Drivalia UK Reviews 

Wayne was a really nice staff member, was clear in the explanation and very welcoming. Overall nice check in experience but a bit too slow, we waited about 40min before being served

Quick response, good answers, helpful to the letter

User friendly booking procedure. Prompt reply to my queries. Good prices.

This was our second time using Drivalia and it was just as good the second time. Great prices and absolutely superior customer service. All the employees were very friendly and helpful.

We hired a Toyota Aygo for 7 weeks from the Bristol airport branch. The service we received was first class and a big thank you to Mila who checked the car back into the depot with a big smile and kind words. We will definitely use Drivalia again.

Nice staff, Aarron and Kash were very polite and friendly. Reasonable price if you avoid the extra insurance. Cars are ok, clean, low mileage, but not always in the best condition.

Very poor experience. Our flight was late and we called multiple times to arrange a latr pick up. Once we got there, obviously the car had disappeared into thin air and the only option was a car twice as expensive...
Avoid this agency at all costs.

I booked a hire car at the Newcastle Airport branch to go to the Lake District, having selected and paid online for the manual Nissan Juke to be collected at 10 am on the Saturday morning (I arrived at 9-50am) expecting to get into the vehicle and start our trip….I was still there at 10-35 am as I was waiting for a previous customer to complete the “Laborious” check in procedure. After completing the paperwork I was told I could have an upgrade of an automatic Juke, I explained that was not what I ordered and would like the manual option which I am used to. As I drove onto the main road a tyre low pressure warning light on the front drivers side flashed up. I got home and used my electric pump to rectify the problem, noticing the tyre had no dust cap on it?. On further inspection the car had a visible dent on the back left passenger door. A visible scuff mark on the back bumper, inside the boot was covered in food crumbs and inside of the driver’s door were cobwebs. The exterior of the car had not been cleaned to an acceptable level as I would expect. With the high deposit of £1,500 on my mind I decided to ring the branch and explain the issues and that I had taken photos to show them when I returned the vehicle on the following Tuesday. We got to the destination in the lakes much later than I would have hoped, parked the car at our hotel knowing it would not be needed until the day of our return. On leaving our hotel to come home it started to rain, and as you do, you try to screen wash the window….low and behold there was no water/windscreen wash coming onto the dirty windscreen. I returned the car at 4pm although it was not due back until 5pm, and once again found myself waiting for previous customers to go through the long process of paperwork and finding the correct credit cards etc etc. When it got to my turn the assistant had no recollection of me ringing him on the Saturday morning to report the 7 issues I had encountered. I took him out to the car to ensure he saw the problems, I asked him to try the windscreen washer to ensure he understood….He told me a light should show up when it needed water!? This was not the case. When I enquired about the the other issues he apologised and said they would all have been noted on their inspection log?? . I replied that you might want to inform the customer also as to alleviate and worry regards the £1,500 of damage deposit on my credit card. Unfortunately I was disappointed on how my concerns were dealt with and their total lack of customer care ensures I would not use this company again. Also whilst sitting in the portacabin there is a TV screen playing what was obviously a (violent) movie not meant for children, causing the mother sitting next to me to turn her young son’s face away from the screen….it’s the little details that make all of the difference in retaining customer’s trust and satisfaction in this day and age.
UPDATE… Received an automated reply asking me to contact them via their website… You couldn’t make it up… they have my email and contact details!?

Sanj and Alyna were a pleasure to deal with. Thank you for making the process seamless and making me laugh! Will gladly come again and hire a car with Drivilia

Booking process was fast and reliable, service brilliant, sanj was phenomenal

We have used Drivalia for years and always found them helpful and obliging, but this time when I couldn't get the Ryanair app to open to confirm my return flight details Kamila and Mehmet at Stansted went out of their way to help resolve the issues. Without the information Kamila helped me find in my phone we would have been really stuck but she patiently and constantly reassured me it would be alright in the end and it was thanks to them. Amazing service

The price was good. The car was clean and in good condition. I didn't have to wait long for the paperwork to be sorted. The staff both the young lady who booked me in and the lad who brought out the car were both very friendly and polite. They were exceptional in their service.

James was great. Many thanks

Excellent service, Ramy was quick and helpful and kind and he managed to get us a later drop off time, somehow it did not go through in the booking. Good experience Ramy and Abdyicah!

Avoid Drivalia. Appalling customer service and a policy that appears to contradict their own stated terms.

My booking was for 3:00pm. Because of travel delays, I called Drivalia that morning to let them know I would be arriving later and asked to move the collection time to 4:30pm. They confirmed that the collection time had been updated to 4:30pm as requested.

I arrived at 4:25pm — five minutes before the revised collection time that Drivalia had confirmed — only to be told that, despite having contacted them that morning, they had treated the booking as a “no show” and there was no car available for me.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that Drivalia themselves repeatedly state in their responses to poor Trustpilot reviews:

“We hold bookings for a maximum of 2 hours during branch opening hours. If you are going to be late, we ask that you notify the branch of your estimated arrival time.”

That is exactly what I did. I notified them in advance, gave them my estimated arrival time, and then arrived before that time.

They also state:

“We can only hold a specific booked vehicle for a maximum of 1 hour past the booked collection time.”

Again, I wasn’t simply an hour late and hoping they would still have the car. I had contacted them well in advance, explained the situation and had been told that my collection time had been changed to 4:30pm.

So either the policy quoted by Drivalia in response to customers is not actually applied, or the staff at the branch simply chose not to follow it.

The consequences were significant. We were left without a vehicle and had to make alternative arrangements at short notice.

My advice: think twice before booking with Drivalia. A car rental company should make travel easier, not leave customers stranded through no fault of their own.

I will be interested to see how Drivalia responds to this review. Will they provide another generic stock response that gives the impression they care while somehow shifting responsibility back onto the customer? Or will they actually acknowledge what happened, apologise unreservedly and recognise the immense distress they caused by leaving a family with young children without the vehicle they had booked?

I know which response I would consider appropriate.

I had a very disappointing experience renting a vehicle from Drivalia and would not recommend them.

When I collected the car, I was told that the collision damage coverage provided by my credit card was not sufficient. My credit card provides up to $50,000 of rental vehicle coverage, but Drivalia insisted that I needed £60,000 of coverage or I would have to purchase their CDW insurance.

My main issue is that I could not find this £60,000 minimum coverage requirement stated anywhere on their website or in the documentation provided when I booked the vehicle. Had this requirement been made clear before booking, I could have made an informed decision about whether to rent from them.

Instead, I was put in a position at the rental desk where I effectively had no choice but to purchase their additional CDW insurance. The cost of the insurance was actually more than the cost of the vehicle rental itself.

The whole experience left me feeling that the pricing was not transparent and that important information had been withheld until I was committed to the rental. It came across as deceitful and felt very much like an unexpected upsell at the point of collection.

Based on my experience, I would not rent from Drivalia again and would advise others to carefully check exactly what insurance requirements they impose before booking.

Great customer care at the Heathrow branch. I had a problem with the car touch screen which wasn’t working. Abdullah took care of it and replaced the car quickly.

Gareth was very polite and helpful would recommend and will use again in the future

Perfect!! Great service!!