic functions that everyone uses during driving.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed driving around the Atlas Mountains and the wide open spaces of Morocco and since I wasn’t in a rush I always drove nice and easy. There was also the cruise control function in the car which I just loved – on a straight road I turned it on at the speed limit and then cruised along enjoying the sights.
Dropping The Car Off
I got back to the airport at 5PM, a little more than two hours before the departure of my flight. I thought it would be simple process of dropping the keys in the box or handing them over to someone at the desk so I parked up, took a picture of the car and walked back to the desk.
When I got to the airport gate I had to go through the scans and passport control before they let me go inside. It took me about 10 minutes of queuing and unfortunately it turned out that I should have looked for the attendant in the car park!
Tip: always take pictures of the car when you drop off for proof until your deposit is returned in full!
I got to the desk and the clerk told me he did not need the key, I should have left it with the guy in the car park! I was like what guy? There was nobody there and I even looked for him as I wanted to ask where to park the car. I was so annoyed as it meant I had to go out again with all my stuff and then later come back again through the security scans!
Walking Out Again
So off I was, back out, walking across the car park looking for the attendant. I found him talking with the taxi drivers and so I told him I had to car and keys to drop off. We walked up to the car and he said it wasn’t in an acceptable condition! I was like what do you mean? So he goes: I should have taken it to the car wash!
By this time I had spent nearly 20 minutes walking back and forth and all I wanted was to get rid of the keys and get on with my life. Instead the guy was telling me that I should take it to the nearby car wash to avoid a 250 dirham cleaning fee. I was getting ready to pack the stuff in the car again when I looked at my watch and it was nearly half past five so I told him I don’t have the time and instead I will just complain as nobody told me I would need to return it cleaned.
He said it was in the documents so I asked him to point this out but of course everything was in French so it was no use to me. So he just kept repeating I should have returned the car in the condition I picked it up.
I was like OK, just fine me I need to get going and check into my flight otherwise I would miss it. In retrospect I wish I had taken the car to the car wash as the plane was delayed! That would have saved me all the hassle I am still having to deal with now, two weeks after dropping the car off!
Deposit Taken – In FULL!
He took my papers and we countersigned each and he wrote on them that he could not check the car’s condition because it wasn’t cleaned! True, it was muddy because there were road works everywhere but never in my life have I ever had to take a rental car to the car wash before dropping it off. The cleaning is always included and given that nobody explained this I was pretty furious they were taking the micky now.
Anyhow, he wanted to keep all the papers so I took some pictures of them and off I was again going through the airport security at the entrance, the departures gates and once more at the boarding gate. I must have spent 45 minutes queuing. However, before I headed over to the security checks I asked the guy for the pick-up desk’s phone numbers and email address to follow up about it all the next day.
This was all on Sunday and on Wednesday I decided to check my credit card to see how much they took for the cleaning fee in the end.
To my shock and horror they took the deport in full which was 15,800 dirham! Now at normal exchange rate it would have been about £1199 but the credit card company charged an exchange fee and foreign transaction fee which bumped it up to £1259! And all this for not taking the car to the car wash!
Calling Worldwide Insure
I immediately called Worldwide Insure to make a claim but they said they needed the paperwork from Thrifty to prove how much the damage actually cost! He said I should file a claim straight away but they will only pay out if I can send them a damage report from Thrifty with receipts and photo proof of the damage. So I filed a claim with all the documents I had and set out to contact Thrifty to find out why they charged me in full.
Poor Customer Service
I tried to phone Thrifty’s number which I got on Sunday but nobody answered either of the numbers. Then I emailed them but no response at all for a day. I then decided to call again on Thursday but nothing, in fact they just hung up on me instead of saying hello.
So I decided to phone the numbers on the reservation documents but those numbers were all disconnected! I decided to email them on the email which was on the form but that bounced back! I just could not believe it!
I thought it must have been a scam so I called Holiday Autos to ask what to do but they told me Hertz is a trusted provider and probably they just took the full deposit and will refund the difference once everything is calculated.
Since there was not much else I could do I decided to wait. By Friday I ran out of patience and started calling the airport desk numbers again but yet again nobody answered. I started searching on the internet for the Thrifty central reservation number which I found on the thrifty.ma website. I phoned this number and finally someone picked up!
Of course, everyone was on their lunch break so she asked me to call later! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!
Damage To The Bonnet
Finally I managed to talk to Boutaina at the Casablanca central desk who explained they found some damage to the bonnet. This was a bit unbelievable as I returned the car without a scratch of damage! I asked her to send me the damage report and photo proof of the damage as I returned it in a perfectly fine condition. She promised she would do that the same day. Guess what? I am still waiting more than a week after the phone call!
I felt totally betrayed as I looked after the car like it was my baby as everyone at the time of picking it up was so proud of it and now I am having to argue on the telephone about some supposed damage.
Fortunately I had photo proof of the bonnet from the time of dropping it off and it was in perfect condition. The sun was shining and the bonnet was pretty clean, except from some dust from the road, still reflecting the sun back!
Waiting, Waiting and Still Waiting
The weekend passed, then midweek and Thursday came again so I decided to phone them but this time they did not even put me through to Boutaina. Instead, the girl on the phone said they are just following procedure and that all I can do is wait for the damage report which she said can take up to 30 days!
I tried to explain that my credit card company will start charging me interest and that I cannot make a claim with my insurance firm until they send me the documents but she said she could not help.
So here I am, two weeks after dropping the car off in good faith, undamaged with photo proof and I am still waiting for a response to all my calls and emails. I simply cannot believe that a global firm has such low standards!
I have rented from a plethora of firms in the past seven years and I always got an email receipt within a day of dropping the car off. The two times I had a dispute over damages I received the damage report on the spot and they took the money out of my account then I claimed the money back from the insurance firm. The worst is that now I can’t claim from Worldwide Insure until I have all the paperwork from Thrifty!
UPDATE (30 April 2018)
After six weeks (!) of going back and forth with ClaimEZ and Worldwide Insure they still did not pay out so I was about to give up! They kept telling me they needed more proof! So I took things into my own hands and emailed the Hertz head office in the UK and complained. Lo and behold, I received a response from them after two weeks of internal investigations offering a full refund! They must have made a full investigation in-house and determined there was no damage and the whole thing was just made up by some scam artist! So in the end all is good and I am happy!
UPDATE II (27 May 2018)
Here is another update: three days ago I got an email from Holiday Autos to say they finally received a response from Thrifty in Marrakesh! Thrifty sent them some absolutely useless photos (below) proving the damage! Only problem is there is nothing to prove as Hertz already told me there was no damage on the car and the only thing the photos prove is that Thrifty is full of crooks. If you look at the photos you can hardly make out anything. The only thing I can tell is that its dusty and the flash is reflected in the bonnet. So absolutely useless! And even if there was damage to the car, it could have been done by the Hertz employee taking it to the car wash then trying to pull it on me – who on earth knows?
It was my stupidity to leave the car there without closing the rental period, but I had no time to take it to the car wash. Anyway, next time I will definitely make sure to return the cars washed as it sounds like companies are starting to charge for dubious cleaning fees as well!
Thrifty Pictures of “Damage”
Overall Impressions
This is the fourth time renting from Thrifty and unfortunately it has been another negative experience (three out of four) so I will definitely avoid any Hertz affiliate in the future – they are absolutey terrible!
